TrackerXP 3.40 Head Tracking Computer Vision

!for X-Plane 10.20+, 32 & 64 Bit

and X-Plane 9.7 !

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See QUICK START INSTRUCTIONS Pages 3 & 4! OPERATION & USAGE TIPS Page 9!!NEW in TrackerXP 3.40!• Variable Null Zone pg 9!• Start Up Centered !• Variable delay limits fps camera capture pg 11!• Reset to Beginner or Last Saved defaults pg 9!• fps window shows Paused and Stopped!• TXP Preference header shows TXP Version!• Fixes Windows’ not showing Logo at start

Introduction!!TrackerXP... at last, an inexpensive, easy to use Head Tracker that uses your computer’s built in web camera. No complex peripherals or headgear required!!!TrackerXP smoothly pans your head left, right, up, and down through a wide field of view inside your aircraft’s cockpit and cabin. Move your head towards the camera to Zoom in close on panel instruments for easy adjustment. NEW! TrackerXP now includes a head tracking ChaseViewDeluxe view! !!

TrackerXP steadies your head motion. Response speed, smoothing, field of view settings and a wide range of Options are easily selected from the TrackerXP Preferences menu. !!Instantly pause TrackerXP, freezing your current viewing angle. You are always only a single click away from Pause, Enable or Disable TrackerXP... a single click away from Pause, Centered or Active ChaseViewDeluxe... a single click to return to any of X-Plane’s interior or external views. !!TrackerXP can also be used to examine interior details. Use your arrow keys for a spectacular “look about” or zoomed views anywhere inside the aircraft’s cockpit or cabin. TrackerXP works with all aircraft and is available for Macintosh, Windows.Linux is unavailable at this time. !!TrackerXP is for X-Plane 10.20 and above, and it is 32 and 64 bit ready. TrackerXP also performs well on X-Plane 9.7.!!Updates!!TrackerXP includes free updates for the life of the product! Registered purchasers will receive notification of free updates by email.!!Demo!!TrackerXP is available for purchase from the www.x-plane.org store.!!STMA highly recommends users try the free TrackerXP Demo on their computer system before purchase. The demo gives flight simmers 15 minutes of use before quietly exiting to X-Plane’s 3D forward view. The TrackerXP Demo can be restarted as many times as you wish.!

TRY THE FREE DEMO!!If the Demo version does not work for you, please send your X-Plane log.txt to Bob@ShadeTreeMicro.com. We will get your TrackerXP up and running!

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Quick Start Guide!!Unzip TrackerXP_PKG.zip. Open the resultant folder named TrackerXP_PKG. Drag the folder named TrackerXP into your !X-Plane > Resources > plugins and you are ready to go.!Please do not .... !• Change the folder name.!• Remove or rename any of the component files inside the

folder.!• Install TrackerXP inside an aircraft / plugins folder.

The correct path name is required to save your preferences.!!

• TrackerXP starts up automatically on all Macintosh and most-all Windows computers.Windows users, if TrackerXP fails to work straight away, your camera may require special setup instructions.Please see page 5 “Quick Start for Windows”.!!

• At startup, observe that the light blue oval tracks your head movement.Try this ....Keep your eyes pointed towards the center of your monitor. Move your head, and the oval along with it, until the oval touches the right edge of the screen. If you are doing this correctly, the X-Plane view moves in the background.Now, sit up tall or slouch down to tilt the X-Plane view.!

• Confused? No need to be. Check the following YouTube movies.- www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMAaYiO-yt4 (Light blue oval versus all kind of movements part I)- www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV5ryIz8sng (Light blue oval versus all kind of movements part II)!

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Important ...!• Click the X-Plane view in the background to bring X-Plane to the front. Do not close the “FaceTime” camera window!!• Align your head directly forward of your web cam.

Center your eyes directly in the FaceTime view.If you have a built in web cam tilt your computer monitor to align the X-Plane horizon.Tilt peripheral web cams up or down.Or tilt the view from the TrackerXP!

Preferences menu, see page 8.Important ...!• The camera must see both of your eyes!

