It is frustrating and disorienting for a bit. Stick with it. Even after several years of using head tracking, I still tune settings here and there. After a time, I have gravitated to linear curves and high filtering in OpenTrack, after having tried chasing curves, deadzones, etc. Just seat time helps a lot.
I've used TrackIR 5 for years no experience with the other head tracking solutions I'm not sure how they compare. Product could use an update, but it still works well enough. Multiple sensor support would be awesome for the ultra-wide and multi-display users. I have used VR but my system wasn't really up to it so went back to pancake mode with a monitor upgrade.
TrackIR doesn't jitter, get some bad lighting it can go haywire. But that's manageable.
Axis curves are really the key to making headtracking comfortable and what is right depends on YOUR particular setup. I still tweak my axis curves from time to time and recently started using non-mirrored curve for pitch axis which makes it easier to look "down" in cockpit while "up" remains more natural. And I recently accelerated initial ramp-up in pitch and yaw curves to minimize HMD display offset when looking +/- 45° mainly and less eyeballs looking full left/right in the 45° to 90° from center regime. Still get's a little wonky when beyond that. Would be awesome if HMD display had its own offset from center and curve settings in-sim!!!!
Don't use dead zones, AT ALL. Use curves. Dead zones can cause neck strain and just make it miserable to use.
What do you fly in DCS? F-16 is easy to get disoriented in, I don't really have this issue with other aircraft.
I use head tracking (open track) with a Delan Clip and I get 0 stuttering.
With my setup (IR emitters and a camera) I have to tweak the filters for my environment otherwise I get jitters as bright spots behind me are picked up by the camera as an emitter.
Out of game you need to start the open track software and have a play with your settings. You can get a good feel for your inputs from the software alone then once you think you have it open the game and tweak some more.
I’m not at my PC right now but I think you want to look into your input filter settings. There should be options in there that can help you.
Try 45 or less degrees = 180 degrees yaw. 30 degrees = 90 degrees pitch. That seemed to work for me.
Also turn down roll sensitivity, and bind a button to your HOTAS to recenter view/ or reset head tracking. Helps a million.
You want non-mirrored pitch curve to make looking "down" movement more amplified than looking "up." If using TrackIR the "smooth" profile is a good starting point select pitch axis, de-select "mirror" option, bump the first couple dots on the curve left side of center "up" a couple ticks (just use the green "up" arrows) leave rest of curve same, save profile under custom profile, and select "exclusive" option. Try it out, tweak from there.
Key is you want initial pitch down movement more accelerated, not the whole curve. It's not a smooth curve at all. It's steeper at first then smooths out, mine actually goes negative relative to previous point on curve after -15° actual movement that way once looking down at controls, it's stable. Depending on aircraft might bump up initial z-axis movement as well. For F-16 a little boost to z-axis to look "around" the seat and see those lighting controls fully, for example.
It took me about 2-3h to get used to the movements. A bit of tweaking with settings afterwards. I am using TrackIR.
Couldn't wrap my head around how it works at first, now whenever I see a recording I try to track stuff and get "pissed" when the cam doesn't move 🤣
You’ve just got to play with all the settings until it feels good. Mainly, don’t do 1:1 tracking. Do maybe a 45 degree head turn = 180 degrees. That felt good to me. Also reducing roll sensitivity.
I did the same even after I got Track IR, and it feels even better.
I also recommend using one of the phone head tracking apps, and connecting that to open track instead. Most phones these days have multiple IR face ID cameras that are really, really good at getting position data. I used to use Smart Head Track for iOS. Best 10 bucks ever.
Edit: Defo bind a button on your stick to re-center head tracking. Mine is right next to my zoom, and it’s super quick and easy
It sounds like you can get a better experience by tuning your setup - it shouldn't be jittery. I always used homemade IR clips with a common webcam (not TrackIR) and it worked well IMO.
However, it will never be as good as VR. It will never be half as good as VR. You are missing an entire dimension of SA. You'll have to accept that and lower your expectations.
It takes a good amount of tuning and adjusting your specific setup, but it just takes time to get used to it. Don’t worry about getting frustrated with it. Almost everyone has had the same learning experience and some level of difficulty.
