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Step 9Connect to the EyeWriter Software
The software for both parts has been developed using openframeworks, a cross platform c++ library for creative development. In order to compile and develop the EyeWriter source code, you will need to download openframeworks (pre release v0.06). Documentation, setup guides and more information can be found at http://openframeworks.cc.
For more info on the EyeWriter software click here.
PS3 Eye drivers & QT components
In order to use the PS3 eye you will need to download a driver/component and install it.
For a mac you will need to download the quicktime component here and put it in your-hardrive//Library/QuickTime.
To learn more about using it on a PC click here.
Video Capture
Alternatively, if you plan to use another type of NTSC camera, you will beed a video capture card. We have successfully used the Pinnaccle Dazzle USB DVD recorder. To use this device you will need to install a PC driver or use VideoGlide. This software does require a user-license which costs roughly $25.00 dollars
Eye-Tracking Software
The eye-tracking software detects and tracks the position of a pupil from an incoming camera or video image, and uses a calibration sequence to map the tracked eye/pupil coordinates to positions on a computer screen or projection. Note that we use the GSL (gnu scientific library) for calibration, which is GPL, thus the eye tracking source code is GPL.
The pupil tracking relies upon a clear and dark image of the pupil. The diy glasses we designed use near-infrared leds to illuminate the eye and create a dark pupil effect. This makes the pupil much more distinguishable and, thus, easier to track. The camera setting part of the software is designed so the image can be adjusted with brightness and contrast to get an optimal image of the eye.
The calibration part of the software displays a sequence of points on the screen and records the position of the pupil at each point. It is designed so that a person wearing the glasses should focus on each point as it is displayed. When the sequence is finished, the two sets of data are used to interpolate where subsequent eye positions are located in relation to the screen.
The following software tutorial walk-through will help you to better understand the tracking interface.
eyewriter tracking software walkthrough from thesystemis on Vimeo.
Eye-Drawing Software
The eye-drawing software is designed to work with the EyeWriter tracking software as well as commercial eye-trackers such as the MyTobii. It is currently a separate application from the EyeTracker, but we will also post a combined version that shows the two working together.
The tool allows you to draw, manipulate and style a tag using a time-based interface so that triggering buttons or creating points for drawing is achieved by focusing on the position for a given amount of time. Tags and tag data can also be uploaded via FTP and HTTP Post.
The following software tutorial walk-through will help you to better understand the drawing interface.
EyeWriter - Drawing App walkthrough from Theo Watson on Vimeo.
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Also were can I download the drawing app and is there a mac version?
mac users need to install the modified maccam component (http://www.openframeworks.cc/files/macam-ps3eye-manualwb-defaultVGA.zip) to /Library/QuickTime to get a good, fixed everything ps3 camera image from their computer (if they are using ps3 eye camera as described in the eyewriter instructables)
should work after you move the compnent file to that directory
Have you figured out how to make the eyewriter use the PS3 cam instead of the built-in cam? I have the same problem and will be grateful if you share the solution (if you have found it!)
Thanks!
I have since figured this out! (I work with Windows 7. I am sure this will work with Windows XP too)
Do NOT connect your PS3 Camera to the laptop/ PC
Go to Control Panel->System->Device Manager
You will see your built-in camera listed here under Imaging Devices. (Mine was Sony Visual Communications Camera). Right click on this and select "Disable".
With the Device Manager open, plug your PS3 Camera to the USB Port
You will see that as you plug on the PS3 Camera, a new device gets displayed as a new device. (In my case this came listed as "PS3 Eye Camera" under a new group named "CodeLabs DeVices". If You don't see this, try unplugging/ plugging on the camera).
To calibrate the PS3 Camera, I used the software temptTracker tracker that I downloaded and extracted in the folder temptTracker_020_cb. Hope you too have downloaded this.
Go to temptTracker_020_cb->bin->data->settings. Open the file xml file inputSettings using NotePad. In this file there is a line to specify the DeviceId (Between angular brackets with DeviceId and /DeviceId)
I had to try different device IDs in the line 0. (In my case 2 worked!). Thus this line was changed to 2. After each trial with a new device number, save the file in NotePad.
With the DeviceId as 2 I got the eyewriter to detect and use the PS3 cam! For this, I executed the Application "temptTracker" found in the Bin folder.
Hope this works for you too!
Anand Nair
Thanks again for the reply!!
Robert