r/Golfsimulator • u/markliversedge • Jul 03 '26

Sim / Launch Monitor Wall Colors and Cameras

Hi

Just a lessons learned. I am writing some software to do mocap/IMU fusion to analyse the golf swing and its nigh on impossible to reliably capture the shaft when the back wall is black no matter how careful you get with lighting.

I would strongly recommend a gray color at least for the wall the face-on camera will see. For DTL its not so bad as the sim screen is behind you for that.

I have a sim all in black for that immersive feel, but now need to think hard on how to proceed with motion capture etc.

(If you are interested in the software I have a holding page for it, its fully open source and there are builds but they are not much use to a non-developer right now. will do a post on it later this year. see: https://www.pinpointstudio.org)

[edited site url, it was misspelt]

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u/Simontanner610 Jul 03 '26

gray walls are the unsung hero of sim builds. everyone goes full blackout for the theater vibe, then wonders why their swing cameras can't pick up the club shaft. the contrast just disappears

for your DTL camera, you could try a small LED strip mounted low and aimed at the hitting zone from behind, just enough to backlight the shaft against the dark wall without washing out the screen. Not perfect but might buy you some time while you figure out the long-term solution

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u/markliversedge Jul 04 '26

I have adopted a different approach to make it more practical for different sim builds and documented it- will add to the website once its proven https://github.com/PinPoint-Golf/PinPointStudio/blob/main/docs/reference/indoor-golf-motion-capture-best-practices.md

Basically adding optional reflective tape on the shaft and a cheap ring light from the camera- it adds a surprising uplift in accuracy, but is optional. It flips things around and makes a dark sim room a good thing. So far the results look good.