The #1 aim trainer meets innovative, cutting-edge gaming gear. You’re officially out of excuses. It’s time to win.

Today, our entire team at 3D Aim Trainer joins SteelSeries, a leader in gaming gear known for their first-to-market innovations that help gamers play harder, train longer, and rise to the challenge.

There’s lots to cover but you’ll want to read all the way to the end so you can learn about the SteelSeries challenge with over $5000 in prizes, as well as a limited time gaming gear deal.

Why SteelSeries?

Ever since creating 3D Aim Trainer in 2019, our mission has been to inspire gamers to go next level, so you can climb the rankings and win.

Now, 3 years later and with more than 14 million players trained, we’re thrilled to write the next chapter for 3D Aim Trainer together with SteelSeries.

And we couldn’t have found a better home.

Pros have won more prize money using SteelSeries gear than with any other brand. For over 20 years they’ve pushed the entire esports scene forward with premium, high-quality products together with the best players in the world.

Our missions are the same and 3D Aim Trainer is the perfect complement to SteelSeries’ award-winning products.

After all, you can practice all you want but without the right gear you can’t win.

A platform of amazing software

You might not know, but SteelSeries isn’t just a hardware company. They recently started releasing amazing free to use software too.

And we’re not just talking about software built to customize SteelSeries gear. They have made apps available in their SteelSeries GG platform that anyone can enjoy, for free.

SteelSeries Sonar

Sonar is an advanced audio suite that helps you hear your enemy’s location long before you see them.

SteelSeries packed this app with easy to access pro audio tools, and new innovations in gaming audio software that will give you a competitive edge.

SteelSeries Moments

Want to relieve funny fails or an epic ace with your friends? Check out the Moments app that makes it easier and faster than ever to clip, edit and share.

Our favorite feature is the automatic clipping for some games like CS:GO, Valorant, League of Legends and Fortnite, so you don’t even have to remember recording.

What’s ahead for 3D Aim Trainer?

Our entire team joins SteelSeries and will continue to build and improve the 3D Aim Trainer platform.

We are as committed as ever to help you get better aim for all the games you love like Valorant, Fortnite, Apex Legends, PUBG, CS:GO, COD, Rainbow 6, EFT and many more.

Together with SteelSeries we will be creating new training experiences never seen before in the gaming space.

If you haven’t already, join our Discord to stay on top of new updates and share your feedback with devs as we continue on this new journey together.

Celebrate with us and win gear

To celebrate this important milestone with you -our community, we are hosting the SteelSeries Challenge where more than 30 winners have a chance to win gaming gear in total worth more than $5000!

Here’s how to join

1. Log in to your 3D Aim Trainer account or register HERE!
2. Play the Steelseries Challenge Level from today until 23:59 CEST on Thursday 14th of July 2022.
3. The Players on the top3 spots on the leaderboard when the Challenge finishes will win guaranteed prizes!
4. Additional 30 prizes will be drawn via a raffle amongst all participants.

Full prize list

Raffle amongst all participants – 30 winners

Choice of SteelSeries Prime mouse (Up to 140 EUR/ 130 USD value)

1st place -1 winner

Full suite of SteelSeries gear, free choice: Any headset, keyboard, mouse, mousepad. (Up to 960 EUR/ 890 USD value)

2nd place –1 winner

Full suite of SteelSeries gear: SteelSeries Arctis Prime headset, SteelSeries Apex 7 TKL keyboard, SteelSeries Prime wireless mouse, SteelSeries QcKheavy large mousepad (450 EUR / 385 USD value)

3rd place –1 winner

Headset, mouse and mousepad: SteelSeries Arctis Prime headset, SteelSeries Prime wireless mouse, SteelSeries QcKheavy large mousepad (290 EUR/ 255 USD value)

Wait there’s more

What good will aim drills do if your mouse is hard to grip, or has an inaccurate sensor?

Maybe it’s time to upgrade and get a mouse from SteelSeries’ no-fluff, high performance Prime Series or perhaps the ultra-lightweight Aerox family is more your thing.

Whatever you prefer, SteelSeries is giving our community 20% off any mouse for a limited time.

Just enter code 3DAT at checkout on SteelSeries.com to get your 20% off deal.

Hurry up though. Offer ends next Thursday, July 14.

The post We’re joining SteelSeries appeared first on 3D Aim Trainer - Training for FPS Games Blog.

1. The new Aim Clicking Fundamental Academy is now Live!

As promised, after we released the new Fundamental Academy’s first part dedicated to Flicking, now comes the time when we add the next crucial exercises focusing on the next important skills in Aiming – clicking. With the addition of the Clicking Academy you will realize the amazing potential that Fundamental Academy has to improve your overall performance in FPS games and to consequently increase your rank in your favorite games.

