Head tracking for desktop VR displays with the Wii

stu · Fri 04/01/2008 19:24:18

Check this out.

QuoteUsing the infrared camera in the Wii remote and a head mounted sensor bar (two IR LEDs), you can accurately track the location of your head and render view dependent images on the screen. This effectively transforms your display into a portal to a virtual environment. The display properly reacts to head and body movement as if it were a real window creating a realistic illusion of depth and space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

This is so gonna be the future of gaming.

Sorry if this has been posted before, I searched and couldn't find anything.

monkey0506 · Fri 04/01/2008 19:36:53

I'm picturing this using a projector with 3D glasses...yes....right until you run into the wall.

Very interesting.

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Fri 04/01/2008 19:48:57

On the subject of 3d, going slightly off-topic - does anyone know whether shutter glasses actually work, and if so what they do exactly, and how likely am I to run into some at my local computer store or Worten megastore?

lo_res_man · Fri 04/01/2008 20:39:19

Well I don't know your chances of finding them is, but shutter glasses work by blacking out, with a LCD one eye, and displaying an image on the computer screen angled for the other eye and visa versa. Its done really fast so that your eyes don't see the blinks, but the advantage is that it can use an ordinary display to show stereoscopic 3d.

Fyntax · Fri 04/01/2008 20:45:33

Quote from: stu on Fri 04/01/2008 19:24:18
This is so gonna be the future of gaming.

It certanly will not be.. it's used extensivly allready.

It's called a TrackIR and I've owned one for years

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc7rGnHIgWQ&feature=related

It's much cheaper than buying a wii also

monkey0506 · Fri 04/01/2008 22:05:48

Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Fri 04/01/2008 19:48:57On the subject of 3d, going slightly off-topic - does anyone know whether shutter glasses actually work, and if so what they do exactly, and how likely am I to run into some at my local computer store or Worten megastore?

Wikipedia is supposedly the new Google.

I still think this is cool; future of gaming or not.

Edit: @Rui's post below: Holy hell Rui hahaha. That's hilarious. Sorry if my answer offended you. Personally I don't know anything about it. In fact, before I Wikipedia-ed it I didn't know what the crap you were getting on about. Sorry if it wasn't a very helpful answer.

Rui 'Trovatore' Pires · Fri 04/01/2008 23:09:19

Wow, instead of being told to Google it, I was told to Wiki it.

Now I should respond as I usually do in these situations - I HAD Wiki'd it. I needed some more input, I needed human input, which usually gets someone going "Just Google it!". Lo_res_man's reply was basicaly what I had found on the wiki, and even that told me something - it's not as obscure a thing as I thought, never having heard of the thing in my life. I'd STILL like to know whether anyone actually used it, whether it works, how it works (is the picture on the screen flat but closer to you, or does the image actually look 3?), and what are the chances of it being found in a regular Worten megastore - which I can't check for right now, as I'm not in my country Portugal, but rather in Brazil, quite a distance away.

I do know that this was a bit of a hi-jack, but it was still on the relative subject of 3d, and god I *hate* being told to "Google it", because if I wask something, I either already have and did not get my answer or I needed some more humane answer.

lo_res_man · Fri 04/01/2008 23:47:52

well...eh

Quote from: Rui "Trovatore" Pires on Fri 04/01/2008 23:09:19
Lo_res_man's reply was basicaly what I had found on the wiki, and even that told me something - it's not as obscure a thing as I thought, never having heard of the thing in my life.

well....eh heh...when I was in my late tweens I got a book that had a fictional VR setup in it. Of course it sounded really cool, and so I wanted to learn more. I found a lot of books at the local library about the real thing, and it was all deeply facinating. So my info is dredged up from a child whose only real hobby was reading. So my responce may be slightly misleading as to this setups obscurity.

EldKatt · Sat 05/01/2008 21:23:51

Quote from: Fyntax on Fri 04/01/2008 20:45:33
It certanly will not be.. it's used extensivly allready.

It's called a TrackIR and I've owned one for years

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc7rGnHIgWQ&feature=related

It's much cheaper than buying a wii also

This isn't entirely the same thing. On the hardware side of it, the two are capable of more or less exactly the same thing. The application of it differs, however. TrackIR and similar devices I have only seen used as a control surface, such that you can use head movement to control things like view rotation, in existing applications which would otherwise have used buttons, a joystick or a mouse. It's both convenient and novel, but it does not create any type of illusion. Lee's idea, though, is one that I had never heard of. He's also merely detecting your head position, but he's actually using the data as an actual position in a virtual space, giving you the illusion of being in that same space. That's new AFAIK, and it's also really cool.

Lionmonkey · Sat 05/01/2008 21:45:45

I still think that mouse is the best controller ever. You don't have to swing and turn your hands till they hurt like crazy. You don't have to hold a stick in your hand. And you don't have to rotate your head while still trying to keep track on what's going on on the monitor, till your eyes pop out.

Ishmael · Sun 06/01/2008 23:03:09

Quote from: Lionmonkey on Sat 05/01/2008 21:45:45
I still think that mouse is the best controller ever. You don't have to swing and turn your hands till they hurt like crazy. You don't have to hold a stick in your hand. And you don't have to rotate your head while still trying to keep track on what's going on on the monitor, till your eyes pop out.

But I'd sure love to peak around corners with head tracking. It'd revolutoirise tactical shooters and the like, I reckon.

shbaz · Mon 07/01/2008 05:09:15

I don't think IR is really good enough. Accelerometers are cheap enough now that they'll be what is used.

They're micro-machines that have a silicon springboard with a capacitive sensor to tell how much gravity is pulling on it.. by measuring this and plugging into an equation you can get the tilt angle. Sometimes a gyro must be used along with it to stabilize rapid movements, which might make the springboard oscillate uncontrollably.

This is what has been used in those look-at-what-you-want-to-kill systems in American helicopters. The Wii-mote uses them too.

Huw Dawson · Mon 07/01/2008 12:06:40

Well, I always consider the "true" next generation of games will be of a much more Tom Clancy feel... but this is pretty close.

- Huw

InCreator · Mon 07/01/2008 12:42:59

Miniguns run on electric motors, right.
Now, there could be a switch on motor (the trigger actually is one).
And switch would be connected via USB.
A bit of software, and--

Game over.

On topic, I'd still stick to mouse. Does head movement help or worsen typical-PC-gamer's neck aches?
Sounds a bit like gymnastics, which should be good... then again, doing it 4 hours straight...