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Post by MarkH on Jan 31, 2015 18:31:29 GMT
Shouldn't be too hard to figure out what's going on here...
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Post by ScottB on Feb 1, 2015 14:19:05 GMT
OK. I don't know exactly how you do that but, I want one! Very creative. Scott
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Post by MarkH on Feb 1, 2015 14:58:08 GMT
I'm probably going to make a proper video about this in a few days. I statred out with the idea of a proper HUD but as always, it's more complicated than I imagined it was going to be!
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Post by MarkH on Feb 8, 2015 21:43:33 GMT
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Post by ScottB on Feb 9, 2015 16:06:51 GMT
Holy crap! That's insane! (and I mean that in a good way!) You make damn good videos, who needs a manual?? I was initially going to ask you why Air Manager instead of SimPlugins, but now I know why. I'm surprised it reflect so well. Is the reflection altered much by your head movement?
You know, the best way to solve the Track-IR/monitor limitation is to break out your handsaw and re-design your cockpit to accommodate some large format display monitors or projectors! :-) Get rid of that virtual Twin Otter cockpit altogether. Use your current monitors as the instrument displays, switch panels built around them. Track-IR no longer necessary, and see a jump in FPS at the same time! I look forward to watching those videos! ha-ha!
Really, very cool and nice job.
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Post by MarkH on Feb 9, 2015 18:27:24 GMT
Yes, the thing about Air Manager is it's completely open so you can make any kind of gauge you want and have it look exactly how you want. It also seems just better-done than Panel Builder. Check out the iPad client here. The only thing I would really like to see would be an interface to FSUIPC so you could read and write Lvars. For now, just like Panel Builder, you're limited to 'official' FSX data so you couldn't necessarily build a full panel for something with custom gauges. As for the cockpit, well... If there ever is a next iteration it would be nice to do it with gauges but I would only lose the TrackIR if I could get some convincing 180-degree projector setup. I know people are doing it but it would likely cost. And a cockpit with proper mechanical gauges, not screens, would be super-awesome! And the HUD? The contrast isn't perhaps quite as good as shown in the video, which was tweaked a bit, but it's very usable. You don't lose the reflection by turning your head - remember it's a virtual image, so it stays exactly where it is in space although if you move your head too far to the side it will disappear off the edge. It's just like looking in a mirror, or in fact it is looking in a mirror! Two things I didn't say in the video. First, you need to reverse the image so it's readable in the mirror and also, in this case, flip it because the monitor's mounted upside down. The other thing is that you need to consider how far back the virtual image appears, which is the distance from your eye to the mirror plus the distance from the mirror to the overhead screen. In my case this puts the image a bit behind the panel, which means (happily) that it's about the same distance away as the main display. This means your eyes don't need to change focus much when glancing down at the HUD.
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Post by ScottB on Feb 10, 2015 1:41:03 GMT
Cool. Way too advanced for me, though! I'll stick with my fourth monitor displaying an EFIS and G-map, as my rig is so different from yours. Great idea on your part though.
"...convincing 180-degree projector setup... And a cockpit with proper mechanical gauges, not screens, would be super-awesome!" That's a mouthful, for sure!
Segue: I've been looking into curved, UHD, and large format monitors (not convinced they'd be any better... yet) but, my PC already has trouble pushing the pixels on my current setup. But a lot of the FSX frame rate issues seem to result from detailed virtual cockpits, and Track IR seems to accentuate it (wouldn't fly without it though). I think projectors would appear washed out but I have no real world experience with them. Some type of wrap-around display would be nice though. I've wondered about your thoughts on monitor technology as it progresses.
For now, I guess I should focus on finishing the Almost Aviation radio stack I started!
Again, great idea!
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