PlayStation Move as PC Pointing Device

Today I’ve played around with some of the available tools for using the PS Move on the PC and put together a mix of available and modified tools that allow one to use the Move as a mouse or controller for an FPS game.

A zip with everything one should need can be found at http://osvaldojr.com/Move.zip
EDIT:
There is a newer version of my software that is much simpler to use. Download at http://osvaldojr.com/moveforpc.zip

A video of this in action can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0RWEB3rukI

Tags: , , , ,

This entry was posted on Monday, April 18th, 2011 at 6:47 pm and is filed under Computers, Video Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZLXR263NPRYYUVOJPXRBG3RFI adriano

    hey men, i connect psmove with success, turning on tracker light and using like mouse (very precise) but don’t work with games i think fullscreen games can’t see the input emulation
    can you have a solution (any code to implement in c# for this situation)

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    If you are using the newer version of my software (see moveforpc.zip) you should try using the “Mouse Emulation” operating mode instead of the default “1:1 Pointer” (or use the “FPS” mode if using a First Person Shooter).

    Does changing that work for you?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZLXR263NPRYYUVOJPXRBG3RFI adriano

    hey men i tryied again and nothing
    like a example in glovepie, using wiimote i need to use a command of window api (i think)
    like:
    mouse.DirectInputX = (Wiimote.dot1x + Wiimote.dot2x) * -1
    mouse.DirectInputy = (Wiimote.dot1y + Wiimote.dot2y)

    thanks for your help :D

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    I’m not sure why it’s not working, but if you want to try your hand at fixing it the place you would need to look is in:

    .srcMoveBridgesrcPS3EyeCam.cpp

    Around line 246 is where the stuff for moving the mouse is.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZLXR263NPRYYUVOJPXRBG3RFI adriano

    ok men i already see this
    i’m triyng modify for my reasons
    if i do it i will tell you
    thanks for all men

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZLXR263NPRYYUVOJPXRBG3RFI adriano

    can you tell me if the move.me, have the acess to coordinates
    like rotate the psmove in xyz moving in xyz or if your src folder have this lines because i don’t found, thanks!:D

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZLXR263NPRYYUVOJPXRBG3RFI adriano

    hello again, i find in microsoft website about raw input

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms645543%28v=VS.85%29.aspx

    for me look more precisy because don’t need to emulate everytinhg

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    I don’t track the move in xyz coordinates. Move.me should be able to as well as updated sources from moveonpc http://code.google.com/p/moveonpc/

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    Also, if you would rather stay with my Move for PC codebase and don’t care about tracking rotation, you can get z by checking for the radius of the detected blob from the move’s bulb. A bigger radius is a smaller z distance from the camera.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZLXR263NPRYYUVOJPXRBG3RFI adriano

    hey man me again
    yesterday e have installed windows developer preview(8 beta)
    the movebrigde.exe having a error 0xc0000142
    i don’t know if the error is drivers of cl eye or something not compatible in src files code, i think the code don’t have support
    for windows developer prevew , can you help me
    willbe aweosome use psmove on metro theme on this windows :D

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    Are you compiling with Visual Studio 2010? I remember one of the libraries for CL Eye not working properly with VS2010.

    If you aren’t recompiling at all, try using the Windows 7 compatibility mode.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZLXR263NPRYYUVOJPXRBG3RFI adriano

    I’m trying,
    a problem to play fps
    I tested the call of duty black ops and it worked
    but very processor takes movebrigde.exe
    and the game is too slow, but works just as a mouse
    but I tried movebrigde.exe set to low priority and use only one processor, then the game gets fast again
    but this way makes the move to be very sensitive
    and less accurate

    just saying my experience!
    and an opinion
    I just know a little C #
    and I know that managing it is not very good

    do c + + would be faster?

    just a suggestion

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    I would imagine that C++ would be faster for this than C#, but I don’t know by how much. In Move for PC I use C# for the GUI but a separate C++ program (MoveBridge) does all of the real work, so you shouldn’t be losing performance just from the language.

    As for why MoveBridge is very processor intensive, it has to read the image from the Eye and look for the bright sphere of the Move many times per second. This image processing takes a lot of CPU power. A less intensive method, although probably less accurate, would be to rely solely on the sensors in the Move to determine location.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZLXR263NPRYYUVOJPXRBG3RFI adriano

    i imagine this
    i’m trying find a way to make this program less intesinve for processor
    i don’t know maybe use more instructions over buffering cam^^
    i’m studyng know c++
    and i found moveframework_sdk
    and i use on windows 8
    and works fine and don’t take to much processor, i will try base your code in this sdk to use psmove like mouse!

    thanks!
    (are you brazillian?)

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    Sounds sweet! Let me know how it turns out.

    (No I’m not Brazilian)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZLXR263NPRYYUVOJPXRBG3RFI adriano

    ^^
    maybe soon i post to you if i do it

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2ZLXR263NPRYYUVOJPXRBG3RFI adriano

    by the way
    I think the moveframework_sdk
    would be less intense because he just uses sensors
    and calibrates based on bright sphere

  • Rubiodave

    Thanks a lot for this!
    but a little question..after i track the controller like a mouse..
    is it possible that when i push any button on the controller.. it actually make the click on pc? thanks again

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    You can bind the buttons on the Move to keys and mouse clicks through gamepad binding software like Xpadder.

