PlayStation Eye hacked for desktop VR use

The Wiimote may be spurring on the majority of desktop VR hackery these days, but at least one enterprising developer seems to be aiming to change that, and he's now showing that you can do more or less the same thing with a PlayStation Eye. As with the Wiimote, you need a pair of homemade IR-equipped glasses, but you'll also need to perform a couple of minor modifications to the PS Eye itself. That all-important detail consists simply of a homemade lens cap that houses some exposed and developed film, which lets the camera receive only the infrared signals from the glasses. Pair that with some custom-made software (now available for the taking), and you'll be giving unsuspecting visitors motion sickness in no time. Head on over after the break for a peek at the setup in action.

[aMac @ Feb 1st 2008 1:37PM]

This would also work with any decent webcam (which is all the PS Eye is anyway) as long as it captured at a decent framerate and resolution.

Filtering for infrared light was a nice idea and makes it a LOT easier to process, though I'd like to see it done with simple face tracking instead.

[Kamalot @ Feb 1st 2008 1:39PM]

This is neat, but any web cam can be modified for use in this fashion. It sounds much more like Playstation fans are desperately trying to be cool by following the Wii, kinda like how Sony itself tried copying motion sensing. Heck, even the upcoming PS3 slim looks a lot like a Wii.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/01/is-sonys-ps3-getting-a-redesign

[Gary @ Feb 4th 2008 1:04PM]

Well, Sony had already announced motion sensitivity with the Ps3 way before anybody new the Wii was even called the Wii. So who copied who?

[Brad Green @ Feb 1st 2008 1:39PM]

Lame, its a copy of the Wii hack...

The wiimote works by using an IR senstive camera to see the IR leds on the sensor bar, and this guy is doing the same thing, except he hasnt adapted it as an inut method or air mouse.

[mmh @ Feb 1st 2008 1:49PM]

My money's down with Johnny.

[Paul @ Feb 1st 2008 1:52PM]

OMG. That ending scared me. I thought it was over, went to another tab, and suddenly I hear, "DO YOU LIKE MY IR SPECS!!??! I WANT 3D."

[DigDug @ Feb 1st 2008 1:56PM]

I thought about this when I saw it for the Wii. Instead of having to wear something how about using a camera with face recognition and it would ajust the pictured based on where the face (or somethign close enough) is in the room. And if there are multipule people, it decideds where most of the people area and goes that route.

[PoirierS @ Feb 1st 2008 2:00PM]

Question is, on wii or Ps3 ... when it will be adapted to Doom ?

[daaper @ Feb 1st 2008 2:10PM]

hey, that's the mini version of my TV! sweetness...

this software is pretty sweet too. Somebody has to get this integrated into gaming so I can play and throw up from motion sickness at the same time.

[Tggin @ Feb 1st 2008 2:15PM]

Thanks, freaky Eddie Vedder.

[Terminal @ Feb 1st 2008 2:21PM]

The difference between this one and the wii verison. Is that the wii is using an external laptop to help with the processing.

The PS3 is doing everything here. Also he acknowledges (in the credits) Johnny Lee (I think was his name) who posted the wii video of this.

[warlock7 @ Feb 1st 2008 2:27PM]

@ Kamalot (system's not letting me reply)

That's kind of the point, isn't it? ANY camera can be adapted to accomplish the same task that was done with the Wii-mote.

Your concern about PS fans worried about being cool is ill conceived. This is much more the style of the PS3 design, it's very open and it allows for development like this to be done right in the machine, rather than forcing you to use the Wii-mote through a computer. As, the PS3 is just the more powerful computer of the two. I would expect that you could easily get the Wii-mote to serve the same functionality through the PS3. But most PS3 owners probably don't have a Wii and wouldn't have a Wii-mote lying around like they would have a PSEye. Just kind of makes sense. Also, this guy gave credit to everyone that inspired him to do this little experiment, including Johhny Chung Lee.

I guess that it doesn't look more like the PS2 slim than a Wii?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/SCPH-75000CB.jpg

So, sorry to say, but you're the one sounding "worried" about being cool. Must be Wii envy...

[Peter @ Feb 1st 2008 2:37PM]

This has been done on the PC for years:

http://www.free-track.net/

It works really well in Flight Simulator X.

[TomTom2007 @ Feb 6th 2008 12:03PM]

thanks for that, i have used other similar freewares but none of them were decent enough to produce good quality of tracking, but this one seems very decent from the videos that I've seen. thanks

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Feb 1st 2008 3:57PM]

Watch out don't believe him, he;'s working for the Cylons on Battlestar Galatica. You know the guy, the one who keeps talking to the Dead nay Drop Dead Gorgeous Blonde in the Red Dress! Way to go.

P.s.
Where is this " Publicly Available Software"? Link Please!

E for effort!

[jtc970 @ Feb 1st 2008 4:21PM]

One difference
the PS EYE is
640 x 480 at 60 frames/second
320 x 240 at 120 frames/second

the wii remote is
1024x768 120 times a second

I have the wii hack and modified safety goggles.. just waiting for someone who knows software to come up with some hacks.

