System Recommendations T X Series and Tobii Studio

System Recommendations

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Tobii T/X series Eye Trackers and Tobii Studio Software

System Recommendations Tobii T/X Series and Tobii Studio. Copyright © Tobii Technology AB, 2003-2008. All rights reserved. Content subject to change without notice.

2

INTRODUCTION 3

RECOMMENDED SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS 4

Single Screen Setup 4

Local Live Viewer 6

Remote Live Viewer 7

Tobii X120 Eye Tracker Setups 9

Monitor or screen 9 Physical objects and scene camera setup 10

Advanced Setups 11

External video recording – RGB/VGA source 11 Tobii / E-Prime integration setup 13

COMPONENT RECOMMENDATIONS 14


3

Introduction

The Tobii Eye Trackers and the Tobii Studio software can be configured in many different ways. Also, the Tobii Studio software incorporates much more than just recording of eye tracking data, including various video and audio streams and integration with other software and hardware.

Altogether, this offers a highly flexible system, which can be configured to optimally fit the needs of different testing purposes.

This document describes recommended system configurations when using Tobii Eye Tracker hardware and Tobii Studio software, as well as current recommendations for components that form part of these systems/solutions.

Version information

As performance and product availability of many of these components change and evolve rapidly, the contents of this document are subject to constant and rapid change. Therefore, always make sure that you have the most current version available when deciding for a system configuration. The latest version of this document can always be downloaded from the Tobii website.

This is version 1.2.0 of the System Recommendation document, which is current per 2008-03-25.

Rev Date Comment Changed by

1.0.0 2007-05-29 First version RKN

1.1.0 2008-01-29 Second version RKN

1.2.0 2008-03-25 Third version RKN


4

Recommended System Configurations

The following chapters describe a number of recommended system configurations which are suitable for different situations. Your particular needs may of course differ from these standard configurations, but they should give valuable insights in any event.

For specific information about custom configurations, or detail questions on the system configurations, please contact your Tobii sales representative, or Tobii technical support at [email protected].

Single Screen Setup

This basic setup is the most simple setup when using on screen stimuli, such as images, movies, web or screen for advertising & usability testing, psychology research, reading research etc

The pictures below illustrate the single screen setup with the two eye tracker connection alternatives using a USB-LAN adapter and a network connection.

To get a portable lab replace the computer in the setup drawing with a laptop or shuttle computer.

Option 1 with Eye Tracker connection via USB-LAN

Computer with Tobii Studio

Basic, Professional or Enterprise EditionUSB Port

Graphics card

T60 Eye

Tracker

USB

Adapter

Test station

RGB cable

USB

ports


Basic, Professional or Enterprise EditionUSB Port

Graphics card

T60 Eye

Tracker

USB

Adapter

Test station

RGB cable

USB

ports


5

Option 2 with Eye Tracker connection via local network


Basic, Professional and Enterprise EditionNetwork

card

RGB cable

Graphics card

T60 Eye

Tracker

Network*

Test station

USB

ports


Basic, Professional and Enterprise EditionNetwork

card

RGB cable

Graphics card

T60 Eye

Tracker

Network*

Test station

USB

ports

* The box marked Network can be either the company network or a router. The Eye Tracker can also be connected directly to the Network card in the computer, Peer-to-peer; in this case this box is ignored.


6

Local Live Viewer

The below setup is used when the test is to be supervised from a screen next to the eye tracker setup. This test setup is suitable when using on screen stimuli, such as images, movies, web or screen for advertising & usability testing, psychology research, reading research etc.

In a lot of studies it is important to see the participant’s reactions and record the conversation between test leader and test participant as well as using think-aloud. The setup below includes the user camera and user sound. Both the user camera and the user audio are optional.

An alternative to using the adapter in the setup drawing is to connect the eye tracker to a local network, see more under the single screen setup option.



Professional or Enterprise Edition

Graphics card

T60 Eye

Tracker

Test station

RGB Cable

Standard computer

monitor

Keyboard Mouse

USB

ports

Optional

Live Viewer

USB Port*

USB Adapter*

User

soundRGB cable

User camera

USB

ports


Professional or Enterprise Edition

Graphics card

T60 Eye

Tracker

Test station

RGB Cable

Standard computer

monitor

Keyboard Mouse

USB

ports

Optional

Live Viewer

USB Port*

USB Adapter*

User

soundRGB cable

User camera

USB

ports

RGB cable

User camera

USB

ports

* The eye tracker can be connected directly to the Network instead of using the USB Adapter. See the single screen setup for more information.


