The EDTracker. It work?

Someboby know about this device?

It cost nothing: http://hobbycomponents.com/index.php/diy-head-tracker-bundle.html

Usb connection: http://edtracker.org.uk/

No more IR, no worries about lightning. I had a dream or what? :D

I'm starting to be curious about this gadget more and more, but it's importnant to say that it's "only" 3DOF.

"Simple 3-axis head tracking" means no 6DoF?

Edit: Oh, sniped! Got the answer. :) Thanks again George. :D

I don't have TrackIR so I wonder how "bad" the 3DOF would be, but I guess it's 100 times better than looking around with hat, hm? And the price tag on TIR really puts a lot of people, including me, off. This is really cheap, even when you let them make it for you.

Gyro-sensors means error integration. Would be interesting to know how often you'd have to re-zero it.

Gyro-sensors means error integration. Would be interesting to know how often you'd have to re-zero it.

According to the website approximately every 30 minutes. Yaw drift might be way more severe, though.

It is really itching me to build one of those, sounds like a nice weekend project.

Ps eye cam and make your own clip. $20 bucks total and freetrack or facetracknoir and you have 6 dof head tracking.

Agree. "If" you have a web-cam, it's easier to prepare 3-LED clip, and you'll have 6DoF capability. - That's an opinion of course.

The EDTracker is an alternative. It's cheap (when available), you don't need a webcam, and you can easily set 2 others axis on the joystick hat switch.

You can skip the Y axis.

But at least the freetrack/facetracknoir are more appropriate for a flight sim, when it work good. :D

Thanks for the comments. :thumbup:

I'm using EDtracker with DCS Huey, and I guess it works damn fine, I used to use freetrack, 6Dof was actually driving me crazy. I would say EDtracker is so cheap, you should go for it. Once configured properly yaw drift isn't so bad + you never ever go out of webcam field of view. Which tracking method has its disadvantages. With EDtracker you get a little sensor drift, witch freetrack you get glare errors, and facetracknoir was just working really bad for me (maybe I'm too ugly :megalol:). It was jumpy, inconsistent and generally unreliable.

What is sensor drift? When you look center after looking to the side but the view won't perfectly center? Can be this used with "center view" button to reset any errors like this? I never had headtracking before...

there is a lot of info on their site with video about setting up and calibration, the latest ones have a magnetometer so are better and less prone to drift they say. I have 1 on order to look at and test so cheap compared to TiR. as my TiR3 has just packed in and I can't afford a new one, there is one on e-bay but the guy wants £139 i can get a new one for that, offered him £80 and he dropped to £129 still well over the top.

Has anyone tried 2 of them in different orientation to get 6dof?

Has anyone tried 2 of them in different orientation to get 6dof?

I like your thinking, might actually go ahead and try it.

(didn't look at the price yet)

Has anyone tried 2 of them in different orientation to get 6dof?

The MPU6050 sensor is already 6DOF, the problem for translation will be drift, drift, drift.

That is why Oculus uses an IR system like TrackIR for translation.

Old post, but... If anyone interested or curious about EDTracker I'm using it. I purchased the EDTracker Pro (latest model w/magnetometer). EDTracker uses its own software (firmware/drivers) to calibrate the device. Then using Open Tracker software for device input to DCS. Open Tracker allows you to customize your setup and viewing preferences and emulate 6dof.

It's very responsive and no lag with head movements. Works very nice and happy I found and purchased this wonderful device.

If anyone needs help with setup of EDTracker drop me a msg I'll be glad to help.

FYI:

I have used like a dozen Gyros for R/C flight, airplanes and helicopters.

In the past Piezzo Ceramic was used to measure the induced current from "bending" the crystal while you accelerate it. It works great.....UNTIL..the ceramic changes temperature, that's when the drift starts. Try to warm it up or cool it down to the temp that you will be using it.

If it really "only drifts away"...PUT THE DEVICVE IN THE FEEZER !!!!!!!!! for a couple hours.

That's an old trick among R/C fliers to recalibrate them so they dont drift that badly and get centered again.

