VisTrak SCX Installation

Installation Steps

Step 1.

Download and install all the Control Panel software from the links supplied to you in the email sent to you

Step 2.

Install the camera driver software from the supplied USB drive

Step 3.

Connect cameras to USB3 ports on your PC

Step 4.

Start the Control Panel and ensure that both cameras are running

(i.e. there's no error messages and you see the message that 2 cameras are running)

Step 5.

Go to the Setup panel and select Vistrak EVi / SCX / LX2 (depending on what system you have)

from the list of systems on the right hand side of the screen

Step 6.

Go to the camera 1 panel and right click on the "Defaults" button to set all settings to their default values.

Step 7.

With a ball placed on its normal launch position on your mat,

select the "Show Full Ball Frame" option and the "Video Stream Mode" option and aim the camera so that it appears close to the center of the screen

Step 8.

Do the same for camera 2.

Step 9.

Click on the Start Cameras button in the Control Panel's main window and wait a second or 2 until you see the message " ball detected, ready for swing"

You are now ready to play the ball

Step 10.

after a ball strike, you should see the message "Ball launch detected. Launch parameters sent to the game software"

Step 11.

Start you golf game software (E6, GSpro, TGC, CG3d or GSA Golf) and click the large minimize button at the top right of the screen .

You are now ready to play a round.

Cased version

Using the supplied LED lighting track to the SCX vastly increases image brightness.

VisTrak camera setup videos

Click above image to view all VisTrak setup YouTube videos

Click above button to read

Installing the Control Panel software

Follow the download links sent to you via email

The GSA Golf Control Panel (CP) interfaces the cameras to the game software

and performs all the camera image processing to calculate the shot data

Error message when first starting the CP ?

If you see the above error message when first starting the Control Panel (CP)

then your PC requires the VC Redistributable files.

Click on the above image to see an installation video

Download VC redistributables hereHere

Mounting the cased Cameras

Mounting height should be around 8 to 9 ft

Tilt unit down so that it points back to the ball hitting area

GSA Golf system minimum PC requirements

Intel i5 or above Processor

8GB RAM Nvidia 1070 Graphics Card or equivalent

25GB of Hard Drive Space

Windows 10 or 11 (Required)

Internet Connection *

2 X USB3 ports

*Required if using 3rd party game software such as E6, TGC or GSPro)

SCX wiring

2 X USB3 ports (Required)

Note: The cameras are USB3 cameras

and will only run at the correct speed when connected via USB3 cables directly to separate USB3 ports on the PC

Warning

If using 2 cameras, do not connect the cameras together with a Hub !

All cameras must be directly connected to separate USB3 ports on the PC

Use only powered USB3 extension cables if the supplied cables are not long enough

Run the 2 USB3 5v powered cables as shown in the above diagram to the PC

Max length of USB3 cables with extension is 40 feet with powered USB extension cables.

Main power is 110v/240v

Camera mounting orientation

Aim the cameras back and inwards to point directly at the ball on the usualy hitting posotion on the mat.

If using the track light system, attach the track to the ceiling around 3ft ahead of the usual hitting position with the supplied mounting hardware

Aim all track head lights and cameras so that they all point down at the hitting position on the mat

Ensure that the cameras are mounted or rotated such that the silver label on the camera is pointing outwards on both cameras

Aim cameras so that the ball on the mat appears relatively centered when the option "Show Full Ball Frame" is switched ON.

When aiming cameras, switch the options "Show Full Ball Frame" and "Video Stream mode" ON

Cameras can be rotated on both the x and y axis.

Default CP SCX Left camera panel values

Right click on the "Defaults" button

to set all values to their defaults

X and Y rev options must be set OFF

The CP SCX Right camera panel

X and Y rev options must be set ON

Right click on the "Defaults" button

to set all values to their defaults

Aim and rotate each camera until you see that a straight edge placed in front of the ball

and pointing directly forwards towards the screen is as show above.

If having problems, proceed as follows:

Place a straight edge on the floor pointing directly forward and directly under camera.

Then aim the camera directly down over the straight edge and set the camera to video stream mode.

You should see that the captured images of the straight edge show that it is pointing forwards.

If not, then the camera is twisted on its mount.

In that case, just twist (rotate) it so the straight edge is pointing at the screen.

