pitch and Y axis coupling
Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:36 pm
I'm a new TrackIR 4 user, I started straight out with the alpha 3 drivers for FSX compatibility. And I'm getting the same pitch and Y axis coupling issue that I've read that others have experienced.
The actual behavior isn't constant. I suspect it's an error related to my positioning of the Trackclip, and depending upon exactly where it's located, and how I have it centered, it changes.
But it has one basic behavior. If I tilt my head up, the Y axis goes down, and vice versa. It's rather obvious what's going on there.
I put the trackclip on top of the headband of my headphones. So instead of being on the brim of a cap, in front of my head, it's on top of my head. But the software seems to think that the clip is in front of my head. So when I look down, it thinks the head is moving up as well. This all makes sense when I visualize it, I don't know if it's coming through right though. Visualize my head, with the clip mounted on top of it, and then imagine another head positioned behind it, as if it was wearing the hat that the clip is expected to be mounted on. The software generates motion information for the second theoretical head because that's where it thinks I am.
I've looked, and the website DOES mention putting the clip on headphones, so this can't be an unforeseen way of using it.
However I've done one more odd thing that I guess I should mention. With the clip resting flat on top of my head, I didn't get much up pitch angle because the rear reflector would drop below my head too quickly. So I tilted the rear up with a little improvised rigging, so when my head is level the clip is tilted forwards.
I'm having difficulty getting the whole arrangement centered right.. it's often a little off center or tilted to one side or the other. I can believe that's causing some of the trouble. But when I reposition it where I figure it'd be if I were wearing a cap (I just hold the headphones in that position), the whole deal works perfectly, no weird Y axis coupling at all.
I've only used TrackIR with FSX, but I really don't think FSX is the problem. However it's kind of hard to tell just by watching the preview head in the TrackIR software if it's happening there too.
I've tried messing with some of the settings in the software, like the screen you get to from the tracking screen, the one that shows the image that the hardware is seeing. There's a "vector position" setting, which has the promising sounding option of custom.. but every time I set it to custom and close the window, when I come back to it it's set back to hat. All the other settings will stay, except that one.
Also I'm getting the lag that others have mentioned, but probably not as bad. At worst it lags maybe a few seconds. And no crashing, thank goodness.. the lag has only happened once so far (in a few days of light experimental use), it seemed to happen because I'd left FSX running longer than I ever had before. I've read the posts mentioning hubs and power saving.. I'll look for any settings like that (it IS connected to a self powered hub, to be specific it's a hub built in to my monitor).
The actual behavior isn't constant. I suspect it's an error related to my positioning of the Trackclip, and depending upon exactly where it's located, and how I have it centered, it changes.
But it has one basic behavior. If I tilt my head up, the Y axis goes down, and vice versa. It's rather obvious what's going on there.
I put the trackclip on top of the headband of my headphones. So instead of being on the brim of a cap, in front of my head, it's on top of my head. But the software seems to think that the clip is in front of my head. So when I look down, it thinks the head is moving up as well. This all makes sense when I visualize it, I don't know if it's coming through right though. Visualize my head, with the clip mounted on top of it, and then imagine another head positioned behind it, as if it was wearing the hat that the clip is expected to be mounted on. The software generates motion information for the second theoretical head because that's where it thinks I am.
I've looked, and the website DOES mention putting the clip on headphones, so this can't be an unforeseen way of using it.
However I've done one more odd thing that I guess I should mention. With the clip resting flat on top of my head, I didn't get much up pitch angle because the rear reflector would drop below my head too quickly. So I tilted the rear up with a little improvised rigging, so when my head is level the clip is tilted forwards.
I'm having difficulty getting the whole arrangement centered right.. it's often a little off center or tilted to one side or the other. I can believe that's causing some of the trouble. But when I reposition it where I figure it'd be if I were wearing a cap (I just hold the headphones in that position), the whole deal works perfectly, no weird Y axis coupling at all.
I've only used TrackIR with FSX, but I really don't think FSX is the problem. However it's kind of hard to tell just by watching the preview head in the TrackIR software if it's happening there too.
I've tried messing with some of the settings in the software, like the screen you get to from the tracking screen, the one that shows the image that the hardware is seeing. There's a "vector position" setting, which has the promising sounding option of custom.. but every time I set it to custom and close the window, when I come back to it it's set back to hat. All the other settings will stay, except that one.
Also I'm getting the lag that others have mentioned, but probably not as bad. At worst it lags maybe a few seconds. And no crashing, thank goodness.. the lag has only happened once so far (in a few days of light experimental use), it seemed to happen because I'd left FSX running longer than I ever had before. I've read the posts mentioning hubs and power saving.. I'll look for any settings like that (it IS connected to a self powered hub, to be specific it's a hub built in to my monitor).