Free face tracking - No lamps, reflexes or anything - that WORKS!

I finally got all this working, took a good bit of work to figure out the axis. Still seeing a lot of jittering when I am trying to look at a panel. Anybody else experience this? Any solutions? I will keep tinkering with the filters/curves/etc. But no way I could do a startup with the jitteryness, buttons keep moving all around!

I have the neutral zones set to between 2 and 5, and it at least removes the jitters when I'm looking forward, but I still get them pretty bad when I look in any other direction. For instance, I'll look at the 1 o'clock position and keep steady, yet the screen jitters and makes me dizzy. Not sure if this happens in TIR or not since I don't own it. I've jacked the smoothness up to max, and then to minimum, but I still get the jitters.

Maybe it's a silly question, but: do you have update 1.5 installed? The window-title of FaceTrackNoIR should say "FaceTrackNoIR (1.5).

You wouldn't be the first...

Maybe it's a silly question, but: do you have update 1.5 installed? The window-title of FaceTrackNoIR should say "FaceTrackNoIR (1.5).

 

You wouldn't be the first...

Nah, good question, I do have the v1.5 update installed and also the hotfix for screen flicker or whatever it's called (although I do see my task bar flickering now still, not sure if that was the problem the hotfix was trying to fix).

Will the v1.6 version help with this jittery problem at all you think?

I wonder if the jitters have more to do with the face API. When I sit still and watch my mug in the Facetracknoir screen, the lines are constantly changing and erratic.

I've found that with the EWMA filter ON i have a smooth experience without jittering.Now i have these settings Smoothing:40 EWMA ON Min/Max 100 frames Curve 100 pow.I'm running the FTN 1.5 version

Flickering?

Nah, good question, I do have the v1.5 update installed and also the hotfix for screen flicker or whatever it's called (although I do see my task bar flickering now still, not sure if that was the problem the hotfix was trying to fix).

 

Will the v1.6 version help with this jittery problem at all you think?

Hi TheThumper,

Actually, the fix for update 5 had to do with the initialisation of the filter and not with any flickering as you experience.

I think there are two things we must not confuse: screen flickering (like you experience, even with the task-bar) and jitter (which may be caused by tracking-problems or insufficient filtering).

I suspect the screen-flickering may have something to do with the CPU-load. Have you checked the CPU-load of your PC, while running FaceTrackNoIR and the game? It is always good to minimize FaceTrackNoIR, before starting the game.

Update 1.6 will have the latest faceAPI (it was very hard to get that working, because some important GUI-functions had changed...). The latest faceAPI has an internal filter, which makes tracking of Yaw and Pitch a lot better. So jitter will certainly decrease with this version :).

@Mikoyan: I think anyone should (always) use the EWMA-filter: it does not make tracking sluggish (like before update 1.5) and certainly stabilizes the view.

Hi, I have just installed FTN on my kids computer to give it try against the TrackiR and before I drop 100+ bucks on a new Tri5. The bonus here was if it did not work to well the camera could be used for the SONY PS3 game consol. At a cost of 39 bucks for the camera and a small donation for the 1.6 release of FTN I have it up and running for fewer than 60 bucks.

I am running it with a SONY PS3eye using TrackiRfix in both Black Shark and DCS A10 albeit only with 32bit (x86) mode (Although PC runs 64bit). Although i have a TrackiR and use this on my main PC in 64bit I am seriously considering moving back to using 32bit because this latest release of FTN blew me away.

It runs VERY Smooth no jitter and is as good as if not better than the TrackiR in performance and of course having no crap strapped to your head makes it absolutely outstanding.

It uses around 130meg RAM and CPU cycles are 10-18% but with the core i5 2500k (Not over clocked yet) and a GTX570 the puter is still pulling 65+ FPS on average with the occasional drop down to 40FPS and a high of 90+ with all settings on max including heat blur.

The set up was very simple

Down Load CL Eye Driver 4.0.2.1017 and Install

Plug in PS3eye

Install Latest face Tracking API from Seeing Machines

Install Facetrack Noir v130

Patch v130 with 1.5 (copy and paste overwrite)

Bug Fix for 1.5 (copy paste overwrite)

Patch over 1.6 (copy and paste overwrite)

Execute TrackiRFixer for both DCS A10 and Black Shark

No hassle no issues and both games worked right off the bat.

The only tricky part was calibrating the curves and the transitions to get it just right. This took me about 45 minutes and 3 beers.

I say hats off to the gentleman who has put the time and effort into this as free ware. I think it’s totally unfair to have the software blocked from running in the 64bit version just because Natural Point wants to monopolize the game for them. The petition idea is the way to go so I suggest everyone get signing or we will just end up paying Natural Point 300 bucks for the same thing in 12 months time once they get off their butts and build a product. This type of technology has been available to us for some time now and NP should have taken up the challenge.

I've got the PS3 Eye with the CL-Eye-Driver-4.0.2.1017 driver and Win 7 x64. But I get the errormessage "failed to register camera category: Unspecified error" when I start FreeTrackNOIR 1.5. Also, it's not possible to start the FaceAPI Demo. Every time I start it I receive the errormessage "Failed to read friendly name: ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND".

I tried it with the MSI StarCam, but I got the same result. Even without a camera it appears the same errormessage. In the 'Windows Safe Mode' it happens too.

I think it has nothing to do with the camera or the CL-Driver.

Any ideas what to do?

Ooops

Hi Sensenmann,

Ooo, that does not sound good :cry:. This problem was mentioned by a few other users too. Until now, none of them have reported fixing it, so I don't have a solution (yet).

