IDEA! Head position "memory"

[ZyronEnder]

I have a suggestion for a software feature that I think would really improve Track IR for flight sims in particular.

THE PROBLEM:
I've been playing a flight simulation of the 747 alot lately. It has a fully 3D modelled cockpit and as you can imagine, TrackIR really helps. The simulation contains many switch panels above and to the sides, which require you to twist you head in odd ways and then hold it steady while you flip switches and push buttons. Unfortunately, this is a bit awkward and I find myself switching to the 2D cockpit alot to manage the aircraft systems instead. Obviously this breaks immersion.

A SOLUTION:
The idea I had was for Track IR to allow you to save ~8 preset head positions/orientations. Then when you recall the position via a keypress or two, the virtual head rotates from the current orientation to the recall position (not jumps, smoothly rotates). Pressing the key again, smoothly returns to the current TrackIR orientation.

[Charvel]

Not a bad idea really. Once you hit the preset the view pans (and zooms in vector) to the spot you saved until the key is toggled again where it releases to full tracking mode again. You would use, say, SHIFT+preset button to program the view in.

A problem with that might be that you have to train it every time you start the game or even every time you recalibrate with F12 since your seating and position distances change every time you sit down or sink into your seat after a while. It's enough that you might have half of that altimeter gauge off-screen by the time you hit the key again since it's relative only to the TIR's positioning.

I think this might be better accomplished in the game/sim itself by over-riding the TIR sort of like padlock to a set view position. This would mean it's up to the developer though so you could try shooting off an email to Microsoft's FSX development team.

[ January 12, 2006, 04:28 PM: Message edited by: Charvel ]

[ZyronEnder]

I see what you're getting at but I think it can work. The reason is that TrackIR feeds absolute x,y,z,yaw,pitch,roll to the game. Hitting F12 simply allows TrackIR to calculate a deltax,y,z,yaw,pitch,roll to apply to the head position/orientation inorder to feed data to the game in the correct reference frame.

If TrackIR remembers presets as absolute position/orientation, then when you hit the button your view will end up at the exact position it was in when you saved it. This works because TrackIR feeds absolute positions to the games, not relative deltas.

In your example of hitting the button and having the head move to the wrong spot... the only thing that could cause that is if the viewpoint in FS2004 was changed via the ctrl-enter/bkspc,etc. keys. I'm suggesting however that a TrackIR save-head-position would pretty much eliminate the need for the using the change viewpoint commands.

Also this feature would almost certainly benefit the upcoming LockOn helicopter sim too.

[JKeefe]

Lock On already has what you want, and is done in the sim, not by TrackIR. Lock On essentially has customizable snap views; you put the view where you want it, including how far zoomed in you are, and save it. Next time you press a certain key combo, your view snaps there, and then return when you release.

Presumably with Black Shark Lock On users will be able to incorporate 6DOF positioning into their custom snap views...

I'd love to see this feature controlled by the TrackIR for sims that don't do it internally, though.

[ February 17, 2006, 01:46 PM: Message edited by: JKeefe ]