Track IR help

[pilottj]

Hey guys, I just added Track IR 5 to my FS experience. I must say it is quite a change. Some of it is a little too intense for my eyes. Tilting my head down to look at some gauges or switches, especially in a fighter cockpit like the P-40 has been putting a lot of strain on my eyes. However I do really like the lateral, vertical and fore-back movements.

I would like to keep my hatswitch for rotational movements, and use Track IR for the other movements. Is it possible to seperate these functions?

TJ

[Tako_Kichi]

The TIR5 software is very user friendly and allows you to 'tweak' the response of the camera until you are happy with it. You need to get familiar with the settings and adjust each of the axis profiles to get a setting you can live with. Each of us is different and so are our set-ups with regard to camera position, seat position, body size/shape etc. so there is no 'one size fits all' solution. You need to customize it to your own environment and Natural Point provide a lot of ability to do that.

If by this phrase "Tilting my head down to look at some gauges or switches, especially in a fighter cockpit like the P-40 has been putting a lot of strain on my eyes" means that you are having to tilt your head a long way down and then look 'up' at the screen as if trying to look at your own eyebrows then I suggest you try playing with the settings in the 'Pitch' axis window to give you a greater magnification of movement in that plane. By doing that you will get a larger movement on screen for a smaller amount of head movement.

If you wear bi-focal or tri-focal spectacles they can also cause issues as you end up chasing the 'magic' spot where you can see through the lenses but then can't see what you wanted to look at in the first place as TIR is now pointing somewhere else! My eyes have deteriorated with age and I now need tri-focals outside the house but sitting at my computer I don't need any spectacles at all (thankfully) as the middle part of my lenses are basically plain glass.

[PilatusTurbo]

Track IR will take getting used to. At first, it's remarkably difficult to accustom your brain to something it's simply not used to; completely unnatural head and eye movements. However, once you do start to find that groove, you'll wonder how you, or anyone ever flew FS without it.

You won't even think to use that hatswitch, once used to it, TJ. The rotational aspect of Track IR is the hardest part at first. To look 90 degrees to the right or left, you instinctively rotate your head almost 90 degrees to said direction. With Track IR, you only need rotate your head 5-30 degrees, depending on how far to the left, right or back you wish to look. It's really screwy with your mind at first, but you'll get used to and love it.

My few Track IR hints are these, and they really made vs. breaking my TIR experience:

First, set spacebar in Track IR to be your TIR pause button; invaluable when adjusting some VC item like engine settings or radio frequencies. The space bar because it's a big, easy to find button during that moment when you need to pause Track IR immediately.

Second, finding and setting your eyepoint to a comfortable and default location will be key. Do this by hitting the pause key while in the sim (space bar if you do set it up that way), and then relax to your comfortable flying position in your chair and rotate your head up just a tad. Then hit F12 to reset Track IR's tracking. Then un-pause and you'll have a nice default eyepoint; the looking slightly up while calibrating Track IR is a personal preference that allows for better panel viewing, instead of having to tilt my head down a degree or two all the time.

Third, fine tuning the actual response limits and times in Track IR's interface will take a bit of time, too. However, once you've figured out how it adjusts and responds, you'll be able to really tweak it.

The point looming on the horizon of my long winded post, is to stick with it. Track IR almost ended my FS career because I was so frustrated with it for the first few weeks. I went online and read around, and found some useful tips, and it has since transformed my FS experience permanently. I can not sim fly without it ever again. I hope my Track IR 4 never craps out (knock on wood), because it means going and getting another one if I still want to fly FS. :ernae:

EDIT: One more tip: If you ever sneeze or something like that and totally screw your eyepoint up, just snap your head backwards and back to your regular head position. This usually resets the tracking. Believe me, the first time you really sneeze while using Track IR, you'll know what I'm talking about. :ernae:

[Daveroo]

im a big idiot and i figured it out pretty fast myself.....as far as looking "down" at my panels...i have mine so that all i really have to do is just use my eyes to look down with a slight tip of my head..rather than a dip of my head..if that makes sense...tilt of my head?..i just look down with my eyeballs....

[pilottj]

Lol thanks for the suggestions guys, yeah it will take some getting used to.


Cheers
TJ

[Mathias]

I remember TrackIR almost made me seasick after I first got it and flew a couple of hours with it, but one gets used to it. :-)

[AndyE1976]

To answer your original question you can pause the TIR with F9 by default and then use the hatswitch to rotate, however everyone here is right, once you get used to it then it's hard to go back.

[srgalahad]

This is one of those cases where it's really important to spend time working through the manual. Esp. read about the "profiles" as you'll see a lot of differences.

The other thing a lot of people miss is:
"Precision
The Precision hotkey enables precision mode, which temporarily steadies the view by increasing smoothing. When precision mode is disabled, smoothing settings return to the normal profile preset. Precision mode is commonly used in combat flight simulators when tracking an enemy in your sights to keep the view as stable as possible."

Take time and do it in small bits.

[HighGround22]

. . . The point looming on the horizon of my long winded post, is to stick with it. Track IR almost ended my FS career because I was so frustrated with it for the first few weeks. I went online and read around, and found some useful tips, and it has since transformed my FS experience permanently. . . .
Fully agree with this very sound piece of advice. Likewise, I was greatly frustrated with TIR for a few weeks, whereas now I consider it to be essential.

