Head Tracking with Cliffs of Dover

[MadBlaster]

@julian

Please go back and re-read. Talking about high-output infrared LED that produces invisible light that your eye can not see. I really don't think it is a good idea to be staring at this for hour and hours. It just isn't worth the risk. Use a high output non-infrared LED for this type of setup.

[julian265]

Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider

snip does FT have its own module that developers can put into their product, snip

Yes, they do. Secondly, exposing the head axes like any other axis also works.

Royraiden, I consider this perfectly on-topic, as NP has been attempting to get various game devs to keep the head axes hidden, thus preventing other head trackers from being used.

Think about it... If you were a developer, why would you allow generic windows axes to control sticks/throttles etc, and not the head axes?

It's not a conspiracy theory - one of the devs on the ED forums stated that they had made a deal with NP, so that non NP trackers could use three axes!

[Royraiden]

Originally Posted by julian265

Yes, they do. Secondly, exposing the head axes like any other axis also works.

Royraiden, I consider this perfectly on-topic, as NP has been attempting to get various game devs to keep the head axes hidden, thus preventing other head trackers from being used.

Think about it... If you were a developer, why would you allow generic windows axes to control sticks/throttles etc, and not the head axes?

It's not a conspiracy theory - one of the devs on the ED forums stated that they had made a deal with NP, so that non NP trackers could use three axes!

I understand your point,but seeing the trend of most of the threads on this forums, I just didnt want an endless discussion made out of just a few simple questions.Thanks again to every one for sharing your thoughts.

[julian265]

Originally Posted by MadBlaster

@julian

Please go back and re-read. Talking about high-output infrared LED that produces invisible light that your eye can not see. I really don't think it is a good idea to be staring at this for hour and hours. It just isn't worth the risk. Use a high output non-infrared LED for this type of setup.

There is no need for high-output IR LEDs for this purpose. Thinking it isn't a good idea is different to there being actual risk of eye damage.

A quick search found this:
http://www.axis.com/products/cam_iri...Red_011107.pdf
Which is a product that emits many times more power than the small IR LED's for our purpose.

Of course, if you can find documentation stating that there is a risk from looking at a 0.1W IR LED, then I'd be interested to see it.

[MadBlaster]

Originally Posted by julian265

There is no need for high-output IR LEDs for this purpose.

I'm glad you agree. Now go outside and stare at the sun for a few hours.

[Wolf_Rider]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

Actually, FT has it's own interface and just collects and transmits positional data. In older games that only support trackIR but use an old unlocked version of the naturalpoint API, FT transmits that data through the naturalpoint interface.

It's similar for FS2004/FSX, where FT feeds its data to microsoft's simconnect interface.

As for the newer games that use a locked version of the NP API it's up to the developers to enable native FT support. An example of this is ArmA2.

So, long story short, FT is perfectly capable of interfacing directly and on its own with any game, as long as the game developers let it do so.





Are you sure about this? IR wavelengths carry less energy than our everyday normal, visible light. It should probably be completely harmless, as going out on a sunny day or simply driving at night and seeing the headlights of the cars on the opposite lane would bombard you with light radiation of a much higher energy than a couple of IR leds.

By the sounds of it then FT have finally come to the party and are doing their own thing instead of the antics it did in the past... I ain't got a concern with that if FT is stand alone, the concern was the interfacing with NP software to get the data.

in general:
true infrared light can't seen, much like ultraviolet light can't be seen.... Red though is very effective for using as a light source at night as it doesn't affect the person's night vision, like a normal light does. If you go looking directly at the sun though (definitely not suggested so please don't do this), you do get a full blast of full range of frequencies of the spectrum and at highish levels, and that includes x-rays, gamma rays, pretty much all the rays you could point the stick at.

Crikey, its a colour temp of 200k Kelvin, so don'tya go lookin' at the sun. The humble incandescent house bulb has a temp of 3200

[julian265]

Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider

By the sounds of it then FT have finally come to the party and are doing their own thing instead of the antics it did in the past... I ain't got a concern with that if FT is stand alone, the concern was the interfacing with NP software to get the data.

There has been no additions or changes to FT since November 2008 - the FT interface was around before that. Also FT never gets data from TIR.

[Wolf_Rider]

FT used to get from NP, , Julian265... that was the problem, and the site says different to what you say on which gets what from where

[julian265]

What are you saying FT gets/got from NP?

[Wolf_Rider]

it used to, Julian... check the FT site for one, would you like some other sources?