Then place the straight edge in between the cameras and rotate the camera on its own axis to point at the straight edge.

Other than a couple of degrees off, it should still be pointing at the screen.

The CP main window

The CP setup window

The CP Camera window

The CP Shot Video window

Lens focusing and aiming

It's important that the camera lenses are in focus.

The lenses are pre-focused before shipping though.

To focus, place a ball on the center line of the enclosure and point the camera at the ball.

Switch to "Video Steam Mode" in the CP's camera window so that you see the captured images.

Rotate the outer dial on the lens in or out until you see that the ball is in focus.

Aiming the cameras

If using the SCX Track version, aim all lights and cameras so that they all point to the hitting position on the mat.

Depending on which side of the camera the mount is attached,

cameras may have to be rotated in order to obtain the correct orientation

If using the SCX Panel swing mount version, tilt the panel down on its mount so that it points back to the hitting position on the mat.

SCX camera orientation

The direction of play in both left and right cameras is always from right to left in the image frames

To Check:

place and ball on the mat and lay a club down behind it.

After clicking the "Soft Trigger" button. your image in the left camera should look like the above image.

Do the same for the right camera.

Assuming the right camera has been mounted with the white/silver label facing outwards,

the X rev and Y rev right options should be set ON

SCX Left/Right camera confirmation

To confirm that the left camera is indeed the left camera and the right camera is indeed the right camera,

select camera 1 ( the left camera), switch to "Video Stream Mode", and wave a club in front of the camera's lens.

If you don't see that the frame images are being blocked, then the cameras have to be swapped around in the Control Panel.

To do this, simply click the " Swap camera positions" option and then the "Fixed Assigns" option ON so that the camera positions are stored.

SCX Dynamic ROI (Region of Interest)

The Dynamic ROI feature allows the user to place the ball in a 2ft wide area on the hitting surface

As such, aiming the cameras does not have to be exact as the CP software will always align the ball precisely to the center line

VisTrak Golf Game Play

VisTrak interfaces with TGC (The Golf Club), GSA ProX, GS Pro, RedChain, E6 1.6 and E6 Connect golf game software.

Select the game software you are using from the radio buttons at top right corner of the Control Panel's main window.

Click the large "Minimize Window" button to start the cameras and connect to the game.

After Clicking the large "Minimize Window" button in the CP,

2 small buttons will show at the top left hand side of the game software.

Click Control Panel to go back the CP

Click Show Swing Video to see the last shot video

SCX Panel

Basic SCX Stereo Camera Calibration

As of CP version 9.9.3.6

Note that the cameras are already calibrated with basic settings.

If you would like to re-calibrate the cameras, proceed as follows:

1. Place a ball on the hitting mat and click the "Start/Stop Vistrak" button from the CP's main panel.

You should see that ball is located in both the Right and Left cams after a couple of seconds

2. Go to the "Cameras" panel

and click the "Soft Trigger" button in both cameras.

This will set the measured ball height to zero cm and disparity to zero

3. Place the ball on a dark non reflective object of a known height (anywhere from 4 to 20 cm high) and click the Soft Trigger button in both cameras 1 and 2.

You should now see a new ball height shown at the top of the screen.

In the above example, the ball was placed on a rubber stand 4.3 mm high.

If the ball height shown does not correspond to the actual height of the ball,

then the stereo "disparity to height" table has to be adjusted.

4. To do this,

Switch the "Calibration Mode" ON to see how the stereo "Disparity" value is converted to ball height via the Disparity-to-Ball Height table.

Note: click the "Load default stereo table" beforehand.

The disparity for the "Soft Trigger" frames is displayed in white text.

Select the "Global Height Adjust" option and use the up/down arrows

until the Ball Height shown at the top left side of the screen corresponds to the actual ball height off the ground.

Note that when adjusting this, all other height values will automatically adjust.

You can also adjust the height for a particular disparity individually using the Individual "Height Adj." option.

Note that the current selected row for this is displayed in Orange text.

Use the up/down arrow keys to select the row when the options "Global Height Adjust" and "Height Adj." are off.

Click anywhere in the screen to switch the active options OFF.

Note that you can also just use the "Global Height Adjust" to increase or decrease measured vertical launch angles for all shots

without having to go through the above procedure.

