App Settings

This guide covers application settings in LookPilot. These settings affect how the application behaves and are separate from your tracking presets.

Interface

Found in Settings > Interface.

Language

• Choose your preferred interface language
• Restart required for changes to take effect

Camera

Found in Settings > Camera.

Camera Selection

• Select camera: Choose from available webcams
• Reload button (⟲): Refresh the camera list
• Resolution: Choose camera resolution
  • 1280x720 recommended for most setups
  • 640x480 for lower-end systems
  • 1920x1080 for high-end systems (may reduce camera FPS)
  • Each resolution entry lists its maximum framerate, and LookPilot always runs the highest framerate the camera offers at the selected resolution. High-fps modes (90-120 fps) are usually only available at lower resolutions - pick 720p or lower to unlock them.
• Mirror camera: Flip the camera preview horizontally (doesn't affect tracking)
• Auto exposure: Lets the camera manage exposure automatically. In dim rooms auto exposure can silently halve your camera's framerate; disabling it (and lighting your face from the front) restores full fps.
• Use GStreamer: Capture backend with the lowest latency. Try disabling it if your camera fails to load.
• Use MJPEG: Compressed capture that reduces USB bandwidth on high-resolution cameras. Disable it if the camera fails to load or shows "format not supported" errors.
• Use DirectShow (Windows): Legacy capture API. Enable it for older cameras that do not work with the default backend - e.g. the PS3 Eye (see Troubleshooting).

Tips:

• Position camera at eye level for best tracking
• Ensure good lighting on your face
• USB 3.0 cameras generally perform better than USB 2.0
• Plug the camera in directly - USB hubs can limit bandwidth and framerate

Choosing a Webcam

• Framerate beats resolution: 30 fps is the workable minimum, 60 fps is the sweet spot, above 60 the gains are minimal. 720p at 60 fps is the recommended target.
• Field of view does not affect tracking quality as long as the image is undistorted - a wider FOV just allows bigger physical movements.
• Community-verified models: Logitech C920 / C922 / C925e / C270 / Brio / StreamCam, EMEET C950 (1080p60), OBSBOT Meet SE (100 fps), Ugreen 1080p60, PS3 Eye (~60 fps, very cheap; on Windows it needs a DirectShow driver - see Troubleshooting).
• Phones work well as cameras: on Windows use DroidCam or iVCam as the bridge app and connect over USB, not Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi latency makes tracking floaty); the phone then appears in the camera dropdown. Keep the phone near eye level.
• Cameras with built-in IR illumination (e.g. ELP KL36IR) are a community-recommended option for playing in the dark.

Tracking

Found in Settings > Tracking.

Performance

Tracking FPS limit:

• Range: 5-240 FPS
• Default: 60 FPS
• Lower values reduce CPU usage but may impact smoothness
• Actual FPS also limited by your camera's capabilities

Head tracking mode:

• Static: Single-frame prediction
• Temporal (experimental): Uses LSTM for smoother tracking

Keybinds

Found in Settings > Keybinds. Here you can bind your mouse buttons / keyboard keys / joystick buttons to different actions.

System Keybinds

Center Tracking:

• Default: Ctrl+Space
• Resets your current head position as the neutral center

Toggle Tracking:

• Default: Not assigned
• Starts or stops head tracking

Pause Tracking:

• Default: Not assigned
• Freezes tracking at your current pose (unlike Toggle, which recenters when tracking restarts) - useful for holding a view while clicking small cockpit switches

Setting Keybinds

1. Click in the keybind field
2. Press the desired key combination
3. Automatically saved

Good choices: Combinations with Ctrl, Alt, or Shift (e.g., Ctrl+Space, Alt+F1)

Avoid: Single letters/numbers that games use, common shortcuts (Ctrl+C, Alt+Tab)

Note: Preset keybinds are configured in the preset management window, not here. See the Presets guide for details.

Posture

Found in Settings > Posture (if posture monitoring is enabled).

Posture Monitoring

Enable posture monitoring:

• Monitor your head position and show warnings when your posture needs adjustment

Warning threshold:

• Distance below center position that triggers a warning (in cm)
• Higher values are more sensitive

Warning delay:

• How long to wait before showing a warning after bad posture is detected (in seconds)

Current Status

Displays your current head position and warning status.

Set Center Position

Use the "Set as center" button to set your current position as the reference for posture monitoring.

Privacy

Found in Settings > Privacy.

Send usage statistics:

• Default: Enabled
• Helps improve the app by sending anonymous usage data

Send gaze data:

• Default: Disabled
• Helps improve eye tracking models by sending anonymized gaze data