Keep your head within the edges of your monitor and your eyes looking somewhat towards your webcam.!!• TrackerXP Preferences and brief Instructions can be found

on the: X-Plane > Plugins > TrackerXP pull down menu.Detailed information can be found on pages 8 to 10.!

Very Important ...!• Set a joystick button or keyboard key to:

STMA/TrackerXP/PauseTrackerXP.Short clicks toggle between Pause/Enable TrackerXP.Long clicks Disable TrackerXP.!!

• For ChaseViewDeluxe operation set joystick buttons or! keyboard keys to:! STMA/TrackerXP/CenterCVD and/or! STMA/TrackerXP/PauseCVD! Long clicks Disable the TrackerXP CVD view. See Appendix One and Two for detailed button and key assignment instructions.!For convenience, when making many adjustments to X-Plane’s controls, instruments and manipulators we highly recommend using your joystick’s thumb switch or the ‘Z’ key to Pause the TrackerXP view.!

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A Not So Quick Start for some Windows!!Please ensure outboard web cameras are plugged directly into a dedicated USB slot. Use of a USB hub is unreliable.!!TrackerXP uses OpenCV, computer vision, software to find and open your web camera. This works well for most Windows computers.!!!However, there are a few Windows computers where TXP cannot recognize the camera input. If OpenCV cannot detect your camera at first startup on Windows, you will see a black “FaceTime” view. X-Plane may even crash to the Desktop.!!Locate and open the TrackerXP_Settings.txt found inside the X-Plane/Resources/plugins/TrackerXP folder.!!Use any text editor e.g. NotePad or WordPad to change Capture_Mode to 1 and Camera_Id to 0.Save your changes and restart X-Plane. In most cases you will see the TrackerXP FaceTime view.!!If Windows has previously assigned another Video Device to Camera_Id = 0, X-Plane may crash.!In that case, please try editing the Camera_ID to 1, then try Camera_ID = 2. Lastly try Camera_ID = 3. !!!!Windows under BootCamp requires Camera_ID = 0.!!!If you experience problems with the operation of TrackerXP please send an email describing the problem to:!! ! ! ! ! ! Bob@ShadeTreeMicro.com.!I would like to know: Did you see the yellow TrackerXP logo? Do you see the FaceTime view? Do you see a blue oval? Does the blue oval track your face? Please also include the X-Plane log.txt. This is located inside your X-Plane installation folder. ! !

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Try 0 first; then try 1,2 or 3. Default is 0!!Cap_Mode 1 turns Direct Show ON

Things to Know!!X-Plane will startup in TrackerXP mode.!A yellow splash screen indicates that TrackerXP has loaded (shown at right).!!A FaceTime camera view confirms your camera is operating.!!TrackerXP will find your face. A light blue oval will track your head movement. The X-Plane 3D Forward view will tumble into position.!!Slide your head a small distance in the intended direction. It may be easiest to rock on your bottom or tilt from your waist. Keep your eyes turned somewhat towards the center of your monitor.!!Sit up tall or slouch down to tilt the X-Plane view.!!Remember... the camera must see both of your eyes!!!!Turning and tilting your head will also steer the X-Plane view! First, practice with the default settings... later, increase TrackerXP’s Field of View preferences to 360 degrees or higher. Also, adjust TrackerXP’s Primary Smoothing to 5 or higher. !Soon you will find that small side to side movements and gentle turns and tilts of your head will steer the X-Plane view. With a bit of practice this is easy, natural, and pleasant. Tweak the settings for your viewing habits. !! ! TrackerXP must have enough light to find both of your eyes and to discern the complete outline of your face. For reliable tracking avoid distracting backgrounds OR glaring light. The light blue oval must track your face!!!!There have been several reports that Saitek Pro Joysticks and Yokes can cause TrackerXP to freeze shortly after startup. Unassigned joystick and yoke buttons are forcing X-Plane out of TXP view. Open X-Plane > Settings > Joystick & Equipment > Basic Buttons Tab; take each button in turn and assign an X-Plane or TrackerXP command. Simplest is to assign sim/none/none to all unused joystick buttons. See Appendix One for detailed instructions.!!!Please see the Trouble Shooting, page 12, for additional comments.

