Self Enclosured 3D Printable TrackIR/Headtracking Clips

cults3d

3D printable, snap fit, self enclosured, 3 point headtracking clip model. No more cable mess. Very practical, clean and elegant design. Cables, LEDs and resistors will be hidden inside the enclosure. Very easy to install. Just snap fit the cap. Can be used as a NaturalPoint TrackIR' Trackclips Pro replacement or with "Opentrack" (free head tracking software). The model consists of two parts. A mainframe and a cap fit. Insert your LEDs in the holes and lay your cables inside the mainframe and snap fit the cap. The snap fit is capable of holding the mainframe without anything extra but of course you are free to reinforce it with whatever you want. As this clips is designed to be attached on a headset you may prefer to use it as left or right so you will find two models one for left and one for right. Pick the one for your confort. You won't need both of them. You have to use 5mm LEDs to fit in the holes. (but have in mind that some LED's might have different tolerances on their diameters.) It is suitable for both USB and battery powered setups. There is a cable hole below the frame where you can extend your USB cable. Attach the battery on the offset gap on the attachment handle. Attaching the headsets you can either use velcro bands or you can directly attach it to the headset with a two sided adhesive tape. TIPS & TRICKS For using as a replacement of NaturalPoint TrackIR trackclip pro, maybe it is broken, lost or simply you don't ever had the chance to have it then I recommend you to use it with wide angled, high powered IR LEDS. If your LEDs don't have proper angles and illumination the tracking may lost when you turn your head to a certain degree relative with the LED's angle. If you don't have Naturalpoint TrackIR and don't have the money to afford it you may prefer to use it with this opensource software "Opentrack" which is totally free. Personally I use it with Opentrack and totally happy with it. https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack/wiki/Quick-Start-Guide-(WIP) If you go with the free version and don't want to mess your camera for removing its IR filter (if it has one) then just use bright white (visible light) LEDs. They will perfectly work with some tweaking. Nothing special just lower the exposure and gain all the way down in camera settings and tweak the threshold for your ambient light in pointtracker from the OpenTrack's settings. The only downside of using a visible light is that your head will glow. There is no magic for being an IR LED. Some people may oppose me but it is working absoultely fine. Just false facts about headtracking should be IRs. As long as the camera sees the three light points it will work as same. Be sure the camera sees absolutely three points. Any parasite light, some other direct light, reflection etc will effect the tracking and will not work as intended. Remove them buy adjusting the thresholds and if necessary eliminate them by dislocating, turning off etc. Making your own tracker (if you have never done before) You may easly 3D print the enclosure but what now? Some of you may not know how to turn this empty enclosure to a working headtracker. Then read on, it is easier then you might think. Tools Needed: Soldering Iron Solder Soldering flux (not mandatory) Heat shrinking tubes will be nice. (Or electical isolator tape) Something to heat the heat shrinking tube to make it shrink. (A lighter maybe) Skill to solder cables, leds and resistors. Plan B: Ask a friend who has the skill to do it. BOM: LEDs (5mm, wide angled, mashroom types have good angle or similar) Resistors. Cables. (A wasted CAT5/6 UTP Network cable can help) PowerSource: Battery (will drain overtime and will add weight) or USB cable (for continious power but tethered) Making Decide your power source. (Tethered or Battery). Determine the voltage of it. Tip: A USB source is always 5V Calculate the resistor values for your power source and LED's datasheet (Forward voltage, max current etc). LED's can burn if the current form the power source is higher than its tolerance. So you will always need to use some resistance. The higher the resistor the dimmer the light. The lower the resistors the brighter the light. Just don't go under or lower. The LED will tolerate in between even if it is not %100 match. So calculations are not too essential. Don't let it daunt you. Beware the LED Polarity. Longer leg of the LED is positive and the short one to the ground. More info: https://makecode.adafruit.com/learnsystem/pins-tutorial/devices/led-connections You may also get help from the seller while buying them. Ask them. They may even tell you without book and tell you what you need. Tip: For self service you can get help from this page: http://www.free-track.net/english/hardware/calcled/ I have provided a wiring diagram for a parallel setup. I prefer parallel. Maybe you prefer serial. Thats your call. Do your calculations either for serial or parallel. Solder the LEDs, resistors and cables to the power source. Attach the LEDs to their nests. You may need to add some adhesive if your LED's dont stay put. Then lay the cables inside the mainframe. Snap fit the cap and turn on the power. Thats it.