Reticuli

This is the latest version of my GlovePIE script. As you can see, I have a smoothing function that reduces zoom jumping slightly. I have not uploaded this, but it may be benificial for others to try either with the trim update system or just utilizing this particular method in another program like Python or in a custom thrustmaster script. var.0 = PPJoy1.Analog0 var.1 = PPJoy1.Analog1 var.2 = PPJoy1.Analog2 var.3 = PPJoy1.Analog3 var.4 = PPJoy1.Analog4 var.5 = PPJoy1.Analog5 var.6 = PPJoy1.Analog6 PPJoy1.Analog2 = Joystick1.z PPJoy1.Analog3 = Smooth(Joystick1.xrot, 2, .03) PPJoy1.Analog4 = Joystick1.yrot PPJoy1.Analog5 = Joystick1.zrot + (Joystick1.yrot * .5) PPJoy1.Analog6 = Smooth(Joystick1.slider, 2, .03) if doubleclicked(joystick1.button6) then begin { var.m = var.m + 1 if var.m = 1 then begin { say("Standard Dynamic Trim") press(leftctrl) press(t) release(t) release(leftctrl) } end if var.m = 2 then begin { say("Flight Director Dynamic Trim") press(leftctrl) press(t) release(t) release(leftctrl) } end if var.m > 2 then var.m = 0 if var.m = 0 then begin { say("Manual Trim") } end } end if var.m = 0 then begin { t = joystick1.button6 PPJoy1.Analog0 = Joystick1.x PPJoy1.Analog1 = Joystick1.y var.y = 0 var.x = 0 var.c = 0 var.l = 0 var.r = 0 var.p = 0 var.s = 0 } end if var.m = 1 then begin { var.c = 45 var.l = -0.575 var.r = 0.275 var.p = -0.900 var.s = 0.0 var.y = EnsureRange(Joystick1.y / var.c + var.y, var.p, var.s) PPJoy1.Analog1 = var.y + Joystick1.y var.x = EnsureRange(Joystick1.x / var.c + var.x, var.l, var.r) PPJoy1.Analog0 = var.x + Joystick1.x } end if var.m = 2 then begin { var.c = 70 var.l = -0.50 var.r = 0.0020 var.p = -0.775 var.s = 0.0 var.y = EnsureRange(Joystick1.y / var.c + var.y, var.p, var.s) PPJoy1.Analog1 = var.y + Joystick1.y var.x = EnsureRange(Joystick1.x / var.c + var.x, var.l, var.r) PPJoy1.Analog0 = var.x + Joystick1.x } end

It doesn't even need to be visually light amplifying. Most CCDs already are sensitive to IR light to begin with. You usually have to build an IR blocking filter in the optics to get the colors looking right in the visual range. Many pro camera shops will go in there and remove it for you and adjust them so you can use it for IR, too. I think Sony actually started making their internal optics even more stringent against passing IR because the national news were calling their cameras the tools of peeping toms. Since the Shkval's monitor is black & white, you don't even need to worry about color correction. It's just very weird. Very little equipment out there is automatically directly correlative to human vision. Even chemical film picks up different colors and wavelengths. Most, in fact, is especially sensitive to the green-blue bandwidth of fluorescent lights and UV light...hence the reason we use filters to correct/block them, respectively. With video cameras, that tends to lean to the IR band more, instead.

Is it an analog video camera or digital? What is the spectrum range for useable sensitivity of the CCDs, if that's what's used, in nm? Why is the "filter" knob named that if they're really just contrast settings for the monitor? Most CCD-based cameras are already inherently IR-sensitive beyond normal human sight and the use of an IR pass through filter will let you see "just" the IR band. Under normal night time use without such a filter you still get additional IR sensitivity in addition to the human visual band it will both pick up. How unlucky could Kamov be to be stuck with a camera that has no IR capability at all and no actual optics filtering adjustments built in? Did they get riped off, or something?

You don't really have to hold it any more than when bank a fixed wing aircraft. Attitude Command/ Attitude Hold is the way all helos with sidestick joysticks -- academic/military simulated, prototype, production, or otherwise -- do it as their primary flight law. This is a crude but fairly effective implementation of it. Since I don't have a pole cyclic or force feedback joystick, this to me is a more realistic and natural way to control a helo sim with a conventional joystick...since that's how helos with conventional joysticks do it and they do so for good reason. It does not prevent you from using manual trim, but offers it as one of three modes. FD in Blackshark just gives you the route flying & autopilot cueing symbology in the HUD and switches the automated hold channels to dampening only, albeit weak rate dampening.

