MacThai_75

Yeah .. that site sucks only slightly less than the retailer GearBest. ;)

Where is the best PiMax forum, that has the most knowledgeable members in a format similar to the one here at DCS? I've tried the one at http://forum.pimaxvr.com/latest and it's almost useless, being so cumbersomeness to use/find any helpful information. I have a set of PiMax 4K (that I ended up getting for free because Gearbest is so screwed up) but the total image is split between two eyes, and is rotated 90º CW. So I have the right side of the image in the right eye but vertical, and the left side of the image in my left eye and also vertical. I tried to do all the things that were published to be able to use it on a system that is currently set up for my Rift, but have gotten nowhere with it by using the aforementioned web site.

I think it's funny how there are many people using VR with motion rigs and have it all working just fine, and there are people that are properly using the theory of operation for the goggles, say it won't work. It actually shouldn't ... but repeatedly people with motion rigs report that it does work, albeit to more or less degree. IMHO it's because you and your own brain's "IMU" ... and your own natural sense of balance, and natural propensity to maintain a point of view/visual reference, continuously provide enough counter movement of your head over 6DoF ... due to the "chicken head tracking" affect, that the results are not as negative as theory would dictate, and while not always perfect ... provides workable results that just basically depends on how much of a chicken you are. ;) The chicken effect ... And even if you disagree ... the chicken's still pretty cool to watch! :)

I've updated 1.5 to the latest version, and just purchased all the campaigns since they were half off, and have a bunch of other AC modules to install as well, but as soon as I hit OK in the module manager's long checked list of everything I've purchased for 1.5, it just crashes out and back to my desktop. Do I have to install these on at a time? Figured it out. Need to only do a few at a time or it crashes.

@misoswan ... Looking good! Very nice detail, and the open platform design looks really easy to live with! :) Good work! :thumbup:

Yeah, a glove would be much better for DCS than the Touch ... or even an improved version of Leap Motion ... even if LM had DCS support and an in-bedded switchable on/off on-screen keyboard. But haptic gloves only for in cockpit switches, cyber keyboard, and etc. ... not for flight controls. It would take much more than just haptic gloves to recreate the feel of operating flight (or vehicle) controls. The Touch looks cool for other things, but I agree it's just not for things like DCS ... or any other flight/racing sim that I can think of. But while on the subject .... a full haptic suit with a substantial body area compression effect, 4K VR at a min of 120FPS, and a 6DoF motion rig that worked out vertical flight properly, with multi-channel tactile shakers (more than a measly of SimVibe of only 8 ) driven by individual software settings for each, would be pretty cool! C'mon Santa ... or the sim fairy, who/whatever!! ;)

Yup me too ... but not so much because of speed as much as force and throw at a continuous duty cycle, and etc. So cheap gear motors of the proper RPM and torque seems to be the best choice to move both the seat belt tensioning rollers and the seat back/bottom arcing plate lever (as per the drawing above) probably after installing bearings to act as rollers to keep it operating smooth, fast, and with a longer lifetime than just the rubbing parts as in the drawing. IOW: the inverted squared off U shaped rod #52 in fig 5 and fig 2 will have bearings to act as rollers placed at the top of the inverted U. That U will be made from two pieces of flat bar with a rod of 'all thread' through the holes in the upper tips, with the bearing rollers installed first ... if that makes sense. In other news ... check the rotational mounting orientation of your u-joint. I just put an inclinometer on mine and found it has more angular movement in one axis than the other, because of the way they are built. In one axis it was almost 25º and in the other axis it was almost 30º. So if you need more pitch than roll, then you might get that by simply rotating the U-joint 90º.

After further consideration, I think that air will be too slow and/or too complicated to implement, because it will need to be throttled effectively so it's inflation and deflation are both fast enough, and be properly proportional. It will also be very noisy ... sounding all the world like an obscene phone call! ;) So I am looking into much simpler to build designs, that can be slipped into my existing seat ... sort of like this, but be motor actuated instead of the hand lever, and used in both the seat back and seat bottom ... To add to the G-seat belt motorized roller system, it will 'probably' require me to open up the upholstery of my seat back and fab a new seat back extension anyway. And my seat's bottom is already open underneath ... so fairly easy to install a device like this up under there, pressing against the seat bottom support straps. I'm also looking into proportional solenoid linear actuators that (if cheap enough) might make a good replacement for the required motor, and possibly even most of the above's internal components. I.e. long threaded rod, and other parts ... as well as the motors and etc. that drive the seat belt tension rollers. A "more than one way to skin a cat" sort of thing ... :)

