[sldev] Anyone here with OpenCV experience?

[Jan Ciger]

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Tigro Spottystripes wrote:
> according to Wikipedia:
> "At NaturalPoint's request, FreeTrack project members removed the
> strings from the software they provide to end users. FreeTrack then
> implemented a workaround which creates a local copy of these strings
> from the client software when used with TrackIR Enhanced titles.
> FreeTrack project members argue that copyright is not violated in this
> case since it may fall under the provision of 17 U.S.C. § 117 "
> 
> Though it then follows mentioning that more recent versions of the
> TrackIR software uses encryption to communicate with games and such to
> try to kick Freetrack out of the way again, but there are workarounds to
> make some of the new programs be compatible with Freetrack again.

Well, sorry. This kind of stuff is unusable for any serious project.
Regardless of whether or not they are in the clear legally, what if the
court orders them to remove and cease to distribute the code? Then you
and your project are left facing an expensive rewrite. As a project
manager I would avoid something like this by a wide margin. A chilling
effect, that is for sure, but I do not have money to get into a legal fight.

> I have no experience with TrackIR's own programs, but you mentioned that
> you can't look left without having the monitor be out of your field of
> view, Freetrack can map all the axis, so you can look left without
> having to use mirrors to see the monitor, you can actually look 180
> degrees or more without ever moving anything bellow the neck and still
> keep the monitor in plain sight easily, hell, you can look to the bottom
> of the screen and have the view go past showing your avatar feet and
> seeing what is behind you upside down :P

You have missed my point. Of course, you can remap anything, that is not
the problem. You can also map 1 degree head movement to 45 degree camera
movement or increase the camera field of view. However, what good is
that? Your neck muscles will be strained  like hell, because you will
have difficulty to keep the camera still. Do you want the user to have
fun or to get a muscle cramp?

Furthermore, you can control the camera with a lot better precision
using a mouse already - so your gadget is at best a complicated toy to
show off, but with little practical benefit over a simpler device if you
are constrained to the screen and desk anyway. If you had a stand-up
setup (e.g. a large projection screen or cave) where a mouse is
unusable, then this would make a lot more sense. This holds whether you
use Natural Point TrackIR or Freetrack or something else in this way -
it is just wrong interface paradigm for the job.

People often forget that virtual reality is not only about the
technology but also usability. They build crazy contraptions just
because it is possible to build them. Developers get target fixation and
do not realize that the stuff they have designed is ultimately an
useless gimmick.

When teaching VR to my students, I am always telling them - "What makes
you to *require* this interface? Why is it better than the usual xyz?
What does it improve?" Usually they cannot answer these questions -
precisely because they built the thing because it is "cool" and not
because it is actually useful. Sometimes I let them build their
contraption and try it out - and they tend to conclude themselves that
it wasn't the best idea :)

I am working in the VR field since about 1998 and I have seen a lot of
expensive, outright crazy and unusable devices that work actually worse
than the usual keyboard and mouse. This trend, together with the
unbelievable hype by companies trying to market their gadgets and
clueless journalists, has a lot to do with the bad reputation that the
field has got, even though there are many genuinely useful applications.

Regards,

Jan


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