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Operation and Usage!! ! When TrackerXP is up and running do not turn the “FaceTime” camera window OFF. Instead, click anywhere in the X-Plane window to bring X-Plane to the front. The “FaceTime” window moves to the back, behind X-Plane, and remains ON. !!To bring the “FaceTime” window back to the front on Windows press [Alt Tab] on Mac press [Cmd ~] or [Cmd Tab].!! ! Assign a convenient joystick button or keyboard key to the advanced custom command STMA/TrackerXP/PauseTrackerXP.!See Appendix One (Setting a joystick button) and Appendix Two (Setting a keyboard key) for detailed instructions.!We suggest using your joystick Thumb Switch or the keyboard 'Z' key or both.!!Short clicks (a quick tap) will toggle between Active TrackerXP and Paused TrackerXP views.Long clicks (one second) will disable TrackerXP and bring you to X-Plane’s 3D Forward Command Look view.!!A short click will return you to active TrackerXP view.!!While in Paused you can zoom the panel by moving your head towards the camera. Believe me ... very handy for advanced users! A short click will return you to active head tracking. See Zoom Settings on the following pages.!! ! For convenience, when you anticipate making many adjustments to X-Plane’s controls, instruments and manipulators we highly recommend using your joystick thumb switch or the ‘Z’ key to Pause the TrackerXP view.! ! ! Move the pilot’s POV up, down, left and right with the keyboard arrow keys while TrackerXP is active. And move forward, back with the period and comma keys on the keyboard. A quick press of the ‘w’ key will return you to the aircraft’s default POV (Point Of View).!!Return to active TrackerXP with a short click of the PauseTrackerXP button or the assigned keyboard key.!!!For ChaseViewDeluxe operation set joystick buttons or keyboard keys to custom commands STMA/TrackerXP/CenterCVD and/or STMA/TrackerXP/PauseCVD. See Appendices. Short clicks toggle. Long clicks Disable TrackerXP CVD view. !!For taking exterior screen shots you may wish to set the ChaseViewDeluxe option to “Track PITCH & HEADING”. Move your head up, down, left, and right, to steer ChaseViewDeluxe view! !!Flying in CVD view is difficult if your view point moves above or below the horizon. The “ONLY Track Heading” setting is advised when flying in ChaseView. A second press of the button or keystroke assigned to CenterCVD puts you directly behind your aircraft.!!Use your mouse scroll wheel to zoom the CVD view closer to your aircraft. Use the Zoom Distance Preference to zoom further away.

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TrackerXP Settings!! ! ! TrackerXP settings are accessed from the X-Plane > Plugins > TrackerXP > Preferences menu. !! ! HORZ / VERT FOV (Field Of View)The larger the FOV, the further the view will move with any given head movement.Slide you head to the edge of the monitor, keeping your eyes turned somewhat towards the camera, and you can look directly behind! !• A wider FOV is more sensitive and responds faster. !• A wider FOV will respond to turning and tilting your head!!• With practice you may want to increase the horizontal and vertical Fields of View to 360 degrees or higher.

!! ! SMOOTHING & RESPONSE SPEED TrackerXP averages head position over as many as 100 frames. Less smoothing makes TrackerXP more responsive. More smoothing slows TrackerXP’s response speed. !• For smoother viewing decrease TrackerXP’s Primary Smoothing to below 5.

TrackerXP responds slowly. !• For faster viewing increase Primary Smoothing to above 5. Tracking has

less smoothing. Distracting backgrounds may cause jitter. !• With practice you may want faster response speed, less smoothing.!• Fine tune with Secondary Smoothing.!! ! !TILT CAMERA & TURN CAMERA Allows you to adjust the aircraft’s panel upwards and downwards, left and right without having to tilt your camera or computer monitor. !!This is feature is also very useful for avoiding reflections off your glasses! See page 13 for details.!!! ! HORZ / VERT GLANCE!X-Plane 10 introduced sim/view/glance_left, and sim/view/glance_right commands. Activating these commands when using TrackerXP turns and tilts the active TrackerXP view to the Glance Angles set in the TrackerXP Preferences.   This is very handy for looking floor-ward during helicopter flight, or upwards in aircraft with overhead panels.  Similar offsets are applied to the ChaseViewDeluxe view.  This means that the same joystick button or keyboard key can be used to apply glance offsets to the X-Plane, TrackerXP and ChaseViewDeluxe views.

