Track Hat

[Vicar 1]

Recently purchased a Track Hat and am using the software that came with it which appears to be a simplified version of free track..so my icon is the hat not the octopus.
I added Tobruk to my Blitz and truly amazed with the new variety of effects and planes .
However I did manage to get my Track Hat working but it seems very jerky with a very wide field of view and also pans very quickly when I turn my head
Does anybody have a good set-up using this software.
I have looked at the video in the guide but it seems to be more about emulating IR Tracker.
Any help here or directions to an already published article would be of help.
Thanks in advance.

[ATAG_Hawk]

Recently purchased a Track Hat and am using the software that came with it which appears to be a simplified version of free track..so my icon is the hat not the octopus.
I added Tobruk to my Blitz and truly amazed with the new variety of effects and planes .
However I did manage to get my Track Hat working but it seems very jerky with a very wide field of view and also pans very quickly when I turn my head
Does anybody have a good set-up using this software.
I have looked at the video in the guide but it seems to be more about emulating IR Tracker.
Any help here or directions to an already published article would be of help.
Thanks in advance.

Hi Vicar.

I too have the TrackHat system. My version is attached to my headset but I think the principal works the same with the hat attached version. I have got my device working reasonably well but the device is very sensitive to light sources. It works best in a low lighted room. When I say low light I mean, ideally you should have a lamp in front of you with no additional light sources behind you. It will not work in daylight unfortunately as the image on your monitor goes crazy. If you have a gap in your curtains that lets light in that will interfere with the camera. There is a video which I will try and find for you which shows how to set the track hat up using the included mapping and the filters.
I recommend you follow the mapping guide and copy the settings shown on the video. You need to keep tweaking the filters to achieve the most stable result. Track Hat is not perfect and I don't use it all the time but tend to turn it on and off depending on the situation. Let me know if you want me to send my settings.

Good luck FB.

[Stormrider]

Even at daytime there shouldn't be a problem with tracking.Your trackhat-set came with a modified ps3-eye?What you can try is open the settings of the ps3-eye and set gain, exposuere and the colour setting to auto.Now you have to shine with a very bright flaslight into the webcam and while you shine into him disable all the auto settings and adjust the gain and exposure till you see the dots of you cap.
The colour-setting must at something like 30%.

Jerky behaviour is caused by losing one dot or more of your ir-model.It could be also that you have to move your head to far because you made the curves.

[Vicar 1]

Thank you both I will take on board what you are saying and try it.
Your help is appreciated.

[Vicar 1]

Hi Vicar.

I too have the TrackHat system. My version is attached to my headset but I think the principal works the same with the hat attached version. I have got my device working reasonably well but the device is very sensitive to light sources. It works best in a low lighted room. When I say low light I mean, ideally you should have a lamp in front of you with no additional light sources behind you. It will not work in daylight unfortunately as the image on your monitor goes crazy. If you have a gap in your curtains that lets light in that will interfere with the camera. There is a video which I will try and find for you which shows how to set the track hat up using the included mapping and the filters.
I recommend you follow the mapping guide and copy the settings shown on the video. You need to keep tweaking the filters to achieve the most stable result. Track Hat is not perfect and I don't use it all the time but tend to turn it on and off depending on the situation. Let me know if you want me to send my settings.

Good luck FB.

Do send me your settings I would be most grateful... always learn from others....its a good way to go.

[ATAG_Hawk]

Do send me your settings I would be most grateful... always learn from others....its a good way to go.

Hi Vic.

I suggest you look at this website trackhat.orq if you haven't done so already. Go to MORE , videos and look for 'How to set up Mapping in Track Hat'. Study the video and take a written note of the axis settings on the Mapping screen which you will
find in your TrackHat start up. Not all the axis settings are used but just follow what they show you and change the settings the same for your Mapping settings

Here are my Filter settings: SMOOTHING 18b ms. ROTATION SENSITIVITY 0.1. ROTATION DEADZONE 1.28. TRANSLATION SENSITIVITY 0.25mm. TRANSLATION DEADZONE 0.77mm.

