Impressive work, it looks very promising. I wish I could make a rotating radar dish but it's beyond my knowledge.

Wow! I thought my MR tracker was pretty cool but this is amazing, a prop that works as it looked in the movie is the ultimate. Great work, look forward to seeing more on this build.

I spent yesterday working on the code. I know have most of the screens/menus made. Even if my photoshop skills aren't the best, I was able to mockup scifi like panel for the system menu.

I have to perfect menu transitions with some good quality fade out/in if the contrast function is able to do it. I also expect to finalize the sensor code today and hook the sound board with the screen. Getting close.

My final add on will be probably a "fun menu" where I have all kind of tech/crazy animations going on the screen (an oscilloscope with some out of phase-lock signal displayed, terminal like typed text with "diagnose in progress", blinking lights etc).
I'm doing all the compositing in real time with sprites just like OG video games, it's such a fun to program on those small platforms. I think I'll also put a tetris game in there the internal motion sensor will provide the commands by emulating the keypad. A motion tracker is a bit big for being a portable gaming console LOL (but hey that was made in 1986 after all).

Do you think the software will be available to buy from Plecterlabs in the future? not sure if it would go in an MR tracker but I pretty much gave up trying to find some of the bits for my Kango build.

no reason you couldn't retrofit a MR using my hardware & boards + screen. If I do a second one, that's probably the path I'll follow if I can get one for a decent price. The software to generate the beam frames I'll share of course. If I decide to make a kit, I'll have to make new PCBs though, cause right now I'm using one of my saber boards to prototype and it's not as clean as I would like for a retail version. There's a lot of space in there so I'd rather make a nice PCB with headers and connectors for everything. That will be for the second version.

I got the orientation sensor working yesterday after working out the low level I2C routines. Still, the sensor I have in stock isn't that great, and I'd rather move to a cheaper one even if I need to make the tilt compensation myself (easy). Once I'm done with the core software and graphics is achieved, I'll move all that to the RPF to get some more feedback. If there's some interest, I might go for a run, and first ask people to chose or propose some artwork for the "skin" of the motion tracker. Since everything is changeable (except locations on the screen where info is written, like the distance to the aliens) it's great to have the final user choosing.
The nice thing is that the screen software is easily changeable, as well as the visual contents. To bad the screen doesn't have a decent audio capability otherwise I would have done mostly everything on the screen without any additional board.

erv this is looking awesome you have to do it as a kit now as i want one

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I'm the one they warned you about

Yeah me too, I'd be well up for that kit! the MR is very good but the whole 'repeating sequence' thing is a bit much after a couple of runs.

I'm converging to something nice. Sensors hooked up, rotating display but I still have a few goons in the code.
I'll post some more videos and pictures when it's stable. What has to be done now is a fast execution routine for distance measurement as well as dynamic mapping of the aliens spots on the screen (cartopol and poltocar conversions too).

On another note, does anyone as a REALLY Good sound package for the MT ? I've got some but I found them noisy (a bit). If someone has some MT sounds from the videos games, I'll be happy to collect them, I couldn't use the sound file extractor utility on my windows 7 x64 machine

also, what sort of sound would you imagine for the boot of that device (power on sound). If you have an idea + a link, feel free to post !

thanks !
erv'

If you sort me out your email adress erv i will hook you up some MT i've done for Darren's Aliens Epilouge!

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Sgt C. Kee-McParlin
A05/TQ1.0.02160E1

13th Regt. 1st Batt. 'Freebooters'

Here I am for the details...

My Motion tracker is equipped with a GPS and a compass (tilt compensated). To quote a friend of mine, it would have been almost easier to build a real one rather than emulating a movie prop

The goal is the next :
- the compass is controlling the orientation of the display which is rotating just like in the movie.
- the GPS is used to measure the distance to the alien fictive spot that was recorded and stored before

So, the interaction is kind of reversed since you're moving to the aliens and not the opposite but, still, it's very nice ! I initially though about building a RF beacon transmitting the actual position of the target to play hide and seek with my daughter but she's too young and the sad truth is that we kinda play alone with our expensive toys right ?