To activate: go to the camera panel, select calibration mode and - depending on your camera mounting height and seperation width -

click either the new "Using 8ft x 20 inch" or "Using 9ft x 28 inch" table.

The above diagram explains the basic stereoscopic principles.

If the two 2 stereo cameras are aimed precisely at the center line and a ball is placed at floor level, the images of the will appear on top of each other.

The disparity of the ball is then zero (or near zero) and this is known as the "Converging point"

When the ball is elevated, the images of the ball in the camera frames will start to separate. The distance the ball images are apart is the "Disparity".

Using a "disparity to ball height" table, the exact height of the ball can be determined.

Knowing where the ball was before ball strike the ball LA and path can be determined.

Ball path is simply derived from the divergence the center of the disparity distance is from the center line.

i.e. a perfectly straight shot would show that the 2 ball images are the exact same distance from the center line.

Checking for horizontal tilt

In order to measure accurate ball vertical launch angles (LA), it's imperative that the cameras are mounted square to the ground.

Any horizontal tilt will result in erroneous LA measurements.

In order to check for horizontal tilt, place any straight edge or pole on the hitting mat from the ball launch position, pointing (as near as possible) perfectly straight forward and

grab a new frame with the "Soft Trigger" button in the camera panel.

The above image shows that the straight edge pole is in line.

In this image, the pole appears tilted.

In order to correct the problem, you will find that there is no direct easy method to horizontally adjust the tilt as the low cost plastic mounts only feature vertical tilt and rotation.

One simple temporary solution for the moment is to place a small shim or piece of thick tape under one side of the mount base to correct the tilt.

Do this check and adjustment for both left and right cameras.

The more elegant solution is to correct the tilt mathematically with image rotation in the Control Panel's image processing software as shown below.

SCX Horizontal tilt correction

using the CP's Alignment Correction feature

Setup instructions to correct camera tilt alignment

1. Place ball on the usual place on the hitting mat.

2. from the Control Panel's main window, click the "Start / Stop VisTrak" button so that the ball is detected on its launch position.

You should see that ball is located in both the Right and Left cams after a couple of seconds

3. Go to the "Cameras" panel and select camera 1 (the left camera) and click the "Soft Trigger" button to see the ball.

4 . Using a straight edge (or line laser) that is pointing straight ahead towards the center of the screen and lined up against the ball on the hitting position,

move the ball around 12 inches forward in a straight line.

5 .Click the "Soft Trigger" button again to grab a new frame of the ball in its new position.

Ideally you should see that the ball is still exactly on the center line and the "Alignment Correction Angle is 0".

6. If not, then click the "Set L Angle to ..." button in order to correct the mis-alignment.

7 . Do the same for camera 2 ( the right camera )

SCX camera alignment via frame image rotation

You can slow use the new image rotation feature align the stereo cameras.

SCX Lighting

If you have purchase just the cameras, the following IR lighting is required.

IR LED Lighting

CM Vision IRP24-850nm LED IR Array Illuminator

Min 3 required for ceiling mounted SCX and Eagle systems

Max mounting height is 9ft

Note that the power supplies are not included when purchasing on Amazon

You will require 5 amp 12v power supplies for this IR Illuminator

Track Lighting

Instead of expensive IR LED lighting, you can also use LED track lighting.

All lights have to be set to 5000k

SCX lighting comparisons

Currently all cased SCX systems are being supplied with both IR LED and Track lights

While all track systems are being supplied with track lights only

Recommended items when purchasing your own halogen track lights

Track fixtures must feature built-in 110v to 12v transformers

Improving Ball detection using camera "Contrast" settings

New camera image and brightness controls that turn low light dull images of the ball and club into vibrant bright images.

Click above images to read more about camera ball detection and Contrast settings

Adding the optional extra Halogen lighting track to the SCX vastly increases image brightness

which negates the requirement to increase contrast

LED Track Lighting Track

4 hi-power LED zoom-able track light system with 800 Lumens per light

With track

Price $199

SCX ball Spin

If you prefer measured ball spin instead of calculated ball spin, then spin dot balls will be required

Note that only well defined and spaced spin dot balls can be used ( as hown above).

A maximum of 4 dots should only be visible within the center area of the ball.

Also note that camera exposure time (i.e. shutter speed) has to be set at or below 150 micro seconds and frame set to 1500 fps.