I purchased because onboard chip – laggier than PS3 Eye and OpenTrack…

[Josh Moser]

I purchased the Tobii Eye Tracker 4c because it boats an on-board processor to handle tracking.

The reason I did this is because I’ve been using the PS3 Eye with an IR Lens added in conjunction with a TrackIR Clip Pro. And it worked well, but it didn’t track eyes and I can’t move my neck much. On top of that, I always had to set FreeTrack or OpenTrack to Above Normal for processing power… Then it’d be smooth with some chop.

Tobii is NO different. This could be because it uses VJoy and I have always had trouble with VJoy / UCR and those utilities to create virtual controllers. There’s always a huge input lag and it doesn’t feel natural.

I do like the fact that the Tobii tracks eyes because it means I don’t have to move my head as much ( honestly, I simply rotated my upper body and tilted forward / backward when using the other tracking software and IR ) because it’s very difficult to do so. But the fact of the matter is it isn’t natural.

I got it working with Truck Simulator ( American ) to see, because it didn’t work at all with Elite Dangerous. I finally got the Configure option to show up and after restarting the game a few times and resetting VJoy a few times ( and Tobii the main core program crashing many times with a 2000 pixel high error message showing up ) I ended up closing both game hub and core to reset then relaunched both and finally it worked )..

I ended up getting rid of most of the pitch control because pitch is absolutely sloppy. It locks to the top or bottom and doesn’t release so with 12 degrees I can still see out of the windshield…

As for yaw I set it up to have max speed to it essentially teleports to the views because the slow going wasn’t natural and the huge lag time caused major issues. Even going fast, it seems like it only jumps to center, 25 degrees right of center, 45 and 90. same for left except it has one more half hanging out window. Sometimes only 2 to the right and 3 jumps to the left instead of the 3 and 4…

When set to slow, it would move slowly but it wasn’t natural feeling and caused a lot of problems.

Also, I submitted a support ticket for this next issue:

I have to change positions frequently when I am able to sit. I have my monitor on a mount and I have a chair which supports my neck and I can lean back far ( a little more than standard office chair even though it is an office chair ). Any time I move the monitor by an inch, or shift my position by an inch, the eye sensor is completely off and I have to recalibrate if I want any type of accuracy to where the dot will touch the side of the circle… Sometimes the dot will fit inside the circle, but most times it will not. No matter how many times I calibrate, or make sure the device is centered on the screen. I asked for the source code to fix the code and / or math because it shouldn’t be this far off… We’ll see if they provide it because it would be beneficial to more than just myself.

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Anyway, why is Tobii so laggy when moving the cameras? I’ve only tried Elite Dangerous Horizons ( doesn’t work at all ) and American Truck Simulator ( meh, slow, likely due to VJoy )… When I saw the supported games list, I didn’t think I’d have to download emulators to get it to work.

I’ll try getting elite dangerous working, hopefully it will work in that.

I got it because it is an eye / head tracker that didn’t require me to move my head – fantastic idea… Also I liked the idea of being able to tag enemies in various games by looking at them – haven’t seen that work yet, on top of it not being nearly as accurate as I thought it would be to target those people – and being able to open a new degree of computer interaction through this software / hardware… Looking at things on the screen and having them activate, etc…

Also, I have another idea for improving it, but we’ll see how they respond to my ticket before I give them that suggestion.

Is there any way to not use VJoy and get rid of the movement delays? How about improving calibration? I have tried different mounting points on the monitor, off the monitor, etc.. using sticky tape ( only 1 of the magnetic strips they gave me was able to stick, and yes…. I cleaned off the area with alcohol first and allowed it to evaporate before attempting to stick it ) but there has been no better result. I’ve even attached bubble levels to the bottom of the unit and to the monitor to ensure the monitor is — instead of .-or-. … but that doesn’t change the level…

It seems random. I can be sitting at one time and I teleport the mouse to what I’m looking at and it’ll properly land on everything I want… Then a few minutes later, even in the same exact position ( I’ve tried ) it can be off by inches.

The monitor screen area is 27 inches diagonal. It’s 16:9 4k. The entire size is 28″ including the bezels but that’s not how you determine screen size until you have a type of constraint for space. It is mounted at the proper distance from me at all times regardless of position which is why it is on a Suptek arm ( these things can carry up to 20 pounds or more? Forget exact specs but they are as cheap as $19 [ wall mounted ] to $52 if you want the dual desk-clamped version, or $30 for single desk clamped which is what I have )…

I’m hoping by them giving me the source, I can implement some of my ideas / features and fixes…

[Grant [Tobii]]

Hi @acecool, thank you for your detailed feedback and our sincere apologies that you have not had the experience that we strive to provide for all our customers.

A few suggestions for trying to improve accuracy. Ambient lighting can play a big factor, you could try eliminating and possible sources of Infrared light such as windows or strong spotlights from your environment? Might also be an idea (at least to test) positioning your computer to a different orientation to any window that may be close by. Feel free to send images of your setup for consideration.

Also, just in case you have any facial piercings, try removing them to see if the reflectivity from these is interfering.. also, do you have another user to test with to see if the accuracy issue is specific to you or generic? It may also be helpful if you could kindly send screenshots of the calibration test via the Tobii Interaction Software (tray icon) after selecting ‘improve calibration’ to see where the problematic areas are.

Regarding Vjoy, I am afraid for the time being we still have this necessity implemented, although I will of course pass along your excellent feedback to the developers for consideration in a future release. Thanks for your patience whilst we try to resolve your issues best we can.

[Josh Moser]

No piercings, no tattoos, no lighting and no windows – remember I have an IR camera and it shows the environment with 0 light-sources so it isn’t that either. I have tried improving calibration 20 times now and it doesn’t improve. It works for a moment and gradually gets worse then can randomly get better and then it can be inches off again.

I have one light above my desk which I use when working with electronics. I have tried Tobii with and without this light which uses a dimmable LED bulb – there is no difference.

[Grant [Tobii]]

Hi @acecool, sorry to hear about your continuing difficulties. Regarding lag/high CPU usage, have you already tried to kill any processes currently running on your system that may be consuming resources in the background? Certainly worth checking to see how this impacts performance.

Did you have the opportunity to test your setup with other users for comparison? In addition, if you do indeed have any images of your current setup that you would be willing to share, that may also prove useful.

If you feel the device itself may require a more in-depth analysis, then I would encourage you to contact Tobii Tech support directly @ https://help.tobii.com/hc/en-us/requests/new who may be able to perform diagnostics on the device as necessary.

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