Eye Tracking Explained
See the world -- change the world. The Mathematics of Sight.
Inner Truth has been working in enhanced vision systems, vision sciences and neuroscience for a long time. Eye tracking has been an integral part of the the business since inception. But what is eye tracking? We get asked that question a lot. There are two components to eye tracking – the first is capturing images of the eye as it moves (image processing) and the second is called gaze estimation.
In simple terms, eye tracking is capturing where someone is looking. The process of capturing where someone is looking is achieved through high speed camera technology that takes pictures of the eyes capturing the pupil and the corneal reflection (CR). With these two points (the pupil and CR) as they move you now have the mathematics of sight.
‘eye trackers’ are able to provide a reasonably precise location of where someone has looked or is looking. These mathematics make up what is called a gaze estimation algorithm which is what provides the location of where someone is looking.
The ‘visualisation of an eye tracker’ is a graphical representation of where a person has looked or is looking if you are viewing a live eye tracking video. This information can be displayed as a picture with gaze points plotted on it or in a video that shows the moving gaze location as person shifts their gaze around an environment. The image shown below is a screen shot of a driving video. The blue circle in the centre of the image represents the live gaze location of the driver at this point of the driving behaviour.
Types of Eye Tracking
What is the point of view? The latest advancements in eye tracking technology allows you to capture the point of view so you can see what they are actually looking at.At Inner Truth we use three types of eye tracking depending on the research requirement. We only use eye tracking provided by leading companies in vision science and gaze tracking technology.
DESKTOP
we mostly use our desktop eye tracking when we are testing TV ad campaigns, print testing, website testing (advertising or usability) and packaging design testing
STAND ALONE
when clients want a more 'life like' presentation of their stimulus we use our stand a lone eye tracking capabilities. This system allows us to project life size images onto a wall in digital high definition. The format is beneficial for design layouts, our virtual 3D simulators, large format scenes.
MOBILE
the most 'real' experience in research. While moving around 'real time' world environments we track the sight and sounds of research participants. This technology has been used in consumer and non-consumer environments such as defence training exercises; driving; and sporting activities.
VR/ AR
eye tracking has moved into the VR/AR world and will continue to grow as the demand for gaze information in these environments is becoming a top priorty for researchers, practitioners and multiple industries. Below is a sample of a VR environment constructed in UNITY.
2) STAND ALONE – when clients want a more ‘life like’ presentation of their stimulus we use our stand a lone eye tracking capabilities. This system allows us to project life size images onto a wall in digital high definition. The format is beneficial for design layouts, our virtual 3D simulators, large format scenes.
3) MOBILE – the most ‘real’ experience in research. While moving around ‘real time’ world environments we track the sight and sounds of research participants. This technology has been used in consumer and non-consumer environments such as defence training exercises; driving; and sporting activities.
4) VR/ AR – eye tracking has moved into the VR/AR world and will continue to grow as the demand for gaze information in these environments is becoming a top priorty for researchers, practitioners and multiple industries. Below is a sample of a VR environment constructed in UNITY