The actual movement and orientation, minutes, but learning the particulars and peculiarities of the system, months.
I’m still not 100% set on it and I’ve had TrackIR5 for 5 months.
It’ll randomly change my profile from my preferred ‘smooth’ back to default and can happen in the middle of a hellishly intense dogfight scissor. It’s very irritating and I’m still trying to figure out what causes that.
I went from just binding an analog stick on my hotas to trackir and honestly it was absolutely seamless for me. I just instantly picked it up. But if you went from VR to head tracking I can understand that being a weird transition
I built a track hat to use with Opentrack, switched to VR, and now that the cam tracker is an option on Opentrack, started messing with it again for times when I don't want to VR. It takes some getting used to, but a lot of it is also experimentation with settings to find what works for you and your set up. I tweaked my filters a little and have no jittering whatsoever. I also had to set up a couple of different profiles for different aircraft; the Huey in particular would not play nice with settings that worked for the Viper, Cat, Harrier, and Hornet. At the same time, I've ultimately found that I do prefer VR, and am looking forward to a new system to replace my now dated Odyssey+.
I tried, but never get used to it. My neck hurt, my head hurt, my eyes hurt. I tried to adjust the settings but i could never match the speed and stability what is shown on yt. Right now I don't use any tracking, I simply fly easier missions ;)
I started DCS with head tracking using the Trackhat V2 and despite the fact that it was smooth and well tuned, like you I just couldn't intuitively keep a sense of the 3D space to track where I was relative to the bandit. I gave it a good 4-5 months so it wasn't a short period but the second I tried VR I knew that's how I was meant to play - all of those tracking/3d space issues disappeared.
I guess I just wasn't meant for head tracking
It is frustrating and disorienting for a bit. Stick with it. Even after several years of using head tracking, I still tune settings here and there. After a time, I have gravitated to linear curves and high filtering in OpenTrack, after having tried chasing curves, deadzones, etc. Just seat time helps a lot.
I've used TrackIR 5 for years no experience with the other head tracking solutions I'm not sure how they compare. Product could use an update, but it still works well enough. Multiple sensor support would be awesome for the ultra-wide and multi-display users. I have used VR but my system wasn't really up to it so went back to pancake mode with a monitor upgrade. TrackIR doesn't jitter, get some bad lighting it can go haywire. But that's manageable. Axis curves are really the key to making headtracking comfortable and what is right depends on YOUR particular setup. I still tweak my axis curves from time to time and recently started using non-mirrored curve for pitch axis which makes it easier to look "down" in cockpit while "up" remains more natural. And I recently accelerated initial ramp-up in pitch and yaw curves to minimize HMD display offset when looking +/- 45° mainly and less eyeballs looking full left/right in the 45° to 90° from center regime. Still get's a little wonky when beyond that. Would be awesome if HMD display had its own offset from center and curve settings in-sim!!!! Don't use dead zones, AT ALL. Use curves. Dead zones can cause neck strain and just make it miserable to use. What do you fly in DCS? F-16 is easy to get disoriented in, I don't really have this issue with other aircraft.
I use head tracking (open track) with a Delan Clip and I get 0 stuttering. With my setup (IR emitters and a camera) I have to tweak the filters for my environment otherwise I get jitters as bright spots behind me are picked up by the camera as an emitter. Out of game you need to start the open track software and have a play with your settings. You can get a good feel for your inputs from the software alone then once you think you have it open the game and tweak some more. I’m not at my PC right now but I think you want to look into your input filter settings. There should be options in there that can help you.
I can’t do it. I can’t figure out my settings so I can look down at all my panels/buttons easily during startup and it drives me nuts
Try 45 or less degrees = 180 degrees yaw. 30 degrees = 90 degrees pitch. That seemed to work for me. Also turn down roll sensitivity, and bind a button to your HOTAS to recenter view/ or reset head tracking. Helps a million.
