TIR Pause and Center stopped working from USB keyboard

[Froglips]

Everything was working perfectly well.
System: Windows 7 x64, TIR4, Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse, XKeys Pro USB programmable keyboard.

I reprogrammed some keys on the XKeys but forgot to turn off TIR. I have Pause P and Center C on the XKeys. The XKeys is working just fine for every other program. Pause and Center works fine from the main keyboard. I suspect that as I was programming the XKeys that I pressed some combo of keys that messed up TIR. Any ideas how to get back to everyone plays nice together?

Froggie

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

It is possible that the Xkeys program is not properly relaying the multiple key modifiers, or that one of the modifiers states got stuck within the TrackIR software. I would recommend rebooting, launching just the TrackIR software, setting the hotkeys, then closing TrackIR and setting the Xkeys. If that does not work, try just a single keystroke modifier (just ctrl or just shift).

[Froglips]

That did indeed solve the problem. Thank you.

I have another challenge. The TIR loses track on me as I "look around" my cockpit. I had the sensor on top of my 26" screen but when I looked "down" for my instruments it loses me and then it is hard to get my "view" back before I crash (when you are looking at the cockpit wall flying at 50' and 50mph you crash pretty regularly). I tried to move the sensor down to the bottom of the screen. Now I can llok down at my instruments but not up (rear view mirrors are up).

Is this a limit of the older TIR4 technology? Would a different reflector be better? It seems to me that the brim of my baseball cap is blocking the upper sensor. Can I bend the upper sensor forward without messing up some distance ratio between the upper and lower sensors?

Froggie

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

I wouldn't bend the sensor. The answer may be in moving the camera. The best tool you have to work with this is the TrackIR software. Load the software, then right click on the grid and select "Camera view". There should be 3 green marks indicitave of what the camera sees. When they're green, it's tracking. When they're red, it's lost you. This can happen due to a few reasons, but the biggest is usually something blocking the view, or two dots merging into one. Adjust the position of yourself and the camera until you have the best range of movement.

[Froglips]

The camera view is how I determined that the brim of my baseball cap is blocking the upper sensor.

You recommend that I don't bend the upper sensor. Is that because the depth difference between the two forward sensors and the upper sensor is somehow used by TIR?

I have moved the camera everywhere I can place it within reason (mounting it in the center of my 26" screen works fine for TIR but not so good for my gaming).

The setup I have utilizes two monitors in an over / under arrangement. The upper monitor is 26" and displays the flight sim. The lower monitor is a 21" touch screen which displays the instrumentation. I can place the camera on the top of the main monitor (problem: TIR loses connection when look down at instruments) or on top of lower monitor (lose connection when look up at rear view mirrors in flight sim).

The lost TIR connection is less of a problem then the reconnection process. In general, when TIR loses connection, instead of just locking view where it was when connection is lost, it goes crazy and looks off to side or down and left. To wake up TIR requires rapid head movements while looking directly at the monitor. This process takes long enough in a flight sim that crashes are a frequent end result.

Is there a setting that will get TIR to freeze the view where it loses connection?

Is there a different reflector I can purchase that has a wider FOV?

Bending the upper sensor would solve the issue. Help me understand what problems this would create for TIR?

Froggie

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

Unfortunately, the TrackIR does, in fact, know the exact dimensions of the clip and it uses that in it's calculations. When detecting the position and orientation of a point in 3d space, you either need three cameras of a known position looking at an object, or a single camera looking at three objects of known position (in relation to eachother). Any distortion in these points relative to eachother (say, bending the clip) will throw off the TrackIR's ability to precisely calculate your head's position and orientation.

We do, however, have the TrackClip Pro, which has active markers and sits off to the side of the ear (it clips onto a headset). That might be the appropriate solution here. It can be purchased from our webstore for $35.

[Froglips]

Ordered.