Aimtrak

ARCADE
LIGHT GUN WITH LINE-OF-SIGHT AIMING
Retail
boxed version.
Click
for Store page
- Emulates a USB mouse and
game controller. No drivers required.
- Compatible with all PC OSes
and Playstation 2 and 3
- Works with all monitors
including CRT, LCD, Plasma
- Accurate aim (after
calibration) for games which do not have on-screen crosshairs.
- Up to 4 guns can be used
together



Arcade-quality gun with two buttons and trigger. Ready to play.
Available in blue or black.
Box Contains:
- Complete gun with 2 buttons.
- 4 Meter USB Cable
- LED Bar for mounting on top
of monitor.
Download
AimTrakConfiguration
Utility Installer.
Download
Detailed Setup Guide including MAME Configuration
Download
Guide for operation on Playstation 2 and 3
FULL
OPERATION AND CONFIGURATION INSTRUCTIONS
First, mount the LED bar on the top of the monitor using the adhesive
pads. Note if you wish you can remove the casing from this unit for
installation in an arcade cabinet. See the Aimtrak Module instructions
for this.

Initial
Check
- Plug the gun into a USB port
and ensure the LED PCB is also
plugged into a USB port.
- Movement of the gun should
cause the mouse pointer to move.
Its as simple as that! At this time the pointer may not move to the
edge or may go off the edge and bounce to the other side. This is
normal as the gun is not yet calibrated.
Calibration
Calibration is only required once. Settings are stored in the gun.
The gun must be held vertically during this process otherwise it will
fail.
Hold the gun at the approximate location you will be using it. Note
that
the gun calibration must be done at the height the gun will be used at.
This means if you intend to look through the gun-sights when playing
you must do this when calibrating, or if you "shoot from the hip" you
must do this when calibrating.
Players which are very different heights will not easily be able
to share a gun.
- Hold the trigger
for 5 seconds (this value can
be changed, see later).
- The mouse cursor will
eventually start to move and come to
rest, pointing at a location near the top left corner of the screen,
and begin to flash. Aim the gun at the cursor and pull the trigger
again. The timing is not important as the
cursor is an indicator only. The aim is the only important factor.
- The cursor will then point
to a location near the top right
corner. Aim
at the cursor and pull the trigger.
- The cursor will then point
near the lower edge of the
screen.
Aim at this point and pull the trigger. Note the position to aim is
offset to the left of the screen center-line.
Calibration is done!
If any of the above steps fails, the cursor will continue to point
at the required location and not advance to the next stage. If
this continues to be the case you might need to install the Config
software to diagnose the problem.
The most likely cause of failure to calibrate would be:
- Gun too close to screen. Min
distance is approx 2 ft
for 19in monitor and 3 ft for 28 in.
- LEDs not pointed in the
approx direction of the gun.
Note that as calibration is performed at the corners, this is the
most critical area regarding sensor detection.
In your game software, the game must be configured to use the
mouse pointer as a gun.
Configuration
Software Utility

This utility is not required for normal operation or for calibration.
It
is used for initial configuration (unless the defaults are used) and
for troubleshooting.
Note the software requires the Microsoft .NET runtime to be installed
on the PC.
Basic
Tasks:
Assigning
ID.If
you are connecting more than one gun to a PC, each one must
have a unique ID.The ID is assigned by clicking on the "Assign ID" tab.
Sensor
View Check. Clicking on this
tab displays the Infra-Red LED as seen by the gun sensor.
Configure
Controls: The
trigger and up to 6 other buttons can be assigned as mouse buttons or
gamepad buttons (1 to 8). Once selected, the APPLY CHANGES button must
be
clicked.
General
Troubleshooting: Clicking
on the "SHOW DATA" tab causes various information to be continously
read from the device, including X and Y location.
Displaying
Calibration Errors: Any
calibration errors are displayed as
text either in the "Display Data" tab screen or the "Sensor View" tab
screen.
All configuration settings are stored permanently in flash ROM.
Below is a description of the controls:
DEVICE
drop-down:
This is used to select the device being accessed, from one to four.
CALIBRATE
This button has the same effect as holding the trigger for 5
seconds. It initialtes the calibration process.
APPLY
CHANGES Button:
This must be clicked to apply any changes made in the above settings.
CONFIGURATION
Tab:
Button
Assignments
These drop-downs allow configuration of the trigger and other
connected buttons. Each can be assigned as a mouse left or right
button,
or a gamepad button. Every button has two possible assignments, an
on-screen and off-screen setting. Off-screen would normally be used
for "off-screen reload".
Each button has an "Enable Cal" check box which, when
checked, allows this button to initiate calibration when held
down.
After changing, APPLY CHANGES must be clicked.
IR
Gain
This setting controls the "brightness" of the internal IR
sensor.Normally this can be left alone because the gain is
automatically set,but you can disable automatic gain control by
checking the Disable checkbox.
When automatic gain control is disabled, you can set the gain to one
of 5 values with the slider. There are very few situations where you
may need to do this, but one such configuration might be where the LED
PCB is located behind a tinted glass screen. In this case the gain
might need to be increased.
If the Disable checkbox is checked, the slider still functions but
will be over-ridden during use. In auto mode the slider moves on its
own.
After changing, APPLY CHANGES must be clicked.
Trigger
Calibration Delay
This slider defines how long the trigger (or other buttons with "Enable
Cal" checked needs to be held to start
the calibration process.
After changing, APPLY CHANGES must be clicked.
Tilt/Z
Axis
These 3 check boxes define the way the gun responds to being
tilted left/right.
OFF:This
setting
disables all tilt functionality. This means the cursor will move when
the gun is tilted. This should be used only for "air mouse" or other
uncalibrated applications. It gives the smoothest cursor movement but
is
not accurate to "line of sight". It might also be useful in gun
applications which have a visible "cross-hair" target which does not
require any visual aim of the gun.
INTELLIGENT:This
setting compensates for tilt by averaging and then applying
the compensation when it decides is the best moment to do so. This
means the cursor may temporarily lose accuracy when the gun is
tilted left/right but in normal gaming use this is not an issue.
CONTINUOUS:This
setting causes tilt compensation to be constantly applied. This may
result in a slightly choppier cursor than the above two settings.This
is not an issue when the cursor is not visible, which is in most gaming
situations.
Regardless of the above, the gun will not function reliably
if excessively tilted left/right.
After changing, APPLY CHANGES must be clicked.
SENSOR
VIEW CHECK Tab