  • Bernhard Freilinger

    Hi,

    really great tool ;)

    But i can also not play ingame with move. On desktop the mouse works fine with your tool, but not ingame…
    Could you make the move controller to a joystick?? Than you can use it in xpadder. So every body can play in games.
    Would be great ;)

  • punkchobit

    Can you make a way to extract the data via sendmessageAPI?

    ie: I send your app my app’s hWnd, and your app sends the data back?

    Does this also get sharshooter’s data?

    Also, which BT adapter do you recommend?

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    One would modify the source code pertaining to MoveBridge.exe to do this. You would most likely have to have your application start MoveBridge directly instead of using the MoveForPC GUI.

    .srcMoveBridgesrcPS3EyeCam.cpp in the zip archive is where you would need to do modifications, if you are up to the challenge. The coordinate data is calculated around line 246.

    I might try to do an implementation of this myself, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll have the time.

    You can also look into moveframework ( https://code.google.com/p/moveframework/ ) It might be better suited to application integration. It’s also a newer project than my MoveForPC and may be more robust.

    You can receive sharpshooter data from its standard mapped buttons from Motioninjoy. Sharpshooter-specific buttons are not accessible to my knowledge.

    Lastly, I don’t have any BT adapter preferences, I just use the adapter embedded in my laptop and it works fine :)

  • Hamza

    Hi man! I really appreciate your work a lot. I just wanted to suggest something. How about is you even take the coordinates from the sensors in the controller to track it instead of just tracking it using the camera. That would be much better and smoother. There was also an issue I encountered. The camera tracked the glowing ball if it was really close but it lost track of it sometimes when i took it further away. I even tried this in a really dark room, but it still didn’t work. One last thing. The newer version of your application crashes too easily, but the 1st version doesn’t.
    Thank a lot.
    LOVE YOUR WORK!

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    Thanks for the comment!

    MoveForPC is a fairly old project that was made before coordinate information was available from the sensors in the projects that it is based off of. I agree that using the sensors along with the camera would be a much better solution.

    I think I might look into making a newer version that solves the problems that you and others have brought to light; the distance issue looks particularly interesting.

  • aeayyi

    Would it be possible to use the gyros and accelerometers in the Move instead of the camera for mouse emulation? This is something I would need for this little project of mine, though I’m not sure if I have the programming skills to make it happen… I know it’s possible with a Wiimote, but I haven’t found a software that can do it with PS3 Move.

  • Tim

    what if i only want to connect the 2 move controllers and not the eye toy, as in using the controllers as normal game controllers

  • disqus_gKW6JWITMk

    I have my Move all paired up but no light comes on nor can the moveforpc track my move controller. What gives?

  • Jonderwan

    doesn’t work on my windows 8 64 bit pc.
    everytime movebridge.exe get a failure:
    —————————
    movebridge.exe – Anwendungsfehler
    —————————
    Die Anwendung konnte nicht korrekt gestartet werden (0xc0000142). Klicken Sie auf “OK”, um die Anwendung zu schließen.
    —————————
    OK
    —————————

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    This error was also reported for Windows 8 Developer Preview. There may be an incompatibility with Windows 8. I may be able to create a functioning version, although that will have to wait until I myself upgrade to Windows 8. If you would like to attempt yourself, all of the source code is distributed with the binaries. Alternatively, try running the program in compatibility mode for Windows 7.

  • CroDruid

    Man, U doing good job! Awesome!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1182360060 Grant Hinkle

    ah man, it wont work w/ compatibility mode for windows 7. so bummed. I may downgrade today, unless you’ve managed to get a windows 8 version working?

  • Diego

    did you fixed your problem?

  • http://osvaldojr.com Osvaldo Rosado

    I unfortunately haven’t had the time to work on a Windows 8 compatible version.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1182360060 Grant Hinkle

    hey no worries man. I reformatted and installed windows 7 64bit. it works! thanks for your hard work!

    The only issue I ever come across — is that when i close MoveforPC it crashes, and i have to restart my computer before i can get the tracker to work again. lol.

    any solutions for that by chance (btw i realize you are extremely busy, but maybe you had encountered the same situation in the past at some point!)

    Thanks again for all your hard work, this is going to be awesome for when I get my oculus rift next month!

  • Juber Gonzales Prado

    hola amigo exelente trabajo. Hoy probe el battlefield 3 con tu sofware y el DS3 tool y va de maravilla

  • grant hinkle

    hey man, so i have it working perfectly in windows 7…. until today. now when i run the move tracker program, it runs perfectly. however, only the mask_window and movetracker.exe (the dos program that outputs all your movement) windows open up. the camera window and calibration window stay minimized, and no matter what i do — i cant get them to open up. they just sit on my start bar…. very strange.

    any ideas as far as solutions? as far as i know the tracker still works perfectly, i just am not able to change any of the settings since i cant get the windows to un-minimize.

    cheers!