trackIR by Stephen Crowther
by Stephen Crowther
Background on Review Contributor
Stephen Crowther is an Occupational Therapist with ILC Technology – a service of the Independent Living Centre of Queensland.
What is it?
trackIR is a mouse alternative. It allows the mouse to be controlled via head movement or hand movement. It can be used for general computer use or for computer aided presentations.
The trackIR tracks movement with a specialised camera; the included NaturalPoint software translates information about your movements into mouse pointer movement on the computer screen. Movement is tracked via infrared light. The infrared light may come from a small adhesive reflective sticker called a “dot” worn on the head, from a reflective ring or from a “wand” that emits it’s own infrared light.
Who is it for?
The trackIR is being promoted as an innovative way for anyone to control his or her mouse pointer. But it is an especially attractive option for some people who have physical disabilities.
Those people who have good control of their head movements but do not find hands-on mouse options such as standard mouses, trackballs and joysticks useful may like to use the trackIR.
The trackIR may also interest anyone who wishes to control a computer-aided presentation from across a room. The reflective dots and rings used with the trackIR reflect infrared light emitted from behind the trackIR lens, so these methods are only useful when used close to the trackIR. Because the wand emits its own infrared light, it can be seen by the trackIR’s camera from across a room. The wand can also be used to perform mouse button functions including a click, double click or drag. This makes it useful for controlling computer-aided presentations, especially if a large projection of the computer display is being used, the wand can be pointed at the projected image if the trackIR is positioned underneath it.
Is it expensive?
The cost of the trackIR is comparatively low.
Devices that allow head controlled mouse movement for people who have physical disabilities have been available in Australia for some time now, these include the Head Mouse made by Origin Instruments Corporation (http://www.orin.com) and HeadMaster made by Prentke Romich Company (http://www.prentrom.com). These products currently cost between $2000 and $4000. Due to these high costs these products tend to be considered only by computer users who have few other options, for example people who have high-level spinal injuries, where head movement is one of the only movements available.
The trackIR is marketed as a mouse alternative for anyone and is priced competitively with other mainstream mouse alternatives such as trackballs and trackpads. Currently the trackIR AT sells for under $400 from Spectronics.
Is the trackIR easy to set-up?
The trackIR requires a USB connection. It is very easy to set-up mostly due to the USB interface.
USB devices are generally easier to set-up than devices using serial, PS/2 or parallel ports. This is because USB devices are automatically detected by the Windows operating system when they are plugged in. There are no complicated IRQ or other resource settings to set with USB devices.
The NaturalPoint software for the trackIR is loaded first. The software is included on floppy disks and the latest version can also be downloaded from the manufacturers web site. The trackIR is then plugged into the USB port of the computer, Windows will automatically detect it and the device will then be ready for use.
Because USB supports many devices without conflicts between computer hardware resources (as can be the case with serial and PS/2 ports) other devices already in use with the computer continue to work, including other mouses and mouse alternatives. There is no need to change settings to use other mouses or mouse alternatives, the NaturalPoint software relinquishes control when another pointing device is used and regains control when it is not used.
Do I need to customise the trackIR settings?
The trackIR will operate using the default settings however most people are sure to feel much more comfortable and fluent with the device when they have their preferences customised.
Just as different people have preferences for how their mouse pointer responds to mouse movement, people also have preferences for the way in which trackIR should respond to their head movements.
Comments on selected settings (NaturalPoint version 1.46):
Data Tool: The “Data” tool on the Data tab in the Advanced Settings section of the NaturalPoint software may be a very good place to start. This tool allows you to see the infrared light that the trackIR camera sees. Use this tool to make adjustments to the position of the trackIR camera so that the camera sees the reflective dot, ring or the wand in the centre of its field of view when you are in fact pointing at the centre of the computer display with the dot, ring or wand. If there are other sources of infrared light in view that may confuse the trackIR they will be seen in the Data tool.
Hotkeys: Keyboard keys can be assigned for left and right mouse clicks, centring the mouse pointer, using scroll and enabling and disabling trackIR’s control of the mouse pointer movement. These keys loose their original functions so choose them carefully. For instance using the control key for a mouse click would effectively disable it and therefore disable all shortcuts based on the control key, such as Control + b for bold text. Using the key to enable/disable the trackIR does not free the assigned hotkeys. The default keys for left and right clicks are the left and right windows keys, these are well chosen as they access the start menu only and the start menu should always be accessible by clicking the start button, so loosing the functions of these keyboard keys should not restrict any other activity. The hotkeys can be turned off altogether by clicking on the corresponding radio button to clear it.