The Fundamental Academy was created in cooperation with Aimer7 – the famous coach behind Bugha (Fortnite World Champion), Dafran (Top Overwatch Streamer and former OW-League second MVP 2019) and many other current and past PRO FPS Players.

The Clicking Fundamental Academy focuses on making you better at aim clicking and improving your clicking skills through meticulously developed exercises that emulate real in-game scenarios. It will prepare you for the most demanding games today. Having accurate and fast clicks is important in games like Valorant, Fortnite, COD, CS:GO, PUBG and virtually any competitive FPS game nowadays.

2. What is aim clicking and why train it?

We are all familiar with what a click is. It is a fundamental action that we do if we are playing any FPS game or if we are just using a mouse. However, to be among the top players in Valorant, Fortnite or any other competitive game, you need to be able to perform extremely accurate clicks in a very quick manner constantly throughout a prolonged period of time. Practicing is required in order to achieve this level of aim mastery. But worry not, because the Clicking Fundamental Academy is the best place to practice your aim clicking and take your aim to the next level!

3. Clicking academy – what is new?

As you have already notice with the previous release of the fundamental academy, it is split into 3 difficulty tiers – Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. Same goes for the newly added Aim Clicking training. It is further divided into verified clicking, point clicking, efficiency and reactive clicking.

Click Verified subskill is all about target verification. That means that the levels are designed to teach you that you should first confirm your crosshair on the target before you pull the trigger. These levels have accuracy correction, so your score gets reduced if you miss and on top of that your weapons have a reduced rate of fire.

Click Point clicking is the art of going fast. No accuracy correction here and no reduced fire rate. Your score depends heavily on the amount of targets you are able to shoot within the time limit. For this reason, the targets are often bigger, but they move faster as well. That means you can shoot more on intuition.

Click Efficiency subskill is about pathing. That means that you are training yourself how to be efficient at shooting multiple targets. These levels have a bunch of new mechanics ready to be explored.

Click Reactive trains your reflexes and thus reaction speed. The big difference with point clicking is that the targets will move reactively to your actions, creating a training environment ideal for upping your reflexes.

4. What would I achieve when I complete the Clicking Fundamental Academy?

Completing the Clicking Fundamental Academy will take your click speed and click accuracy to the next level! You will feel improvement in your reaction time, in the clicks per second and also in the accuracy of your clicks and how the amount of shots you miss will decrease. Many players report a noticeable improvement in the Percentage of Kills by a Head Shot that they achieve when playing battleroyale games. The faster and more accurate clicks that you will be capable of performing would translate to more kills in Low Time-to-Kill games and also in faster kills in High TTK FPS Games.

5. Where to train aim clicking?

The Fundamental Academy’s Aim Clicking section is now added on 3D Aim Trainer’s platform for Web and Steam and is completely free. Start training today and improve your aim clicking faster!

The post Practice your aim with Aimer7 & 3D Aim Trainer – Part 2: Aim Clicking Fundamental Academy appeared first on 3D Aim Trainer - Training for FPS Games Blog.

1. FUNDAMENTAL ACADEMY – The fastest way to improve your rank in the top FPS Games like Valorant, CSGO, Call of Duty, Fortnite and more!

We are excited to announce the first part of a big update coming to 3D Aim Trainer – The Fundamental Academy 2.0. Fundamental academy is the ultimate training ground for improving your Aiming Skills on 3D Aim Trainer and its purpose is to provide you, the player, with the best training environment and extensive exercise scenarios designed to improve your overall aiming skills which you can use in any First Person Shooter going from Overwatch to Valorant!

The latest and greatest version of our Fundamental Academy is designed and build in cooperation with one of the best and most famous aim coaches on the planet, Damien E, better known as AIMER7, who coaches Bugha (Fortnite World Champion), Dafran (Top Overwatch Streamer and former OW-League second MVP 2019) and many other current and past PRO FPS Players.

“As a leading aim coach and a former top FPS player, vouching for the seriousness of 3D Aim Trainer takes no effort. The training program we designed together in the past 2 years is of very high quality and the improvement pursued by any committed player is almost guaranteed with 3daimtrainer’s Fundamental Academy 2.0″ – AIMER7

As already mentioned, the Fundamental Academy will be released step by step over the upcoming weeks – covering the 4 Fundamental Aiming Skills: Flicking, Clicking, Tracking, and Target Switching. Starting today with the first part – Flicking!

2. WHAT IS FLICKING AND WHY TRAIN IT?

A flick is when you perform a very fast crosshair movement towards your target. The purpose of the flick shot is to mitigate the impact of enemy movement on your aim and to acquire your target as fast as possible. A flick shot helps mitigate enemy movement by moving so rapidly that in the time it took to perform the flick, the target has either not moved at all, or has only managed to move a tiny amount. 