I was using a 5 Hz GPS head that fits perfectly in the motor area of the kango drill. The metal mesh isn't doing a faraday cage and the GPS signal is loud and clear.
For unknown reasons the GPS head died after some use (no change, switched the unit off, went back later, GPS dead), I ordered a new one and in the meanwhile, I had to hack an old one.
I started by removing the RS 232 voltage level shifter chip and bridged them to get some 3.3V I/O to connect to my boards.



The GPS head I have now is too long, so I had to remove the front disc. Once I'll have my 5 Hz one, I'll be able to finalize the prop.

To avoid magnetic perturbations from the electronics and speaker (all in the hama slide viewer) I move the compass in the jobo lamp.


first test of the screen installed


I shielded a bit the speaker area


... and drilled some holes for the sound (another option was to put it in the body of the kango but it made more sense to me to have it close to the electronics


The MT has several "menus" to either operate or configure the unit. I'm using the rotary switch to select mode and menus.
In the lowest position of the rotary switch, the MT is idle, you get the rotating display but it's not beaming.
Position 2 : it beams and whistles if it finds the aliens, and displays the distance
Position 3 : the GPS menu, displays the current coordinates, the alien spot saved coordinates, and the compass and current angle of the aliens from your current location, which can be a "cheat mode" is you don't remember where to search. That's also where you can save a "way point", then current GPS location will be recorded as the alien spots. To record the way point, I use the hama remote release switch (functional).
Position 4 : system info menu, where you read the battery charge and voltage, and current interaction mode (further explained).

kudos to that guy who made the sci fi panels and textures. I only assembled them in a custom way but it's not my work.
http://art.eonworks.com/gallery/texture/texture_gallery_15.html








Since I wanted to be able to play with the MT indoors (GPS won't work inside a house), I also integrated a motion sensor. It's hooked up so that even if left unattended, it's using it internal noise to simulation motion : you'll get the aliens coming to you even if you stay in place. And if you move, you accelerate the process.
When in inertial mode, the hama remote release switch is used to reset the alien distance and angle. The distance is within 20 and 28 meters so that it can be whether or not within the range of the screen, and the angle is computed to be within the field of "view" of the current orientation of the MT using the compass so that it's not a PITA to play with it.
I started by making real inertial calculation to measure the route taken by the user (works if made over a short term trip) but it makes the gameplay REALLY hard and not really "fun".

Current Limitations :

- improve the filter on the compass. It's compensated but I sometimes get magnetic perturbations that make the display going crazy for a short time ("I AM READING RIIIIIGHT !!!!!" ). I'm currently using both linear and non linear filtering but I still have to adapt the filtering parameters to get it smooth enough and flicker free.

- the GPS isn't just giving you a position, it's working on a navigation "fix" (solution). When you record the way point, even after staying still for a while, when you'll be walking to the alien spot the GPS will estimate your position based on your current speed and direction (course over ground). In general, unless you walk very slowly, you'll miss the spot by 1-2 meters.
I'm working down to 1/10000 of second of arc which is about 1.85 meter (theoretical resolution), however, in practice, at least with the GPS head I have, it's more like 2.5 to 4 meters. Still, it's working very well till you're at 5 meters of the target.

video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyCftshYASE


enjoy !

Looks great.

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Steve
Corporal in 69th Regt. 1st Batt. Homer’s Heroes.

"I'd like to die at the age of 80 in my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a girl's mouth around my c**k."

my god i really want one and seeing as the MR trackers are hard to find at a good price the next alternative is a resin kit with something like this fitted

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I'm the one they warned you about

I fixed everything about the compass, including placement, angle, and both linear & non-linear filtering, the reading on the screen is flicker free and still very reactive (average lag < 200 ms i.e 5Hz, like the upcoming replacement GPS that should be there anytime soon).