7

Remote Live Viewer

This setup is used when the test should be supervised and/or controlled from one or more remote stations. It can be a computer in the next room where a supervisor is sitting and a computer connected to a white screen for remote viewing for customers etc. This test setup is suitable when using on screen stimuli, such as images, movies, web or screen for advertising & usability testing, psychology research, reading research etc.

In a lot of studies it is important to see the participant’s reactions and record the conversation between test leader and test participant as well as using think-aloud. Both the user camera and the user audio are optional.

An alternative to using the adapter in the setup drawing is to connect the eye tracker to a local network, see more under the single screen setup option.



Enterprise Edition

RGB cable

Graphics card

T60 Eye Tracker

USB

Adapter*

Test station

RGB Cable

Standard computer

monitor

USB Extension cable

Keyboard Mouse

Computer with

Tobii Studio

Logger

Graphics cardUSB

ports

Remote Live Viewer

Network

card

Network

cardNetwork

USB

ports

User camera

USB

ports

User

sound


Enterprise Edition

RGB cable

Graphics card

T60 Eye Tracker

USB

Adapter*

Test station

RGB Cable

Standard computer

monitor

USB Extension cable

Keyboard Mouse

Computer with

Tobii Studio

Logger

Graphics cardUSB

ports

Remote Live Viewer

Network

card

Network

cardNetwork

Network

card

Network

card

Network

card

Network

cardNetworkNetwork

USB

ports

User camera

USB

ports

User

sound

* The eye tracker can also be connected directly to the network instead of using the USB Adapter. See the single screen setup for more information.


8

For Tobii Studio more than one remote viewer can take part of the testing.

Remote Viewing Stations(using Tobii Studio Logger)

Computer with

Tobii Studio Enterprise

Network

card

RGB cable

Graphics

card

T60 Eye Tracker

Network*

Test Station

RGB Cable

Standard computer

monitor

USB Extension cable

Keyboard Mouse

Computer with

Tobii Studio

Logger

Graphics cardUSB

ports

Network

card

Control Station (Optional)

User camera

USB

ports

User

sound

Remote Viewing Stations(using Tobii Studio Logger)

Computer with

Tobii Studio Enterprise

Network

card

RGB cable

Graphics

card

T60 Eye Tracker

Network*

Test Station

RGB Cable

Standard computer

monitor

USB Extension cable

Keyboard Mouse

Computer with

Tobii Studio

Logger

Graphics cardUSB

ports

Network

card

Control Station (Optional)

User camera

USB

ports

User

sound

* The box marked Network can be either the company network or a router.


9

Tobii X120 Eye Tracker Setups

Monitor or projection screen

The Tobii X120 Eye Tracker allows for eye tracking using multiple stimuli types such as TV, monitor and projection screen. In the drawing a monitor is shown, but it can be replaced by a TV or projection screen as long as the input comes from the computer. In a lot of studies it is important to see the participant’s reactions and record the conversation between test leader and test participant as well as using think-aloud. The setups below do not include the user camera and user sound; see more in the Tobii T60 Eye Tracker live viewer setup. To use the user camera and sound option or the Live Viewer in Tobii Studio a Professional or Enterprise edition of the software is required. Both the user camera and the user audio are optional.


Graphics card

X120 Eye

Tracker

Test station

RGB Cable

Standard computer

monitor

Keyboard Mouse

USB

ports

Live Viewer

USB

Adapter*

RGB Cable

USB Port


Graphics card

X120 Eye

Tracker

Test station

RGB Cable

Standard computer

monitor

Keyboard Mouse

USB

ports

Live Viewer

USB

Adapter*

RGB Cable

USB Port



10

Physical objects and scene camera setup

The scene camera setup is suitable when using a Tobii X120 Eye Tracker for recording and analysis of eye tracking data, when the stimulus is a physical object, for instance an object on a table or a PDA.

Please refer to the “Tobii X120 Eye Tracker Quick Guide” for precise configuring of the geometry in a Tobii X120 Eye Tracker setup.


