Another full body tracking thread - custom hardware

[Jiraiya]

SlimeVR Full-Body Tracker

An affordable, comfortable, wireless, 360° solution for full-body tracking in virtual reality

www.crowdsupply.com

So forget the "crowd supply" part. This is actually an open source project that uses cheap easily available modules, the ESP-12F and an IMU.
The boards are battery powered (longer life than all the other similar trackers), require NO base station or camera and communicate with the PC via wireless. It all integrates with SteamVR for maximum compatibility.

Buying the cheapest components easily brings the total cost per tracker to ~$7 each. Better IMUs bring it up to ~$30 each. This is substantially cheaper than any existing commercial offering and as mentioned, no base station or camera. This means no occlusion of tracking if you turn around, reach behind you, sit down, lay down etc.

Accuracy is poor. This isn't for people making mocaps in VaM to sell etc. However, having used the Kinect FBT a fair bit, that level of accuracy is 'ok' for a user messing about in VaM who wants to be able to actually walk around in a possessed model.

 

[VAMguy]

Now can use your old Android phones as tracker.

owoTrack - Google Play 應用程式

將您的手機變成 SlimeVR 追踪器，進行 VR 全身追踪

play.google.com

 

[VAMguy]

Just tried the Android apps with SlimVR server and yes! My phone works as a Vive tracker.

I set the phone as Waist in the SteamVR trackers role, and let it sit on my belt. Everything works fine. VRchat catch my phone as waist tracker without problems.
In VAM I can see the phone show up as a Vive tracker on my waist. Start possess mode and align head and both hands. However I failed to align the hip to the tracker. I already set the hip possessable, the hip green sphere was gone after align head and hands......

Anyone can give me some hints how to align trackers?

 

[Jiraiya]

VaM doesn't 'do' normal possession like that.
You have to manually edit the atom and link it's position to the tracker.
A MUCH easier way is to use embody, that simplifies adding vive trackers to you possessed model.

 

[VAMguy]

You have to manually edit the atom and link it's position to the tracker.

Link my hip to the tracker as parent?

And thanks I'll try embody also.

 

[tinyxoxo]

once im in full body i am using a vale index with 3.0 tracker and 2 base station once im in full body mode and make my character link up with me it seems like my when i walk or sit down it looks like my character is in space with the moments how can i fix that i did watch a YouTube video of a person in full body but it looks like they move very good and not like there in space

 

[Matt_]

Make sure all untracked nodes are off

 

[mrmr32]

I'm trying the SlimeVR trackers and they does work with hip-feet configuration (and for only around ~80$), but I'd like to add also the knees for better tracking (for how SlimeVR works it's "free"; just toggling an option) and I can see them on SteamVR, but once I open VAM the knees disappear.
Searching for FBT threads I found that meshedvr commented that the knee-tracker type is too new and it's not recognised by VAM, so I changed the type on SteamVR configuration from left/right knee to left/right shoulder (that should be allowed by VAM), but they aren't show either. I also tried to disable the feet and assign the knees to the feets and it didn't work, so I'm thinking that SlimeVR/SteamVR are sending the knee data with some kind of tag maybe? Has anyone successfully added SlimeVR's knees into the game?

 

[Jiraiya]

just have them set as "generic" trackers then link the part you want to track their movement to them manually.
I am pretty sure I had like a dozen generic trackers appear in VaM at one point with no limit because of what part of me they were actually tracking.

 

[mrmr32]

just have them set as "generic" trackers

Where can you see "generic"? (translation from the image) There's only "disabled", "in hand", "right/left feet", "right/left shoulder", "right/left elbow", "right/left knee", "waist", "hip", "camera" and "keyboard".

 

[Jiraiya]

It's been a long time since I tried to do this, but I remember them as coming up like "tracker 1, tracker 2, tracker 3" etc.
That might have been linked to the source of the trackers as they were not 'real' vive trackers but emulated in steamVR.
In VaM it took me quite a while to work out which ones were linked to which parts of me because of the unclear naming.

 

[Nameless Vagabond]

How well do these slime trackers actually work? Their advertised accuracy (mislabeled precision) is 1-10cm, which is pretty huge compared to the <1mm that I have with my current Vive tracker.

I would like to have more than just a hip tracker though, so if these slime trackers actually track better than advertised, I might have to give them some serious thought

 

[mrmr32]

How well do these slime trackers actually work?

They are great, but it's true that in some situations they may be off by 3cm or so.
The problem is that they are affected by something called drift: each time you move, their position/rotation will be slightly wrong. After some minutes (~15) you'll have to recalibrate. The good news is that in the newest version you just need to stand still and double tap your chest tracker.

