Free Head Tracking alternatives

While TrackIR ain't that new to us and Oculus Rift is something relatively new, how about some free head tracking solution that uses the webcam instead of external hardware? Heres a little review of such optical motion tracking applications. 

(Things will be different in the year 3000)

Where was that button again? 
It keeps me strugglin. I'm playing so many different vid games that sometimes I forget my controller and keyboard setup. In general, this whole thing makes me sick, it could be so simple: All I need to do is to take a look around the map, especially when playing in cockpit mode. Are buttons a must? Not at all – thanks to everything we life in middle of the future and here we can find nerdish solutions for a better digital lifestyle. So, let's give it a try.

Test experience
Starting with a headbanging session and yeah it works! The download was easy but the installation needs some attention. It seems lots of games support this type of input methods. I also tried this with War Thunder and it was big fun. However, it could lower your ingame FPS (depends). The decision about the right software is a question of choice since both have a unique set of features. Which software fits best, you might ask.

FreeTrack
This software piece can also be used for a better computer accessibility as a kind of input device. It runs with a standard webcam and FreeTrack states the the majority of webcams work with their solution. It uses markers to track your heads movements. Conclusion: You will need to put something onto your head, so in order to make it work you could wear a Headset or a hat. Those markers could be a infrared source, a LED or some retroflective surface material. Freetrack offers a Single Point mode, a 3 Points Clip mode, a Points Cap or 4 Points Cap mode. On their website theres a so called "LED Assembly Wizard" that will teach you how to do the LED part. For a list of supported video games check this link.

FaceTrackNoIR
This software works without a marker. You don't need anything besides a webcam. Also, it can track multiple objects at the same time. It runs with a lot of so called "Protocols" that grant many type of use. You have to choose one of the Trackers and this also means a bit of cunsumption for your individual setup. Then you can pick Filters as presets for different environments (e.g. dark places). This piece of software is modular so we can expect further improvements. FaceTrackNoIR supports about 400 different video games having a special workaround for non-supported games, too. Heres a huge list of supported titles.

Thoughts
In the past, I did a couple of projects with the MS Kinect system and compared to that those free tracking methods are not that sophisticated but at least a cheap workaround that really can be recommended for a better gameplay. But: This might not work in dark rooms or inside a nerds lightless room where theres no way to find the potatoe chips. I'm not sure about the impression we leave to people watching us play like that – it looks a bit strange I guess. And the biggest question that remains ununanswered: What's next, no more buttons? TrackSteering?

Find out more and download one of both:
FreeTrack 
FaceTrackNoIR


Note: As usual this ain't gonna work with Macs or Linux OS.

Robot Simulator – Domo arigato Mr. Roboto?

This time around I'm gonna review one of those very special Simulators. Yeah, strange things exist but this software could be quite usefull for you. LadsGents, get to know about Robot Simulator.

(I like to move move it, you like to: MOVE IT!)

Why crashtest bots in real life?
I once had RC stuff like helicopters and RC cars but I selled them because I knew if I would try to steer those things, they would crash the hard way. The only thing I was able to fly was a pair of robo-birds and they got attacked by cats and dogs. You guess it, in a video game such problems don't even exist and in my opinion the respawn part is the best thing at it. And yeah, the industry also does it that way, using their highly advanced Simulation environments before testing things in reality.

"It's a game". No, it's not, but it's fun + it's educational
This game comes from the developer of the almost unkown but very good Vehicle Simulator and the Virtual Sailor. It is like a Sandbox for your robotics projects. You can build robots, add code and test the whole thing within a scenery of choice. The physics engine acts like real stuff. The DirectX 9 delivers proper graphics and the integrated voice-speech is fun, too. A good Joystick support is also part of the whole thing.

Two choices: Control the robot or make it run artifical
You will need a basic knowledge of the programming language BASIC but you don't have to know much since there are many sliders and options on screen that allow a simple and fast control over the robots. Every axis can be adjusted by the user. On the other hand you can plot courses and create a semi intelligent bots that do what you want them to.

Robot types
Different types of robots are included along with components and tutorials. Those given robots are big fun. You can play with a desktop size rocket, a car that has laser, a tank like moving bot, a LED board of even a robotic spider.

Many possibilities

• You could create your own drones and toys.
• You could create a Tele Presence system like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory.
• You could create a kitchen service buttler bot.
• Unfortunately, the creation of FemBots seems to be impossible.

Summary
This game is not for free but you can use the base version with only a little of limitations. The full version can be ordered for 20 bucks. I recommend to download the Demo first. This way you could sneak into it and play around and in best case it wont be boring (depends on you). I still need to learn more about this Sim but one thing is for sure: It's better to test things inside a virtual environment.