Computer with ClearView

Graphics card

X120 Eye Tracker

Test setup

RGB Cable

Standard computer monitor

Keyboard Mouse

USB

ports

Controller

USB Port*

Tracking Stimuli

Video Capture Card

Scene Camera

USB

Adapter*


Graphics card

X120 Eye Tracker

Test setup

RGB Cable

Standard computer monitor

Keyboard Mouse

USB

ports

Controller

USB Port* USB Port*

Tracking Stimuli

Video Capture CardVideo Capture Card

Scene Camera

USB

Adapter*


11

Advanced Setups

External video recording – RGB/VGA source

This setup is suitable when using a Tobii Eye Tracking system for analysis of eye tracking data when the stimulus is presented from a separate computer or some other type of RGB or VGA source. This could for instance be when doing usability testing on a computer game, or even when stimulus is presented on a computer running a different operating system such as OSX, Linux or Solaris.

Please note that if the external application runs under Windows operating system, and does not make use of 3D graphics acceleration, it may be more suitable and less complex to instead run this on the same computer as Tobii Studio, and use the Screen Recording option in Tobii Studio.

For this setup, the image from the Tobii Studio computer has to displayed on the Tobii T60 Eye Tracker display during calibration (to display the calibration points), whereas the external stimulus computer should be shown on the Tobii Eye Tracker display during the actual test. Therefore, both computers have to be connected to the Tobii T60 Eye Tracker. To switch between the inputs press the source button on the Tobii T60 Eye Tracker front.

The video shown on the eye tracker display also has to be sent to Tobii Studio to record the video stream and synchronize it with the gaze data.

If the stimulus is presented from an analogue video source, for instance a VCR or an analogue video camera, it is possible to use a similar setup with slightly modified components.


12


There are two monitor ports on the Tobii T60 Eye Tracker, one VGA and one DVI connector. If all cables used in the setup are VGA cables a VGA-DVI adapter can be used.

To show the image from the stimulus computer on a separate supervisor screen use a splitter between the stimulus computer and the stimulus presentation screen. A splitter can also be used to split the signal to the RGB capture card and the Tobii T60 Eye Tracker monitor if a laptop or other computer with a single head graphics card is used.

Primary screen Secondary

screen

ClearView Computer

Dual head graphics card

RGB Cable

Stimulus

Presentation

ComputerUSB ports

Tobii T60 Eye Tracker

Mouse

Keyboard USB ports

USB Port*

USB Adapter*

RGBCapturecard

Dual Head graphics card


screen

Tobii Studio Computer


RGB Cable

Stimulus

Presentation

ComputerUSB ports


Mouse

Keyboard USB ports

USB Port*

USB Adapter*

RGBCapturecard

RGBCapturecard




13

Tobii / E-Prime integration setup

E-Prime is a leading software package for designing and conducting psychological experiments available from Psychology Software Tools. There is an extensive package called “E-Prime extensions for Tobii” for integrating the E-Prime software with the Tobii eye tracking system. This enables you to use E-Prime and E-Basic to design sophisticated stimulus, for instance to create gaze-contingent, conditional and counter-balanced experiments.

The Tobii extensions for E-Prime offer a set of native E-Prime objects tailored for the Tobii eye tracking system. These offer functions on two different levels:

TET level In this mode, E-Prime controls the Tobii Eye Tracker Server directly, without the need for using Tobii Studio at all. E-Prime performs calibrations, collects gaze data and saves this to file.

Tobii Studio level In this mode, E-Prime remote controls Tobii Studio. Timing is synchronized between E-Prime and Tobii Studio, data is collected by both E-Prime and/or Tobii Studio, and Tobii Studio can also be used for data visualization and analysis.

It is suitable to place the E-Prime software on a separate computer, and have this communicate with the Tobii Eye Tracker Server and Tobii Studio software over TCP/IP. An RGB capture card may be used to capture a video of the stimulus presented by E-Prime into Tobii Studio for visualizations and post-recording analysis.

For more information about E-Prime, please visit www.pstnet.com.



screen

ClearView Computer


RGB Cable

E- Prime computer

USB ports


RGBsplitter

Mouse

Keyboard


USB ports

USB Port*

USB Adapter *

RGBCapturecard


screen

Tobii Studio Computer


RGB Cable

E- Prime computer

USB ports


RGBsplitter

Mouse

Keyboard


USB ports

USB Port*

USB Adapter *

RGBCapturecard


14

Component Recommendations

The section below shows a list with all types of components shown in the System Configurations chapter, with suggestions for specific product items. These items are tested by Tobii, and most of them can be purchased directly from Tobii.

For specific information about particular components, please contact the component manufacturer, your Tobii sales representative, or Tobii technical support at [email protected].

Due to the fact that most of these components are manufactured by others than Tobii, and that their availability, specifications and functionality may chance without notice, Tobii does not accept any liability for performance or interoperability between the components and Tobii eye tracker hardware and software.

