Jay Honeck wrote:
Not only that the same effect can be achieved with one computer, one
monitor, and a $100 head tracking device.
I take it you've tried one of those things, Chris? How 'bout a PIREP?
I've looked at them, and been intrigued...
Yes I have one Jay. Until I found out about it, I had virtually no
interest in the flight simulators. My brother found it and showed me
the video demos on their web site so I had to try it. As far as I am
concerned the improvement is greater than that achieved by better
graphics.
For those who don't know what we're talking about, Chris is referring
to a motion-sensing device that clips to the brim of your hat. When
flying a flight sim, this device makes the screen move accordingly
whenever you turn your head, up, down, forward, or back.
(Eliminating the need to use the thumb cap to change views when you
want to "look" out the side window on downwind, for example.)
it's not really motion sensing. It consists of an IR camera and some IR
LEDs that you mount over your monitor and they pick up a little dot
sticker that you have to have on your hat. With this version, any
movement of the dot in the cameras view gets translated into your head
rotating left and right or tilting up and down. They have a more
sophisticated version that has 3 different reflective surfaces you clip
on your hat for a full 6 degrees of freedom. It will sense you moving
your head left and right up and down and in and out, as well as tilting
up and down, rotating left and right and rolling side to side. A friend
of mine has the more advanced version and he says he has the turn off
the rolling feature because it just gets to confusing when the airplane,
your view, and the horizon are all at different angles.
What I don't undertand it how you can turn your head left, let's say,
without losing sight of the screen, which is still in front of you?
They must somehow make the screen movements disproportionately larger,
to prevent this problem, right? But then I would think that it would
be very disconcerting, moving a little yet moving a LOT? Or do you
get used to it?
It does take getting used to, the first 3 or 4 times it gave me a head
ache but all was good after that. It is set up to exaggerate your head
movements, the amount of exaggeration can be adjusted for each type of
movement. For me if my real head is pointing to the very edge of my
monitor, the game head is looking 180 degrees straight back. With up
and down it is about 90 degrees with my head facing the top edge of the
monitor. You obviously do end up moving your eyes the opposite
direction you are moving your head but it ends up being very natural.
In fast at first it almost seems like you can turn the plane just by
looking where you want to go. Not true of course but it is amazing how
much easier it makes lining up with the runway and flying the pattern.
CRASH, said he sent it back because he had to hold his head too still to
prevent it from moving the view too much. This can be adjusted so the
there is a center null position. Also if you turn your head away to
look at the keyboard or something else away from the screen, I wouldn't
say it goes crazy, it just looks at some obscure position until you put
your head back where it was. If you have problems getting it to stay
centered, I recommend using a chair that doesn't swivel. Also you can
reset the view at any time by looking straight at the monitor and
hitting the F12 key. That is kind of a calibration tool because you
don't always sit in exactly the same spot every time.
you can check out the one I have here
http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/
It works well with car sims too, although I have never tried it with
those my self.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"
--
Chris W
KE5GIX
"Protect your digital freedom and privacy, eliminate DRM,
learn more at http://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm"
Gift Giving Made Easy
Get the gifts you want &
give the gifts they want
One stop wish list for any gift,
from anywhere, for any occasion!
http://thewishzone.com