Disclaimer: Do not create super intelligent robots, please. Scientists believe that one day robots will be more advanced than humans so let's just avoid the Matrix effect. Speaking of such, it would be wise to not introduce this Simulator to the Cleverbot because his mood is often in a bad condition and he prefers to get mad at people instead of having a good conversation. Hehe, just kidding, at least a bit. ;)

DC S World - Now this is a real Simulator

Many of you allready heard of it – talking about the DC S World sim. It is called 'The Simulator OS'. So, in fact this will only be a little review compared to what could be said about this upcoming video game. 

(Wow, look at that plane, wow that plane)

Gameplay
Very simple: this feels real! You are inside that plane, you can only leave it with the eject seat and theres nothing you know about that plane except you took a look at the manual. This is for pro sim gamer enthusiasts and what awaits them is no 'casual gaming experience' at all. Getting to the runway takes approx. ten minutes and only in case you learned how to move that plane on the ground. There are a lot video tutorials on YouTube and they should be considered in case you want to take-off at proper safety. You have to manage your flying aswell as that planes onboard systems and Fly-by-Wire only helps in case your plane has that specific feature in real life. The multiplayer mode is a great feature and nothing that could be descibed as mandatory for such a ambitious 'non-game'.

A good reviewer should allways give a minus point, too: The buttons in the cockpit can only be pressed using the keyboard and you can not click on modules directly with the mouse. Maybe this gets improved and this ain't even a minus point since that game offers a variety of input devices.

Vehicles
One word: DLCs. But you can start for free with the Su-25, a nice solution to enter DC S World. I still don't have a clue how to fly that thing, I guess I should RTFM. You can find plenty more air vehicles, also helicopters and tanks. The most fascinating one could be the F-15 but it depends on you. In total, currently 14 vehicles (at the moment) are offered for a price that is exactly below 10 bucks.

Graphics
This game needs good graphic cards (so I can't play it). The model quality of this games vehicles is for real the max. you can get so far. DC S has a Insanely HighRes mesh and texture quality. However, the ground level detail ain't that high.

Game Engine
The developemet is steady going and makes this Simulator better – step by step. This video game, ehm I mean Simulator has great capabilities and we should give it a place in the Hall of Fame of all-virtual Simulators. The all-over aviation physics and the capability to add different input devices along with Multiplayer support speaks for itself.

Summary
This game gets my 4.8 rating out of 5 so we can assume it's a 5 Stars triple-A title worth a thousand words. It has originality and as a standalone Simulator Operating System it's definitely a good thing not needing much more extras and stuff. Since this game has a better broadcasting scala than past or unkown simulators, we can expect to hear more from DC S in the future. See you in there (you can find me parking on the ground, scratching my head on how to close that canopy).

Heres a 'trailer' kind of video from YT:

For more info, go to: digitalcombatsimulator.com

My main inspiration is knowing a lot of ugly game assets ;]

It's sad but people like me don't have the in-depth gameplay, RPG or storyline experience. All they want to achieve is to fulfill their dreams and so they wait and wait for specific features and the things that they would shout for. Some of them read dev blogs for breakfast. Same here. Others create entire new Sagas but let's not talk about guys like Roddenberry or Lucas or Cameron again.

When I was a child gaming was a lot of fun and felt like watching a great movie. I got to be totally fascinated and the value of entertainment I had was allways good. I don't know what exactly changed but decades ago I believed that Space Invaders had very immersive graphics. Many people felt the same I guess. :] Now when playing vid games, why do I get bored so fast? I still take part as a player / grinder and yeah I still play vid games from time to time.

Today I mod more and more instead of playing. Things inspire me to create new things only because I am aware of further waiting for this and that and that. There was I time when I was thinking that someone will for sure create and publish the same thing I want. Unfortunately, this happened only a couple of times so I have to depend on myself to get what I want. I stopped to play lots of games because of that. Now I only rely on specific game engines that offer further expansion possibilities. However, I guess I should play more with the Cry engine or other engines but first things first I need to have my own wagon to drive around the maps looking for things to improve. This might be the main reason I am developing a all surface vehicle for use in different 'modable' video games.

Beeing a creative person I must have missed a lot of things along the path of entertainment. I can't continue to depend on movie makers and video game studios so I'm just another guy on the internet creating mods. There are others out there that do a kinda similar thing drawing or modeling stuff and I wish they would join us video game modders all around the web. I don't know what they play but I can see clearly that some really impressive game engines need more developers and most of all more great asset designers. If Daniel Simon decides to design ingame assets I could immediately shut down this blog. ;]

MouseKBoarders VS. Gamepads VS. Joysticks

"I ain't got better – I just changed the controller setup".