Item Description Minimum Requirements

Note Other tested models

Stationary computer

It is recommended to use a computer with performance higher than the minimum recommendations if doing movie testing or web testing using high quality user camera and live viewer.

Minimum dual core Min 2.6 GHz CPU Min 2 GB RAM Windows XP (not x64 edition), Windows Vista 32 Bit.

A Dell Precision T3400 is offered by Tobii with any language configuration

No or limited testing has been done on Windows XP and Vista x64 platforms, avoid these.

Laptop computer Or shuttle type stationary computer

Recommended computer specifications for portable lab

Minimum Duo Processor Min 2.0 GHz CPU Min 2 GB RAM Windows XP (not x64 edition), Windows Vista 32 Bit.

Note! If purchased from Tobii, we only offer Swedish operating system and keyboard Shuttle type systems are not offered by Tobii

If using a wide-screen laptop make sure it can be set to non wide-screen output for the eye tracker screen.


15

Item

Description

Recommended model

Note

Other tested models

USB Network Adapter

This adapter is sent with the eye tracker. It is used to connect the network cable from the eye tracker to a USB port on the computer.

LINKSYS Compact USB 2.0 Network Adapter

The device is shipped with the eye tracker. Contact Tobii for additional or new units.


To display control view on one display and subject view on another when using Tobii Studio. Such a setup is recommended for most uses of Tobii Studio.

Dual head nVidia or Matrox graphics cards, minimum 256 MB Memory.

Make sure that they are of appropriate standard to fit the computer (AGP, PCI or PCI Express).

Microphone Used for capturing User Audio during testing

Logitech desktop microphone (Logitech article number 980240-0914)

Make sure to check the volume and that the microphone input is enabled in the settings under audio properties on the computer.

Web Camera To capture video and audio of the user when using the Tobii Live Viewer or Remote Logger.

The Tobii T60 Eye Tracker has a built-in user camera. For the Tobii X120 Eye Tracker use the other recommended models.

Other recommended models might be used with the T60/T120 as well, for instance to get HD and zoom

Logitech QuickC am PRO 5000 USB, Logitech® QuickCam® Sphere™ MP and Logitech Quick Cam® Pro 9000

USB extension cable

To attach keyboard or mouse from a long distance

Any standard active USB extension cable should work

Long monitor cable

To place control view monitor at long distance away from Tobii Studio computer

Any standard long monitor cables work

Monitor arm To position the Tobii T60 Eye Tracker in a flexible way

Ergotron LX series The arm can be ordered from Tobii


16

Item Description Recommended model

Note Other tested models

Video camera Standard video camera to use as scene camera.

SONY DCR-HC24E, SONY DCR-HC36E, Panasonic NV-GS17. For S-Video, FireWire or USB streaming. For USB: Logitech Quick Cam® Pro 9000. Note that only the resolutions 1600x1200 or 960x720 (or lower) can be set in Tobii Studio.

The USB streaming can only be used on Windows XP due to Sony driver limitations. Connection via FireWire is still possible on Vista. Please read the instructions in the document “scene camera settings” if using the recommended camera.

Most DV cameras with S-video output or FireWire should work

Manfrotto Arm Suitable for mounting a camera used as scene camera or user camera

Manfrotto MAGIC ARM Set 143, plus possibly other applicable attachments and adapters

Analogue video capture card

To capture video from an analogue source, for instance from scene camera or user camera, with S-video or composite video connections

Video capture card Viewcast Osprey 230

This accessory is normally used for the Scene camera stimuli.

Most video capture cards with S-video or Composite in should work, although not guaranteed.

VGA Capture Card

To capture high-quality video from RGB source. For video capture from E-Prime, computer games and other RGB sources when using external video setups. Provides accurate timing and good image quality

Datapath Vision RGB Pro 1 This accessory is normally used for the External Video stimuli.

RGB Switch To manually switch between two video sources, for instance when switching between an external stimulus or a calibration screen

Aten VS-291 or Altinex DA1916SX 2-In 1-Out VGA Auto Switcher with Loop Output*

This accessory is normally used for the External Video stimuli

Any standard RGB switch should work

RGB Splitter To split the video output into two, for instance when using external video setup, or when using a projector to show a copy of the operator screen.

Aten VS-132 or Altinex DA1907SX 1-In 2-Out VGA Distribution Amplifier*

This accessory is normally used for the External Video

Most active RGB splitters (active means that it has additional power) should work.

System Recommendations T X Series and Tobii Studio

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