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NullZone!TrackerXP has an adjustable NULL ZONE allowing small movements of the head without tracking the view. This keeps the view stationary making it easier to read instrument settings. The default setting is 5 camera pixels wide. New users may want to increase NULL ZONE. If you are using the Taildragger Effects setting you will want to set the NULL ZONE to zero.!!!RESET ALL To DefaultFirst press of this button will reset TrackerXP settings to “Beginner Defaults”. Next press will reset to “Your Last Saved” TrackerXP settings. The active TrackerXP settings are saved when quitting out of X-Plane. !!Zoom is:Click this button to toggle head tracking Zoom through:!• ZOOM OFF (zoom is inactive all the time).!• ZOOM ON (zoom is active). View remains zoomed when TXP is Paused.!• ZOOM When PAUSED (zoom only active when TXP is Paused),!!!NOTE: TrackerXP and ChaseViewDeluxe can also be zoomed !with the mouse scroll wheel! !!!View Type Is:TrackerXP has three view types:!• Pan & Tilt is the basic view. TrackerXP steers your direction of view.

You can move around inside the cockpit and cabin of the aircraft using the arrow, period and comma keys.!• Pan & Tilt With Parallax

This view displays natural parallax effects when you turn or tilt your head, and as your viewpoint moves across the cabin. Default view.!• Taildragger Effects

A specialty view... for users with extra visual monitors or big screen TVs. Taildragger turns TrackerXP’s horizontal head tracking OFF and leaves TrackerXP’s vertical head tracking ON. When the Null Zone is set to zero this creates a very natural pitching effect as you look out, over the nose of a taildragger aircraft. You may want to assignTrackerXP’s Glance Left and Glance Right commands to joystick buttons for viewing outwards to the left and right.!!!

Important: Taildragger Effects replaces STMA’s Taildragger plugin. In older STMA aircraft(s), please turn STMA’s Taildragger plugin OFF. !

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ChaseViewDeluxe Options!!ChaseViewDeluxe is an inexpensive, and very popular, plugin from Shade Tree Micro Aviation; it’s available at www.X-Plane.org . CVD controls X-Plane’s exterior chase view using the mouse position and mouse scroll wheel zoom. NEW with TrackerXP 3.0, the ChaseViewDeluxe view can be steered with TrackerXP’s head tracking. !!TrackerXP’s CVD Options are: !!“Track Pitch and Heading” (great for exterior screen shots), “Track Pitch Slowly” (puts extra smoothing on the Pitch axis), “ONLY Track Heading” (best for flying in Chase View). !!“ROLL WITH AIRCRAFT” (X-Plane 10’s Chase View), “Roll Perpendicular To Horizon” (Chase View in X-Plane 9 and earlier).!!“Zoom Distance = 25m” Mouse Zoom starts 25m, 50m. 100m & 200m behind the aircraft. Use mouse scroll wheel to zoom closer. !!!!HUD Options!!TrackerXP’s CVD function includes a pseudo HUD displaying bank, IAS, Pitch, Alt MSL, VVI, HDG Mag, Stall and Brake lights. !!Options include: !• “CVD HUD OFF” and “CVD HUD ON”.!• “HUD Color White or Green”, “HUD Color Red” (for night flying), “HUD Color Black” (for winter flying).!• HUD Units “Imperial mph”, “Imperial HUD kias” and “METRIC HUD”!!!FUTURE EXPANSION !!An OpenGL HUD update will come in the future including a magenta bearing to the desired airport or NDB. This is new territory. Let me know your needs. !!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! bob@shadetreemicro.com

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ADVANCED SETTINGS !!TrackerXP opens and runs on a thread of its own. For the most part, TrackerXP’s frame rate is independent of X-Plane’s frame rate. This version of TrackerXP automatically limits the camera capture rate to somewhat above 30 captures per second. This may take a short while to establish. The following Advanced Settings allow you to adjust TrackerXP’s performance to best match your needs and your equipment. !!!• TXP FPS Window (TrackerXP Frames Per Second) lets you monitor TrackerXP’s frame rate. The window is located in the bottom left

corner of the X-Plane screen. The window also indicates when TrackerXP is Paused or Stopped. The TXP FPS window conveniently includes X-Plane’s frame rate. This preference is saved. !!!

