A review of several “free” head-tracking alternatives to use with Flight

I don’t have much data to show but I am happy using OpenTrack with the SmoothTrack iOS app on an iPhone 11. Strangely though it needs sufficient background lighting to work even though the infrared camera of the phone works in total darkness. The only thing breaking the immersion is when you take a sip of anything. Usually, the phone looses track of your face and thus the cockpit camera pans randomly. That’s probably one reason to use TrackIR instead but it’s far to expensive in my regard.

Thanks for your post. Very interesting. Wish I could get it to work. I have a Logitech C270 but won’t get any smooth tracking. It always skips and is very jerky and often the face is not recognised at all. I expect the camera isn’t working too well. Had some success with Smooth Track and the cell phone camera, but that’s simply too much hassle. :frowning:

This is a timely bump. I recently replaced my 5-year old gaming laptop with a new tower+monitor. Without my laptop’s webcam, I bought a Logitech C920 for regular Zoom/Skype/etc. stuff. Just last night I decided to experiment with AI Track + OpenTrack and got them to be recognized in the sim.

Tracking in preview windows for both applications is smooth and even. However, in MSFS, movement is far too sensitive and twitchy. I need to study the settings above and see how much I can smooth things out and make it usable.

Sometimes, with some things, you get what you pay for, and while you can pay less, often there are trade offs.

Been using TrackIR for about 20 years (don’t remember when I bought the first one, but believe it was when FS2002 released), and it’s been flawless in multiple flight sims and games.

I am following your settings and appreciate that you have explained everything.
The only item I am unable to find is “Fs2020AItrack.ini”.
Any suggestions? Thanks!

@LameLefty
Regular webcams are pretty useless for tracking. Lower the fps in AiTrack - it works contrary to the way you’d think more fps = better when actually I’ve found 10fps to be best. Also raise gain and exposure if in low light. Try to get hold of a PS3 Eye Toy Camera - they were made for tracking, in the UK they can be had for a low cost of £5 from CeX (Cash Exchange) or other second hand retailers where you are.

I use the IPIsoft x64 drivers for PS3 EyeToy Camera on Windows 11 - they are free.

I use lostindark/DriverStoreExplorer: Driver Store Explorer [RAPR] (github.com) if I need to make sure drivers are uninstalled even if they come with an uninstaller I check with this program after.

PSEye Software Setup (Windows) · psmoveservice/PSMoveService Wiki (github.com)

Blockquote
Option A) IPIsoft PSEYE Driver Installation
NOTE: If you have already install libusb based drivers, please uninstall those drivers first in Windows device manager
This installation option is very simple. Just download the driver for your Windows OS architecture and all PSEYE Cameras should be recognized. IPISoft is software for Motion Capture Full Body system. This PS3Eye driver was not originally intended to be used with PSMoveService (opensource software), though it does appear to work. Therefore, please do not spam the support of IPISoft with questions about this driver. Use at your own risk.
Downloads:
64-bit OS:
http://files.ipisoft.com/drivers/PlayStation3_Eye_iPi-x64.msi
32-bit OS:
http://files.ipisoft.com/drivers/PlayStation3_Eye_iPi-x86.msi

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That’s just the name I gave to my profile in OpenTrack. Create a profile in OpenTrack with similar settings to the one’s I’ve shown - customise it to your seating position, camera, lighting etc. To create a profile click the drop down button to the left of the profile selector both are above the options buttons on the main window with the pink octopus.

You might think that, but I spent a couple hours last night messing around with OpenTrack curves and got pretty good results with my plain old Logitech webcam.

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:+1: I have another “anomaly”. When I look down or up…the OpenTrack does the opposite, which of course screws up the experience.

Any suggestions?

In OpenTrack go to options>output. Try checking the box to invert Pitch. Good luck!

I actually had to uncheck invert pitch and uncheck Z. Now it works. Thanks!

Thanks. That’s very helpful. Will try that.

Here is a video showing how the OpenTrack works using your settings (after unchecking the Pitch and Z).

Thanks for your great help!

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Thanks again for all your tips in this thread. Got myself a used PS3 cam. Resolution is horrendous but head tracking with Track AI and OpenTrack works really well after having the curves set up properly.

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Really? My PS3 eye cam with AITrack and Opentrack does not work anymore in the simulator… Outside the sim, the pink octopus in the Opentrack is moving correct. A few weeks ago all works fine.

Working fine with me (haven’t tried ut with the new Beta yet). Had to reinstall OpenTrack though to make it work. In case you haven’t done that yet, suggest you uninstall the two programs, and the drivers for the cam and try again. Or maybe the cam gave up the ghost…

My consumer webcam + AITrack + OpenTrack is working for me in the beta update currently being tested. I haven’t tested it for long duration flights, but for a quick jaunt around the field (all I’ve tested so far) it was fine.

I have noticed that sometimes during a longer session of an hour or two in weeks past, sometimes OpenTrack will say it’s working but the sim stops recognizing it. If I ALT-TAB out to OpenTrack, stop tracking manually then restart it, then go back to the sim, things will be working again. I haven’t yet seen that kind of thing with the new beta but I haven’t had any long sessions this week yet with the tracker programs running.

I’m using AITrack v0.6.5 alpha and Opentrack v2.3.12 I find they are very reliable on my system, probably not the latest and greatest versions but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

I paid for and downloaded the FaceTrackNoir app and installed Facepose to my old Samsung S7 edge. Followed all the steps e.g. debugging mode, updated the phone’s USB driver etc. yet still no joy. Under my Windows 11 in FTN not only is the Android USB app not shown but I’m also at loss as to which apps to use with Facepose even if using a UDP wireless connection?
Can anyone familiar with either app help me please?

Hi there! I wanted to share my project which recently had its first release, StableView. It’s a free and open-source head-tracking application that only requires a webcam to work. I thought some of you might find it useful in this relevant post so wanted to share it here. As always, any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

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