Instructions

VRCFT works as a translator for VRChat. It takes the face and eye tracking data from Baballonia and turns it into parameters that VRChat understands. That way, your avatar's expressions and movements follow yours.

To use face tracking (and eye tracking) in VRChat, you need VRCFT, whether you use my hardware or any other face tracking solution.

1. Download VRCFT on Steam
2. Start VRCFT and go to "Module Registry". Search for the module "VRCFT-Babble" and install it.
3. Restart VRCFT.
4. The Babble module should now appear on the VRCFT home page, as shown in the last picture. That's all you need to do in VRCFT.

Baballonia analyzes the camera streams of your eyes and face. From them, it works out where you are looking, how open your eyes are, and your facial expressions. Then it sends this data to VRCFT.

1. Download Baballonia on Steam
2. Open Baballonia and skip the setup wizard.
3. Open the communication settings and set the VRCFT module mode to "Both", so that both eye and face data are sent. I do not recommend native VRC eye tracking.
4. Open the "Face Camera Settings" and turn on both the vertical and the horizontal flip. Depending on your version, the flip options may appear as icons. Do not change any camera settings for the eyes!
5. Make sure your Index and the hardware are powered on. Then select the matching camera from the dropdown menu.
6. Once you have selected all cameras, click "Start Camera" for each one.

Only the face camera needs a crop. Set it so your face stays visible in every extreme position, with as little background as possible. I recommend this approach:

1. Change the mode of the face camera from "Tracking" to "Cropping".
2. Puff out your cheeks as far as you can. This sets the side edges of the crop.
3. Open your mouth as wide as you can. This sets the bottom edge.
4. Set the top edge so your nose stays visible, with as little of the Index headset in the frame as possible.
5. Try to keep the crop box as close to a square as possible.
6. That's it. Face tracking needs no manual calibration. Just use it for a few minutes and it adjusts itself.

I highly recommend watching the video before you start the calibration.

1. Stand in the middle of your playspace and face forward. If you are not sure which way is forward, recenter your playspace.
2. Click "Eye Calibration". A SteamVR overlay appears with a short video of the head movements you need to make.
3. When the 60-second timer ends, repeat those head movements for about 3 minutes. The exact order does not matter. What matters is that your eyes always stay on the ball and that you move your head so your eyes reach their extreme positions.
4. When this part is done, you get feedback. Then a message appears: "When the countdown finishes, close your eyes."
5. When the timer reaches 2 seconds, close your eyes. Keep them fully closed until you get another confirmation.
6. While your eyes are closed, squeeze each eye shut twice and raise your eyebrows twice, as if you were surprised. Keep your eyes closed the whole time. Moving the headset slightly during this phase can also help.

If your avatar does not blink correctly, or you want smiles and other expressions to look stronger or weaker, you can fine-tune them in Baballonia with the threshold settings.

1. Open the calibration window in Baballonia (pencil icon). Then open the parameter group with the parameters you want to adjust (for example "smile").
2. Do not blindly copy my settings, because they are different for everyone. You get the best results if you understand what each slider does.

If your avatar's blinking or winking does not work as expected, or it does not blink at all, raise the minimum value of the eyelids. This makes the blink trigger earlier and look faster.

1. Blink several times and watch how far the red dot moves to the left.
2. Move the left (minimum) slider to that point, or slightly to the right of it.

Sometimes you may want an expression to trigger earlier, to stay slightly active all the time, or to be exaggerated.

Sometimes an expression triggers too early. For example, you open your mouth and your avatar sticks out its tongue, even though you are not doing that.