Having a route computed at 5 Hz is very exciting, my current 1 Hz is a little slow, since the beam rate is about 1.5 Hz. Even a 2 Hz update rate of the GPS will make it better.

I'm now working on :
- random alien number on the screen, position being refreshed at each frame. Those aren't separated aliens, but form a "squadron". I plan to have between 1 and 4 aliens or something like that

- the "crazy screen". When you have aliens all around. It will be a simulated screen (not using the sensors or GPS). Aliens everywhere, getting closer and closer and screen spinning fast. That's referring to the scene where the marine yells "I'm reading it RIIGGGHHT"

Woah!
That really is a work of art!
Especially the compass function that turns the image was always something I missed on mine!

Cheers,
Stefan

thanks !

random alien number 1-4 : done
working on the crazy screen. Also, I went to the movie again, extracted the sounds and determined the pitch to distance math relationship.

http://www.plecterlabs.com/Media/MotionTracker/Freq_Measurements_FromMovie.pdf

I'm going to redo my sounds using that, and the accurate analysis of the sounds amplitude modulation. Maybe I'll push to 25-28 sounds to get a pitch progression for each meter of distance to the target.
Hopefully, I'll program an app to do that automatically within 20 seconds.

Is it possible to take the sounds from the game?
It would be more clean

_________________
In space, no one gets whipped cream

I got some which are more likely from the games and they aren't accurate.

I don't know what the other guys think but if you accept my suggestion, I would give the menues a much simpler look. I've always seen the Colonial Marines equipment as "basic looking". It's up to personal taste of course but I can't imagine such complex menues featured in the movie motion trackers.

As for the rest, it's all fantastic and I'm eagerly following the thread to see this project completed!

agreed, actually. I just made those for fun, those menus serve only the interaction/gameplay. Aside of the battery level, you wouldn't need anything else, true.

if someone has some artwork to share, I'm happy to go with it ! Menus are 320x240 pixels.

I just wired up my 5Hz GPS and found out why the previous one died, so it's not happening again (was my fault... shit happens, murphy is always looking your back, waiting to kick it...).

[...] back from the garden. YAY. 5 Hz update rate for the navigation leads to better accuracy and more fluid rotation of the screen (angle of the MT display is updated at the GPS refresh rate).

I now have a 1 m accuracy for the alien spot (GPS location previously saved).

back to sound work !

got 25 sounds made. Not perfect, but that's a start, I still have to add more modulation and work on the volume envelopes so that it sound right. Some of the pitches aren't well reproduced by the small speaker too, so I'll have to EQ the sounds afterwards to get everything flat.

I finished the "crazy screen". A long pressure on the hama remote switch triggers a sound (I ripped hudson's quote from the movie) and the system goes in crazy mode with 25 aliens all around, getting closer and closer.

I'm not sure I'm going to make the screen rotating automatically. I mean it's super simple, but I kind of prefer spinning myself.

Thoughts on that ? I'm not fully against something automated... I just need to think about it and decide.

When you say autmatically, do you mean it will turn as you turn or it will turn to an predefined rotation event.

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In space, no one gets whipped cream

turn with a predefined rotation speed / rate. That's what happens in the movie, the sensor is going crazy and can't lock in. My question/wonder applies only to the crazy mode. In the normal mode, display angle is controlled by the compass (ie if target is behind you and you hold the tracker in the opposite direction, it does not appear on the scree, it will be unveiled only after you rotate at least 90°).

I think when they couldn't lock in it meant that the distance values were not precise and jumped up and down. Rotation must have been still up to the user. That's my guess.

watched the scene again (at about 58 minutes). We see the display rotating but that's because hudson is spining around, seeing that there's targets all around, and closing. So I'm done

expect a video soon !

erv your work with electronics is amazing.
A little off topic but can your blaster core be easily adapted to suit a pulse rifle?

Also I'm working on some screen jpg's for you, making them in the style of the film's so they are really basic with a logo. Just wondering on this wether an avi or gif could be used as I am trying out a 3D spinning USCM logo/ident.

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In space, no one gets whipped cream