OB Digicue video

Probably a good idea to put this on one of my lighter cues.
I prefer 19.5 to 20 oz so if I put it on the 18 oz Runde this might do
what I've always wanted from that cue. Make it heavier.

Anyone know how heavy this device is?

I guess it'll just add weight in your stroking hand which some people
may or may not like.
I prefer a forward weighted cue but for practice this would still be worth it
many times over.


Edit: just saw the weight; 0.8 oz.
 
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9Ballr said:
Probably a good idea to put this on one of my lighter cues.
I prefer 19.5 to 20 oz so if I put it on the 18 oz Runde this might do
what I've always wanted from that cue. Make it heavier.

Anyone know how heavy this device is?

I guess it'll just add weight in your stroking hand which some people
may or may not like.
I prefer a forward weighted cue but for practice this would still be worth it
many times over.
Click to expand...

From our FAQ's:

How much does the DigiCue weigh?

The DigiCue and rubber housing together weigh a maximum of 0.8 ounces.

Complete list of questions and answers here: https://www.obcues.com/pages/DIGICUE-Billiard-Training-Aid-Frequently-Asked-Questions.html
 
among the qualities of a good stroke is repeatability
if you have a consistent hitch in your stoke or a wild pump stroke wont the digicue go banannas?
but if you are consistent should you change??
also
once the digicu vibrates
how do i know which error i committed??
and how do i fix it??
 
Looks pretty cool for those people that want quantifiable data that tracks their progress and weaknesses. Should be a valuable training aid.

Tempting... but I currently have a couple similar devices that were manufactured in 1940 and 1958 respectively that are actually interactive when I make a mistake with my stroke. They will inform me that my stupid ass is jumping up or that I wouldn't know ball speed if it fell out of the sky and trampled me to death. I'm not sure if the OB model is as advanced.

The attractive part about the OB model is that it seems to be powered by a simple battery. Whereas my devices are powered by beer, greasy food and the tears of their opponents. Maintenance is really hard on me as well. Feeding their egos and assuring them that they still have a shot at the waitress 1/4th their age. It can be taxing.... and I will bet that there is close to none or zero gaseous discharge form the OB model... tempting indeed

Good luck!

Lesh
 
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bbb said:
among the qualities of a good stroke is repeatability
if you have a consistent hitch in your stoke or a wild pump stroke wont the digicue go banannas?
but if you are consistent should you change??
also
once the digicu vibrates
how do i know which error i committed??
and how do i fix it??
Click to expand...

Good questions.
if you have a consistent hitch in your stoke or a wild pump stroke wont the digicue go banannas? The DigiCue will vibrate if you do not follow through in a straight line. It will also vibrate if you do not stay down on your shot. As long as you follow through in a straight line with a crazy stroke and minimize body/head movement, then it should not go off.

but if you are consistent should you change?? No

once the digicu vibrates how do i know which error i committed?? You will almost certainly figure it out very quickly. The primary purpose of the device is to encourage you to focus on every shot. If you jump up on your shot, you will know that, and if you do it, the device will vibrate. On the next shot, you stay down and stay very still and the device vibrates then most likely you did not follow through in a perfectly straight line. From what we have seen, players of all levels become more aware of their bad habits when using the device and then attempt to fix them

and how do i fix it?? Keep your head and body still and follow through in a straight line. :smile: Start on novice mode and attempt to shoot 10 balls in a row without it vibrating. If you can do that, then go to intermediate, shoot 10 balls in a row on intermediate without it vibrating and you have very good mechanics. Go to advanced mode and try and shoot 10 in a row without it vibrating, if you can do that, you have perfect mechanics and you will have officially beaten the DigiCue.
 
shanesinnott said:
Good questions.
if you have a consistent hitch in your stoke or a wild pump stroke wont the digicue go banannas? The DigiCue will vibrate if you do not follow through in a straight line. It will also vibrate if you do not stay down on your shot. As long as you follow through in a straight line with a crazy stroke and minimize body/head movement, then it should not go off.