Crap, I was a X-Box gamepad user and now I play WT casual level style – only for better grinding. It's funny, with standard controller configuration you can achieve way more. This type of gameplay should be featured as 'Fly-by-Wire for retro planes'. I often wondered about the highscores, now I realize that even me can be a super air superiority ace pilot having multiple win streaks in a row. 

This topic has been on my mind since some time. The whole situation can not be changed, we've come too far – so here is a little fact sheet – just in case other players call me a n00b again (those b00ns):


Fact #1
Owners of command chairs know that such types of simulators can do serious stuff.

Fact #2
Joysticks players are on a pro sim level.

Fact #3
Gamepad users have the better comfort and good precision.

Fact #4
Users of mouse and keyboard allways win.

Fact #5
n00bs use preset steering assistance in video games to outmatch us all!!

New blog layout

This blogs layout slighty changed. It's looking a little bit better now. The glow effects might be able to lower your browsers FPS (actually, they are not intended to be lens flares). The Special FX is only visible to Chrome browsers atm. Beware slow PCs (like my Laptop). Enjoy and read a bit – new contents have been added, too. While I still need to go back in time to resolve some misspellings you may find some good readings in here. Downloadable stuff will be added in case this blog will not suffer at this nerdy corner of special interest. Oh, the new background image is a long time experiment on JPEG-compression – will it blend? Hint: Check the poll on the right side. And BTW: Bring back SG-1, SG-A and most of all MGM Studios.

McKay to Shepard: Will there be a aftershow?

Shepard: More Online Marketing, McKay, now!

Magic Tutorial: How to get your own War Thunder base skin

(the result could be something like this, I prefer to leave some space on the skin to apply ingame decals. A reason for shame is that I choosed the wrong plane for this tutorial. This way my fantastic Do 217 looks a bit strange but that's a different topic).

This is the professional way of quick modding. You can now easily skin every plane with the best result. It also helps a lot when creating your own paints / skins – having a base texture without preset markings and disturbing paint.

Requirements:
- Photoshop CS2 (at least) or Gimp
- A War Thunder installation
- A Plane of your choice

Step 1:
Select a plane and click 'Customization'. Now enable the User skin by pressing the arrow button on the right. It will create a subfolder with the planes skin name inside WT's User skin folder. A dialog screen will appear, click OK. Allright, done?

Step 2: 
Go to the WT folder and enter it's subfolder called '\UserSkins' and enter the newly spawned subsubfolder (you may have to reload the folder with keyboard 'F5').

Open this file by right clicking and selecting the graphic software of choice: Grab the file with the ending *_n.jpg or *_n.tga (wait, you don't have name suffix activated? Uhhh, common hehehe – well, just grab the '_n' file ;)

Example: do_217j_1_u.tjpg 

And now open: _c or _a or whatever else theres a file for. Open it the same way you opened the previous file (don't worry if theres only a _a or only a _c along with a _n).

Step 3:
Gimp or PS is running and you opened both files. Make sure the layer module is visible under 'View > Layers'. Now unlock the layer by doubled clicking on the small locked icon (counts for PS). Do that for both images (wait a second Gimp users. ;)

Make a duplicate of that image (also counts for Gimp's). Okay, now you have two images. Activate the movement instrument and drag-n-drop one image into the other in this order: Drag image _n into image _a or image _c. 

 (image _a)

Position it exactly over the other layer (tip: position it to the top left corner and make sure it has the same position as the layer below).

(image _a with overblended image _n)

Step 4:
Heres the special trick. Simply 'desaturate' the upper layer by changing the layer option dropdown to 'luminace'.

(upper layer set to 'saturation' layer mode)

Now even the national plane markings should be no longer visible, it's just like magic (should work with almost every WT plane skin). All the so called grills and fins are blended into the other image. Sidenote: Those _u files are Bump-Map shaders and those are always handy. Now we will take a look at improving things.

When viewing the details of that image we assume that we could do better, so simply make a copy the upper layer and desature it. Finally change layer mode to 'colour' and flatten the image to be only one layer (click on Menu > Layers > "Flatten layers". That's it, were almost done. Notice that every colored part of the image turned to be a perfect base template? What we now may need is some good contrast, so open the brightness/contrast dialog of your graphic software and play around with the contrast till so have a nicely saturated image (a slight lowering of contrast, e.g. +50 %). And by changing the brigtness to some plus range you can create silver shining iron but it will make dark areas looking grey, e.g. wheels.

 (dark is a start)

Heres where second method is a big help (not mandatory): Once or twice again copy the last remaining layer. Play around with one of the layer options of your choice / choose one that fits best for you. By overblending and overblending many layers with diferrent layers you can also achieve great results.