Flick shots allow for near-instant target acquisition which means you are poised to pump out the highest amount of damage possible in the time frame available to you.

With practice and the right sensitivity these flick shots can become amazingly accurate and can seriously elevate your play!

3. FLICKING ACADEMY LAYOUT AND SUB-SKILL TRAINING

The 3DAT fundamental flicking academy is split up into 3 difficulty tiers: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced and 2 sub-skills: Flick Speed and Flick Accuracy.

• The “Flick Speed” game modes focus on the execution speed of the flick, or the time it takes the player to acquire and kill the target. To emphasize this, targets in those training levels will be relatively big in relation to the difficulty level and the scoring system rewards execution speed as the time to kill a target will be the decisive factor for hitting a high score.
• The “Flick Accuracy” game modes focus more on the precision of the flick and to emphasize this, targets in those training levels will be relatively small in relation to the difficulty level and the scoring system rewards precision as the player receives certain penalties depending on the training level if he misses his target. Therefore, being accurate and precise is the key for getting a high score.

There are a total of 30 flicking levels carefully designed to train all the Fundamental Flicking Skills that you will need in real world scenarios! Watch the short walk-through video below to check it out!

4. WHAT WILL THE FLICKING FUNDAMENTAL ACADEMY HELP YOU ACHIEVE?

After successfully training your aim on the Flicking Fundamental Academy you will be able to position your crosshair on your enemy’s head in a blink of an eye. In games like Valorant and CSGO where the time-to-kill is low this skill is even more important, meaning that every split-second is crucial and can make the difference between winning and losing!

5. WHERE DO YOU START?

The Flicking Fundamental Academy is absolutely free and is already available for all registered members on 3D Aim Trainer over Web and Steam! Go ahead and start improving your aim now!

PS: Don’t forget to subscribe to our NEWSLETTER if you haven’t already to stay tuned for the next updates of the Fundamental Academy!

The post Improve your Aim with Aimer7 & 3D Aim Trainer’s new Flicking Fundamental Academy appeared first on 3D Aim Trainer - Training for FPS Games Blog.

There was a time when gaming was a PC or console-based activity. But with the rise of mobile technology those days are long gone. So far long gone, in fact, that mobile gaming is now the bigger moneymaker of the two.
It’s not hard to see why as the smartphone and tablet have become more and more part of our lives. The technology has been advancing at an astonishing rate allowing gamers to play when and where they like.

The companies who produce the games have been quick to notice this fact by creating games that are specifically intended to work best on a mobile device and use their specific features too. Game developers know that creating games for mobile involves a lot more than simply making ones that are fun. They have to look fantastic too. An important part of this lies in the standard and quality of the graphics.

This is an incredible technical challenge and it’s not made any easier by the great demands devices now place on the batteries that power them. These can all too often lead to overheating and other, more serious, problems.
But smartphones have been improving with every new generation and they’re now capable of displaying video in full HD. Also the introduction of AMOLED technology has improved color clarity and brightness greatly.

This trend is not likely to stop and in the coming years we’re likely to see more of the same. Although we won’t get smartphones with ray-tracing technology found in the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X, graphics will continue to get better and in 5 years we’ll be playing mobile games with incredible graphics without a doubt.

What about us?

Here at 3D Aim Trainer we are always looking to re-invent ourselves and follow the newest trends. With mobile gaming becoming such a huge part of the gaming and esports landscape, it’s only logical that we follow suit and make the best mobile aim trainer we can think of. This with great graphics on top of it.

The post Mobile poised to go NextGen in the next 5 years. appeared first on 3D Aim Trainer - Training for FPS Games Blog.

What is mouse sensitivity and the difference between DPI & eDPI

Mouse DPI (Dots Per Inch) is a hot topic among gamers as many are searching for the best mouse DPI settings for numerous FPS games. Still, this is fundamentally wrong as it only covers one part of the story. The important thing they should be looking for is the in-game mouse sensitivity also referred to as effective Dots Per Inch (eDPI).

In this article I’ll dive deeper into this topic, what DPI actually is, the misconception around it, and the relation between DPI and screen resolution. 

Furthermore, what eDPI is and the basics on how to synchronize this between 2 different games having the same in-game mouse sensitivity as a result. So, without any further ado, let’s dive right into it.

What is mouse DPI (Dots Per Inch)?

I’ll start with an example, imagine your mousepad is divided into 1 by 1-inch segments as shown below. Each segment is divided into a grid. Your mouse DPI settings determine how fine this grid is. If you assign the settings to 800, this means that each segment is divided into an 800 by 800 grid, each intersection represents a dot.  In the case of 800 DPI, the dots are 0.03175mm separated from each other.

