ofxDualshock4

ofxDualShock4 is an addon which accesses the gyroscope and accelerometer data from a PS4 controller, and uses them to estimate the controller’s rotation. Currently the addon does not allow access to the state of controller buttons / joysticks, however extending it to provide this would not be particularly challenging. The controller can also only be connected via bluetooth as it stands - again it is possible to extend to suppot a controller connected via USB.

PS4 controllers present as HID devices on PCs and this addon uses the cross platform HIDAPI libary (http://www.signal11.us/oss/hidapi/) to access sensor data. Currently the addon only supports windows, but it’s just a matter of tweaking compiler settings to get it to compile on OSX / Linux.

To build up an estimate estimate of controller orientation from raw accelerometer and gyroscope data, Seb Madgwick's IMU sensor fusion algorithm (http://www.x-io.co.uk/open-source-ahrs-with-x-imu/).

Igloo Vision (http://www.igloovision.com/) are intrested in this technology because of its potential to enable the intuative exploration of VR environments.

Installation

Under windows and VS2015 the this addon can be included using the openframeworks project generator. Once you've generated your project do need to tweek project settings slightly:

• Using the solution explorer navigate to /addons/ofxDualshock4/libs/HIDAPI/hid.c
• Right click on hid.c in the solution explorer and select 'properties'
• Check all configurations is selected in the top right hand box
• In the box on the left, click C/C++ -> all options
• In the search bar type 'compile as'
• Select to compile as select C code

For other systems you'll have to manually add the hidapi source files to the linker and flag hid.c to compile as C code but it should still work okay

Pairing a PS4 controller to a PC via bluetooth

To pair the device:

• Open up Bluetooth settings on the computer
• Press and hold the share button and the button with the PS logo simultaneously, and unti the light bar starts to flash white
• At this point a game controller just pop up in the list of devices on your computer - click pair and you should be good to go!

Limitations / TODO

• Provide access to state of controller buttons / joysticks
• Setup Linux / OSX support
• Look into supporting multiple controllers (currently you can only use 1 at a time)
• Implement a switch to select bluetooth / USB at setup

Compatibility

Written for of openFrameworks 0.9.3, haven't tested with other versions

Troubleshooting

Slow update rate

If the addon works but there's a large delay between device updates, it's possible a Windows power setting is to blaim. To ensure this is not the case, go to cotrol panel -> power settings, and check that high performance mode is selected. If your on balanced mode you might have problems (even on a desktop PC).