Not everybody has the same set up but the above works for me. I also tend to tinker with the filter settings as required.

Any further help required let me know.

FB.

[Vicar 1]

Much better thanks...
Do you have asymmetric setting checked on all of the curves (including XYZ) and do you invert any?
Your help is much appreciated..starting to get the hang of this now.
My head down works well but pitch up is limited..any suggestions ?
Bearing in mind the need to keep this as realistic as possible.

[Stormrider]

asymmetric setting, what does it do?What will happen if you move your head to the monitor.Iingame you zoom into your dashboard.But without that function enabled if you turn your head ingame more than 90degrees, you will also be zoomed in on you rudder. This function reverses a particular axis which is affectected after turning your head more than 90 degrees.These axis are the x-axis and the z-axis.
If you start Clod in windowed mode with Opentrack also opened you can compare what happens ingame and what is happening in the curves of opentrack and make some adjustments.

[ATAG_Hawk]

Much better thanks...
Do you have asymme intric setting checked on all of the curves (including XYZ) and do you invert any?
Your help is much appreciated..starting to get the hang of this now.
My head down works well but pitch up is limited..any suggestions ?
Bearing in mind the need to keep this as realistic as possible.

Hi Vic.
I don't have asymetric setting checked but I think Sormrider has answered that question for both us.
I don't have xyz curves enabled as per the Hat Track help video. I use just the Yaw, Pitch and Roll.

FB.

[Vicar 1]

Thanks gents for this advice
How do I start CLOD steam in windowed??
All is becoming much clearer

[Stormrider]

There where you can change the video options there is a tab named video which gives you option to choose between ,fullscreen on, pseudo or fullscreen off.You must selct fullscreen of and Clod has to restart itself.

[Vicar 1]

Thanks again..getting better all the time.

[Stormrider]

Thanks again..getting better all the time.

The function "zero while held" makes you look straight forward.It makes it easier to look through the crosshair in a Spitfire or Hurricane.

[Vicar 1]

The function "zero while held" makes you look straight forward.It makes it easier to look through the crosshair in a Spitfire or Hurricane.

Thanks again..great help

[TWC_Padre]

I've been enjoying my TrackHat since I purchased it in February 2019. It took some getting used to and I definitely appreciated the videos to help set up the Open-track software. I too use the TrackHat clip that mounts to the side of my headphones. A couple of things I discovered is you have to watch out for back-lighting. One day while I was flying my wife turned the light on in the other room and because of the back-lighting it flipped everything upside down on my screen and basically rendered the device useless. Once the light was turned off everything returned to normal. Another thing I noticed was that I had to off-set the PS3 camera to one side of my monitor, to the side that my clip was mounted on my headphones. This allowed me to have a more balanced head turn. Before this shift it always seemed that my head could turn further one way than the other.

But my greatest claim for this product comes from my experience today. I logon to get in a quick flight on CLOD; I load up my TrackHat open-track software for my head-tracker, but no lights are visible. I turn it of and turn it back on several times with no change. I take a look at my TrackHat clip and see a very small puff of smoke and then receive a message on my computer informing there was a USB surge from an unknown USB device. I see the cable has nearly detached so I open up the clip to see if I can re-wire it. What I discover is 2 wire leads in the clip and 5 wires in the USB cable. I have no idea how to re-wire it.

I contacted TrackHat to see if they could help, and James, the owner of the company, was disappointed that his product failed, so he has sent me a new one. In this day and age, I would have to say that is beyond incredible service (as mentioned above, I bought my device in February 2019, but that didn't seem to matter to him). So, the good news is, my device is on the way, the bad news is I'll be out of service until it arrives. So, my recommendation is, if anyone is considering a head-tracker device, they should seriously consider TrackHat: it's affordable, it's reliable, and if it fails, they have incredible customer service!

See y'all soon!