In forward flight with FD on, the shark will seem to want to roll right slightly, or roll out of left banks. You have to slightly trim it away from doing that manually or hold the stick when doing that. Otherwise, my GlovePIE scripts will do it for you gently ;-P

The problem your idea would have is there'd be a moment between when you release the stick and when it actually gets to the center where it would essentially do the same thing it's already doing when FD is off: wobble or bob...the rubber band effect. It would only know to switch FD off when at the center, and don't think that the motion to move it back is sufficient to instruct the change in mode. I've done about a gazzillion variations of helo controls for Comanche Gold, EECH, and Blackshark, so I know exactly of what I speak. If you really want to, you can easily prove this to yourself by programming a band in the deadzone (or pass through boarder bands to the deadzones) of your stick with a pseudo-press of the FD button (l.ctrl+a) that activates it and deactivates it as you pass through out of and back to the center. It would not give pleasant results, though. Fact is, all helos that use sidestick joysticks that always recenter on their own use automated attitude command/ attitude hold and a dynamic trimming system. So any other work around is just deluding yourself into thinking there's some truly rational and natural and completely realistic way to do otherwise if you don't have force feedback. No real helo would ever use a delay, amongst other issues. Hence my GlovePIE scripts, which, for instance, actually makes the Comanche fly more realistically in EECH. To be kind, what ED has now for manual trimming is not a terrible work around. A slighty better system if all you were ever using was manual trim (which I'm not, so it wouldn't) would be if the stick did nothing between the center and the trim point (a real backup mode on some sidestick helos), but if ED makes that the new control system permanently, then any GlovePIE scripts or other work around would become useless...not to mention some pole-cylics and forcefeedback sticks that don't carry their center with them may work incorrectly. If they do the expanding deadzone trim as an option you can turn off and on and leave the current system as default, I think people will have sufficient options: forcefeedback or Pole Cyclics, the current delay-trim system, my GlovePIE dynamic trimming (see the link), and an expanding deadzone system without delay (optional in Blackshark menu). Nothing else is required for the autopilot or control system changes in the sim, assuming ED modeled the helo and the aerodynamics correctly in the first place. At this point I could personally care less, though, as I wouldn't use the new mode anyway. But for the sake of the rest of you that would be worth putting in.

Is that the old instructions or the new ones? I've corrected the first post. Or use the readme. All you have to apparently do is rename the .dat file .pro, but it's just one button. Just go into your Profiler and assign the key for centering the shkval to the rotary wheel press on the throttle. On the X52 that key is never recognized natively inside sims, so I had to do it in Profiler. Not necessary, but there you go. Activate your Windows voice and make sure it can fuction. If you don't have MS Office, then you may need to go to Microsoft's site to download the correct free voice stuff. It's not GlovePIE's voice, rather it's using Windows. Do it in your XP control panel. I assumed most people had done that for some other program. X-Plane only uses that for its ATC, so I guess I'd done that already. I use a Microsoft female voice Mary, though I've been trying to get the Natasha Russian accent one to work that is free from another company...at least I'm guessing it would have a slight accent considering it's meant for Russian pronunciation. Anyway, when you run the script you should be able to double click the pinkie fast and each time Windows should say what you've switched to. Do that with just GlovePIE running and not in Blackshark. If it doesn't work that has nothing to do with the script or Blackshark; either GlovePIE doesn't like your PC or your Windows voice is messed up. You've loaded both LUAs inside Blackshark? One assigns for PPJoy, the other for the Saitek. I have no clue why Blackshark would crash on you. I've done this on two completely different computers and they've both done it flawlessly. One's XP Pro and the other's XP Home. Try clicking on the variables tab in GlovePIE when the script is running to see what each of the three modes you cycle through does. Notice how in manual trim mode without single-pinkie presses to trim it, the axiis zero out when you release the stick. Make sure in Blackshark you have the red control panel thing up by hitting r.ctrl+enter. That will show you where your trim is at. When you first get it, always cycle completely though all the modes just to clear previous trim states The first thing I do when I get in the pit is cycle through once and get to flight director mode on the PIE, then turn on flight director in the helo, then master arm to on, then turn control panel on, then fps yellow text on with r.ctrl+pause, then I switch the head wobble off and go to no cockpit mode just to maximize fps. And I put the Arbis on Arc. Oh, and when you're in Blackshark if you notice when not in manual trim mode your center play on the stick causes the red control diamond to move, you need to make your deadzones bigger in your stick control settings.

Outstanding!

