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Author Topic: TrackIR settings and hints  (Read 3520 times)

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WxTech

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TrackIR settings and hints
« on: October 03, 2021, 04:17:48 PM »

[EDIT, Jan 6, 2022] I figured I might as well include my profile, as I understand that some folk supply and obtain existing ones to try. I must stress that it applies to my setup, which is for the hat clip, and where the clip lies pretty close to the camera. I've never downloaded/installed other profiles, and so don't know this from experience. It might(?) require to place in this location:

%AppData%\NaturalPoint\TrackIR 5\Profiles

You could first try to place it here, where the supplied default profiles are located:

Program Files (x86)\NaturalPoint\TrackIR5\Profiles

https://www.mediafire.com/file/33mvzbm20q624fh/WxTech_IL-2_TrackIR_profile.7z/file


==============================================================


I thought I'd supply some thoughts on TrackIR settings, and supply what I use. Note that this software version is a couple or few years old, and appearances may have been changed. I don't tend to update unless there are meaningful improvements.

This post is inspired in good measure by the observation that a number of YouTubers are clearly using head tracking gear in their IL-2 videos but failing to take full advantage of the 6dof capability. This might result from a less than effective set of axis settings in translation.



Some terms defined:

Rotation is what you think; spinning about an axis. The three axes here are: Yaw, or left-right panning; Pitch, or up-down nodding; Roll, or head tilt to the left or right (touching ears to shoulders).

Translation is a positional change without rotation. The three axes here are: X, or sliding to the left or right; Y, or rising up or scrunching down; Z, or leaning forward or backward.



My setup is worth describing, because this has an impact on the particular axis settings I use. I'll supply suggestions later on strategies for folk who aren't so close to their monitor.  ;)

My monitor is rated as a 31.5" job, with a curved screen, and has an active diagonal dimension of 79cm (31"). My eyes are about 50cm (20") from the screen; that's pretty close by most people's standards! To obtain comfortable focus, I wear 2.5 diopter reading glasses. This has the additional benefit of enlarging the apparent screen area by about 10%, and also slightly accentuates the apparent curvature, resulting in a tad more 'wraparound' effect. Furthermore, the resulting apparent angular width of the screen is nearly 90 degrees, which is not much less that my default 105 degree FoV, meaning a near 1:1 image scaling. That's great for situational awareness.

I use the basic TrackClip, seeing no advantage with the LED-equipped TrackClipPro. Instead of wearing the clip on the brim of a ball cap (I hate caps). I've done this. Attached to the top of my headphone band (which arcs over the top of my noggin) is a piece of stiff hanger wire that proturudes straight ahead to a distance of 27cm (10.5"). The TrackClip is attached at the end, placing it something like 10cm farther forward than it would be if attached to a cap's brim.

Why so far forward, you ask? It means that when I swivel my head in rotation, there is simultaneously applied a greater degree of translational movement. This means I automatically enjoy improved peering around obstructions like canopy framing without having to lean sideways or bob up and down as much; in some more confined cockpits, not at all.


The strategy I employ in rotation is to have my gaze, to extent possible, always directed straight with respect to my eye sockets as I pan and tilt my head. That is, I do not want to have to cause my eyes to swivel in their sockets. The advantage of my close placement to the screen is that I can employ a fair degree of physical head panning due to the large apparent size of the screen in my field of vision. This aids in pointing precision.

In translation, I want to move physically to as little an extent possible, but at the same time have decent enough control over my virtual position. There's a balance to seek in meeting these conflicting requirements.



Below is a mosaic of screen shots showing my settings.



The topmost image shows the settings for the basic Speed and Smoothness. I prefer to set Speed at unity, and adjust the axes as necessary. The Smooth value of 20 is for me a good compromise between crispness of response and suppression of jitter (especially when zoomed in).

The next row are the three rotational axes. I've made Yaw and Pitch identical, because I desire the same movement scaling when panning the view. The V-shaped profile makes for better pointing precision when looking straight ahead, the response becoming more rapid with incresing angular offset. Roll has been made flat in response, for a uniform, linear action. (But I generally disable this axis anyway, finding it superfluous, if not annoying.)