• FaceTime View OFF will freeze the 'FaceTime' camera view.   The TrackerXP frame rate will increase significantly.  This preference is saved; the next time X-Plane is started the TrackerXP logo will be displayed in place of the FaceTime camera view. Click the X-Plane screen to bring X-Plane to the front. You can return TrackerXP’s “FaceTime” window to the front by pressing [Alt Tab] on Windows and pressing [Cmd ~] or [Cmd Tab] on Mac. !!

• uDelay Almost all recent web cameras run at 30 fps; a tiny few at 60 fps. There were reports of TrackerXP running at impossibly high frame rates on high end computers. This version of TrackerXP automatically limits TXP’s frame rate to somewhat above 30 fps. This allows for a few missed face captures. The TrackerXP thread will briefly sleep between camera frame captures; X-Plane processes will continue. Use uDelay button to set a custom delay. (My high end iMac requires 20 000 microseconds sleep time. My older iMac zero.) Alternatively, you can edit the WaitTime setting in the TrackerXP Settings.txt to any custom value. uDelay setting is saved.!!!

• Delta is an advanced performance setting. This sets the factor by which the FaceTime window is scaled between subsequent scans while looking for a face. Best Delta means a faster scan. !!

Good, Better, and Best refer to performance on high end computers. Not everyone will see performance increases. In some cases frame rate and reliability will move downwards!!!All settings are saved when you quit X-Plane. Settings are saved in the TrackerXP_Settings.txt. This file is located inside the TrackerXP plugin folder.

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Trouble Shooting!!Please ensure outboard web cameras are plugged directly into a dedicated USB slot. Use of a USB hub is unreliable. !!TrackerXP must see the user’s face, particularly the location of both the user’s eyes.!!TrackerXP does not pay any attention to ‘your’ face or remember ‘your’ face. Greatly simplified, TrackerXP searches every camera frame trying to detect the largest oval shape with two dark patches located in the position of the eye sockets. (Try it: Draw a “happy face” on a piece of paper. Wave in front of your camera!) It is remarkably good at doing this but some things can go wrong:!!• Turn your head too far to the left and only a single eye socket is seen; therefore it is not a face.!!• Lower your head too much and the eye sockets are too high on the oval face shape, therefore it is not a face. Bright reflections from

the computer screen on eye glasses make it difficult for TrackerXP to find the dark eye sockets.!!The following photos illustrate some common conditions and how to avoid them.

• TrackerXP is very good at finding faces. This far-off face will steer the X-Plane view!!!

• NOTE: TrackerXP 3 gains some speed by not searching for these small faces.!

• TrackerXP 3 works in dark environments. The monitor brightness is often sufficient. !

• If possible look for a uniform contrasting background.Backlit, white venetian blinds are problematic. !!

• Light your face with a small lamp behind and to the side of your computer monitor.

• Avoid distracting backgrounds. Even with this clutter and bad lighting TrackerXP picked out the face.!

• Keep your eyes somewhat towards the web cam. TrackerXP could see only one eye and could not find this face!

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• The bright reflection of the computer monitor in your eye glasses is problematic. !!

• Contact lenses work perfectly well! !!• Tilt your web cam upwards... place

your glasses lower on your nose... use TrackersXP’s tilt camera preference to position the panel. done correctly this will remove the reflection. !!

• Try moving the web cam a wee bit off to the side; even better, mount your web cam below your computer monitor! !!

• Baldness, when combined with a beard, my require wearing a contrasting colored cap.!!

• Avoid distracting backgrounds that might be seen as ovals or eye sockets.!

Here the X-Plane view was jumping vertically. TrackerXP falsely found a large “phantom face” thinking the picture frame corners were eyes!!!• A red complexion against a

green back ground has little tonal contrast. !!

• Similarly a tan complexion against a beige wall has little tonal contrast.

