Native Windows configuration utility for OptiTrack Active Tag hardware.

Overview

ActiveTAG Configurator connects directly to the virtual serial port exposed by OptiTrack Active Tags. It reads the current device configuration, recognizes known Label Group profiles, and safely writes selected settings back to flash.

The application is a native C++ desktop executable with a Dear ImGui and DirectX 11 interface. It does not run a web server, embed a browser engine, or require Node.js, .NET, Java, or a separate Visual C++ runtime on the target computer.

Features

Capability	Behavior
Automatic detection	Scans available COM ports and validates the device from its d response
Device inspection	Reads serial number, firmware, hardware revision, RF settings and LED IDs
Config export	Saves a versioned activetag-config/v1 JSON file
Config import	Loads supported values into the editor before writing
Manual override	Edits Uplink ID in Custom mode, RF Channel, Signal Intensity, LED Brightness, charging behavior and Custom LED IDs
Camera profiles	CAM1-CAM6 apply and lock the verified Label Group 0-5 LED patterns
Product selector	Separates Camera Tracker, Talent Tracker, and Lens Profiling profile families
Talent Tracker	Applies Label Group 6-20 profiles with only LED 7 active
Lens Profiling	Applies Profile TAG 1-2 / Label Group 21-22 with LEDs 0-3 active and LEDs 4-7 disabled
Automatic profile selection	Opens the matching Camera Tracker, Talent Tracker, or Lens Profiling product after reading the connected device
LED ID display	Shows hexadecimal IDs in the editor and decimal values underneath
Label Group display	Shows the selected profile Label Group alongside the writable [2] Uplink ID, matching Active Batch Programmer terminology
Label Group writes	Ready-made profiles write uplinkId and firmware labelGroupId metadata for firmware-supported groups; groups 0-1 follow Active Batch Programmer behavior
Clean serial view	Hides the firmware labelGroupId dump line from the on-screen serial log to avoid operator confusion while preserving raw file diagnostics
Radio and LED guards	Restricts RF Channel to 11-26, Signal Intensity to 1-6, and LED Brightness to 20-100 through dropdowns
Charging toggle	Sends On While Charging as a checkbox value, 1 when checked and 0 when unchecked
Theme polish	Uses a higher-contrast, blue-free light theme and a compact sun/moon theme toggle
Modern UI	Uses Dear ImGui and DirectX 11 for a tool-style desktop interface
Native modal flow	Confirmation, success, and runtime error dialogs use the same ImGui interface
Safe write	Stages values with s, verifies with d, saves with v, then verifies again
Portable delivery	Produces a statically linked single EXE and a portable ZIP
Persistent diagnostics	Appends timestamped serial communication logs next to the EXE
Native identity	Embeds a multi-resolution Windows icon and version metadata

Supported Fields

The firmware 2.x configuration surface currently exposed by the application:

ID	Setting
[2]	Uplink ID
[3]	RF Channel
[6]	Signal Intensity
[4]	LED Brightness
[5]	On While Charging
[D0] - [D7]	Active marker LED IDs

Fields reported as [-] are read-only. [1] (unsupported) is never written. Disabled LED IDs are stored as 0xFFFFFFFF (4294967295). The firmware serial setter receives this as -1; sending 4294967295 or 0xFFFFFFFF through the PuTTY-style s command is clamped by firmware 2.3.4 to 0x7FFFFFFF. The parser still recognizes older 0x7FFFFFFF (2147483647) dumps as disabled so previously written tags can be detected safely.

Log File

While the application is running, it keeps the following file open next to the executable:

ActiveTAG-Configurator.log

The file is opened in append mode and is never overwritten. Every physical log line, including serial device responses, receives a local timestamp with millisecond precision. The file is flushed as events are written and closed when the application exits.

The in-app Clear Log button clears only the visible log panel. The physical log file remains append-only for diagnostics history.

Run the portable EXE from a folder where the current Windows user has write permission.

Safety Flow

flowchart LR
    A[Detect COM port] --> B[Send d]
    B --> C{Active Tag signature?}
    C -- No --> D[Ignore port]
    C -- Yes --> E[Read current config]
    E --> F[Edit or import]
    F --> G[Send changed s commands]
    G --> H[Read and verify]
    H --> I{Values match?}
    I -- No --> J[Abort without flash save]
    I -- Yes --> K[Send v]
    K --> L[Read and verify again]

Loading

Build

Requirements:

• Windows x64
• Free Microsoft Visual Studio Build Tools with C++ Desktop tools
• Git for Windows

Build the native executable:

build.cmd

Output:

build\ActiveTAG-Configurator-vX.Y.Z.exe

The build uses the static MSVC runtime (/MT), so the target machine does not need the Visual C++ Redistributable.

Dear ImGui v1.92.8 is vendored in third_party/imgui and compiled into the EXE. The application icon and Windows version metadata are embedded directly into the EXE. version.json controls the window title, file metadata, EXE name, and portable ZIP naming.

Test

test.cmd

The native parser tests validate all six captured Label Group configurations against the real firmware 2.3.4 serial output used during development.

Portable Package

.\package-portable.ps1

Output:

dist\ActiveTAG-Configurator-vX.Y.Z-Portable-x64.zip

The ZIP contains:

• Versioned ActiveTAG-Configurator-vX.Y.Z.exe
• Windows dependency check
• Official DISM/SFC repair helper
• Portable usage instructions

The executable depends only on protected Windows system components: KERNEL32, USER32, COMDLG32, ADVAPI32, D3D11, D3DCOMPILER_47, IMM32, and SHELL32. These DLLs must not be copied between computers or registered with regsvr32.

Project Layout

src/                 Native UI, serial transport and Active Tag protocol
test/                Native parser tests
deploy/              Portable dependency and Windows repair scripts
docs/                Repository artwork
tools/               Deterministic repository artwork generation
third_party/         Vendored nlohmann/json and Dear ImGui source
build.cmd            Release EXE build
test.cmd             Native test build and execution
package-portable.ps1 Portable ZIP generation
version.json          Single source for window, EXE and release version

Disclaimer

OptiTrack recommends using Active Batch Programmer for normal configuration. Incorrect Active IDs or RF settings can prevent tracking from working properly. Use this utility only when you understand the target system's ID allocation and BaseStation configuration.

OptiTrack is a trademark of NaturalPoint, Inc. This project is an independent configuration utility and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NaturalPoint.

Third-Party Software

JSON support uses the MIT-licensed nlohmann/json single-header library.