The bottom row covers the three translational axes. As I did for panning, I've made the X and Y axes identical. For the Z axis (leaning forward/backward) I've doubled the sensitivity, so that I don't have to make too large a change in my distance from the screen.



For those who don't crowd in so close to their screen as I do.  ;)

When you monitor covers a smaller apparent angular size on your retina, as when sitting far away, and/or using a small screen, the Yaw and Pitch sensitivity could be increased. That's because you don't want to have to swivel your head as far as I do, or else you'll have to swivel your eyes in their sockets a bit. This can be achieved simply by hitting the green up arrow, which will globally move the curve up. This will result in a larger virtual head swiveling for given physical head turning.

And for translation, again, from the effectively farther position of your head from the screen, you may need to boost sensitivity by moving the curves upward.
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bomberkiller

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Re: TrackIR settings and hints
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2021, 03:28:51 AM »

Hello WxTech,

I had spent a lot of time with it until I found the ideal setting for myself. Thanks -bb-.

Here are my adjustments that I'm completely happy with, but that look very different from your settings.

Best regards,

 ]cheers[

Gerhard

Please click the pic to enlarge:

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WxTech

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Re: TrackIR settings and hints
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2021, 04:32:36 AM »

Gerhard,
Interesting... Your low Yaw sensitivity shown here is something I might expect for one who has a 270 degree, 3-projector setup. The central region of your curve suggests a roughly 1:1 correspondence between your actual head rotation and the virtual rotation. If you have a typical monitor size and viewing distance for its size, I imagine that when you rotate sufficiently to the 155 degree in-game azimuth limit, your face must be pointed beyond the edge of the display, such that your eyes are swiveled toward the screen in order to not becoming beyond the screen edge.

And you might not even be aware that such is occurring.

As I noted, I aim to achieve the full range of virtual rotation while my straight-ahead gaze is still aimed well inside the screen edge. Hence the greater degree of virtual head rotation for given physical rotation.

Incidentally, I've modded the relevant class so that I'm no longer limited to 155 degrees to the left and right, 90 degrees up and 60 degrees down. These limits have been increased to 180, 135 and 70 degrees, respectively. It's GREAT, because now I essentially never bump into those hard limits any more, making the process of head tracking feel truly free in the rotational aspect.

And for those cockpits in whose classes I've increased the translational limits for, that further helps in that feeling of more freedom of movement.

Cheers!
Glenn
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vegetarian

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Re: TrackIR settings and hints
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2021, 04:57:34 AM »

G'day Glenn,
I'm interested in your reference to virtual rotation hard limits when using TIR (I am using TIR 4 with the latest software ver 5.4.2). I find it can get a bit restrictive at time, particulary the hard limit when looking up. You mention modifying relevant classfiles to increase the rotation limits to 180, 135 and 70 degrees. Is that adjustment made in the TIR software / setup, or is it made in the game files somewhere (cockpit classes?)
Incidently, I sit about arms length from a 27" monitor, and I've forgotten where I downloaded the profile from, but I've been using it for years (Charvel_IL2).

Cheers
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WxTech

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Re: TrackIR settings and hints
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2021, 05:11:11 AM »

Veg,
It's in a game class where I made those changes to the rotational limits, just about a couple years ago.

I think I'll post this mod shortly...
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bomberkiller

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Re: TrackIR settings and hints
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2021, 08:30:04 AM »

Hello Glenn,

You have the "reflectors" in the middle of your head?

My TrackIR is on the left side of my headphone.

I am very satisfied with my TrackIR settings! Whether left-right or up - down - look, everything works exactly as it should!

The trick is... ...watch the pic :

Please klick the pic to enlarge:



.                               

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SAS~Storebror

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Re: TrackIR settings and hints
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2021, 08:40:40 AM »

Exactly as BK described, having the TrackIR camera off-center just as the clip is the key.

