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andrewtek
Up and Coming
January 7, 2015

Leap Motion - Is it supposed to be this jumpy?

Hello!

My Leap Motion just arrived. I wanted to start by testing out "normally" before I started wiring it into Unreal Engine with getnamo's plugin. Unfortunately, I was surprised to find that the device seems really jittery. I move my fingers to pick things up, and it is like it cannot see them properly. Other than general full hand movements, it cannot seem to tell my finger/hand position at all.

Is this what I should be expecting? Is my device broken? I used the diagnostic tool and I cannot seem to get it to achieve a passing score of 80.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

    29 replies

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    MrsVR
    Up and Coming
    January 17, 2015
    "andrewtek" wrote:
    "alexcolgan" wrote:
    With that being the case, it sounds like the calibration is the biggest issue. When you were calibrating, did you rotate the controller around and keep it generally within the same position, as shown in this video?

    That is exactly what I did. But, it seemed like it took forever to eventually reach 80%. Certainly more than 2 minutes. Further, it kept dropping back to zero and I had to retry several times.


    I used a mirror (small desk makeup-mirror thing) and it calibrated really quickly for me. All other surfaces, including a shiny glass table, didn't work and took forever.
    It really shouldn't take a very long time to calibrate with a mirror.

    What kind of light sources are you surrounded by? Any that happen to give off infrared light?

    Hijacking this a bit: I noticed my Leap motion gets pretty warm. Is that normal? Is there some sort of recommended maximum usage time?
    Rendering/Game engineer
    andrewtekAuthor
    Up and Coming
    January 17, 2015
    I did use a mirror, but calibration was still a long and painful process.

    As for IR light sources...
    - My DK2 emits IR light.
    - My back is to a floor-to-ceiling window.

    I cannot think of other potential IR light sources in the area.

    I have noticed heat, but I figured that was normal. I usually unplug the device when I am not using it.
    lmaceleighton
    Up and Coming
    January 17, 2015
    Yeah you might want to wait for night and have the rift off while calibrating. I had TONS of trouble with ANY IR light during calibration. It seems to work fine the rest of the time, but calibration WILL be a pain if you cannot block ALL light coming from your windows.

    ~B
    andrewtekAuthor
    Up and Coming
    January 17, 2015
    The last time I tried to calibrate was at night, with a mirror and the DK2 was off.
    lmaceleighton
    Up and Coming
    January 17, 2015
    Weird...wish I could help more...

    ~B
    andrewtekAuthor
    Up and Coming
    January 17, 2015
    I think the help has been great. Either my expectations were too high or mine is defective.
    MrsVR
    Up and Coming
    January 18, 2015
    "andrewtek" wrote:


    As for IR light sources...
    - My DK2 emits IR light.
    - My back is to a floor-to-ceiling window.


    That window needs some curtains I think. I've only tested it in the darkness of winter so the mirror calibration worked fine for me, but I've read that daylight is a huge issue and all windows need to be covered up. I didn't experience any issues with my DK2 so I don't think it interferes too much, but daylight will definitely interfere a whole lot.
    Rendering/Game engineer
    andrewtekAuthor
    Up and Coming
    January 18, 2015
    Day and night both have issues with jitteriness.
    Anonymous
    August 29, 2015
    "andrewtek" wrote:
    Day and night both have issues with jitteriness.


    Same here, I have tried every method/resource I can think of to resolve this....hope! :? :D

    To quote myself (Orion_Uk) from this thread here:http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/oculus-rift-with-leap-motion-developer.349016/

    My main frustration at the moment is with the Leapmotion side in Unity! Hands jumping in/out of view, multiple hands on screen when i am only using one hand over the LM sensor, virtual hands turning in to a fist while my real hand has all fingers open, hands being detected or shown upside down!, grab not working!, fingers in poses that my hand is not making...all in all it has been a VERY frustrating experience...and yet all the devs/youtube videos seem to have nice stable arms/hands and fingers with no grab issues!

    I have done callibration SO many times (via monitor and using a mirror) and only score between 80-87 points MAX while I read that ppl are getting around 110-117 points!

    With all these callibration issues (Tried from here: https://developer.leapmotion.com/do...p ... alibration ) and the other things I have mentioned, what was meant to be a hobby during the little down time I do get has been ruined by having to browes countless documents/ forum threads/youtube videos in the search for `stabillity` before I can even begin to have some fun with all this stuff :(
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