When you move your mouse, the sensor jumps from one dot to another depending on the direction of mouse movement, this is referred to as a “count” The higher the mouse DPI settings are, the denser the senor grid will be and the more screen space your cursor will cover when moving your mouse 1 inch = the higher your sensitivity will be.

When represented like this you might conclude that the denser the senor grid is the more accurate your mouse movement is processed, and you would be right if this was the full picture, but it isn’t as we haven’t taken screen resolution into account.

The relation between mouse DPI and screen resolution.

Every screen has a certain pixel resolution like 1920*1080 for example. This means that there are 1920 pixels in the width of the screen and 1080 in the height which gives a total of
2.073 million px.

What I need to know to prove my point is the pixel density or pixels per inch (PPI), therefore I need to know the screen size, for example, 24 inch. In that case, the PPI is 91.79px with a pixel size of 0.276mm, this is also the smallest amount you can move your cursor on the screen as it represents the size of 1 pixel.
If we compare this with our DPI density of 0.03175mm we can conclude that it is no use to increase our DPI in order to increase our cursor accuracy because the DPI grid density is already x8.7 times higher than the pixel density of our screen representing the minimum amount of visible cursor movement. You can state that the pixel/count ratio = 0.1147 In order to have mouse skipping, which is moving your mouse 1 count without visibly moving your screen cursor 1 pixel your DPI should be below 90 DPI having a pixel/count ratio above 1.

Note that this is only true for 2D desktop movement as we haven’t taken the in-game sensitivity and FOV value into account.

eDPI / 360° Spin distance

The reason why eDPI is the better method to determinate mouse sensitivity compared to DPI alone is that it takes your in-game sensitivity also into account making it possible to synchronize this across different games, meaning that your 360°-character spin distance is always the same no matter the game. This is not the case when just synchronizing your mouse DPI settings, making it in fact useless to do.

But since there is no standard when it comes to in-game sensitivity values and since most games are applying different methods to calculate the sensitivity effect resulting in a different outcome, it is nearly impossible to figure this out on your own, and that’s when a sensitivity calculator comes in handy. The most famous one and by far the best is www.mousesensitivity.com, some of its features are behind a paywall so not everything is free, but the feature you need to determine your eDPI is 360° distance which is free for all games.

Below I’ve added a practical example for converting Overwatch to Apex Legends.
All you need to do is select Overwatch from the drop-down and fill in your in-game sensitivity for Overwatch, which in this case is 6.1 same goes for mouse DPI settings which are 800 for this example. (highlighted in blue)

From the “Convert to” tab (highlighted in red) simply select the game you want to convert to, so for this example Apex Legends and the result will be shown immediately below (highlighted in the green).

The 2 values that you need to look for are the sensitivity which is 1.83000 for Apex and the 360° distance which is 11.1773 inch which is the same for both games resulting in the same 360° spin distance. 

The eDPI for this case is 800 (DPI) / 11.1773 (360° Distance) = 71.57 eDPI.

But it’s a lot more convenient to just refer to the 360° spin distance which is basically the same as both parameters, DPI and In-game sensitivity are taken into account.

As a result, your in-game mouse sensitivity (eDPI) is synchronized between the 2 games as you just need to put in 1.83 as sensitivity value for Apex Legends and you are done!

I hope you find this quick guide about Mouse DPI settings useful,  in the next article I’ll take an in-depth look into the mouse synchronization part, taking FOV into account and why it’s important. I might even share a secret to cut your warmup time in half and make you overall a more consistent aimer just by adjusting your DPI in a very special way!

The post Mouse DPI Settings & eDPI appeared first on 3D Aim Trainer - Training for FPS Games Blog.

Consistent aim between 3D Aim Trainer and it’s 10 supported FPS Games

Consistent aim between game and 3D Aim Trainer. This video clip demonstrates true consistent aim between a supported game and our 3D Aim Trainer platform. This is accomplished by synchronizing both in game mouse-sensitivity and (FOV) field of view between game and 3D Aim Trainer. If you want to learn more about the science behind all this and the positive effects on your performance as a gamer, we invite you to continue reading and take a look at the following video clips.

CLIP 11 | Consistent aim for superior muscle memory

The video clip demonstrates the result of dedicated aim practice by using the same consistent aim to build great muscle memory and hand-eye coordination.

When we talk about aim we talk about motor learning or muscle memory and more specifically about hand-eye coordination, which is the coordinated control of eye movement with hand movement and the processing of visual input to guide the hand, that in our case guides the mouse to our target in video games. It goes without saying that for training your muscle memory and hand-eye coordination, consistency is key. Think of it like shooting a basketball, when you shoot consistently from the same distance, you get the feel of shooting the ball from that distance so your average aim accuracy will go up. Needless to say, after a while your accuracy will raise when shooting from that distance since your motoric skills have increased through consistent aim practice, and this is no different for aiming in video games.

