I have often lamented that there is not enough open source software in the shooting world. In contrast to just about every other industry, we have more open source hardware, like 3D printable designs, than we have open source software. A group of open source software and gun enthusiasts are developing a laser training system.  Shoot: OpenFire Framework (ShootOFF) uses a commodity (Commercial, Off The Shelf) webcam combined with a laser trainer, such as LaserLyte’s range of trainers, to facilitate realistic “dry fire” training.

The software at the heart of of ShootOFF is powered by Intel’s popular OpenCV computer vision library. You first program in your target by creating a virtual target using the target editor. Once programed in, the software automatically detects your target using the webcam. When you fire “shots” it sees where the laser hit and records the shot placement and your score.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8vMpX8x-crjduJ99TR3sAA

The system can detect multiple targets taped alongside each other, or multiple targets printed on the same piece of paper. This feature can be combined with the software’s training protocol feature. The “Random Shoot” protocol, for example, calls out targets (using the computer’s speakers) at random records your speed and accuracy. Training protocols are implemented as plugins so any computer programmers can write their own.

ShootOFF is free, both free as in cost and free as in open source. Anyone can contribute to the project through the popular GitHub website. A number of volunteers are contributing code but they would love to have more people helping build it.