So, they are bad, but they are really cheap (and open source). You could even use both the slime trackers and your vive tracker.

 

[Jocks3D]

Would love to see more details about how to set up the systems described in this thread, like a step-by-step process if anyone has the time and knowledge.

 

[mrmr32]

Would love to see more details about how to set up the systems described in this thread

1. Getting your SlimeVR trackers
You can go for the official Crowdsupply option, or build it yourself. Buying it already made guarantees a good quality trackers (and no technical knowledge needed), while building it yourself is quicker and cheaper.
From this point I'm gonna assume that you're building it yourself, and you choosed a BMI160 as IMU (cheap and decent tracking), as I did.
You'll first need to buy the components. You can check the list on their official website, under DIY Trackers - Components Guide.
Then, you'll have to 3d-print a case for your system (or buy it from a store if you don't own a 3d printer) and solder the components, as shown in the guide.

2. Setting it up
You'll need to flash the firmware; specifically for the BMI160 you'll need to enter to the SlimeVR Firmware Tool (Butterscotch Version) and flash "SlimeVR/beta/bmi-improvements".
After you have the firmware, the trackers needs to be calibrated. You have a text instruction here or you can check the calibration video, on the official SlimeVR Discord.
At this point you should be done with the trackers, now you need the tracking data.
Download the SlimeVR Server, and you should see your trackers. Now it's time to setup the tracker assignment (each tracker needs to be at the same place, always), and then calibrate "body proportions" and "mounting calibration". With the software is really easy to follow, with images*.
*The only part that I found confusing is the manual body proportions site, as I didn't know what each name means. You can check it on the website, and that way is easier.

3. That's it!
At this point you should be able to see the trackers inside SteamVR. The only problem I've found is that if you enable knee tracking (it's just turning on one option inside the SlimeVR Server) you won't be able to use them inside VAM, as it use an old version of SteamVR (as said by meshedvr here). I know some people are working on SteamVR scripts for VAM (e.g. here), so maybe in the future there's a way to do it.
Also, consider joining SlimeVR's Discord. The community is really good and will help you without any issue (maybe avoid saying it's for a porn game... say you want it for playing VRChat as a furry and you'll be part of the 95% of the server).

 

[Jocks3D]

Thank you @mrmr32 ! I should have mentioned that I'm not technically inclined enough to follow your DIY method but I'm sure others will find it helpful. I'm more interested in something I can buy and use for mocap, but a lot less expensive than the Vive trackers.

 

[mrmr32]

I'm more interested in something I can buy and use for mocap, but a lot less expensive than the Vive trackers.

Well, they are indeed way less expensive but if you want to go for the Crowdsupply option be prepared for some delays (I originally bought them there on September 22, and they are estimated to ship on June 23).

Also, I don't know if mocap is the right use-case for this trackers... Their accuracy is really poor, and needs to be calibrated every little while. Remember what the OP said (and I also agree):

Accuracy is poor. This isn't for people making mocaps in VaM to sell etc. However, having used the Kinect FBT a fair bit, that level of accuracy is 'ok' for a user messing about in VaM who wants to be able to actually walk around in a possessed model.

 

[Shortstack Enjoyer]

Just tried the Android apps with SlimVR server and yes! My phone works as a Vive tracker.

I set the phone as Waist in the SteamVR trackers role, and let it sit on my belt. Everything works fine. VRchat catch my phone as waist tracker without problems.
In VAM I can see the phone show up as a Vive tracker on my waist. Start possess mode and align head and both hands. However I failed to align the hip to the tracker. I already set the hip possessable, the hip green sphere was gone after align head and hands......

I can get my phone working as a tracker on Steam and it works in another VR porn game, but when I go to the "trackers" menu with Embody it doesn't appear. Any chance you could help me get it working?

 

[javelin4480]

Hello - I wanted to provide an update on getting knee trackers working in VaM with SlimeVR. Turns out that the way SlimeVR drivers handles the tracker "hints", it creates an issue with how SteamVR sees the knee trackers. The SlimeVR devs provided a modified driver files (see resource below) that should fix the knee tracking issue, if assigned to Camera and Keyboard trackers in SteamVR config . I haven't tried it yet, but hoping this is helpful!

Credit to @vaan20 for working with SlimeVR devs on this.

SlimeVR drivers supporting knees - Other -

These are modified SlimeVR drivers provided by a SlimeVR dev that changes the "hint" for SlimeVR virtual knee trackers to Camera/Keyboard so that SteamVR will see them. The official ones don't work correctly for knee trackers, causing knee...

hub.virtamate.com