When you play with the same consistent aim over and over again you will get a feel for it too. As a result of this, your average accuracy will skyrocket and the time it takes to get your crosshair on a target will drastically go down, since you won’t need to compensate that much for over or under aiming.

Over time your muscle memory will be so developed that it will become more a controlled reflex then an active thinking process leaving you sometimes amazed at how fast and accurate you have become.

CLIP 1 | Synchronizing mouse movement between game and 3D Aim Trainer

Based on your input (in game sensitivity and CPI) our trainer calculates how much distance your mouse needs to move to perform a 360 spin in the selected game. Then our trainer will match the same distance by adapting its own in game sensitivity (called lookspeed) so that both mouse sensitivities are perfectly synchronized. Meaning you have the exact same mouse movement as in your selected game.

Before continuing, let’s address the commonly misused term DPI (Dots Per Inch) for expressing mouse-sensitivity. While this is a commonly used term by people and gaming manufactures, It should be CPI or Counts Per Inch. Or in other words, the number of counts a mouse registers when moving one inch. We use “Counts” instead of “Dots” Just know they refer to the same. So when moving your mouse in a desktop environment 1 mouse count represents 1 pixel of your display.

So if your display has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels your mouse will register 1920 counts if you move your mouse pointer in a straight line across the display. However, in video games, it all depends on your in game sensitivity, the higher the sensitivity is, the faster you turn when performing the same mouse movement. So by combining mouse CPI and in game sensitivity you get a certain mouse-sensitivity that can be expressed in a 360° spin or turn.

In other words, the distance your mouse needs to travel for your character to turn 360 degrees to see the whole environment, this is usually measured by inches or centimeters. The amount of counts the mouse will move is the same 27457 for both 3D Aim Trainer as game meaning that the distance the mouse travels is equal in both clips.

Our 3D Aim Trainer has adjusted its in game sensitivity to match the sensitivity of the game so when the mouse travels 27457 counts our 3D Aim Trainer turns exactly 360 degrees just like the game, meaning that both mouse sensitivities are perfectly aligned. Still, synchronizing this distance alone won’t necessarily give you a consistent aim between game and 3D Aim Trainer.

Reason is, while your 360 spin might be the same, that doesn’t mean your visual information is. If you look closely at the clip above, you will notice that the displayed image of the 3D Aim Trainer moves faster than the one in the game. So while your mouse and hand are moving the same, your eye isn’t getting the same information. This will be further explained below.

CLIP 12 | Synchronizing Field Of View (FOV) between game and 3D Aim Trainer for a Consistent Aim

When we talk about Field Of View, it’s about what you can see as a player on your display.

Field of view is the extent of the observable 3D environment that you see on your display at any given moment and is measured as an angle in degrees. This video clip demonstrates that our aim trainer will adapt to your preferred field of view, giving you the exact same viewing angle you experience in your game.

We will dig deeper into this topic, going from the visual projection, to the effects on your hand-eye coordination and consistent aim. In many video games you can change your field of view in the options or console menu. Changing your field of view has a major impact on your viewing experience.

CLIP 2 | Difference in viewing experience between a 90° FOV and a 120° FOV

Both 360 spins are matched but the field of view is different. In the top clip the FOV is 90 degrees and in the bottom clip it’s 120 degrees. In the top clip the targets are larger but you see less of the gaming world (1/4^th) meaning the image moves faster when both sensitivities are the same. In the bottom clip you see more of the gaming world (1/3^rd) and the image moves slower but this comes at the cost of significantly smaller targets than in the top part of the clip, and are therefore harder to hit. Needless to say this also has an impact on your hand-eye coordination, since in most games field of view and mouse-sensitivity are independent from each other. Meaning that changing your field of view is potentially changing your hand-eye coordination.

CLIP 3 | The effect on your hand-eye coordination when using a different field of view

The mouse moves the same distance regardless of the field of view. So while your hand and mouse are moving the same, the visual input you are getting from your sight is quite different. In this particular example the distance the mouse needs to move is 2188 counts to hit the center of the barrel regardless of the FOV, which is 90° degrees for the top clip and 120° for the bottom one. However, the position on the screen of where the barrel is displayed isn’t the same at all.

In the top clip the barrel is positioned at 4.43 inch from the display center while In the bottom clip the barrel is positioned at only 2.56 inch from the display center!

As a result of this your hand-eye coordination is disturbed when changing the field of view.