Z800's OLEDs have pixel brightness variation from one pixel to another that makes it look like a still's film grain. I think the first LCDs also had this sort of fixed, non-"living" shimmer or sparkle effect. In motion picture film, obviously, each frame is different, so that grain moves and "lives" as we like to call it...not to mention the grains are smaller than an 800x600's picture elements. It's one of the reasons why digital photographed movies look sterile and why even CGI with synthetic grain added doesn't quite look the same...either too soft and regular in grain or too artificial. Anyway, yeah the Z800 is a good deal at the original price...assuming you got a good one. The early units have problems with the OLEDs starting to die after about a year on the right side of the OLEDs themselves. About a 25% to 50% chance per eye. It's pretty expensive now that they started focusing more on the military, science, and medical establishment, not to mention have a better manufacturing process. I think the actual cost for each 800x600 OLED per eye is $600 now, which is lower than the total HMD cost during a very brief period when it was like $500 for two months. They could have been dumping old stock, though. I paid $700 with a CES coupon when I first tracked them down and met the company at the convention after having been following their developments for about a year. I was the guy that actually got Flaming Cliffs running properly on their labtop they were using at the kiosk. They also have a 1600x1200 OLED appropriate to HMDs that is functional and at least past the prototype phase. Unlike the TrackIR company, the full eMagin tracker and stereo SDK, labtools, SDK utility, and multiple HMD driver versions are all available for free and without any special agreements required. You can find them on the eMagin website.

It would take very little effort for ED to impliment each the VR920 and eMagin Z800 native headtracking. They have no interest, though, and they tend to make wiseass remarks like the ones above about how useless HMDs are. They have a deal with the TrackIR guys, which is also why Blackshark's TIR portion will actually attack and deactivate the eMagin's own native headtracking if you attempt to use it for TrackIR or even just analog joystick axis emulation with GlovePIE. Nice shadey malware trick. ED claimed that Flaming Cliffs was made compatible with the Z800 HMD, but all they did was add 800x600 resolution to the graphics menu... something you could already do with some very simple text editing of the graphics config file. They did not impliment native headtracking, so you were still forced to use mouse emulation. I've been talking about this stuff for years; click on my name and go read all my posts ;-P My eMagin uses OLEDs, so the contrast is extremely good, making LCDs look synthetic by comparison. I just don't like the film-grain-like variation in pixel brightness/contrast that it has. Unlike a motion picture, this grain does not vary and shimmer in a "living" way, but stays like a still photo. Weird. I was the first person ever to figure out a way to do OLED calibration using a test image and getting each RGB component in both eyes to match at least in their blacks to avoid shadows not matching in the eyes...an unpleasant effect. Not sure if eMagin's forums are still around with the procedure for that. Stereoscopics really require you to get that and a lot of other things right, something those stupid Super Bowel Movement game commercials could't come close to. I mean, a stereoscopic scene with no textures and all white? WTF is the point?! And they had the dagger being thrown not even converging properly, like it was backwards. Clearly Holywood doesn't know poo about true 3D vision. On an up note, a friend of mine got to do the music for the Hulu.com (I think that's the name of it) commerical. The one with Alec Baldwin.

Notice how Smooth is set. That fixes this problem integrated into my scripts. Then you just have to use the slider and xrot axis from the PPJoy instead of directly from the x52. var.0 = PPJoy1.Analog0 var.1 = PPJoy1.Analog1 var.2 = PPJoy1.Analog2 var.3 = PPJoy1.Analog3 var.4 = PPJoy1.Analog4 var.5 = PPJoy1.Analog5 var.6 = PPJoy1.Analog6 PPJoy1.Analog2 = Joystick1.z PPJoy1.Analog3 = Smooth(Joystick1.xrot, 2, .03) PPJoy1.Analog4 = Joystick1.yrot PPJoy1.Analog5 = Joystick1.zrot + (Joystick1.yrot * .5) PPJoy1.Analog6 = Smooth(Joystick1.slider, 2, .03) if doubleclicked(joystick1.button6) then begin { var.m = var.m + 1 if var.m = 1 then begin { say("Standard Dynamic Trim") press(leftctrl) press(t) release(t) release(leftctrl) } end if var.m = 2 then begin { say("Flight Director Dynamic Trim") press(leftctrl) press(t) release(t) release(leftctrl) } end if var.m > 2 then var.m = 0 if var.m = 0 then begin { say("Manual Trim") } end } end if var.m = 0 then begin { t = joystick1.button6 PPJoy1.Analog0 = Joystick1.x PPJoy1.Analog1 = Joystick1.y var.y = 0 var.x = 0 var.c = 0 var.l = 0 var.r = 0 var.p = 0 var.s = 0 } end if var.m = 1 then begin { var.c = 45 var.l = -0.575 var.r = 0.275 var.p = -0.900 var.s = 0.0 var.y = EnsureRange(Joystick1.y / var.c + var.y, var.p, var.s) PPJoy1.Analog1 = var.y + Joystick1.y var.x = EnsureRange(Joystick1.x / var.c + var.x, var.l, var.r) PPJoy1.Analog0 = var.x + Joystick1.x } end if var.m = 2 then begin { var.c = 70 var.l = -0.5 var.r = 0.0 var.p = -0.775 var.s = 0.0 var.y = EnsureRange(Joystick1.y / var.c + var.y, var.p, var.s) PPJoy1.Analog1 = var.y + Joystick1.y var.x = EnsureRange(Joystick1.x / var.c + var.x, var.l, var.r) PPJoy1.Analog0 = var.x + Joystick1.x } end

