So I was wandering around YouTube today watching various tutorial videos and I noticed an inline ad for head tracking without hardware (other than your Android or Apple phone). Sounded too good to be true so I checked it out. Maybe some of you already know it and maybe not.

It's amazing. You just install the Smoothtrack app on your phone (a mere $10) and the Opentrack app on your PC. You calibrate all the different head movement axies oj the PC in Opentrack.

You just open Opentrack on the PC, set a few parameters (one time), calibrate it (one time), and start it.

Than you open Smoothtrack on your phone, set some parameters (one time) and start it.

Then just set your phone where the camera can see you (like taking a selfie). It doesn't have to be squared up with your face because it has a centering control that adjusts, just like hitting the space bar in VR to center up the image.

Obviously I didn't put much detail in this post, mostly due to if you look into this software based tool, you will find good instructions in the app for setting it up to operate and a couple of good YouTube videos that explain the concept of calibrating the view. And it supports saved profiles so you can have different configurations that you can load. It works with any app that supports TrackIR protocol.

Check it out. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised at how great this $10 app works. 

Interesting you mention it because it's a solution I even tried to install, but when I even try to just buy it through the Google Store it tells me my smrtphone isn't "smart" enough, so... I stepped back, after watching those same videos.

With other flight simulators like DCS and IL2 I still use EDTracker, which works acceptably although it doesn't have 6DOF.

Have you actually tried Smoothtrack with your setup ?  If that's the case then please give us as much feedbac as you can 😉

10 hours ago, jcomm said:

Interesting you mention it because it's a solution I even tried to install, but when I even try to just buy it through the Google Store it tells me my smrtphone isn't "smart" enough, so... I stepped back, after watching those same videos.

With other flight simulators like DCS and IL2 I still use EDTracker, which works acceptably although it doesn't have 6DOF.

Have you actually tried Smoothtrack with your setup ?  If that's the case then please give us as much feedbac as you can 😉

Yes I have tried it. It works great for me. I followed a YouTube video on calibrating it and that made a big difference. But I still have some calibrating to do to get it to respond to my personal preferences. I have an iPhone 12 so it was easily supported. You have to prop your phone where it can see your face but it does not have to be directly in front of you. It just has to see your face. Once it is resting somewhere and you are facing front at your sim, you just press a Centering key (defined by you on the keyboard or any attached controller in your rig)  and then it adjusts and you are sitting in your rig right where you're supposed to be.

Not sure what else to tell you. I had been starting to look into TrackIR when I ran across this. I see no reason to buy hardware when this works so well. Unless, of course, you don't want to give up using your phone while simming.

15 hours ago, Rob G said:

So I was wandering around YouTube today watching various tutorial videos and I noticed an inline ad for head tracking without hardware (other than your Android or Apple phone). Sounded too good to be true so I checked it out. Maybe some of you already know it and maybe not.

It's amazing. You just install the Smoothtrack app on your phone (a mere $10) and the Opentrack app on your PC. You calibrate all the different head movement axies oj the PC in Opentrack.

You just open Opentrack on the PC, set a few parameters (one time), calibrate it (one time), and start it.

Than you open Smoothtrack on your phone, set some parameters (one time) and start it.

Then just set your phone where the camera can see you (like taking a selfie). It doesn't have to be squared up with your face because it has a centering control that adjusts, just like hitting the space bar in VR to center up the image.

Obviously I didn't put much detail in this post, mostly due to if you look into this software based tool, you will find good instructions in the app for setting it up to operate and a couple of good YouTube videos that explain the concept of calibrating the view. And it supports saved profiles so you can have different configurations that you can load. It works with any app that supports TrackIR protocol.

Check it out. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised at how great this $10 app works. 

I have been using this for the past 3 months with not issues at all, works extremely good, tracks perfectly, took me a few hours to dial it in to my liking, took a picture of my settings In case I need to reinstall I could just revert back to it, crazy cheap for a really good head tracking device if you already have a device that can run it.

10 hours ago, jcomm said:

Interesting you mention it because it's a solution I even tried to install, but when I even try to just buy it through the Google Store it tells me my smrtphone isn't "smart" enough, so... I stepped back, after watching those same videos.

With other flight simulators like DCS and IL2 I still use EDTracker, which works acceptably although it doesn't have 6DOF.

Have you actually tried Smoothtrack with your setup ?  If that's the case then please give us as much feedbac as you can 😉

Im not sure of the exact terminology but In order for this to work your device has to have an AR(I think that’s what it’s called) capable camera built into it from my understanding.
My iPhone 12 is compatible, however my Lenovo tablet isn’t. 

I use this, its a fantastic cheap solution for headtracking much cheaper than Track IR and you don't have to wear something stuck to your head.  It does zap the battery on your phone but I remedied this by simply having it plugged in whilst in use.

8 minutes ago, sidfadc said:

I use this, its a fantastic cheap solution for headtracking much cheaper than Track IR and you don't have to wear something stuck to your head.  It does zap the battery on your phone but I remedied this by simply having it plugged in whilst in use.

Ya for sure, I setup a permanent charging chord at my desk, so every time I use it I plug it in, having that chord there permanently saves me the hassle of going to get one, plugging in the wall, feeding it through etc. it’s just a matter of setting my phone on the stand, and plugging it in.