In case of changing your FOV from 90° to 120° your muscle memory will still have the habit to move your hand and mouse 2188 counts when seeing a target at 4.43 inch from the display center, like it should when the FOV is 90, but because it’s changed to 120 this would result in an under-aim. Increasing your FOV causes under-aim and decreasing your FOV causes over-aim which is the opposite effect.

CLIP 4 | The relation between field of view and under / over aiming

In the top clip the FOV is 90° but I move my mouse to match the distance of where the barrel in the bottom clip is displayed which has a FOV of 120°. And vice versa for the bottom clip.

This shows the difference in mouse and hand movement when changing your field of view.

The mouse in the top clip needs to move 1450 counts to match the distance of the barrel in the bottom clip while the mouse in the bottom clip needs to move 3850 counts to match the distance of the barrel in the top clip. This is a significant difference in mouse movement, and is a direct result of the 30 degree difference in field of view between both clips. This causes severe under or over-aim, depending if you increased or decreased your field of view. To get a better understanding of how this is possible, you first need to know that FPS games are using a rectilinear projection method (image bending) in combination with a wide field of view to create peripheral vision and perspective for a sense of depth. This makes our mind believe we are looking at a 3D environment while it’s just the 2D flat surface of our screen.

The following video clip illustrates several examples of a rectilinear projection with different fields of view from a front and top perspective.

CLIP 5 | The rectilinear projection method used in FPS games to create peripheral vision

From the top perspective you can clearly see that the rectilinear projection of the gaming world looks like an arc circle and has the largest radius in the first image which has a 90° FOV and the smallest one in the last image which has a 133° FOV. Also note that the position of the display leans the most towards the center in the last image. This is because they need to be projected 43° degrees more of the gaming world in the last image than in the first one. But since the display size remains the same 27 inch, the only solution to create more space is to move the display more towards the center of the circle creating a larger arc to give the user a 43 degree wider viewing angle (133 degree). While in the first image the FOV is only 90 degrees meaning that the display can lean more towards the edge of the circle creating a smaller arc because of the 43 degree smaller viewing angle. This also implies that the circle radius gets smaller when the FOV gets higher. If the FOV would be 180 degrees the display would be placed in the center of the circle and would have the same size as the diameter. This explains why a wider FOV causes a higher cylindrical shaped image.

As the FOV increases, the display moves more towards the center creating a larger circle arc.

This forces the displayed image to bend more into a cylindrical shape, creating more image bending and depth because the distance increases between the top of the arc and the display center as the FOV gets wider. But since our display is a 2D flat surface that can’t create real depth but only the illusion by creating perspective, the image will start to distort and somewhat collapse when you overdue the FOV increase. It feels like the image is bowed inwards as if someone is pushing a needle or pin into the center. That’s why this effect is also called “pincushion distortion” which makes objects at the edge of the display unnaturally large in scale and will tend to misestimate the size and shape of objects, giving misleading visual information since the objects will rescale and significant decrease in size when turning towards them.

Pincushion distortion can have a negative impact on your visual input when it’s heavily noticeable.

CLIP 6 | The visual impact of the pincushion distortion effect in FPS games in relation with field of view

While it’s the same object, there is a significant difference in scale and shape between the object projection at the edge of the display and the one in the center, even with a 90° FOV it’s still noticeable. When the FOV increases the image is forced to bend further backwards and the scale difference between both projections builds up very fast, distorting the image and starting to mess with your visual input.

Again, the wider the FOV => The more bent the image is => The greater this effect will be.

That’s why it’s important to find for yourself a good middle ground between what you want to see of the environment at any time (FOV) and the amount of image distortion that occurs with it.

The field of view is not only influencing our visual information, but mouse behavior as well.

In fact, mouse movement in FPS games isn’t linear at all because of the rectilinear projection method  causing image bending, and that’s where the “problem” lies.

This clip below will demonstrate mouse behavior in a 3D environment with different fields of view.

CLIP 7 | Mouse behavior in FPS games in relation with field of view and consistent aim

To demonstrate this effect I’ve written a script that simulates linear mouse movement in combination with an overlay that equally divides the display into a percentage, so 0% represents the center of the display and 100% the edge. When the clip starts most people without any background assume the crosshair will move in a linear fashion. On it’s journey from 0% to 100% there isn’t any linear movement to be noticed. Instead, it keeps accelerating until it reaches the 100% mark representing the edge of the display. Also the acceleration itself isn’t linear, but increases more towards the 100% mark. When we see this from the top perspective it’s also clear why.

If we take a look at the circle arc representing the image then we can clearly see that the track object follows a linear turning path along the arc and that the decrease in distance between the display and the track object (or arc) is directly proportional with the crosshair acceleration, as illustrated in the video clip between 50 – 100% the distance decrease per mouse count is a lot higher than between 0 – 50% and so is the crosshair acceleration. As usual is the crucial factor in this all, field of view as it determines the image bending and so the arc curve.

