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FAQ
What is the current status of the Aim Tuner project?
The peripheral companies that I've talked to about developing it into a full product say they need proof that it works from neutral third parties. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to get eyes on this and get people to test the concept.
Can I test it?
This Youtube video gives all of the information needed to make a copy of the prototype to test the concept. If you end up trying it, please provide feedback and also let me know if any part of the instructions are unclear.
Are you able to make a video explaining the science behind how this works? How angle adjustments and different elevations affect aim?
I might in the future, I am currently focused on figuring out how to get the most people to test this and share their results.
Long story short on why it works... going through the process ensures that the user constantly encounters a consistent amount of friction from the mousepad. Normally, the friction will change slightly as you move the mouse towards the top or bottom of your mousepad. That's why tracking targets that are changing positions on both the X-axis and Y-axis at the same time is usually more difficult than just "hold the cursor on the enemy and win".
What effect does using the device have on your aim?
I'd say a few of the biggest benefits are...
1. It makes aiming at different ranges all feel basically the same. Lots of people can aim comfortably at either long or short range, but aren't able for it to feel natural at both constantly
2. It makes aiming while moving much more intuitive and effective. I have no need to counter-strafe enemies to make shots easier to hit. I constantly add in extra random movements to make myself a more difficult target, while still maintaining an extremely high degree of accuracy
3. It removes a bunch of the weird challenges that come with aiming at moving targets that are at much different vertical positions than my own. You should be able to see in my Ultron gameplay that I am super comfortable abusing "breaking the camera" and hovering directly over opponents, constantly adding in small random movements, while still maintaining accurate tracking. This is basically impossible in a normal setup
Have you tried getting aim training scores to try to add more credibility so more people will try it? I remember a tweet a while ago of you reaching out to people, but it seems like they didn't believe what you were saying.
Getting people to test this has been very difficult. There are a few reasons for this...
I am some guy that no one has ever heard of, and I'm suggesting people to go through a process that requires a significant amount of time and attention to detail. On top of that, the physical factors that need to be adjusted are so outside of what is widely believed to be relevant to aim that people generally decide that the safe bet is that it's bullshit. To be fair if someone had said to me years ago that the angle of the mousepad had any effect on my aim, I would have been super skeptical, so I get it.
I had a couple of streamers with smaller audiences test it, and I could tell in our early conversations that they weren't fully believing that it was going to do anything. Near the end of the calibration process, they both had sort of "aha" or "omg" moments where they could immediately see the benefits.
I was pretty excited to have other people get great results from the device concept. I put their testimonials on my site, but at the time I didn't have a good messaging strategy in place, so that didn't really move the needle on getting the word out.
Any content creator that has a big audience isn't going to sink 10+ hours into something that they aren't sure actually does anything. I had a few big names in the mouse/aim space agree to test the concept when I sent out the first tweet. Unfortunately my post was too vague, so they didn't realize that this was going to take a bunch of work on their part to set up. As soon as they found out that this wasn't something that they could pull out of a box and would be ready to go, they bailed.
Some people previously suggested that aim trainer results might draw attention to the project. I asked them to point me to an aim training scenario that would be considered a gold standard and that I would work on it. I never got an answer on it. I'm not against the idea of showing off aim training results, but if gameplay aim footage doesn't convince people, I'm not sure aim trainer footage or scores will either.
Adjusting elevation (upward) of your mousepad at odd angles (not level/parallel) to the desk.. I don't really believe would help at all. If anything you're going to increase the strain on your shoulder & muscles in your arm.
Regardless of how it is put together, your current setup is always at a slightly incorrect angle, which causes you to have to sometimes contort your arm or wrist to maintain tracking accuracy on moving targets. Optimizing the mouse surface angle reduces strain that you would otherwise encounter in your current setup.
How would you know my current setup is at a slightly incorrect angle? You don't know my desk height, my chair height, my torso length in regards to both those heights, thickness & position of my mousepad, etc.
Five years from now, aimers will understand that just a flat desk with a flat mousepad does not produce a total angle of zero degrees. All those other lengths and heights mentioned in the question introduce additional angles that have to be accounted for to produce a total of zero. You are statistically more likely to win the lottery this week than to have all of your current angles just add up to zero on their own without any modification needed.
The angle that we are adjusting is not the angle of the mouse sensor compared to the mouse surface. This should always be zero if the desk and surface are flat. We are adjusting the total angle of your hand as it relates to the bottom surface of the mouse. If this angle is not zero, you are constantly introducing additional drag on one face of the mouse (front/back). This drag is slight enough that you don't notice it now, but it does have a negative effect on your tracking aim performance. Once it has been removed, if you were to use a mouse with an unoptimized surface in the future, you would notice immediately that it just feels "off". And you would also notice the accuracy performance difference along with the change in the general intuitive feel of the mouse.
I don't know if trying to provide a basic overview of how the science of this works does anything constructive. If you test it and follow the instruction video, you will see that it definitely works. I feel like the info above is the section that people are not going to understand and then use as their excuse to not test when they otherwise might have.
Other people have produced measurable performance results with this concept and you can too. Just test it. Then please share your results, good or bad. Let me know if you run into issues and need any assistance.
For people who use glass pads, changing the height angle would result in not being able to rest your mouse on the pad, without it sliding forward and off the pad/desk.
My previous streaming testers tested with glass mousepads because that was one of the most frequently asked questions. It worked fine. The angle adjustments are so small, the mouse is not going to be moving anywhere on its own.
The instruction video talks about the need to brace the surface if it starts shifting around during use. You could always adjust a glass deskpad that has big grippy feet on it and set your glass mousepad on it. That's what one of the testers did.
Your Twitter and YouTube don't seem to be very professional. Is this a serious project?
I have never had any intention of trying to be a YouTube personality or to cultivate a following on Twitter. I am just a regular guy with a day job, who also happens to have gone down the rabbit hole when it comes to optimizing desk setups for mouse accuracy performance.
I just want people to test this concept and share their results, whether they are positive, negative, or otherwise.
I have ever-changing ideas on how to get the word out on this project, and I'm currently just throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. If you believe that you have better ideas on how I could get more people to test this concept, feel free to comment on one of my YouTube videos or post suggestions on Twitter. Your input is welcome and appreciated.
What is your current goal with all of this?
I would like this concept to be futher developed by a peripheral company so that an easy-to-use product can be bought at the store. My goal is to make aiming with a mouse feel more intuitive, which leads to better accuracy performance.
I believe that to get this project moving, I just need one person that is trusted in the mouse/aim community to tell the world that it produces the results that are being claimed. I haven't been able to find anyone matching that description that is willing to test it.
Alternatively, if I can get a bunch of everyday aim enthusiasts to show performance benefits, I think that would also create the momentum needed to get this off the ground.
So please test it yourself, or get a known content creator to test it, or both! Given the option, I would prefer both.