NOTE: There have been several reports that Saitek Pro Joysticks and Yokes can cause TrackerXP to freeze shortly after startup. Unassigned joystick and yoke buttons are forcing X-Plane out of TXP view. Open X-Plane > Settings > Joystick & Equipment > Basic Buttons Tab; take each button in turn and assign an X-Plane or TrackerXP command. Simplest is to assign sim/none/none to all unused joystick buttons. See Appendix One for detailed instructions.! !!!If you experience problems with the operation of TrackerXP, please include the X-Plane log.txt with a note describing the problem and send it to Bob@ShadeTreeMicro.com.

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Computer Specifications!!TrackerXP will run smoothly on most recent, fast computers.!It is most suitable for 64 bit computers with two or more CPU cores.!!You can always test drive the free TrackerXP demo version at http://shadetreemicro.com/plugins/txp/TrackerXP_Demo_PKG.zip. ! !!TrackerXP is a multi-threaded application. Please be sure you have X-Plane version 10.20 (X-Plane 10.35 is highly recommended) set-up and running at optimum performance and frame rate before installing TrackerXP.! !TrackerXP has been tested and runs on X-Plane version 10.20 and above without performance decline on a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. When running TrackerXP on a single or dual core processor, you will want to set the number of aircraft to 1 or 2. You can achieve this via X-Plane menu Aircraft > Aircraft & Situations > Other Aircraft tab > Number of Aircraft.!!TrackerXP 3.25 will automatically set its camera capture frame rate to slightly over 30 frames per second. This may take a few minutes. See uDelay page 11 in this ReadMe. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NOTE: If you are using a marginal computer, you will not want to fly a complex, heavy metal aircraft on either core! !

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Appendix One!Setting a joystick button to the custom command STMA/TrackerXP/PauseTrackerXP!!TrackerXP mode can be assigned to any joystick button by using the custom command STMA/TrackerXP/PauseTrackerXP.!!1. Go to X-Plane 10.20 menu > Settings > Joystick and Equipment and click the Buttons Adv tab (step 1).!2. Press the button on the joystick you want to program (step 2).!

4. Search for the STMA folder and click on STMA (step 4).!5. TrackerXP appears. Now click on folder TrackerXP (step 5).!6. PauseTrackerXP appears. Click this folder, followed by the OPEN button. (step 6).

Step 3 Check mark Custom Commands fromplugins. Navigate to ...STMA/TrackerXP/PauseTrackerXP

Step 1

Step 2

/

Step 4 Step 5Step 6

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Appendix Two!!Assigning a keyboard key to the custom command STMA / TrackerXP / PauseTrackerXP!!TrackerXP mode can be assigned to any keyboard key by using the custom command STMA/TrackerXP/PauseTrackerXP.We find the ‘Z’ key convenient for this purpose.Note: this will overwrite the X-Plane 9.70 View: backward command! You can easily restore this at a later time. !!1. Go to the menu X-Plane > Settings > Joystick and Equipment and click the Keys tab. See step 1.!2. X-Plane version 10.20 requires you to create an Add New Key Assignment. See step 2a.

Select the key you wish to use. See step 2b. !

3. Check mark the “custom commands from plugins” box. See step 3.!!4. Navigate to STMA/TrackerXP/PauseTrackerXP.

See Appendix One on previous page. !

Step 1

Note slider:New assignments found at bottom.

Step 2b

Step 2a!X-Plane 10 only!!

Step 3 Check mark Custom Commandsfrom plugins. Navigate to ...STMA/TrackerXP/PauseTrackerXP

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!Copyright !!All rights reserved. © Dec 2011, Jan 2013, Jan 2014, March 2015, Shade Tree Micro Aviation (www.ShadeTreeMicro.com) and BlueSideUpBob. !TrackerXP can be purchased online only through www.x-plane.org.Distribution as freeware, pay ware, or any other means is strictly prohibited.Please contact me directly if you feel you deserve special consideration.!!Thank you for your purchase.If you have questions or comments about the TrackerXP plugin, please write to Bob@ShadeTreeMicro.com!!Blue side up,!Bob Feaver!

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You may also want to try STMA’s !

ChaseViewDeluxe !!Available at www.x-plane.org Store

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