This may sound a little silly, but bear with me. Leap Motion’s hand tracking is fantastically accurate. It’s also a very small form factor and is usb powered. Pimax has already confirmed finger tracking with the sword sense controllers.
Now here’s my suggestion. Instead of using whatever methods that they’re currently using to attempt accurate finger tracking, why not integrate leap motion tracking into the tracking ring. This would have the added advantage of very precise finger tracking. Not to mention that since they’re strapped onto your hands there would be no need for wide fov tracking. This may also speed up development of the controllers.
They could get away with using the first generation Leap Motion, or even a cheaper custom made model with low fov built specifically for the Pimax. Some may think this must be too expensive, but considering a first generation Leap Motion is only 90$, this could very well be feasible. If they partner with Pimax to create a nerfed smaller version, this could really be a hit. @PimaxUSA@PimaxVR@Matthew.Xu
They are already working with the leap motion guys (UltraLeap now since the buyout) and have a hand tracker in the works which has been shown. Just a matter of time, as always, to get these things to market
Technically it is a stereo camera with some hand recognising software to try to emulate the hand position and finger positions. Not exactly something to put in the rings, dual cameras.
The leap motion tracking calculation is (or at least was) handled by the pc, so instead of just sending simple data they need to send the video image to the pc via usb currently. So with this idea you will need two controllers sending two video streams sent back to the pc, to do that we need wireless transmission capacity of the bandwidth to carry those streams from both controllers at low latency.
You also need the cameras to see the fingers which are wrapped around the other side of the controller from where the tracking ring is, so positioning the cameras in front of the controllers looking back at the fingers is needed, then they need to be at range to capture all fingers so I assume a good 10-20cm distance away? and then they are probably not able to see the thumb on the top, so you either deal with that with sensors which is what you’re trying to get away from or another camera is needed and another stream…
Aside from the additional cost and significant extra bulk with obstructive plastic a distance in front of your fingers to achieve this… it makes just using sensors seem a lot more viable to me
You can’t put leap motion to controllers.
Instead Pimax can offer you Sword Sense controllers, which has integrated proximity sensors to speculate form of your hand, like index controllers.
I’m pretty sure if you angled the camera on the tracking ring you’d be able to see all fingers. The leap motion is also very small so it shouldn’t be bulky. Also I’m pretty sure you don’t need a very high resolution image for the infared camera so wireless may be possible…
I think I’m missing something - Pimax is already selling the new wide-angle Leap Motion hand trackers,the tracking device attaches to the bottom of the headset, looking forwards so it can see your hands and track your fingers. It doesn’t need a separate thing on the controllers.
It’s not meant to be used in conjunction with controllers, as your fingers will be occluded by the controller LM often won’t be able to see what your fingers are doing. So he’s suggesting one locally on the controller to track fingers which is an interesting idea but I don’t see it as viable compared to just getting the sensors. Too much going on compared to just sending simple data from sensors over.
i have an LM and can’t be bothered using it, Even for flight. The tactile responses currently being developed in glove technology are the future of true “hands in game” and precise finger mapping. I envision much software support.
LM is like the drum game Paradiddle. Can’t feel the drumheads so limited practicality.
A neat toy but not real enough to maintain my interest.
