SparkFun Forums

[cmchristian]

I am creating an interface to a 3D modeling program that allows the user to control the model camera location based on their physical position (actually the position of the device they are holding). The X,Y,Z location has been solved but I need to create an interface that allows control of the roll, pitch, and yaw. I am a decent programmer but I am very new to hardware and hardware interface.

What I need is a three axis gyro that will hook-up to a USB port. The gyro needs to be able to send data on the roll pitch and yaw quickly and get power from the USB. For reasons I am not going to mention, I need to be able to access the data through C# on a windows based platform (no android or windows mobile).

The question I have since I am new is what sparkfun parts should I assemble to make this work? My hope is to get the hardware setup with the help of the forum and then hash out the programming side on my own. From what I gather I could use the L3G4200D with the FT232RL and use the code provided to get started but I don't know if that's true. Am I missing something? Is there a better setup? Is that more than I need? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[leon_heller]

The FT232RL will need a suitable MCU, interfaced to the accelerometer. Here is a simple project of mine that implements a USB interface in a single PIC18F2455:

http://www.leonheller.com/usb/

It should be quite easy to use C# program with my hardware.

[cmchristian]

So are you saying your hardware would work instead of the FT232RL or would it work in conjunction with it?

[Mee_n_Mac]

Is a gyro (3 axis) enough ? You have position in X, Y, Z space but do you also know angular orientation about the X, Y and Z axes ? If you're starting from a known orientation then a gyro can be used to compute how much rotation has occured from that initial position. If you don't know (or assume) the initial orientation then a gyro isn't going to give you enough info to model it in your VR world. You'll need another sensor and perhaps then not need a gyro.

Just wanting to be sure you're headed down the right path before you get too far.

[cmchristian]

The system is going to be based on an initial position so all I am measuring is the change. The product will be operated directly by a human the whole time and initialized at a known starting point. Thanks for the heads up though.

[cmchristian]

Just to let anyone who is reading this know, I am not a hobbyist. I am developing a system for which this will be a component so making it myself was not my original idea. I could not previously find anything that was pre-made that would fit my criteria so I decided to look into making this component myself. As it turns out I have located a product that is what I need and want to share it with anyone who is just looking for this type of device. The product I found is called MotionNode.

http://www.motionnode.com/

If you know anything about this product (reasons not to use it) or of better similar products I would also be interested.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my post.

[leon_heller]

So are you saying your hardware would work instead of the FT232RL or would it work in conjunction with it?

My hardware doesn't use the FT232RL. The PIC contains the USB I/F hardware.