Head Tracking with YEI 3-Space Sensor in UDK

[RoadKillGrill]

Hey guys, I'm not sure if anyone would recognize me from the UT2004 and UT3 forums
but I have finally stopped lurking and made a small project in UDK

Edit!!!! added new video head tracking without a HMD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAB-WLy8vz8

Using a YEI 3-Space Sensor and a Sony HMZ-T1 headset I made a small demo.
The 3-Space Sensor is a miniature AHRS that can give orientation of whatever its attached to.

For more information and the source code go to: http://www.yeitechnology.com/head-tr...ace-sensor-udk

To get the data into UDK I used DLLBind and bound a few functions out of the API.

The addition of RealD in this build of UDK made this even better as the side packing works in the HMZ-T1.
Previously I used iZ3D driver for 3D but the native implementation looks and runs better.
The video doesn't do the visuals justice tho it looks amazing in 3d and with it moving naturally with your head.

I'm not an artist so you can see that I'm just using the foliage map for the video.
I do plan showing this off at another conference in a few months if someone has a really sweet map they want me to use just message me.


Also the sensors have other applications beyond just head tracking, they can be used for gestures and motion capturing. If I get time I will try to make a few more fun demos in UDK.

Thanks!!

[Tom Shannon]

Neat! I can prolly get some traction with this around here, thanks for sharing!

[Private Tux]

Cool work!

Very nice job mate. Your accessory made with new connectivity of tracking and sensors. Glad you hear that you are welcome here for your first project of UDK (with RealD imagery). I'm pretty sure that the tracking will rotate up to and from 360 degrees, if I'm correctly.

[RoadKillGrill]

I'm pretty sure that the tracking will rotate up to and from 360 degrees, if I'm correctly.

The sensors output quaternions so it is tracking rotations on all three axes. They can go full 360, I just didn't want to spin around and choke on the video cord


If anyone knows of a solid wireless headset I'd love a link, I tried a Fatshark and while it works the quality of the video and display are poor. The HMZ-T1 displays are amazing but the base station makes it impossible to really makes it wireless without a backpack of equipment.

[Angel_Mapper]

Oh wow, nice! I wish that headset wasn't $800 though heheh.

[strangelet]

could this be adapted easily to other hardware, like the more ubiquitous naturalpoint trackIR ?

[slowJusko]

Needs more beard.
We're finally catching up with our dreams of virtual relality headset and all that.
Looks good... just need to get the price down on the hardware.

[k21n]

so you just attach that microchip to 3d headset and that's it (for the hardware part) ?

[RoadKillGrill]

could this be adapted easily to other hardware, like the more ubiquitous naturalpoint trackIR ?

Not completely sure what you are asking, the hardware itself is completely different than the TrackIR and uses different technology to calculate orientation. The ability to wrap a SDK with DLLBind is possible, it might require an intermediate to be written but shouldn't be difficult. I did a quick look up on TrackIR and the SDK is not available to people unless they plan on making a commercial product or something. There is another Optitrac SDK that is compatible with TrackIR that can be downloaded but I don't have a TrackIR to try it out.

so you just attach that microchip to 3d headset and that's it (for the hardware part) ?

Yes, the sensor just plugs into USB and that is it. It does not use line of sight with a exterior peripheral to calculate the orientation, the blue LED just indicates it on and can be disabled if desired. The orientation is calculated on chip at 280hz with Kalman filtering or 600hz with a basic complimentary filter.

[k21n]

The orientation is calculated on chip at 280hz with Kalman filtering or 600hz with a basic complimentary filter.

To technical for me to understand. I'm really interested in one of those.

[Phen0mM0dz]

I want it!

[RoadKillGrill]

After watching a few TrackIR videos I thought I could do that.

So this afternoon I added 3-Space Wireless support and did head tracking with a fixed screen.
The rotator multiplier can be changed to make the movements on screen bigger and allow you to see behind without looking away from the screen.

Updated the code to add the wireless. http://tech.yostengineering.com/3-sp...cking-with-udk

[Phen0mM0dz]

Truly amazing

[RoadKillGrill]

Its been a long time since I had an update but I have just updated the unreal script to use the newest API

The updated Firmware and API allows any sensor to stream data improving response time and data throughput. The Updated demo allows you to toggle between both methods for comparison.

Newest version can be downloaded here http://www.yeitechnology.com/head-tr...ace-sensor-udk

Edit: I got some feedback and made some quick changes to the demo
I fixed the typos noted and added some clarifications to things like the axis directions
added walking as default
added mouse yaw control
I also added a new build of the dll, nothing big changed but its built from today's build

[HiteshSharma]

I am working on something similar in Unity using the Polhemus G4 motion tracker(polhemus.com/motion-tracking/all-trackers/g4/). It uses a sensor and magnetic field to track objects. I attach the sensor to my chest and map the readings to an Actor in Unity.

When I attach the sensor to my chest, it is in 90 degree rotation in elevation. To give it a reading of (0,0,0) on which the actor stand straight, I applied Boresight(Tared) available in Polhemus API.

Now when I turn right or left my actor move the same but it starts leaning forward. In that case my actor starts tilting(leaning) forward. I tried both Euler and Quaternions(to avoid Gimbal) but nothing helped. This one issue running me in madness.

Any suggestion will be a great help.

Regards
- Hitesh