teiresias said:
Putting in the screen size wouldn't really be worthwhile I'd think since the distance you sit from your screen is more important to how much "sweep" it takes you to traverse it.
The Wii's pointing is done fundamentally differently in that it uses the lights on the bar (in conjunction with rotation data?) whereas the Move seems to rely solely on mag/accel/gyro (whatever's in the damn thing) to determine angle and map that to a 2D coordinate on the TV screen.
The Wii sees the lights and can somewhat compensate for what distance you're sitting at based on how far the lights move across the Wiimote camera's field per a given angular deflection. In essence it can somewhat calculate your distance on the fly so long as you're moving the wiimote in a pointery motion.
The "target calibration" in The Shoot serves somewhat the same purpose as the Wii's light bar in that it essentially gives them the angle you have to swipe in order to traverse the whole TV screen - in essence determining how far you are from the TV if you remember your geometry. Therefore, once you do the calibration on the shoot you probably have to redo it if you change your distance from the TV in order for it to remain right. I'd hope the margin of error is small enough that small changes in distance from the screen due to how you're holding your arm aren't enough to screw it up.
The Wii compensates for distance automatically - without needing a recalibration - because of the light bar.
The move's distance is tracked too though.
If you know the camera was centered and level, and
assuming you have accurate xyz and angle, you have all you'd need to know where on the plane in front the camera you're pointing at. Where the LOS intersects. Then if you know where on that virtual plane the TV is (i.e. if you know it's centered under the camera, and you know its size and aspect ratio), you should have all you need to know where on the TV the controller's pointing.
I can understand though why they do the calibration the way they do...because this way, it covers all possible configurations of camera (position, angle), and adjusts for the user's perception as much as the physical reality. The suggested way above doesn't accommodate as many scenarios. But as a default basis, telling the system the missing bits of the above puzzle might be an idea. But as I say, that may even seem more complicated to most end users vs simply pointing at things and pressing a button.
The reason I ask why Wii doesn't do this too is because with its setup too, it can't calculate the real LOS either. It's why it also has 'point at stuff' calibration to figure out the extremities of the TV. But like I say...if you can assume where the sensor bar (or eye in Move's case) is, and you know about the TV, it would be an alternative way to do that. Still not PERFECT, cos certain things vary with all TVs (like the thickness of the edge around them, for example, which would knock off assumptions about the
exact location of the display itself under the sensor/camera), but it might be 'good enough' and perhaps more consistent than what people manage on their own with the point-at-targets stuff.
I'm over-thinking it anyway, because generally it's always seemed 'fine' to me with either system, but it's just an idea for potential technical perfection...
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