True-View bug/glitch

Post Reply
Lixma
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 8:29 am

True-View bug/glitch

Post by Lixma »

Don't know if this has been brought up before but here goes. Moving the in-game head down and towards the screen results in a big 'step' and the virtual head jumps awkwardly back into place. Especially annoying with sims requiring you to move in for a closer look at the instrument panel.

This video will explain better than I can....

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ-2xGue2Pw[/video]

This is with Track-IR 4 hardware and v.5 software. It happens regardless of profile and as the vid shows my clip is being tracked perfectly. Only effects True-view mode.

Thanks.

....oh and a bump for 64bit game support! :)
Seth Steiling
Posts: 1365
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:29 am
Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: True-View bug/glitch

Post by Seth Steiling »

Hi Lixma,

This isn't really a bug, but rather just a byproduct of what TrueView is actually doing. Even though the goal for TrueView is to replicate a more real-world feel in your game environment, what we're actually doing behind the scenes is distorting your actual tracking data to allow different translations and rotations to stack on each other.

So, you can turn left, zoom in, and then look down--and each movement appends the one before it to create a more seamless experience. This allows you to, for instance, inspect elements of your cockpit up close with greater ease. But, because we're distorting the actual movement in order to achieve this effect, we need to reign the distortion back in as you get closer to your origin. If we didn't do this, you'd never be able to get back to square one! It would just be a continuous series of scaled motions taking you further and further away from your real origin.

So, the process you're describing is just the software bringing the distorted motion back into alignment with your actual head position. The only way to avoid it is, as you note, not utilize the TrueView mode. Removing TrueView removes the need to correct the motion back to your actual head movement, but it also removes the TrueView effect altogether, which many users find necessary for a realistic feeling experience.
Marketing Manager
TrackIR | OptiTrack
Lixma
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 8:29 am

Re: True-View bug/glitch

Post by Lixma »

Hi, Seth. Thanks for the reply. I wonder, then, if it would be possible in a future software update to allow the user to customise where/when the True-View is applied?

I'll try and explain. At the moment disabling True-View doesn't make that much difference when the player has their virtual head looking around the front hemisphere of the cockpit/world. But when you're looking over the shoulder True-View really kicks in and makes everything very natural. But this causes the annoying stepping behaviour. So, would it be possible for the software to make a note of where the user is looking and enable/disable True-View accordingly? For instance if the user's virtual head goes past +/-90 degrees on the yaw axis then True-View enables itself, allowing perfect over the shoulder movement. When the user's virtual head returns into the front hemisphere True-View disables itself and there's no 'stepping'.
ProfFarnsworth
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 11:37 pm

Re: True-View bug/glitch

Post by ProfFarnsworth »

There's another thread with a video of the same problem.

[video:google]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 0274801679[/video]
Seth Steiling
Posts: 1365
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:29 am
Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: True-View bug/glitch

Post by Seth Steiling »

[quote=Lixma]Hi, Seth. Thanks for the reply. I wonder, then, if it would be possible in a future software update to allow the user to customise where/when the True-View is applied?

I'll try and explain. At the moment disabling True-View doesn't make that much difference when the player has their virtual head looking around the front hemisphere of the cockpit/world. But when you're looking over the shoulder True-View really kicks in and makes everything very natural. But this causes the annoying stepping behaviour. So, would it be possible for the software to make a note of where the user is looking and enable/disable True-View accordingly? For instance if the user's virtual head goes past +/-90 degrees on the yaw axis then True-View enables itself, allowing perfect over the shoulder movement. When the user's virtual head returns into the front hemisphere True-View disables itself and there's no 'stepping'.

[/quote]
I think it's pretty unlikely that we will develop an adaptive system like this, because of both the complexity of nailing the "best" adaption behavior, and the likely possibility that many users would prefer TrueView to remain on at all times. But, I'll check with our developers to see if TrueView is something that can be toggled on and off with a hotkey.
Marketing Manager
TrackIR | OptiTrack
Seth Steiling
Posts: 1365
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:29 am
Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: True-View bug/glitch

Post by Seth Steiling »

[quote=ProfFarnsworth]There's another thread with a video of the same problem.

[video:google]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 0274801679[/video]

[/quote]
That is similar, but as Jim notes in that thread, the situation is exacerbated by the user's high scaling.
Marketing Manager
TrackIR | OptiTrack
Seth Steiling
Posts: 1365
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:29 am
Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: True-View bug/glitch

Post by Seth Steiling »

[quote=NaturalPoint - Seth][quote=Lixma]...
[/quote]
I think it's pretty unlikely that we will develop an adaptive system like this, because of both the complexity of nailing the "best" adaption behavior, and the likely possibility that many users would prefer TrueView to remain on at all times. But, I'll check with our developers to see if TrueView is something that can be toggled on and off with a hotkey.[/quote]
Another potential issue with this--I suspect that the "stepping" behavior would still exist. It would just occur at the +/- 90 degree point, when TrueView is transitioned from on/off and vice-versa.
Marketing Manager
TrackIR | OptiTrack
Lixma
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 8:29 am

Re: True-View bug/glitch

Post by Lixma »

Yeah, I wondered myself what would happen at the 'border' between non-True-View and True-View. Could get ugly.... :eek:
Post Reply