Let’s walk you through the steps to get started with development for your Tobii Eye Tracker.
Step 1 – Get an eye tracker
If you don’t already have one for your project please have a look here to figure out what would suit your need.
Step 2 – Get the Tobii Platform Development Kit (PDK)
If you are integrating an eye tracking platform into a device, or if you are developing an application for a device using a non-gaming peripheral eye tracker, you will need a PDK from Tobii to access the eye tracker. Examples of this would be the Tobii Eye Tracker 5L peripheral eye tracker or the IS5 DevKit. Easiest way to get the PDK for your eye tracker is to reach out to your sales representative. If you don’t have one, contact us and we will reach out to you promptly!
If you are making an application that uses a gaming eye tracker, you do not need to get and install a PDK. For a Tobii Eye Tracker 5, the needed drivers and software are automatically installed as you plug in the eye tracker. For the Tobii Eye Tracker 4C, you will have to manually download the installers from gaming.tobii.com
Step 3 – Install the Tobii Platform Development Kit (PDK)
The PDK contains a platform runtime service specific to your type of eye tracker. The exact way to install this platform runtime service varies a bit between different OS and sometimes also between different versions of the PDK. To get the specific instruction for your PDK, please unzip the PDK, find the README.md file and follow the instructions provided.
Please note that the process requires administrator rights. So for example, on Windows, please keep in mind to start a command prompt as administrator.
Once the platform runtime service is installed and running, the eye tracker FW will be automatically updated in the background. After about 30 seconds, the eye tracker is ready to interface with.
Step 4 – Configure and Calibrate the eye tracker
There are two sub steps needed for setting up the eye tracker to be ready for use. First, configuring for which display to track gaze, as well as where the tracker is positioned relative to this display. This first step is only needed for a peripheral eye tracker – for an eye tracker that is integrated into a device this step is already done by the integrator. Second, calibrate the eye tracker to be optimized for your eyes. The second step will need to be re-done for each individual that will be using the eye tracker.
For Tobii Eye Tracker 5 this setup is integrated into the Tobii Experience App.
For the non-gaming eye trackers, such as the Tobii Eye Tracker 5L, Tobii provides a separate configuration tool that handles both these steps. This tool is called Tobii Configuration Application and you will typically get this bundled with the PDK. At a later stage you can choose to develop your own configuration and calibration, for a more seamless integration into your experience.
Step 5 – Experience Eye Tracking
We know you’re eager to try eye tracking, so let’s start by giving it a spin! Download and launch our concept validation tool to experience how it feels when something is reacting to your eyes. It showcases several different ways of using eye tracking.
Step 6 – Hello World!
You are now ready to write your first code that uses the eye tracker!
You will find the Tobii Stream Engine libraries and include files in the PDK client_side/stream_engine folder. You will also find the corresponding documentation of the Tobii Stream Engine API in the PDK documentation folder. So as you follow the getting started instructions for the Tobii Stream engine, you can disregard the need to download the Stream Engine zip. Downloading Stream Engine will only be necessary if you have a gaming eye tracker and skipped step 3 above.