but if you are consistent should you change?? No

once the digicu vibrates how do i know which error i committed?? You will almost certainly figure it out very quickly. The primary purpose of the device is to encourage you to focus on every shot. If you jump up on your shot, you will know that, and if you do it, the device will vibrate. On the next shot, you stay down and stay very still and the device vibrates then most likely you did not follow through in a perfectly straight line. From what we have seen, players of all levels become more aware of their bad habits when using the device and then attempt to fix them

and how do i fix it?? Keep your head and body still and follow through in a straight line. :smile: Start on novice mode and attempt to shoot 10 balls in a row without it vibrating. If you can do that, then go to intermediate, shoot 10 balls in a row on intermediate without it vibrating and you have very good mechanics. Go to advanced mode and try and shoot 10 in a row without it vibrating, if you can do that, you have perfect mechanics and you will have officially beaten the DigiCue.
Click to expand...
thanks so much for your replies
i cant wait to try it out
i am on the pass around list and i have ordered it...:smile::smile:
 
Lesh said:
Looks pretty cool for those people that want quantifiable data that tracks their progress and weaknesses. Should be a valuable training aid.

Tempting... but I currently have a couple similar devices that were manufactured in 1940 and 1958 respectively that are actually interactive when I make a mistake with my stroke. They will inform me that my stupid ass is jumping up or that I wouldn't know ball speed if it fell out of the sky and trampled me to death. I'm not sure if the OB model is as advanced.

The attractive part about the OB model is that it seems to be powered by a simple battery. Whereas my devices are powered by beer, greasy food and the tears of their opponents. Maintenance is really hard on me as well. Feeding their egos and assuring them that they still have a shot at the waitress 1/4th their age. It can be taxing.... and I will bet that there is close to none or zero gaseous discharge form the OB model... tempting indeed

Good luck!

Lesh
Click to expand...

Care to the name these 50's 60's devices ?
 
To the OB crew:

I'd really like to hear a technical and precise explanation as to what is happening. I have not seen one thus far. Maybe add a "For the Nerd's" section to the FAQ?

Actually break down everything that the sensors and software are doing. Don't hold back. What do the sensors measure? How precise are they? What does the software do with the measurements? When is a vibration triggered, specifically? What does the system use as the "reference line"? How much deviation from the reference line is required to trigger a fault? What happens on a shot with spin where the tip and shaft deflect off of the CB? Etc, etc.

Information like this really interests me, and I'd imagine others as well. Thus far, the information you have shared is, paraphrasing: "It vibrates when your stroke is bad".

No one is going to copy you, if that is what you are worried about:) You all know in product development ideas are a dime a dozen. Its the execution that is the hard part.
 
So it's gonna vibrate on swoop strokes, it's gonna vibrate when using BHE, and jab strokes apparently have no place in pool...cept for when you need to make a shot in tight quarters and not hit every ball in front of you.
What about when you are jacked up? is that going to register as a popping up on a shot?

It might be an OK product. But it sounds like it's not really taking real life pool situations into account.
 
iusedtoberich said:
To the OB crew:

I'd really like to hear a technical and precise explanation as to what is happening. I have not seen one thus far. Maybe add a "For the Nerd's" section to the FAQ?

Actually break down everything that the sensors and software are doing. Don't hold back. What do the sensors measure? How precise are they? What does the software do with the measurements? When is a vibration triggered, specifically? What does the system use as the "reference line"? How much deviation from the reference line is required to trigger a fault? What happens on a shot with spin where the tip and shaft deflect off of the CB? Etc, etc.

Information like this really interests me, and I'd imagine others as well. Thus far, the information you have shared is, paraphrasing: "It vibrates when your stroke is bad".

No one is going to copy you, if that is what you are worried about:) You all know in product development ideas are a dime a dozen. Its the execution that is the hard part.
Click to expand...

Let me see what I can come up with.
 
SUPERSTAR said:
So it's gonna vibrate on swoop strokes, it's gonna vibrate when using BHE, and jab strokes apparently have no place in pool...cept for when you need to make a shot in tight quarters and not hit every ball in front of you.
What about when you are jacked up? is that going to register as a popping up on a shot?

It might be an OK product. But it sounds like it's not really taking real life pool situations into account.
Click to expand...

Great questions!

It will vibrate on a swoop stroke as a swoop stroke is fundamentally incorrect.

It will not vibrate when using BHE. The DigiCue measures "straightness" relative to the cue stick line, not the shot line. Therefore, if you apply back-hand-english to pivot the cue at an angle to the shot path, but stroke exactly in the direction that the cue stick is pointing, then DigiCue will not register this as a fault. This is important because many shots have spin applied to them. However, if you swoop or steer the cue to create English, then this is a fault.

Jab strokes are absolutely necessary in many cuesports. However, the device is programmed to vibrate when you jab stroke not because it is wrong to do it when necessary but it is wrong to do it on every shot (like many beginning players do).