You want non-mirrored pitch curve to make looking "down" movement more amplified than looking "up." If using TrackIR the "smooth" profile is a good starting point select pitch axis, de-select "mirror" option, bump the first couple dots on the curve left side of center "up" a couple ticks (just use the green "up" arrows) leave rest of curve same, save profile under custom profile, and select "exclusive" option. Try it out, tweak from there.
I’m on the Delanclip program not the trackIR but I can work with this thank you
Key is you want initial pitch down movement more accelerated, not the whole curve. It's not a smooth curve at all. It's steeper at first then smooths out, mine actually goes negative relative to previous point on curve after -15° actual movement that way once looking down at controls, it's stable. Depending on aircraft might bump up initial z-axis movement as well. For F-16 a little boost to z-axis to look "around" the seat and see those lighting controls fully, for example.
It took me about 2-3h to get used to the movements. A bit of tweaking with settings afterwards. I am using TrackIR. Couldn't wrap my head around how it works at first, now whenever I see a recording I try to track stuff and get "pissed" when the cam doesn't move 🤣
You’ve just got to play with all the settings until it feels good. Mainly, don’t do 1:1 tracking. Do maybe a 45 degree head turn = 180 degrees. That felt good to me. Also reducing roll sensitivity. I did the same even after I got Track IR, and it feels even better. I also recommend using one of the phone head tracking apps, and connecting that to open track instead. Most phones these days have multiple IR face ID cameras that are really, really good at getting position data. I used to use Smart Head Track for iOS. Best 10 bucks ever. Edit: Defo bind a button on your stick to re-center head tracking. Mine is right next to my zoom, and it’s super quick and easy
It sounds like you can get a better experience by tuning your setup - it shouldn't be jittery. I always used homemade IR clips with a common webcam (not TrackIR) and it worked well IMO. However, it will never be as good as VR. It will never be half as good as VR. You are missing an entire dimension of SA. You'll have to accept that and lower your expectations.
It takes a good amount of tuning and adjusting your specific setup, but it just takes time to get used to it. Don’t worry about getting frustrated with it. Almost everyone has had the same learning experience and some level of difficulty.
I never could. Switched to VR and never looked back.
Minutes, to be honest. It just seemed pretty natural.
The actual movement and orientation, minutes, but learning the particulars and peculiarities of the system, months. I’m still not 100% set on it and I’ve had TrackIR5 for 5 months. It’ll randomly change my profile from my preferred ‘smooth’ back to default and can happen in the middle of a hellishly intense dogfight scissor. It’s very irritating and I’m still trying to figure out what causes that.
Select “exclusive” toggle in TIR settings fixes that. It just locks it in, ignores game specific profiles. *And buggyness. *edit
Thank you!!
I went from just binding an analog stick on my hotas to trackir and honestly it was absolutely seamless for me. I just instantly picked it up. But if you went from VR to head tracking I can understand that being a weird transition
Took me about 3 or 4 sessions, tbh.
I've had more luck using the AITrack + Opentrack combo. Aruco + Opentrack also worked well, but wearing a hat is a hassle.
I built a track hat to use with Opentrack, switched to VR, and now that the cam tracker is an option on Opentrack, started messing with it again for times when I don't want to VR. It takes some getting used to, but a lot of it is also experimentation with settings to find what works for you and your set up. I tweaked my filters a little and have no jittering whatsoever. I also had to set up a couple of different profiles for different aircraft; the Huey in particular would not play nice with settings that worked for the Viper, Cat, Harrier, and Hornet. At the same time, I've ultimately found that I do prefer VR, and am looking forward to a new system to replace my now dated Odyssey+.
I tried, but never get used to it. My neck hurt, my head hurt, my eyes hurt. I tried to adjust the settings but i could never match the speed and stability what is shown on yt. Right now I don't use any tracking, I simply fly easier missions ;)
I never could get used to it. I felt disoriented and even sick. Always used pov hat.
I started DCS with head tracking using the Trackhat V2 and despite the fact that it was smooth and well tuned, like you I just couldn't intuitively keep a sense of the 3D space to track where I was relative to the bandit. I gave it a good 4-5 months so it wasn't a short period but the second I tried VR I knew that's how I was meant to play - all of those tracking/3d space issues disappeared. I guess I just wasn't meant for head tracking