History
The original TrackIR product was an affordable assistive technology device used for Windows cursor control. An early customer provided feedback to NaturalPoint that the product could be used in some flight simulators. This prompted NaturalPoint to re-brand the original device as SmartNav and launch a new TrackIR with improved gaming features to specifically target the flight simulation market. TrackIR was embraced by PC flight simulation enthusiasts who saw it as a better alternative to a joystick hat switch for view control. The technology used in SmartNav and TrackIR was later extended to another brand called OptiTrack, creating a more affordable professional motion capture solution.
Between 2002 and 2005, five different TrackIR camera models were released with steadily improving specifications. Frame rate doubled and resolution increased substantially, resulting in more responsive and accurate tracking. In 2003 the NaturalPoint President (also the principle hardware engineer) described these improvements to the original TrackIR as, "not critical for flight and driving sims, but very important to other types of games like first person shooters."
Software for TrackIR 1 and 2 can track a single point, producing 2DOF, this was later expanded with version 3.x software to allow multi-point tracking for 6DOF but only with TrackIR 3 hardware. This feature requires the purchase of a Vector Expansion license which now comes pre-installed with the TrackIR 4:PRO.
The TrackIR 3 was split into a cheaper standard model and a more expensive PRO model but the cheaper model was abandoned for the next version, TrackIR 4:PRO.
The TrackIR 4:PRO departs from the previous models' clamshell case with a new slim compact design, not much bigger than the diameter of a golf ball. It has a wider field of view than its predecessors and a new base so it can be attached to flat panel displays.
The TrackIR 5 was introduced in early 2009 with a similar design as the TrackIR 4:PRO. It features a wider field of view and higher resolution tracking sensor than previous models.
Read more about this topic: Track IR
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“There are two great unknown forces to-day, electricity and woman, but men can reckon much better on electricity than they can on woman.”
—Josephine K. Henry, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 15, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“Don’t give your opinions about Art and the Purpose of Life. They are of little interest and, anyway, you can’t express them. Don’t analyse yourself. Give the relevant facts and let your readers make their own judgments. Stick to your story. It is not the most important subject in history but it is one about which you are uniquely qualified to speak.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)