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WEBCAMS

The Beam Eye Tracker is compatible with built-in webcams, external USB webcams, or phones used as a webcam.
Built-in, external webcam or phone as a webcam option for the Beam Eye Tracker

For most users, a standard 720p webcam, built-in or external, is a cost-effective and instant option. It offers solid performance and simple setup at 30 FPS.

Test Beam Eye Tracker first with the free demo on Steam or our 14 day money back guarantee. Make sure you are happy with the app before buying any hardware. If the demo does not run, contact us on Discord for help.

Optimizations

 
  • We recommend cameras with a regular to narrow field of view (FOV) of 50-80° for optimal eye and head tracking performance. With wide-angle cameras ranging from 90-120°, you may experience inaccuracies or tracking overshooting. If your camera supports multiple angles, please start with the narrowest one.
  • If you have to choose between a high-resolution camera at 30fps and a lower-resolution one at 60fps, the lower resolution at 60fps will provide better overall performance.
  • You can often reduce the resolution of the camera to 720p, or even 480p. The Beam Eye Tracker does not benefit from very high resolution and it can unnecessarily increase computational demands.
 

Webcam Suggestions

 
For users seeking enhanced tracking quality, particularly those interested in utilizing the 60+ FPS tracking feature for smoother motion capture, we recommend the Logitech Brio 4K webcam and Elgato Facecam.

For those on smaller budgets, there are many options available at around $20 for 720p 30fps external webcams.

Here is a selection of the best-selling webcams on amazon.com:

For additional support, feel free to join our Discord community. If you don’t have a webcam available, please see below how to turn your phone into one. 
Find Best Selling Webcams on Amazon
 Note: The links provided are Amazon affiliate links. We appreciate your support if you decide to use them.
 
 

Webcams Not Recommended
 

We do not recommend cameras that only support a wide-angle FOV, such as the GoPro (which has a very large field of view and requires the Manycam intermediary app). If you only have access to large FOV webcams, we suggest using a phone webcam app for your testing instead.

Phone as a Webcam

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Turn your phone into a webcam!

Android 14 allows you to directly turn your smartphone into a webcam plugging in with USB-C, thanks to its built-in Android webcam feature.

iOS users with FaceID-enabled devices should download the Beam Eye Tracker iOS app to benefit from offloading and 3D sensor tracking.
If you don’t have FaceID then consider the Apple built-in Continuity Camera.

For older devices, explore free webcam apps like Camo Studio that work on all platforms.

Once your phone is set up as a webcam, choose the virtual webcam it creates in Windows as your input device in the Beam Eye Tracker settings, similar to selecting a standard webcam.

Increase Tracking Robustness with TrueDepth Camera - Icon
Beam Eye Tracker iOS app

Use the Beam Eye Tracker iOS app extension on your FaceID-enabled iPhone or iPad to transfer processing tasks from your computer, reducing the CPU load to nearly zero. Take advantage of the TrueDepth 3D selfie camera and our unique 3D algorithms to improve calibration robustness and accuracy.

Find here the instructions on how to use the iOS app extension with the Beam Eye Tracker.