Key Activated: This option can be selected to make the mouse pointer move only when the Snap-To-Centre key is held down. Some people may prefer this if the mouse pointer constantly moving distracts them as they work. When the Key Release Clicking option is also selected, a left mouse click is performed when the Snap-To-Centre key is released. A double click can be performed by quickly pressing and releasing the Snap-To-Centre key after it is released. The Always Start At Centre option brings the mouse pointer to the centre of the screen every time the Snap-To-Centre key is pressed down.
Gravity: This is an innovative new feature that makes targeting buttons, icons, menus and control boxes easier. The mouse pointer momentarily jumps to and then sticks to these items when it comes close to them. This may be a very useful feature for any user who requires dwell clicking.
Dwell Clicking: This starts a program called Dwell Clicker that performs mouse clicks via dwelling, or pausing over the target. Dwell clicking may be a very useful method of accessing mouse button functions for users who do not wish to use the keyboard. Dwell Clicker includes buttons for turning dwell clicking on and off, double clicking, left click dragging (moving items), right clicking, accessing dwell clicker options and closing dwell clicker. See “What software works well in combination with trackIR?” below for other options for hands free use.
2X Scaling, Scaling and Smoothing: These options are very important for getting the feel of the trackIR right. They determine how trackIR responds to your movement, whether a lot or a little movement is required to move the mouse pointer across the screen and how much of your movement should be ignored.
Other: Explanations of the other settings found in the NaturalPoint software can be found in the manual (although I could not find an explanation of “Double Click Delay”).
Any tips about using the trackIR?
When using the trackIR with head movement it may seem as if the pointer loses track of where you are looking so that it feels as if you are pointing with the side of your head rather than your midline. This is a case of learning how to re-centre the pointer, much like re-centring a standard mouse on its mouse mat. It can be done in two ways 1. Look at the edge of screen; the mouse pointer stops at the edge so this brings the pointer’s position and your midline back together 2. Use the centre key when looking at the centre of the screen. This tip is outlined in the manual; it may be good to get into the habit of re-centring right away.
Be aware that some settings such as 2X Scaling may remain set when changing between modes.
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What software works well in combination with trackIR?
Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software: trackIR works well in combination with this software. It is possible to use the speech commands in NaturallySpeaking to control the mouse button functions while using trackIR to control the mouse pointer movement.
This means that a user with no access to the keyboard can use their speech to click, double click, and drag instead of using a switch or dwell clicking. It is very likely that these users will use the trackIR and NaturallySpeaking together to gain fast and relatively direct access to both text entry (via speech) and mouse functions (via speech and trackIR). For more information about NaturallySpeaking see http://www.lhsl.com/naturallyspeaking/
Onscreen Keyboards: Onscreen keyboards work well with trackIR; they react to the trackIR in the same way as they react to a regular mouse. Some onscreen keyboards have keys that are really just standard windows buttons so the gravity feature can help users to snap to each key. Onscreen keyboards may be a good text entry option for users who need to use trackIR without a keyboard but do not wish to use speech recognition. There are many onscreen keyboards, for an example you may download Click-N-Type from http://www.lakefolks.org/cnt/
Game Commander: Games including popular titles such as Quake 3 and Half-Life are fun to play with the trackIR. It may not be possible to achieve the same level of speedy precision with the trackIR as is possible with a well tuned mouse, but the trackIR is game friendly and the games are just as much fun if not more fun when using head movement for mouse control. The Game Compatibility option will need to be turned on for some games (3D first person games especially). First person 3D games used with the trackIR controlling the point of view feel almost like a virtual reality experience. Speech commands can be used to send the appropriate keystrokes to the game using Game Commander, from Sontage Interactive, for hands free game playing.
Point-N-Click and Dragger: These programs are separate products from trackIR and Dwell Clicker, the dwell-clicking program that comes with trackIR. Point-N-Click and Dragger also offer dwell clicking functions and both work well with trackIR. These programs offer two different approaches to dwell clicking compared to the trackIR software. Users of dwell clicking with trackIR may wish to download Point-N-Click or the demonstration version of Dragger to compare them to the trackIR software – see http://www.polital.com/pnc/ and http://www.orin.com/
Contact Information:
Stephen Crowther
Occupational Therapist
Assistive Technology Advisor
ILC Technology
Independent Living Centre of Queensland
Corner of Goring St and Cavendish Road, Coorparoo Q 4151
Ph: (07) 3397 1224
Fax: (07) 3394 1013
Email: stephencrowther@ilcqld.org.au