Guides:Types of tracking

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There are multiple types of ways to track movement and health on the human body, and translate it through an avatar in VRChat. There are numerous consumer peripherals and community-created software to enhance a user's tracking.

Types of tracking

• Half-body tracking [3-point tracking]: This is a standard VR set-up, where the headset resembles one point of tracking, and each controller is adds an extra point of tracking. Lower body movements are not tracked.
• Full-body tracking [5+ point tracking]: Also known as FBT. By adding extra trackers, a minimum of five points of tracking will track the head, hands and both feet. Additional trackers can be added to simulate movement of the chest, waist, knees, shoulders, and/or elbows using VRChat's Inverse Kinematics system.
• Face tracking: Simulates head and facial movements, such as head tilting, retinal positioning (eye look), blinking, winking, and jaw, mouth, tongue, or cheek movement. Face tracking can be used with or without a VR headset. An avatar will also need to be properly set up using the VRChat SDK to utilize face tracking in its fullest.
• Hand tracking: Also known as finger tracking. Hands and fingers can be tracked, through the use of VR controllers, or cameras. All Meta Quest devices have built-in cameras and software to track hand and finger movement. There are various experimental consumer peripherals, such as gloves to add features such as better hand tracking, as well as tactile and haptic feedback.
• Vitals: Some users may add peripherals to track their vital signs, such as a heart rate monitor, and can be paired to VRChat through an avatar using Open Sound Control (OSC).

Hardware

Depending on the type of tracking that is desired, extra hardware may be required.

Camera-based tracking

By using camera-based tracking, you can use software within VRChat (Selfie Expression), or community-created software to animate your avatar. When using a camera-based tracker, users will not be able to see your real face. Image data is locally processed on your device, only used for animation. This data is never shared, saved or stored.

On mobile devices

On the mobile adaptation of VRChat, there are built-in options within the client to enable the camera on your device, and translate head and face movements onto your avatar. This is called Selfie Expression, and can be found by opening the Settings page on the Main Menu, and clicking on the Tracking & IK tab.

On PC

Selfie Expression is also built into the PC version of VRChat, currently in Open Beta and available to VRC+ subscribers; information may be subject to change. In addition to tracking head and facial movement, hands are also able to be tracked and posed, similar to finger tracking. A laptop camera, or web-camera will need to be detected by your operating system to be able to use this feature. Selfie Expression can be found by opening the Settings page on the Main Menu, and clicking on the Tracking & IK tab.

Another method of using a camera-based tracker on PC, is through the use of a Kinect camera, PSMove camera, or a device using owoTrack, and community software known as Amethyst, formerly known as KinectToVR. Amethyst is capable of providing limited full-body tracking to the user, even if the user is in VR.

Base station tracking

Base station tracking, also known as lighthouse tracking or sensors, is hardware compatible only with SteamVR software. Base stations are compatible with some controllers and types of full-body tracker peripherals, such as VIVE trackers, and Tundra trackers.

It is recommended to acquire at least two 2.0 base stations, as these base stations are compatible with more modern hardware. It is also good practice to determine whether any desired hardware requires base stations before use.

Purchasing base stations

Prices for new base stations may fluctuate and vary.

• 'Valve Index Base Station' on Steampowered, for $149 (USD)
• 'SteamVR Base Station 2.0' on vive.com, for $199 (USD)
• 'HTC SteamVR Base Station 2.0' on knoxlabs.com, for $199 (USD)
• You can additionally purchase used base stations from second-hand outlets from various sellers for varying prices.

IMU tracking

Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) tracking consist of standalone full-body trackers that do not require base stations or external sensors, but is likely to require a smartphone application, or computer application to run alongside your headset, or VRChat. There are multiple consumer-geared IMU trackers that are compatible with VRChat:

• Sony mocopi - VRChat has officially promoted Sony mocopi trackers.
• PICO Motion Tracker
• HaritoraX 2
• SlimeVR

Pulse monitors

Per VRChat's Community Guidelines: "Do not use VRChat as a medical or therapeutic tool, device, or methodology". Please consult with a licensed medical professional for questions or counsel; this Wiki is not legal or medical advice.

Through the use of a heart rate monitor, a user can track their pulse. Information such as this, can be transmitted to an avatar or a Chatbox, through the use of Open Sound Control.

Comparison table

This comparison table of various full-body tracking devices was pulled from SlimeVR's product page.

	SlimeVR	Vive (3.0)	Tundra	AprilTag	Amethyst	HaritoraX	mocopi
Developer	SlimeVR	HTC	Tundra	Ju1ce, DIY	K2VR Team	Shiftall	Sony
Form factor	5x 50 g trackers	3x 75 g trackers	3x 50 g trackers	QR codes & central camera	Central camera	5 trackers connected by wires	6x 8g trackers
Battery Life	15 h	7.5 h	7 h	∞	∞	10 h	10 h
Base stations?	No (Wi-Fi)	SteamVR Lighthouse	SteamVR Lighthouse	Any camera	Kinect, PSMove, owoTrack	No (Bluetooth)	No (Bluetooth)
Prone to occlusion	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Coverage	360°	360°	360°	360° ²	360°	360°	360°
Precision	1-10 cm ¹	< 1 mm	< 1 mm	< 1 cm	1-10 cm	1-10 cm ¹	1-20 cm
Latency	~15 ms	~15 ms	~15 ms	30+ ms	~20 ms	>15 ms	50+ ms
Update rate	100 Hz	90-144 Hz	90-144 Hz	Camera framerate	30 Hz	50-100 Hz	50 Hz
Range	Wi-Fi coverage	10 m	10 m	2-3 m	2-4 m	Bluetooth coverage	Bluetooth coverage
Can track any object	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Open Source	SW + HW	No	No	SW + HW	SW	No	No
Price	$195	$390 + ~$400 Lighthouse	$360 + ~$400 Lighthouse	Printer & camera	~$30 (used Kinect)	$299	$450

¹ The precision of SlimeVR and HaritoraX tracking technology depends on your setup, on the plane used for measurement, and on how your back bends.

² AprilTag requires additional waist tracker with a phone or other tracking technology (has reliable 180° coverage without).

Software

There are different types of software made by the VR community to improve and enhance tracking!

Community software

This is a list of software that can be downloaded externally, and either uses its own software, or OSC to locally transmit tracking data to your VRChat avatar:

SteamVR overlays

This software can be downloaded on the Steam store, and run alongside SteamVR:

See also

• Controls
• Selfie Expression
• Full-Body Tracking
• Finger tracking
• Face tracking