My one advice contribution is to paraphrase a point in an article I just happened to read, during my "Learning Phase". The author said something like this: "Most people pick a certain profile because they've heard that someone else liked it, and they stick with that profile "as is" while they learn to accommodate their head movements to that profile. This is a great mistake! You should learn the simple ways in which to tweak a profile, and then constantly improve upon it until that profile works just right, and you're entirely comfortable with how TrackIR works for you."

I took that to heart, and I've never been happier with TIR!

[OleBoy]

No positive input from me. I bought it and used it for a few weeks off and on. At first it was like any new gadget. Then the wow-factor subsided and I tossed it aside. Occasionally I remember it's sitting atop my other pc and I try it again. I found that the sensitivities are never consistent. Like FSX, always needs fiddling with. Too much interference from light sources that cause the sensors to do back flips. Constantly hitting F12 to reset to the view forward. When someone opened the refrigerator door in the kitchen, oh joy, I went from a nice straight and level flight, to flying inverted. Finally having enough of that crap it got disconnected, put back in the box, and has since resided in my storage room.

I had no clue that I had to live in a dark cave like a bear to feel the immersion mentioned in rave reviews.

I'm always hoping something with better precision hits the market.

In hopes you have a better experience, enjoy.

[Tako_Kichi]

I had no clue that I had to live in a dark cave like a bear to feel the immersion mentioned in rave reviews.
Sorry OleBoy but that comment is simply incorrect. I run TIR5 with absolutely no issues when using an overhead room light that is of a regular brightness. It's unfortunate if you have something like a fridge behind you and in the camera's view angle but I bet there would be ways of either moving the camera location or tilt which would take the fridge out of contention.

During the summer I get issues with late evening sun but closing the blinds on that one window eliminates any issues.

[OleBoy]

Sorry OleBoy but that comment is simply incorrect. I run TIR5 with absolutely no issues when using an overhead room light that is of a regular brightness. It's unfortunate if you have something like a fridge behind you and in the camera's view angle but I bet there would be ways of either moving the camera location or tilt which would take the fridge out of contention.


LOL! Ok. I don't know how it can be incorrect. That's the conditions I have unless I want to kick a kid outta their room so I over run. I went to the extent hanging a blanket over the doorway. That helps a lot, but looks like hell too.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Landman]

I use track IR often and I have a utility called jab_fsx.exe that will pause track IR when in any view other than a cockpit view so you can use the hat switch to pan around when in spot plane view, etc. It will automatically unpause track IR again then you go back to a cockpit view. I can't remember where I got it but if you google it or search for it in fsx utilities on various fs download sites you will find it.

One other issue about looking down to see instruments as you mentioned above is that when using track IR in the virtual cockpit the view when your head is level always seems to be to high only allowing you to see the uppermost row of gauges on a panel. If you tilt your head down to see gauges you have exited the center null zone of track IR movement and sometimes even slight movement of your head can blur the gauges making it a pain when doing instrument approaches. I solved this problem by making my own camera view and adjusting the "p" value in the pbh settings in the camera view definitions so that when my head is still and level I can see all the necessary gauges and still see out the windshield. Below are two screenshots of what I am talking about. The first one is with track IR in the virtual cockpit view. Note how the default angle is too high. The second is my own camera view that I created and note how you can see all the gauges and still see outside without having to hold your head tilted down which becomes fatiguing after a while.

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[pilottj]

:icon29:Thanks guys, those are great suggestions, I'll use Track IR in little bits until I become comfortable with it. You know with blurry or gauges that are hard to read...that happens in real life, especially at night or in IMC while in turbulence. :mixedsmi:

[MarkH]

I solved this problem by making my own camera view and adjusting the "p" value in the pbh settings in the camera view definitions so that when my head is still and level I can see all the necessary gauges and still see out the windshield. Below are two screenshots of what I am talking about. The first one is with track IR in the virtual cockpit view. Note how the default angle is too high. The second is my own camera view that I created and note how you can see all the gauges and still see outside without having to hold your head tilted down which becomes fatiguing after a while.

Or just look up a bit before pressing the TrackIR 'centre' button.

[Daveroo]

in oleboys defence...( i know he dont need it)......though i love my trackir and allways use it...where i have my desk in my RV,the door is just to my left and a foot or so behind me..in the summer time i cant have that door open or the light from outside will disrupt the trackir and make it useless...and i cant allways afford to use the air conditioned...so i have to fly after dark....lol

[PilatusTurbo]

"Or just look up a bit before pressing the TrackIR 'centre' button."

Easiest way to do it; always do that myself. Don't make this harder than it should be. :ernae:

[kludger]

Great advice in this thread, TrackIR is sort of like EZDok, takes a bit to tweak and get used to it, but once you do you won't want to fly without it.

In case it helps I spent a lot of time trying to tweak a profile for FSX over the years, and then one day someone pointed me to "Seth's flight sim" profile on the Naturalpoint forum and I tried it and haven't had to tweak ever since, it works great and is here in case you want to check it out:
http://forum.naturalpoint.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=38620#Post38620