]cheers[
Mike
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WxTech

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Re: TrackIR settings and hints
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2021, 10:40:25 AM »

As a detail-oriented soul myself, alignment issues are never overlooked.

My question here concerns the ratio of physical to virtual head rotation.

For instance, VR headsets typically are set 1:1. If you want to see 180 degrees behind, you physically have to spin 180 degrees also.

If one's TrackIR were set to, say, a 4:1 ratio, to get the virtual head rotated 150 degrees would require the player to actually rotate about 38 degrees. If the screen edge were to be a not atypical 20 degrees off center (meaning an apparent width of some 40 degrees), one's direct line of sight would be well past the screen edge--by nearly a screen half-width. This would require to swivel the eyes back toward the monitor in order to not lose sight.

A certain degree of eye swiveling we will do without noticing; it's so automatically wired into our vision response.

One of my own aims is to minimize this, for two reasons. It's less tiring on the eyes, and it makes following quick action more natural and realistic. When a plane zips across my path at a high angular rate, a quick snap of my head and wherever it should happen to lie on screen,  my gaze will be more or less directed upon it with minimal swiveling of my eyes in their sockets. It did take a bit of fiddling to achieve this, but it's well worth it. At least in my atypical situation, where the monitor fills so much of my field of vision, presenting an almost 1:1 correspondence in image scale at the wide FoV.

I say all this to provide some additional perspective on elements to consider for the best experience.

On the matter of clip alignment with respect to screen and TrackIR camera head. And to illustrate that where matters of geometry are concerned, little escapes my jaundiced gaze.  ;)  I have my monitor set on a raised platform such that the screen center is almost level with my eyes. Not quite so, as I did desire a slight look down angle for better neck comfort. With the TrackIR camera head mounted atop the monitor in the usual manner, having the clip attached atop my headphone band puts it more at a level with the camera. This means that as I pan horizontally there is less induced vertical swing 'seen' by the camera than would occur were the clip mounted lower on a cap brim. Such were among the matters under consideration when setting everything up from the start.
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bomberkiller

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Re: TrackIR settings and hints
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2021, 11:02:43 AM »

Quote
...clip mounted lower on a cap brim.

That is the problem.

When installing the TrackIR on the headset, I can vary the height of the "Infrared Transmitter".

You can do it with your cap too, but every time you put the cap back on, your reflector is no longer in the same position.

I can also vary the angle of the "Infrared Receiver".

Dear friend WxTech, believe the old bk, I spent hours with the optimal settings, hardware and software.

It's wonderful to fly with TrackIR!

I made the drawing (Reply #5) with the software that I use to create the skins:

ULEAD PhotoImpact 8.5 ( year 2001 !!!)

Best regards,

 ]cheers[

Gerhard
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Cloyd

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Re: TrackIR settings and hints
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2021, 11:08:19 AM »

....I've forgotten where I downloaded the profile from, but I've been using it for years (Charvel_IL2).

Cheers

Still available for download at Mission4Today. I've been using it for years too.

Cloyd
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WxTech

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Re: TrackIR settings and hints
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2021, 01:52:05 PM »

Having a DIY (Do It Yourself) bent, I wanted to work out my own settings 'from first principles' so to speak. I know that each situation is different, and users have their own preferences. And so I never even thought to seek out an existing profile, instead starting immediately to experiment from scratch and converge on a solution without prior bias. This included holding the clip in my hand so that I could more easily move it about over large ranges and explore the limits of usefulness and effect.

With my screen presenting something like IMAX dimensions in apparent angular size (and near to 1:1 image scaling), and my tracker set so that what I want to stare at is essentially directly in my line of sight (without eye swiveling being imposed), I have what I feel is a poor man's VR. (And still better than some with the 2560X1440 pixel count.)
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bomberkiller

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Re: TrackIR settings and hints
« Reply #11 on: October 04, 2021, 02:03:16 PM »

Quote
This included holding the clip in my hand...

For You, "to fly with a cap" it was the best and a logical solution!

 ]cheers[

Gerhard  :)
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