[Johan S @ Feb 1st 2008 4:37PM]

When is someone going to make something like this with homemade VR goggles + camera motion tracking + in-goggle accelerometers for true stereo vision. Probably you'll also need a game controller to walk forward instead of physically having to do it and bump into things.

[Andir3.0 @ Feb 1st 2008 5:20PM]

@ Johan S: I like the idea of kids walking around the living room bumping into things better. It's entertaining for those not playing as well. Talk about getting the entire family involved.

[Jordan @ Feb 1st 2008 10:08PM]

@ PoirierS (system won't let me reply to people either, just brings up an ad)

"Question is, on wii or Ps3 ... when it will be adapted to Doom ?"
~ PirierS

I worship you, the best idea man has ever thought.

[James @ Feb 1st 2008 10:27PM]

wow @ the second and third comments. you guys are idiots.

[ck @ Feb 2nd 2008 2:34AM]

@jtc970: "the wii remote is 1024x768 120 times a second"

You might want to check your facts because last time I looked you couldn't send 120 updates per second over a 100Hz connection.

Also, considering the Wii remote is hard-wired to only return 2 points worth of data in each update, it can't be used for 3, 4 or 5 point head tracking (head turns, etc).

The PS3 eye running at 640x480x60 will be plenty to pick up a group of fuzzy white dots and decide if you're looking straight at the TV or not.

[ck @ Feb 2nd 2008 2:37AM]

Also, I'm wondering why people are wiring LEDs to glasses and having to deal with batteries and janky looking accessories. Wouldn't you be better off with an IR source and some stick-on reflector dots?

[skulldriveshaft @ Feb 2nd 2008 4:18AM]

One major aspect that is missing - although the code was first written in C# - and needs a bluetooth adapter for your wii-remote (which you can buy everywhere even though you can't buy a Wii) - this is just a port of the 3d math processing used to automate the rotation on screen.

What Johnny Lee showed was Desktop VR Head Tracking - and you could link up more than one Wii Remote - so you get to interact with what is on screen. And you can keep on adding devices to control on-screen behaviour, split screen deathmatch action anyone?

For those of you that said face tracking - that's a limitation of the Eye Toy - the T algorithms would be interesting to say the least - but when you get overlaps of players - it would result in a bad gaming experience.

For those of you that said IR emitter array - that's definitely not the best idea in the world - what are you protecting your eyes with? - Johnny Lee already went through that in the first demo.

Nice video - but shouldn't they already have libraries for 3D vector math? couldn't be that hard.

[nebulus @ Feb 2nd 2008 6:07AM]

@ck I'm pretty sure the wiimote returns up to 4 positions of IR sources, because mine does!

What is really interesting here is not the fanboy pissing contest over who id what first, I'm cooler than you etc etc..
The fact that with very little modification to a system that many people already have in their homes (apart from the filter and the nice IR glasses), fairly decent head tracking can be enabled on the cheap with minimal added infrastructure is facinating!
So the likelihood that this this could be exposed to games soon is much much greater...
Plus the type of games that would benefit greatly from this (FPS) are more common on the PS3 and its audience.

The Wiimote hack while brilliant I doubt Nintendo are looking at and saying hey lets incorporate that into a game (I do hope I'm wrong on this though!)

Keep up the hacking, and less of the fanboyism...

[mnemo @ Feb 2nd 2008 6:25AM]

The original YouTube video has much better quality and isn't zoomed in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxT_f_F32EU

[J. Evans Turner @ Feb 2nd 2008 11:47AM]

To those who say it can be done with "any decent webcam": You are wrong.

The Wii Remote is 1024x768 resolution; much higher rez than most web cameras. Johnny Lee, who made DesktopVR and the Wii head-tracking demo, said that the camera in the Wii remote is superior to most camera devices that consumers have access to. This made the Wii remote his device of choice for the whiteboard, touch-surface, and head-tracking demonstrations. Also, it has the IR filter already installed.

To those who say that this spin-off is a "useless" or a "rip-off" of the Wii head-tracking project: Shut up.

Johnny Lee made the kit available for people to tinker with...he wanted people to do things like this. I performed the Wii head-tracking demonstration and found the Wii remote's field of vision to be *FAR* too limited for practical use. I suspect that the Playstation Eye will have a much better FOV than the Wii remote.

[harvy2001 @ Feb 2nd 2008 3:40PM]

what u all being negative about it for?

its great bit of coding good work well done.

[Azayzel @ Feb 2nd 2008 8:42PM]

Some pretty good ideas here, rabid Wii fanboys aside, so this has a lot of potential. I particularily like the idea tossed out about the IR emitter and reflective dots, this could enable some really cool interactive games sans controllers.

As for comparing the Wii to the PS3, that's like comparing a Pinto to a Ferrari, no contest. The Wii is simply popular for the innovative control scheme, something that will likely be copied and replicated over and over, and the fact it's so friggin cheap. Most of the games aren't really that good and don't come close to comparing with the 360 or PS3; just look at the re-sale values for it's games and check the reviews. The Wii really saved Nintendo's butt; however, once the novelty wears off, and it will soon enough, they're going to be back in the red if they don't catch up with the rest of the gaming market.

[BiHatch @ Feb 15th 2008 12:20AM]

Here's a blog about head tracking using a webcam and face recognition.

www.kuubee.com