If you are jacked up and you follow through in a straight line, it should not vibrate.

Hope this helps.
 
I really like the idea of this. I can't wait to try one out in the near future. Very innovative OB. This should really aid the people teaching techniques and fundamentals.
 
I've had a few people ask me about some of the special effects in the video so I thought I would put together a little behind the scenes of what I did for anyone interested.


First of all, I shot this in my basement (that's currently under construction). Since it's about to get painted anyway, I didn't mind painting the wall into a green screen.

fvv29C2.png


I used a Sony FS7 and canon cinema lenses to shoot. It's very high quality 4k video. That's a little over $13k in camera.

TTEhX7y.png


After shooting with Annie Flores, a very good local female player, I brought the footage in to Adobe After Effects to composite.

C9XpSzB.png


I removed the background

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Added a new background that was a little more attractive than my under construction basement

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gave it a blur to make it look a little more natural

nT48rMB.png


Tracked the motion of the cue butt and linked the graphic to move with the cue.

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Then added a little color correction to tie it all together.

n11TqQt.png
 
Another shot I was asked about was the chip breaking apart. This was all done in 3d.

I tracked the shot to get the camera motion data. The little Xs represent what the software picked up as constant points to track. Each of those points has a value in space and it's able to tell how far the cue or digicue or the piece of chalk actually was from the camera when I shot it. I need this info to make things realistically look like they were part of the shot when I filmed it. This is how visual effects in the movies are made.

nna728V.png


The developer of the Digicue (nataddrho) was nice enough to supply me with the 3d cad models of each piece. Saved me a lot of time so I didn't have to break it apart and model it myself. So I took the pieces and animated it in 3d. Gave it a little spin and rendered it out at a somewhat realistic look.

jYXsn24.png


f7cdHFb.png


I then added it into the scene.The gray pieces behind it were a temporary place holder for my reference as I'm making it.

FBhSUNn.png
 
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Cleary, you really seem to know your way with this kind of things :eek: Outstanding work, there is nothing else I can say. Thank you for for the Behind the scenes also. Its really nice to get to see just what it takes to make a film like this (along with the years of experience you clearly have) :smile:
 
iusedtoberich said:
To the OB crew:

I'd really like to hear a technical and precise explanation as to what is happening. I have not seen one thus far. Maybe add a "For the Nerd's" section to the FAQ?

Actually break down everything that the sensors and software are doing. Don't hold back. What do the sensors measure? How precise are they? What does the software do with the measurements? When is a vibration triggered, specifically? What does the system use as the "reference line"? How much deviation from the reference line is required to trigger a fault? What happens on a shot with spin where the tip and shaft deflect off of the CB? Etc, etc.

Information like this really interests me, and I'd imagine others as well. Thus far, the information you have shared is, paraphrasing: "It vibrates when your stroke is bad".

No one is going to copy you, if that is what you are worried about:) You all know in product development ideas are a dime a dozen. Its the execution that is the hard part.
Click to expand...

What do the sensors measure? Acceleration, or force applied of the butt of the cue.

How precise are they? The accelerometer is an ADXL337 made by Analog Devices. Its an analog output 3-axis sensor set to 300 mV/g with a noise density of 300 ug per root hertz. The datasheet is available here: http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADXL337.pdf

What does the software do with the measurements? The signals are digitally filtered and passed through a proprietary decision-making algorithm with internal thresholds and look-up tables. The three different user settings point to three different sets of thresholds.

When is a vibration triggered, specifically? The axial accelerometer signal (Z-axis) is passed through an analog band-pass filter centered at the resonant frequency of the Z-axis MEMS armature and then passed through an AM demodulator (simple rectifier) and then low-pass filtered into a pulse. The pulse is connected to a comparator with one input as a tapped voltage from a DAC (software controlled). When the pulse causes the comparator to flip, an interrupt is triggered.

What does the system use as the "reference line"? It uses a blend of Mean Absolute Deviation and a moving average output from the fusion algorithm.

How much deviation from the reference line is required to trigger a fault? The three user setting thresholds are based on coded outputs. I would have to take a look at the code to tell you exactly how many G's and for how long each setting trigger is set to, but I did have that written down in my notebook a while ago.

What happens on a shot with spin where the tip and shaft deflect off of the CB? Etc, etc. This is taken care of in the fusion algorithm and will be corrected for. Also, harmonic vibrations from the cue stick during spin shots is also filtered out.
 
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