Having the hold channels all off when flight director is on not only negates flight director, but is just going to make the flight performance very squirly and wobbly, even beyond what Blackshark normally does. It certainly isn't going to make a loop easier.

Hmm...I thought I heard this is because a lot of sims don't use the analog axiis at their highest resolution, so you end up getting it flipping back and forth between increments. I have the same issue, but I just realized it can be easily fixed by just using a smoothing function in GlovePIE for that axis. Since I'm already running a script, I might as well fix it using that.

I prefer the top rotary as a 50% yaw trim and the bottom rotary for zoom.

That's what I'm trying to do. A Hud-colored green blip on all the friendly units within 7km and none on the enemy. Right now, the best I can do is terrain-colored blips on the enemy. So if anyone knows a way to turn off just the enemy labels, let me know. Still, I would think muzzle flashes should be a good way of finding any target that's facing your direction and a threat...and armed with any firearms.

What about muzzle flashes? ColorAliesSide = {70, 225, 70} ColorEnemiesSide = { 50, 100, 100} This works better, as the enemy blip is harder to see. If anyone finds out a way to make the enemy labels completely invisible, let me know.

I think the point of this thread is we do want motion blur, just more of it and not the strobing motion picture-shutter variety. Right now there's a little bit of blur, but you're saying your mod has none? Does the rotor still appear to move at varying speed or stop, depending on rotor rpm and fps? I guess in a way we are watching the rotors through a motion picture camera with a finite fps in a sim. So maybe there's no way around it without fudging if you're just rendering the rotors in motion.

Is the bombs not visibly dropping and them still being attached to the wings after a crater has been put on the ground a known bug? I also had to use the cannon trigger to drop them.

And when you go into the control options and look at just axiis, changing them does not stay after you close and go back in?

Yeah, it just replaces the labels.lua. I usually run it without any labels, but when I want to know where all my units are this works well. Is there a way to turn off enemy labels only? It's especially informative at night, where you have no clue how many good guys are driving around under you. Almost a waste not knowing what's going on.

I guess "angle" is more a motion picture film term since we haven't got a shutter speed dial and are just adjusting the physical shutter itself. Never really bothered figuring the duration it's open, either, since you just adjust the light, filters, and aperture based on the ratio of angle you're using compared to the standard 180 degree opening.

is there any telemetry, for hud-type stuff?

Gives allies this little hud-green beacon mark. Enemies have a very faint, hard to see terrain/sky-colored mark. I haven't figured out how to get rid of labels just for enemies. I actually don't want any markers on the enemy, but that's the closest I could get. If I make the enemy label too dark, it really shows up. If it's light like this, though, it shows through the HMS frame and the cockpit.

LCoS on a stereoscopic HMD? Wow. My Z800 has better colors and contrast than my 37" HD screen. That headplay must be really good. Some things about the eMagins I don't like are about 1/3 of the early OLEDs go bad, there's a variation in the pixel brightness like film grain, some dead pixels, and you have to calibrate them so both OLEDs match pretty close. I found great use out the some DVD's THX drop shadow test screen to adjust each of the rgb channels on both to match up. Really fixes that issue, but the others remain. How long has this home UAV hobby been going on so strong? The first time I ever heard about it was with the guys who needed help with the eMagin just a few years ago. That is such a smart move for this company to have gone the home UAV route and kept prices low. eMagin kind of abandoned a lot of us and went to catering to the military. I don't even think their forum is up anymore.

What's FPV?