Since I can't reproduce the problem, I can't try to find a fix myself. As you mention: it does not seem to be web-cam related. Others have successfully worked with the same configuration (W7-64, PS3Eye, CLEye driver) so it should be possible.

I think it is DirectX-related, but cannot be sure.

P.S.: We are working on implementing another face-tracker (instead of faceAPI). Hopefully that will provide a working alternative in the future...

Please take five minutes to have a look at this thread regarding HeadTracking:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=74315

great stuff, i finally got the time and motivation to try and make Facetrack work today, and guess what, it seems i made it :). I think the mistake I made was as simple as not centering Facetrack before calibrating the PPJoy... now everythings good, i'm only still busy with fine-tuning the curves.

Oh, and i didnt get translation into the game yet, for some reason it seems i can't calibrate these...

Hmmm, Facetrack is working pretty well now, as in, I managed to get all the axes into the game properly, however I have the problem that the view is "wobbling" around a lot, to the point where it's not only annoying and exhausting to watch, but also impossible for me to hit any switches. Any idea how to fix that?

Balance

Hmmm, Facetrack is working pretty well now, as in, I managed to get all the axes into the game properly, however I have the problem that the view is "wobbling" around a lot, to the point where it's not only annoying and exhausting to watch, but also impossible for me to hit any switches. Any idea how to fix that?

Hi Gneckes,

I guess you are using update 1.5 (+ fix)? Then you should try to tweak the EWMA-parameters until you like the view. It's best to first raise Min. and Max. (frames) and lower Curve (pow) to values where tracking gets too slow. Then you might gradually turn them back bit by bit, until they're right.

With head-tracking it's always the trick to find balance between response and stability. Update 1.6 (which is 'under construction') will contain an improved version of faceAPI, with better tracking and an internal filter. That will certainly improve things!

Yes, 1.5 +fix is what i'm using. Thanks for the advice, i'll try fiddling with these. Just out of interest, how do the min, max and Curve settings actually affect filtering?

Also, any idea when 1.6 is going to arrive? Definitely sounds like it's going to be worth using :)

Yes, 1.5 +fix is what i'm using. Thanks for the advice, i'll try fiddling with these. Just out of interest, how do the min, max and Curve settings actually affect filtering?

Also, any idea when 1.6 is going to arrive? Definitely sounds like it's going to be worth using :)

Hi Gneckes,

Well, the filter-settings are a bit difficult to explain, because they are parameters for the special EWMA-filter, that was created by Dave (who is audio-specialist), especially for FaceTrackNoIR. I must admit I don't understand more of them, than is already in the Manual. You'll have to experiment with the parameters, I'm afraid :music_whistling:.

As for version 1.6: it's progressing, but slowly. I am trying a lot of stuff simultaneously and time is scarce ... You can find updates on it in the News page. As a side-note: people who support FaceTrackNoIR by donating receive an alpha-version of 1.6, so they can help test it.

possible solution

I found a solution for the error "failed to register camera category: Unspecified error" (or "Failed to read friendly name: ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND").

With the program 'Filmerit' I deleted all DirectShow- and other codecerrors. After this I had to de- and reinstall the CL-Driver for the PS3Eye Camera.

Now it works!

But remember, do it on your own risk!

Save up ya pennies and get TrackIR. there are plenty of really good bargains out there currently, particulary for TrackIR 4 and even 3. There is no substitute TBh.

Gold solution? TrackIR5. Can't recommend it enough.

'T'

Nice!

I found a solution for the error "failed to register camera category: Unspecified error" (or "Failed to read friendly name: ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND").

With the program 'Filmerit' I deleted all DirectShow- and other codecerrors. After this I had to de- and reinstall the CL-Driver for the PS3Eye Camera.

 

Now it works!

 

But remember, do it on your own risk!

It's good that you found the solution: I'll make a 'known issue' of it on the website (even though very few users have reported the problem). I'm glad I guided you in the right (codec-)direction :thumbup:.

@Tyger: Thanks for your advice. I'll stick to the free version(s) though :D. For those who have not read the other thread(s): I'm working on the head-tracker API for Eagle Dynamics games. Both the 32-bit and 64-bit version prototypes are working and undergoing some rigorous testing, as we speak.

so... any solution yet to use facetracknoir with warthog 64bit? can't setup it with ppjoy. axis respond really bad. anyone got it working with ppjoy?

Yes I have. i'm not currently using it because i started feeling dizzy after a while, but basically it's working well.

Those who got this working, how did you calibrate it? I don't see ppjoy in control panel at all. I got everything set up correctly except the axis.

I created a new PPJoy device by using the "Configure Joysticks" application from PPJoy (should be in your start menu). Then I started Facetrack, went into the "Printer+devices" section of windows, right-clicked my x-52 and chose "game controller settings", then selected the PPJoy device in that window, chose calibrate, centered Facetrack, and calibrated it.

From that point on it was pretty much down to tweaking curves and filter settings.

AFAIK, warthog doesnt auto assign correct axis for ppjoy. what did you do? how exactly did you configure ppjoy controller, FTnoIR settings and in game commands?

As for the PPJoy, i went for 6 axes, namel x-axis, y-axis, z-axis, and the respective rotations.

In the next screen, i assigned them "Analog 0" thru "Analog 5".

I think i later had to switch x-rotation and y-rotation in the game (under axis commands)... as for the FTnoIR settings, i think for calibration i ran minimum filter settings, and a pretty linear curve, but i'm not quite sure of that anymore.

and In game?

I ask that because when I tried to configure it in game, it never worked. for example, i only assigned axis Z lets say, to control longitudinal movement, but it would move forward and then rotate, without configuring anything else.