Nowadays "MEMS" based devices are used, they cost a bit more but have virtually no more drift through to temp changes. Piezzo is cheap and from "pre-2000", only low budget Gyros are nowadays based on Piezzo Ceramic tho I stopped R/C a few years ago and maybe today even MEMS is surpassed.

*The plane in my Avatar, scratch built P-47 D23 TopFlite Balsa Kit took its maiden flight stabilized by 3 Gyros....oh boy...like on tracks. But you better hadnt parked the bird in the shade and then went out to flying in the bright sunshine, thats when Piezzo's showed their nasty side ! ** I took 1 Gyro after the other out as it flew like on rails without any "help". Great bird it was :)

ha! Nice RC Plane and old RC modeler here too;) I have a few warbirds around yet.

So far EDTracker doesn't drift. The program come with auto bias which I think constantly fixes the drift your talking about. As for the EDTracker unit getting warm it doesn't either. It may be warm inside the plastic case (circuit board), but to the touch never feels warm.

All in all it made a huge difference in DCS and adding more realistic flight and love that I can just look around and spot targets easily. I'm sure with any VR equipment there's an adjustment period. For the first week I took many breaks to let my eyes adjust to VR experience and found that while dodging gun fire I would duck my head LOL which would have me looking at cockpit gauges instead of out the window. But after sometime using it barely notice it's on and has become the norm.

Trackir wasn't always 6Dof and we did fine. I don't even use all 6Dof with Tr5. I find the roll(tilt) annoying and turn it off.

As an ed tracker user I find that 6 DOF is quite attainable by adding the yxz components to what we already have. The basic model allows for 3 but by using opentrack 2.2 you can add parts of the other 3 I use y to lean left and right x to sit 5 inches higher in the canopy and Z when I look down at my instruments to zoom in for a closer look.

personally i think 6 dof is useless strapped into a seat allowing for only minimal movement so the ed tracker is a good investment the new ones don't drift unless you have a magnetic field running through your headphones(which has happened to many people) and by adding a small 1 inch spacer that is quickly no problem. you owe it to yourself to at least check it out.<S> Fatal

Trackir wasn't always 6Dof and we did fine. I don't even use all 6Dof with Tr5. I find the roll(tilt) annoying and turn it off.

We did fine with x86 CPUs and one button joysticks but I wouldn't go back to them.

Bit of a hijack here, sorry.

I just received my PS3 eye cam and IR source (3 LEDs tied to my headset).

I've DL'd CL-eye and set the camera gain/exposure and focus so I can only see the pointd of the LEDs on a black background.

Now I'm confused as to which program to download to track my movements and then how to get that to work in DCS, elite etc.

Any pointers?

I'm using the combination EDTracker/OpenTrack since almost a year and I am very happy with it.

The disadvantage that it only provides 3DOF is not really a factor for me and together with 'pseudo-6DOF' I'm definitely not missing "more" DOF:

But I think my setting of the curves could be improved as I'm too often getting blind in dogfights. So I'm asking here if you guys are willing to share your settings. Either screenshots or values to key in. Sure, I'm going to post my settings as well, but actually I'm not hands-on my gaming PC. Stay tuned.

Ended up getting facetracknoir got it working. Is real good.

I'm using the combination EDTracker/OpenTrack since almost a year and I am very happy with it.

 

The disadvantage that it only provides 3DOF is not really a factor for me and together with 'pseudo-6DOF' I'm definitely not missing "more" DOF:

 

But I think my setting of the curves could be improved as I'm too often getting blind in dogfights. So I'm asking here if you guys are willing to share your settings. Either screenshots or values to key in. Sure, I'm going to post my settings as well, but actually I'm not hands-on my gaming PC. Stay tuned.

I am new to the EDTracker stuff, too. For the beginning I still use the settings that were mentioned in this tutorial

plus I applied some dead zones and curves within DCS itself to the TrackIR axes to smooth it a bit more.But it's still to nervous in my point of view ...

But what really annoys me is that the device seems to constantly lose its calibration in combination with opentrack especially when turning the head and flying hard turns so that the view gets stuck in one or another direction. I re-calibrated, reset etc. the device quite a few times so far and on some flights it works like charm an the next flight it's constantly getting out of focus... maybe I have purchased a faulty product, but as the error seems to be totally random I don't think it's a reason for a replacement...