Tobii EyeTracker 5 advice

[MrBitstFlyer 3,892]

I have been using a TrackIR for a few years and been happy with it.  However, I didn't like how it wouldn't work so well in daylight with reflections and window light making it hard to use.  I decided to give Tobii Eyetracker 5 a go as it doesn't suffer in brighter light.  Overall I am happy with the unit and its tracking performance.  It is working well on my narrowboat in bright conditions. However, the view is jerky when looking off center (especially downwards towards the instruments).  I am wondering if this is in response to turbulence that the TrackIR didn't have a problem with.

Any Tobii users had a similiar effect and dealt with it?

Edited September 16, 2023 by MrBitstFlyer

[Pivot 154]

Mr Bitst, best advice I can give is to play with the settings until you find something that works for you. I have mine usable  but it does suffer from a lack of stability off-center. Another thing that makes slight movements is facial expressions like talking or yawning. You'll be surprised how much it moves with mouth movement. I have retired my TIR-5 since picking it up and I like it. I wish more developers would add native ability within their sims since I find the Tobii Game Hub seems to affect performance more than Tobii Experience. Maybe one day, the Tobii group will figure out how to add deadlines to the ends of movement which will greatly correct its minor flaws. We can only hope. Good Luck and again, play with the settings in MSFS for the Tobii, also Google Tobii and MSFS and there is some pretty good starting points.

[MrBitstFlyer 3,892]

51 minutes ago, Pivot said:

I have mine usable  but it does suffer from a lack of stability off-center.

Sounds exactly what I am experiencing, stability off center (not a game stopper by any means).  I have tweaked the settings to my liking and have found some good advice searching for Tobii on Google / Youtube.  I currently have Eye Tracking off as I experiment with settings, but I have discovered what you have - mouth movements have a big effect!

My biggest gripe with TrackIR was not working correctly in a bright enviroment, which Tobii Eyetracker has fixed.  thanks for the advice.

[Pivot 154]

3 hours ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

My biggest gripe with TrackIR was not working correctly in a bright enviroment, which Tobii Eyetracker has fixed.  thanks for the advice.

Same here and I even had issues with the reflection off my glasses. I do say Tobii does work relatively well with MSFS, enough so that there's no turning back.

[penta_a 432]

On 9/16/2023 at 11:04 PM, MrBitstFlyer said:

Sounds exactly what I am experiencing, stability off center (not a game stopper by any means).  I have tweaked the settings to my liking and have found some good advice searching for Tobii on Google / Youtube.  I currently have Eye Tracking off as I experiment with settings, but I have discovered what you have - mouth movements have a big effect!

My biggest gripe with TrackIR was not working correctly in a bright enviroment, which Tobii Eyetracker has fixed.  thanks for the advice.

try lowering head movement sensitivity (second option from bottom I think) to 0.80 or less, I found that stability improves especially when entering data into MCDU.

Note: you might need to try a range of settings till you get it as close as you like, my setting is based on my ultra wide monitor 49", yours might differ.

best of luck.

[vrdubin6 184]

I have had the same issue and reached out to them sometime last year and sent them a video of the issue. If looking down and over and the center pedestal or up and over to the overhead panel and you try to hold your head still you get some "shaking" I would say. This is pretty much my only gripe with Tobii. I was told they are working on a new software update that should address this. No timeframe or anything was given.

[MrBitstFlyer 3,892]

5 hours ago, penta_a said:

try lowering head movement sensitivity (second option from bottom I think) to 0.80 or less,

Thanks, I'll check that when I get home.

[Pivot 154]

6 hours ago, vrdubin6 said:

I have had the same issue and reached out to them sometime last year and sent them a video of the issue. If looking down and over and the center pedestal or up and over to the overhead panel and you try to hold your head still you get some "shaking" I would say. This is pretty much my only gripe with Tobii. I was told they are working on a new software update that should address this. No timeframe or anything was given.

Yes, I sure hope they figure a way to add some dampening or a dead zone when the camera detects no movement. I brought this up some time back when I first bought mine and got the same response. Seems like there should be a way to do it, but who knows.. We can only hope.

[orchestra_nl 953]

On 9/19/2023 at 2:15 AM, Pivot said:

Yes, I sure hope they figure a way to add some dampening or a dead zone when the camera detects no movement. I brought this up some time back when I first bought mine and got the same response. Seems like there should be a way to do it, but who knows.. We can only hope.

After years of using TrackIR I have ordered a Tobii Eye Tracker 5 which should arrive in a few days. I will probably lose a bit of responsiveness and possibly stability when focusing on a G3000 or FMC. The best thing Asobo/Tobii could do to improve that is to add a pause function or add a stable zone when focusing on an instrument.
I have noticed that when I am looking around in the cockpit, there is a white box around GPS and FMC units when I am looking straight at them. This indicates to me MSFS registers I am looking at that instrument so MSFS might as well use this to snap" my view to that instrument until I pull away. That would allow to focus more easily on that instrument while using Tobii or TrackIR.
 

[davenicoll 104]

Don't forget...Tobii Eye Tracker needs full access to your face hence why it has to go at the bottom of your monitor

 

If you have some physical hardware units blocking it's path it will not work...I have this and reached out to Tobii and they said it would not work.

 

I am sticking with Track IR

 

[SierraDelta 1,352]

35 minutes ago, davenicoll said:

Tobii Eye Tracker needs full access to your face hence why it has to go at the bottom of your monitor

Not any longer. There’s a new utility available on their Discord that enables it to be placed where it suits you best, even at the top of the monitor.

[orchestra_nl 953]

2 hours ago, SierraDelta said:

Not any longer. There’s a new utility available on their Discord that enables it to be placed where it suits you best, even at the top of the monitor.

Do you mean the Tobii Display Setup Tool?
It is currently in alpha but it might help out some people.

From what I gleaned, the Tobi Eyetracker needs to be below your monitor for eyetracking to work properly, but for headtracking mounting on top of the monitor should not be an issue except that their software does not allow this. The Display Setup Tool tries to remedy this.

Mounting on a tripd might also work for most people. Tobii even has an adapter for a tripod as an accessory but for 40 Euro one would expect the tripod itself would be included (it is not!).

Edited September 28, 2023 by orchestra_nl

[SierraDelta 1,352]

29 minutes ago, orchestra_nl said:

Do you mean the Tobii Display Setup Tool?

Yep, that's the one. I've been experimenting with it for a while and it actually worked when I placed the Tobii 5 on top of my monitor, but for now I've settled on a position about 10 cm below the lower edge of my monitor and about 5 cm closer to me.

[bobcat999 8,500]

I love it, but my only problem is it turns more to the right than to the left and I cant seem to adjust it.  Weird.

To explain more, I have my sensitivities exactly where I want them, and with eye tracking completely off as I don't like it, but if I turn my head say 30 degrees to the left, I am looking 90 degrees out of the window (which is great), but if I turn my head 30 degrees to the right, it looks right back 180 degrees, and maybe more.  It's driving me mad!   Do I have the only Tobii from the Exorcist?  

Edited September 28, 2023 by bobcat999

[penta_a 432]

On 9/18/2023 at 8:45 PM, MrBitstFlyer said:

Thanks, I'll check that when I get home.

I found today that if I move closer to Tobii sensing bar (attached to my monitor, just pulled monitor toward me) and stabilization improved greatly, I will do more testing but the result of this change was massive to me.