Founded in 1997 to develop and market image tracking and computer control devices, NaturalPoint Inc. of Corvallis, Oregon, sells a motion application tracking device for the PC gaming community.

The TRACKIR 4 Pro offers real-time 3D view control. NaturalPoint claims its game device is the only six degrees of freedom (pitch, roll, yaw, X, Y and Z) head tracking system on the computer game market today.

Offering a 46-degree field of view and a 120 frames-per-second sampling rate, the Pro 4 is the system’s centerpiece, a hand-sized optical tracker that mounts on the top of a computer’s screen. The device captures infrared beams or tracks reflective dots mounted on headsets or even ball caps so that game-view changes according to a player’s body or head movements.

The advantage over a mouse or a joystick? TrackIR’s software allows players to customize their movements for each of the six degrees of freedom. For example, side-to-side movement might be programmed to go much slower than up-and-down motion.

In put devices vary from an a three-fingered LED device that clips onto over-the-ear headsets—the TrackClip Pro—to a flexible frame equipped with three reflective patches that is designed to fit over a ball cap hat brim (called the Vector Pro). Yet another option is sheets of self-adhesive reflective dots that can be attached to hats or headset microphones.

Videos and demos may be viewed by using the following link: http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/02-products/product-videos.html

We’ll be talking with the folks at Natural Point for some more details soon … keep an eye on this space.