Cheap or free head tracking in Elite?

[Bubba Fett]

I've got a couple of friends starting Elite soon and was wondering about head tracking.
I play in VR which is great and also have TrackIR which is also quite cool. Unfortunatly neither of my friends are going to be buying anything like that in the near future.
I've been playing Star Citizen for a while and one of it's cool features is that it can do head tracking with just a webcam.
Is there anything like that available to work with Elite Dangerous?

[luntacarsus]

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/diy-head-tracker-for-a-tenner.15316/

[Xmerwynd]

Yes to IR and VR support

[Bubba Fett]

When I reread my post I guess my original question was unclear. I've got Elite and play it in VR and I have a trackIR setup that I used to use with it so I'm aware that it supports both of those.

What I was looking for was low cost or free options for my cheapskate friends that are just getting into Elite because of the current sale.

[Noobiecanoobie]

I tried a bunch of free methods (web cam, phone) and found them terrible.
Recently bought EDTracker: https://edtrackerpro.mybigcommerce.com/
It's fantastic. Not sure if it meets your definition of cheap, but is cheaper than TrackIR. Tiny device for your head, nothing on the monitor. Best thing I've done for Elite/Sims since getting HOTAS.

[funkynutz]

You can build your own IR tracker for about £15/$20.

You'll need 3 IR LEDs, a power source for them, 1 to 3 resistors (depending on power requirements of the LEDs, your power source, and whether you need a serial or parallel circuit), and a webcam with the IR filter removed (I used a PS3 eyecam which I picked up from CEX for about £1).

Being handy with a soldering iron will help, but it's basic stuff so even if you've never used a soldering iron before you should be able to manage it.

I used free-track.net for a rough idea of how to make the point model, but if memory serves I actually used opentrack https://github.com/opentrack/opentrack/releases for the controlling software.

I only stopped using it because I got a Rift...