This
display shows the Infra-Red LED as seen by the sensor. Note that this
shows the raw uncalibrated display so will not correspond to cursor
location on the screen.
This screen is used to check if the LED bar is in a location which can
always be seen by the gun, in all aiming directions.
This display can be used to determine why calibration is failing. You
can start the calibration process from this window. When you aim at the
flashing cursor each time, check the display as well. If the red dot is
not visible, calibration will fail. You can move the gun slightly to
find which direction the error lies.
Failure to calibrate is usually caused by either being too close, or an
obscured or faint LED signal. This display will help to identify the
problem.
CHANGE
DEVICE ID Tab
On this window you can change
the ID of the device to one, two, three or four. This is required to
be done if you have more than one device connected. After the device
is re-assigned, it will "disappear" from the PC for a few seconds
and re-appear as a new device with its new ID.
This tab is also used to upgrade firmware.
Upgrading
Firmware
NOTE: There is not at present any later version for the retail
guns.
Click "Upgrade Firmware" then "OK".
The
PC will detect a new USB device and a driver will be
automatically installed.
The upgrade program will
start. Click on "Select Firmware
File"
and navigate to the UFW file. This will normally be contained in the
install folder of the program.
The firmware should
download.
After download, the device
will reset. You should
see "Device not found" on the bottom line. The device should now be
back
in normal operating mode.
SHOW
DATA Tab
Dynamic
Data
This
section
displays data read from the device such as X, Y location, This is used
for troubleshooting and support purposes.
This
section
also contains a display of any errors encountered during a calibration
process.
Calib
Data
This
section displays various unchanging data which is data stored as a
result of running a calibration process. It is refreshed every 5
seconds
but should not normally change after the initial read or calibration.
All the other settings are also read from the device every 5 seconds.
Troubleshooting
Calibration and Erratic Tracking:
Step
1: Light Interference Check
Disconnect the LED bar so this is disabled.
Aim the gun at the screen and move to all screen areas. There should
NOT be any visible cursor movement. If there is any movement this
indicates the gun is picking up an extraneous infra-red light source
such as sunlight from a window behind the cabinet, a window reflecting
in the screen, or a conventional or halogen light within view of the
gun, or reflection of a light. Fluorescent/CCFL lamps are not a problem.
Step
2: Range Check
Use the test utility software and open the "Sensor View Check" tab.
Move the gun over all screen areas. The red dot should move. The
movement is "backwards" as this is the view which the gun is seeing,
not the result of the data moving the mouse pointer.
The dot should be visible and red in color when the gun is moved over
all screen areas.
Results are as follows:
Dot goes off the edge when the gun is still within
the screen area: Gun is too close to the screen, or LED bar too far
away from the screen edge
Dot turns orange or disappears while away from the edge: Infra red
light too dim. Gun too far away, LED bar not aimed at gun (this can be
checked using any digital camera, as these can see IR light).
Downloads
Download
AimTrakConfiguration
Utility Installer.
Download
Detailed Setup Guide including MAME Configuration