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TrackIR, created by NaturalPoint Inc., is an
optical motion tracking Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for val ...
controller for
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
. It tracks head motions with up to six
degrees of freedom In many scientific fields, the degrees of freedom of a system is the number of parameters of the system that may vary independently. For example, a point in the plane has two degrees of freedom for translation: its two coordinates; a non-infinite ...
(
6DOF Six degrees of freedom (6DOF), or sometimes six degrees of movement, refers to the six Degrees of freedom (mechanics), mechanical degrees of freedom of movement of a rigid body in three-dimensional space. Specifically, the body is free to cha ...
) which allows for
handsfree Handsfree is an adjective describing equipment that can be used without the use of hands (for example via voice commands) or, in a wider sense, equipment which needs only limited use of hands, or for which the controls are positioned so that the ...
view control. Head position and orientation are measured by a purpose-built
video camera A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos, as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film. Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of other ...
, mounted on top of the user's
monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...
, that observes
infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...
(IR) light reflected or emitted by markers on a rigid model worn by the user. The camera and tracking sensitivity adjustments are controlled by TrackIR, head movements can be scaled while the user is still looking at the monitor allowing a virtual movement of 180 degrees to occur.


History

TrackIR was initially designed as an
assistive technology Assistive technology (AT) is a term for assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for Disability, people with disabilities and the elderly. Disabled people often have difficulty performing activities of daily living (ADLs) independently, ...
device for the Windows cursor control. Between 2002 and the year 2005, five TrackIR camera models were released, bringing more features such as doubled frame rate and increased resolution.


TrackIR interface with games

The proprietary TrackIR interface has become commonplace for view control in PC games and simulations and is only intended for use with TrackIR products. As more developers and games added support for the TrackIR, developers were successful in
reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompl ...
the
proprietary {{Short pages monitor