(Simply played with brightness/contrast, copied the layer and set it to 'hard light'). 

Step 5:
Looking good for a overall base texture, it's done for the first instance right? Ok, now click save as and overwrite the following file in the User skins subfolder of that plane you edited:  *_a.jpg or _c.tga (you could do a backup before but it's not mandatory).

Go back ingame, WT will reload your skin ingame but you need to go to the 'Customization' screen again and press the little reload icon. Make sure to select the User skin in your favorite planes customization setup. Take a look at your new base skin, awesome looking – if you followed all the steps you sure be happy with the result!

 (both you look even good in ultra low quality)

[- Now you know how to handle layers and it needs just a little of practice to get something like this -]

(work in progress, unfinished but allready made of carbon)

Hint: You can even set the output format in the game options to be a lossless TGA file format or a JPEG. It depends on how long it should last looking good (a little insiders jocke). ;)

However, those skins are only visible to the player and can not be viewed by other players ingame multiplayer. But anyway, this skin is now a great template for you and it looks good ingame without further modifications. You could simply apply two decals on it to at least have something to show to the other players. You can play them and maybe a cat near you is looking at your new plane skin. Note: Do not use too much white paint, the render engine of WT only looks half way ok when making some kind of grey paint. Different to that, dark stuff has brilliant detail.

(limited support for white: Details on the planes skin are not visible, almost plain white actually beeing a grey base template to not bloom the overall appearance)

My NextGen Consoles review

I still don't like 'em^^















Just saying.


--- End of message ---

F2P: And what about account selling without bad intentions?

Some of those Free2Play games are really good and I guess a lot of them have that dual gameplay thing where you can pay to win or waste your time like a sinner. 

The problem
I've had it often, I like a specific game, I play it to obsession till that moment where I begin to realize that I should grab a calculator to measure the needed time resources for needed ingame items and gameplay levels. Right besides that theres that point where a game wont offer any of our favorites on the patch-wishlist any soon. So the end of the story is a broken heart player and he has no urge to start the game client any soon. [ Hmm, let me say this helps with keeping it real, going out of the house, real life might be no fun but it is a must. And then I encounter another Free2Play game and I like it, the whole situation restarts, It happended to me with a couple of F2Ps but I will not name any because I think I really like them?? ]

The solution
It's very simple because all I can say is: 'There are players out there and they only play for prestige, they only wanna own every little thing they need for their ingame experience". And it's true, prestige means in my case, I want all fancy vehicles and I don't care on their XP, HP, DP and stats capabilities. I want to 'drive' them like a classic car and while even n00bs can blame my planes or spaceships or what so evers skill points I would still be having a lot of fun if I can manage to collect my favorite ingame items. And heres how it could work: "Allow account selling, this way everyone could buy a entirely up-leveled game account". The only other thing which is needed is granting a nickname and ownership change = a better balencing between player types IMO. There still will be a lot to play / grind for players so nobody can say a good filled game account is only something for n00bs.

The ignorance
There are many great F2Ps and I would like to buy official game account offers. People can find unofficial account selling at online marketplaces. This is no solution. Again, all I can say is: "No level by level, please". Keep the free and keep the pay to win. I just don't understand why taking over a mates account the legal way is such a no go. We can only hope that people start to talk about this topic while video games are getting more and more to be our daily entertainment. Having fun everytime I play a specific game would be great, absolutely.

Not that I have the money to do so^^ ;)
Disclaimer: Do not offer game accounts, it is not allowed. Also, do not buy offered game accounts!


This article has been written by Simulator Miaow. Not really, she typed it, ok ok tbh I have no cat but could a virtual cat be as important as a real cat? Uh, too tricky to comment. Let's say ingame items are as worth a real cats mouse toy. 

WIP: The 'Fruit fly

Some would say that without any doubt, such image compositions should not be done by Art Directors, not in that unprofessional way having a idea for a composition and making fun like a jocke out of it. Yeah, of course they're right. Some would add that also counts for this blogs layout. ;)

So this is what comes out when you try to keep a Orbinauts community updated even with minor progress.

Work in progress – no time to play but wasting time is a must, sometimes
You know how it is, theres a thin line between what could be done by a artist to introduce his virtual for free product and what nerds do for fun. The balance between those aspects is for sure artistic. Anyway folks, heres another preview of the now so called 'Fruit fly a.k.a. DIGNITY CLASS. Oh and one more thing, the misspelled words in my trash interpretation of a data transfer are due to Cervezas. YaY, hope you enjoy + it's only a #WIP...let's call it a Trash-Up.

(I managed to grab some details while hidding crucial bugs of the mesh. Now that's artistic! ;)