The wider the field of view => the more the image will bend => the more the circle arc will curve

=> the greater the distance gap will be between object and display => the straighter the object will close in towards the display edge => the higher the crosshair acceleration increase will be towards the edge => The more deviation there will be from linear mouse movement. So to do some myth busting, this also means that you cannot synchronize a linear mouse movement like a 2D desktop environment with a 3D environment like a FPS game across the whole field of view, but only with one point on the display.

END OF EXTENDED GUIDE

CLIP 8 PART 1 & CLIP 8 PART 2 | Synchronizing mouse movement between desktop and 3D Aim Trainer

It’s still a common misconception among gamers to think that you can fully synchronize your in game crosshair movement with your desktop pointer. Part 1 of this video clip will demonstrate that this cannot be accomplished. While part 2 shows the best thing we can do to get as close as possible and that’s something we call “Reference point synchronization”. Basically this means that for every field of view you input, we calculate the best point on the display to synchronize both types of movement with. So that the overall deviation between 2D and 3D mouse movement sticks to a minimum.

To illustrate the fact you cannot synchronize your crosshair with your desktop pointer I have made two overlay’s, one for the 3D Aim Trainer representing “3D mouse movement” and one for the desktop environment representing “2D mouse movement”. I also made a central line where all values will be displayed so you can clearly see all results. It’s clear that 3D mouse movement deviates quite a lot from 2D mouse movement. 2D mouse movement has a linear pattern that divides all 1280 mouse counts equally across the display meaning that every 10% represents 128 counts. (When using a 2560*1440p display)

While 3D mouse movement has an irregular pattern that divides mouse counts depending on the used field of view. It’s impossible to synchronize both mouse movements across the whole display since they have a different movement pattern. But what we can do is synchronize them both with one point on the display. Therefore we calculate the best reference point for the field of view you input to bring the overall deviation between both types of movement to a minimum across the whole line like part 2 of the video clip demonstrates. To illustrate how reference point synchronization works I have made three examples, using three different reference points with the same 133° field of view to synchronize both types of movement.

The first example uses the 20% mark, the second one uses the 57.4% mark and the last one uses the 100% mark which is the edge of the display. The results speak for themselves, the 57.4% mark is the best reference point when using a 133° field of view, doing overall the best job in keeping the deviation between both movement types to a minimum across the whole display. The 20% mark is only a better choice between 0 and 38% of the display and the 100% mark only between 68% and 100%. Also note that the amount of mouse counts differs from 1280 when using the 20% and 57.4% marker as points of synchronization. This is normal since the lookspeed of the 3D Aim Trainer has been increased because the crosshair needs to catch up with the arrow of the desktop 75% and 42.6% faster than when synchronizing with the 100% marker. So to compensate for the increase in lookspeed, the amount of mouse counts needs to be decreased to make sure that the distance the crosshair travels remains the same, else the crosshair would just fly by the 100% marker.

And that’s what 3daimtrainer.com is all about, creating a consistent and controlled environment so you can train your hand-eye coordination, and obtain amazing aim for hitting that top spot on the leaderboard. 

The post The Science behind Aiming How to Achieve Consistent Aim via Motor Learning appeared first on 3D Aim Trainer - Training for FPS Games Blog.

Perfect your Aim even when under Stress

In this guide, we go in-depth into how to improve your aim and perform your best while under pressure, this guide is for everyone that wants to learn how to stay calm, focused and in control while playing a high-stake FPS game.

In my career as an esports player, I noticed that players including myself suffered performance issues while playing high stacked matches due to stress.

This mainly resulted in bad decision making (passive play), lower accuracy (overshooting), poor positioning and eventually losing more games than I should have.

To find out what was going on aside from the fact that I was just “nervous” I started to record my heartbeat, breathing, and my gameplay throughout the whole match.

The results were quite clear, as the pressure got higher my heartbeat increased and my breathing became heavier which obviously adversely affected my overall performance.

To evolve as a player, I needed to find a way to keep myself in check when facing any high-pressure situation.

This guide summarizes the key learning points I have reached to keep my stress level to a minimum and how I brought a new sense of calm and deep focus into my gameplay to guarantee more wins than losses.

How does stress affect the brain, body and subsequently your Aim?

Before tackling the problem, we first need to know what causes it.

When we find ourselves under a highly stressful situation like for example public speaking for a large audience or playing in an esports tournament final, our bodies release hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. When these catecholamines reach your bloodstream, it leads to increased cardiac output, heavier breathing, reduced muscle control, tunnel visioning, and subsequently a clouded mind. Which is actually great for when you’re running for your life but not when playing FPS games.

