Hello and well met!
First of all, apologies for the length of the post.
I started experimenting with UDK recently and I would like to use a motion tracker and a Head Mounted Display for navigating the 3d environment. The HMD part is the easy one, it just works as a second monitor straight out of the box. However, I will also need to set up a motion tracker and attach it to the HMD, so that rotation data can be somehow fed into UDK and used to set the player's rotation. The tracker I have access to is kinda old (but it seems to be working). It used a serial port, which I do not have. However, I am using a USB to serial adapter and I am able to see the raw data through programs such as HyperTerminal and Serial Port Monitor - I get a string of numbers, three for translation and three for rotation. So far so good. But how to have these numbers affect the player's view in my level? I noticed that the tracker does not appear as either a mouse or a game controller in Windows.
Now, I am no programmer, but I have a good grasp of programming concepts - I can mostly understand code I read, and even edit it to make it more useful. I have written a little bit of code as well, mostly JavaScript and ActionScript. I have also started reading Rachel Cordone's book on UnrealScript and so far it looks straightforward (although one level higher in complexity than simple scripting languages such as JS or AS).
So, my question essentially is this:
Is there a moderately straighforward way of having the data from the tracker influence the motion and (most improtantly) rotation of the player? In my nonexpert view of the situation, I have reached to the conclusion that I will have to use something called DLLBind, am I correct? Could you please point me to the right direction? I understand DLLs are created with C# or C++. Any good tutorials on how to access the data that comes through a serial port with these languages?
I may be able to enlist a programmer or two if it gets too technical (but then again, maybe not until a bit later), but I would appreciate if you could make your advice clear and accessible to someone who is currently learning.
First of all, apologies for the length of the post.
I started experimenting with UDK recently and I would like to use a motion tracker and a Head Mounted Display for navigating the 3d environment. The HMD part is the easy one, it just works as a second monitor straight out of the box. However, I will also need to set up a motion tracker and attach it to the HMD, so that rotation data can be somehow fed into UDK and used to set the player's rotation. The tracker I have access to is kinda old (but it seems to be working). It used a serial port, which I do not have. However, I am using a USB to serial adapter and I am able to see the raw data through programs such as HyperTerminal and Serial Port Monitor - I get a string of numbers, three for translation and three for rotation. So far so good. But how to have these numbers affect the player's view in my level? I noticed that the tracker does not appear as either a mouse or a game controller in Windows.
Now, I am no programmer, but I have a good grasp of programming concepts - I can mostly understand code I read, and even edit it to make it more useful. I have written a little bit of code as well, mostly JavaScript and ActionScript. I have also started reading Rachel Cordone's book on UnrealScript and so far it looks straightforward (although one level higher in complexity than simple scripting languages such as JS or AS).
So, my question essentially is this:
Is there a moderately straighforward way of having the data from the tracker influence the motion and (most improtantly) rotation of the player? In my nonexpert view of the situation, I have reached to the conclusion that I will have to use something called DLLBind, am I correct? Could you please point me to the right direction? I understand DLLs are created with C# or C++. Any good tutorials on how to access the data that comes through a serial port with these languages?
I may be able to enlist a programmer or two if it gets too technical (but then again, maybe not until a bit later), but I would appreciate if you could make your advice clear and accessible to someone who is currently learning.