Launch Angle

The P3ProSwing has the ability to capture launch angle using a USB camera.  Sports Vision recommends the Logitech Orbit camera, as the software has been configured with its field of view, and with its dimensions.  You will need a Sports Vision USB Smart Dongle that has been programmed with the launch angle code in order to unlock the launch angle feature.  You should also consult the minimum system requirements for launch angle and video capture, as these features require more processing power.

In order to use launch angle, ensure that launch angle has been enabled in the Video tab of the Options dialog.  This is illustrated below.

The video camera used to capture the launch angle can be left as DEFAULT, in which case it will attempt to find a camera and use it, or it can be explicitly specified by selecting the camera device directly in the option menu.  In the case above, it has been left as DEFAULT.

The next step in configuring the launch angle is to properly position the launch angle USB camera and light.  The image below shows how this should be done for a right-handed golfer.

You should normally Show Launch Angle Video Window as this will ensure that the ball is aligned properly with the video.   When the launch angle video window is shown, it will always be visible, regardless of the video button described in the Video Capture section above.  The launch angle video will always be the bottom-most video capture window displayed on the right side.  In the image below, notice the 3 lines and how they start at the location of the ball.  It is important that the middle line is in the middle of the ball, and the top and bottom lines correspond to the top and bottom of the ball.  The lines indicate the direction of the ball if it were to travel straight off the tee with a launch angle of 0.  They are not straight in the image because the camera is at an angle.  Note that if you adjust the actual tee height for the ball, you must also adjust the tee height in the Golf Options dialog to ensure that the launch angle capture is aligned properly.

After the launch angle has been enabled, take a swing and inspect the video capture that was generated for the launch angle.  Refer to the Video Capture section for a description of the play, pause, frame-forward and frame-backward and frame-slider controls.  If you go frame-by-frame through the video capture using the slider (you must pause the video first), you will see one frame that shows the ball flight and some false-coloring of the ball motion that was captured.  An example of this frame of the launch angle video is shown below.  Notice that the top and bottom of the ball are shown, and the ball motion is shown in green.  Any motion outside the path is considered to be noise (such as club motion, leg motion, etc).  If your image isn’t showing much in the way of green or red motion, then you need to check the lighting and camera exposure.  Note that the camera exposure should be around 1/10^th of a second to ensure that the ball flight is captured as a streak on the image.

You can Use Launch Angle in Ball Flight Computation if you would like to use the actual angle of the ball in the ball flight computations.  This is useful to determine if the ball has been topped, for example.

The Generate Debug Files option will generate several additional files in the swings directory when checked.  These files can be used to better determine problems with launch angle when they occur.  Generally this should not be checked.

The White Level and Contrast values can be used to adjust how the video is interpreted to determine the launch angle.  Basically, the Contrast is used to scale the video before processing to better indicate which areas correspond to movement, and then the White Level determines which areas of the video capture correspond to movement.  If lighting conditions are such that the launch angle is not being computed properly, you may adjust these and see if it helps.  In general, they should be left as is though.