Setting Up the PS3Eye

Well, I managed to turn off the auto-exposure on the PS3Eye, with help from Adam Kumpf, the author of the Trackmate software; there's a useful thread relating to inconsistent tracking on the Trackmate discussion forum.

After this, I discovered that the PS3EyeTest application is not the best app to use for setting up the camera - when you change settings (exposure, gain etc) they aren't immediately reflected in the preview window; you have to start and stop capture. Also the app is a tad flaky, so sometimes when you restart capturing you just get a black screen. All of this makes it near impossible to get the settings right.

However, using AMCap (which is also actually bundled with Alex P's Windows driver), you can adjust the settings with a real-time preview, then apply them once you're happy. So that's the way to go in future.

After a bit of tweaking, all the tags on the layout guide sheet are being recognised well. Here's a screen grab from Trackmate:

All those green circles with larger green dots in the middle indicate that the tag info is being picked up across the surface. And here's one with just a few tags placed on the table, which also seems to be working fine:

One small issue, though: the Trackmate software is only reporting a 5fps capture rate, whereas the camera is capable of 60. I will need to find out what's happening here and try to get it running at full speed.