In other words, reducing these catecholamines levels in our bloodstream is essential for getting our body and mind back into the game instead of searching for the exit sign. 

How to Improve your Aim Performance Under Pressure in 4 Steps

1.  Work on your mindset

One of the most important things you need to keep in mind for how to improve your aim is that it’s just a game!

99.99% of all people are playing games for fun and not for a living and even so it’s not that your life is hanging by the thread of winning or losing, I don’t give it more weight than needed.

This way you will produce fewer stress hormones that benefit your play and you will have more fun!

How to Improve your Aim: A Practical Approach

o   Don’t stress over your in-game rank

A lot of people are putting way too much emphasis on their rank. The moment I played to improve my game and not to improve my rank was the moment my play really progressed and along with it my rank.

I didn’t care about winning or losing the only thing that mattered was having fun. The minute I wasn’t having fun, I simply stopped playing rather than letting myself get carried away with anger or tilt.

o   See it as a Challenge not a Threat 

When playing a high-pressure game your mind needs to be focused on the challenge at that moment and not what the future holds as a consequence of the result, hence somewhat a threat.

Don’t think “If I lose this fight then my promotion is gone” but think “I’m excited to play against such a great player and I feel great about it”.

And while the experience is somehow the same, the approach is different, in the sense that a different outcome and the negative chemistry released when under stress will now be replaced by positive ones such as increased testosterone. This can only work when you stay positively in the moment with your mind at ease.

So stop worrying about the consequences or seeing your opponent as a threat resembling fear triggering your survival instincts, instead see it as a challenge that brings excitement and opportunity.

Don’t Overthink Mechanics

·        When you’re in a stressful situation your peripheral cortex tends focused on the wrong things. Like actively thinking on how to take that shot while in other circumstances you don’t think about it, you just go on autopilot.

The fact that you’re actively thinking about something that usually is left out of a conditional awareness makes it more likely you will fail to execute it properly.

With that comes the fact you end up paying less attention to what’s going on around you which results in clouding your game sense.

So, make yourself aware of the fact that you’re thinking about stuff you shouldn’t pay attention to and actively tell yourself to concentrate on the goal of your play instead of the execution of your aim.

Simulate High Pressure Scenarios

·        Don’t fool yourself thinking that when the time comes you will be ready for it and the stress won’t affect you because it certainly will. Instead, train your resistance against it by forcing yourself into high pressure situations in order to build stamina and tolerance level.

·        A Practical Approach

o   Stop playing quick play and start ranked games

One of the easiest and most effective ways to increase your stress tolerance is by playing ranked games instead of quick play.

This way you even the stage on which you play and after a while you will feel less nervous or not at all nervous as if you were playing a short game. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be playing your ace game and lose focus! If you feel your attention is slipping away then quit! Otherwise, all purpose is gone.

When you’re playing, ALWAYS be conscious about your heartbeat, listen to your breath and actively tell yourself to calm down if needed, this is how to improve your aim.

Another benefit of playing ranked is that FPS gamers tend to play more seriously in that arena, which creates a better environment to train your aim.

o  Picture yourself in a High Pressure Situation

Force yourself into thinking that every ranked game is a promotion match and that every encounter is crucial for the outcome of that match.

Do not just play randomly but imagine high pressure plays and really focus on them. Adapt this attitude and it will carry itself seamlessly while playing high-pressure shooter games.

That way you naturally build up your tolerance for stress and adapting to stressful situations more easily.

Practice Box Breathing

·        This method of breathing is used by many athletes and US Navy seals and is proven to be very effective in stressful situations.

The execution is fairly simple

1.  Take a deep breath deep through your nose for 4 seconds and focus on breathing into your stomach.

2.   Hold this for 4 seconds

3.   Exhale for 4 seconds

4.   Hold this on for 2 seconds

By breathing through your nose you increase the Nitrate Oxide level in your bloodstream which increases the blood flow and lowers the blood pressure helping you relax.

Overall it’s better to breathe into your stomach than into your chest if you want to calm down or find yourself in a stressful situation.

Conclusion

Practice makes perfect, so don’t think that by just reading this guide you can keep your stress level in check. You will actively need to train yourself, and think about every step if you want to become a master of your own mind. This doesn’t come overnight and takes some dedication.

The quickest answer to how to improve your aim is like the US Navy Seals quote goes: “The more you sweat in times of peace the less you bleed in times of war”. Or in other words, if you are hard on yourself during practice and put yourself in harsh and stressful conditions while training, the moment of truth will feel like a homecoming!

Aim to Conquer your stress, your self doubt and you will conquer your opponents. Join the Academy today and start training on your own for ranked games. The next level would be to invite a friend or a foe to a duel on 3D Aim Trainer Multiplayer Games mode.

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