If you can come up with a way to inflate and deflate them fast enough (like being at a Pink Floyd concert :smilewink:)IMHO it would actually be better than plates. I have a special 2 axis (alt/az) computerized and motor driven chair (called the StarChair 3000) ... that a fellow in Australia makes, to carry a large set of Fujinon 25X150 battleship binoculars for astronomy use. I took the DC powered pump from a blood pressure monitor to inflate/deflate a lumbar support air bag, which is used behind my head to maintain the same eye relief as I go from horizontal to vertical and my head sinks back into the headrest. I press a button to inflate/deflate the bag so I don't have to strain my neck to keep the same distance from my eyes to the eyepieces of the binos. Although the cannibalized BP pump does fill the lumbar support air bag fairly fast, I'm just not sure that it would be fast enough in a flight sim for anything but slow smooth maneuvers. Here's some pics of that setup that explains this a bit better. I'm not sure if they are of any direct help, but they might get the creative juices flowing. Click on them for more detail With my wife modeling it, pointing to zenith ... The lumbar support air cushion used as a headrest ...

^^^ Great Christmas gift to yourself! Will be interested to read how it all works out!

From what I've read it should be about as good at synthesizing the feel of pulling G-Forces as a non-360º travel motion rig with VR is at synthesizing full roll and pitch ... if that makes sense. But there are people this forum that have built the G-Seat ... and more on it and those people can be found here ... https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=122577&highlight=Bergison+gseat (which has more links in the thread). Here's a viddy of the creator with it ... But I don't think if I mount one on a motion rig (by modding my existing seat with single "push/pull plates"(instead of flaps) in the seat bottom 'and' in the seat seat back) that it would require the all of the G-Seat functions. Just the motorized seat belt snugging and relaxing system, with the single seat push/pull plate in the seat bottom and back being motor driven in both directions (up/down and back/forth) all working in concert, should be enough to synth both positive and negative Gs well enough to pull it all off, as well as to add what's needed to feel some heave ... with the motion rig providing pitch, roll, and yaw, and the VR's semi-motion sensation filling in the gaps. :)

Thanks Einherjer! There is still a chance that my second box might arrive, but it's looking more like it'is lost in the USPS/Customs system. :( But not to worry, if it never makes it I'll start on my home built rig after the holidays (that will employ the parts I 'did' receive along with some of my stationary rig) and like you say ... probably end up with a more satisfying end results. :) I really think the incorporation of the 3'rd yaw axis, and adding only the G force components of a G-Seat mounted on the 3DoF rig, will be the best of all worlds in a compact rig, that along with the motion sensation of a VR HMD ... will provide near 6DoF immersion.

Wow, that's much faster work than I could ever do! :) If my second box never gets here, I'll just buy the motors and electronics, and follow your lead. The box that did get here has most of the base frame, and I never really planed on using much of the upper frame, preferring to modify my seat (to a G-Seat) and use the control mounting system from my stationary rig. So if my second box is with Elvis :smilewink: ... I'll use the $600 DK refunded me (out of my $1245 deposit) and buy what's needed. I also plan to add a third axis for yaw, by building a T shaped base with a pivot at the bottom of the T, and add casters to my rig so it's rear section can float across the top of the T. Then with my entire rig sitting on the T with the pivot point at the front, the back will then swing side to side across the T, driven by a lead-screw motor mounted between my rig and the T, for Yaw movement. Sort of like a home built version of this $1300 accessory for the SimX 2 DoF rig ...

Steve, great viddy and very informative. If I have my dates right about when you were just starting this project, you got that all accomplished in under 2 months, and actually closer to only one month! Very well done. :) WRT: The mouse ... do you think a cheap track ball (if only for set-up) would work as well as the mouse wheel being added to the program? The spring noise ... it might be eliminated by using a silicon rubber tube either around or inside of the coils ... that's cut a bit longer than their most stretched length. Camera aim changing ... although you don't seem to have this problem, I've read that on race sims that the CV1 camera can be jostled enough to cause it to point to a different place. Some guys even report using duct tape to hold it's pointing. But I would suspect if it even 'is' a problem (possibly only appearing over time on a smoother moving flight rig, as the it's friction might become more loose) ... using a piece of foam pipe insulation around the camera's mount stem, with it's length cut longer then the stem so it gets compressed between the camera's body and stem's base ... that should prevent it from changing it's pointing, and keep you at the same level of view in the pit. If your particular camera's tilt mount is stiff enough not to allow the camera to change it's aim during rough .... turbulence :smilewink: ... then this would not be needed. Increased angle ... can you just buy another double flanged U joint and bolt their flanges together to sort of make a joint like this 80º "high angle" CV joint? Thanks for posting the viddy! I'm sure it will be as interesting and informative to to others as it is to me. :)

^^^ :thumbup: Thanks Steve! :)