What the attached patch does is map your panel definition onto a (non
z-buffered) quad in front of your face. You can twist the view around
and see it move in the appropriate ways.
Apply the patch (let me know if folks need help with that step), and
then set the /sim/virtual-cockpit property to true. You can do this
on the command line with --prop:/sim/virtual-cockpit=1, or via the
property picker. Bind it to a key for fast toggling if you like.
The default bindings don't allow for "panning" the view, so you'll
have to modify yours. These are the mappings to my joystick's hat
switch, for those who need hints:
<axis n="6">
<desc>View Direction</desc>
<low>
<repeatable>true</repeatable>
<binding>
<command>property-adjust</command>
<property>/sim/view/goal-offset-deg</property>
<step type="double">1.0</step>
</binding>
</low>
<high>
<repeatable>true</repeatable>
<binding>
<command>property-adjust</command>
<property>/sim/view/goal-offset-deg</property>
<step type="double">-1.0</step>
</binding>
</high>
</axis>
<axis n="7">
<desc>View Elevation</desc>
<low>
<repeatable>true</repeatable>
<binding>
<command>property-adjust</command>
<property>/sim/view/goal-tilt-deg</property>
<step type="double">1.0</step>
</binding>
</low>
<high>
<repeatable>true</repeatable>
<binding>
<command>property-adjust</command>
<property>/sim/view/goal-tilt-deg</property>
<step type="double">-1.0</step>
</binding>
</high>
</axis>
While the current implementation is happy with just plastering the
panel's notion of "screen" into the 3D world, this is actually more
general. Each panel can, in principle, have it's own coordinate
system, and you could build a cockpit out of a bunch of them. The
mapping is specified by providing a 3D coordinate for three corners of
the quad the panel should be mapped to; this should be pretty simple
to work with.
All that's needed for a perfectly general solution is a convention on
where to store the information (a cockpit xml file, or put it in the
aircraft -set file, or...), and some work on the panel's coordinate
system conventions (some of which don't coexist very nicely with a
generalized 3D environment). Combine that with a plib model for the
non-panel interior of the cockpit, and we're golden.
I'm actually really pleased with this. It worked better and more
quickly than I could have imagined, and impact on the surrounding code
is quite light -- a few property tests only. But some stuff is still
missing:
+ No equivalent work was done to the HUD, so it still displays
incorrect headings when the view changes. The use of pixel
coordinates deep in the HUD code is going to give me fits doing the
port, I sure. It's not nearly so well put together as the panel
(where I just changed the setup code -- none of the rendering code
changed at all).
+ I forgot that the panel was clickable. :) Input events still have
the screen coordinates, which essentially kills the interactivity
when in virtual cockpit mode. This won't be hard to fix; it's only
broken because I forgot the feature existed.
And one note about the implementation choice: to get away from the
inevitable near clip plane issue, the virtual cockpit renderer simply
disables the z buffer. This means that cockpits built using these
panels need to be z-sorted, which isn't too hard since they are static
geometry. It also means that no two "virtual panels" can ever be
allowed to interpenetrate. No biggie.
(i.e. multiloop). Most subsystems currently ignore the parameter, but
eventually, it will allow all subsystems to update by time rather than
by framerate.
- delete table in destructor
** src/FDM/flight.cxx
- bind engine properties in FGInterface::bind, and publish properties
for all engines rather than just engine 0
** src/Main/fg_props.cxx
- removed all engine properties; now bound in FGInterface::bind
** src/Sounds/fg_fx.cxx
- support multiple engine and cranking sounds
** src/Sounds/fg_fx.hxx
- support multiple engine and cranking sounds
with different modifiers (the format of the key bindings has changed
again slightly, adding a <code>..</code> element; see keyboard.xml for
details).
2. Modified FGInput to try default modifiers for ctrl, shift, and alt
when the initial bindings fail (i.e. you don't have to specify
mod-shift explicitly for upper-case 'P' any more).
3. Fixed problems with properties and panel reloading reported by
Martin Dressler and John Check.
4. Updated preferences.xml to get rid of obsolete references to
/controls/brakes/left and /controls/brakes/right (as reported by John
Check).
There were also two non-bugs reported by John Check:
(a) Differential braking doesn't work (John was using the obsolete
properties from #4 above).
(b) Duplicates show up in the property tree using the telnet interface
(the property tree doesn't show indices, and John was seeing separate
entries for each possible engine, etc.).
FGOptions is history, and the modules are (starting) to use the property
manager directly. Let me know if I left any files out.
Inevitably, there will be some problems with broken options, etc.,
that I haven't found in my tests, but I'll try to fix them quickly.
We also need to stress that the property names currently in use are
not stable -- we need to reorganize them a bit for clarity.
derive specific viewer classes from it. Here's what I currently have in mind:
FGViewer
|
|-> FGViewerPRH (current system with orientation specified in
| LaRCsim Euler angle convention)
|
|-> FGViewerLookAt Feed in a position, view direction, and up vector
|
|-> FGViewerHPR (similar to PRH, but using ssg hpr euler angle
| convention)
|-> others?
ing features:
a) ADA Flight model - ADA.cxx, ADA.hxx, flight.hxx
b) Fighter a/c HUD - flight.hxx, hud.hxx, hud.cxx, cockpit.cxx, hud_ladr.c
xx, hud_card.cxx
c) 3-window display - options.hxx, options.cxx, viewer.cxx
d) Moving objects (ship) - main.cxx
e) Patches - main.cxx
ADA.cxx, ADA.hxx
--------------------------
Interface to the external ADA flight dynamics package.
flight.hxx
----------
Included prototypes for accepting additional data fron the External flight
model for fighter aircraft HUD
Hud.hxx
-------
Included prototypes for accepting additional data for fighter HUD from Exernal F
light model.
Defined FIGHTER_HUD pre-processor directive to enable compilation of fighter hud
code.
hud.cxx, cockpit.cxx, hud_ladr.cxx, hud_card.cxx
---------------------------------------
Included code to initialise additional reticles/text for fighter HUD which is co
nditionally
compiled if FIGHTER_HUD is defined.
options.hxx
-----------
Added window_offset, and function to retrieve its value for 3 windows
options.cxx
-----------
Changed few options to suit ADA/CEF projection system/screens and checks for win
dow offset.
views.cxx
---------
Added code to retrieve view offset for window.
Main.cxx
--------
Added code to load and move an aircraft carrier.
Patch to enable clouds from command line until Curtis fixes it. By default cloud
s are disabled.
I have a scrollable panel working (it didn't take long in the end). A
panel can now be much wider or higher than the available area, and the
user can scroll around using [Shift]F5, [Shift]F6, [Shift]F7, and
[Shift]F8. The user can also scroll the panel down to get a bigger
external view. Mouse clicks seem still to be working correctly.
To set the panel's (virtual) height and width, use the panel file's /w
and /h properties in a panel XML file; to set the initial x- and y-
offsets (untested), use the panel file's /x-offset and /y-offset
properties; to set the initial height of the external view (untested
and optional), use the panel file's /view-height property. Note that
none of these show up in the regular FGFS property manager.
Unfortunately, these patches will not affect your initialization
problems with the property manager -- I'm having a hard time tracking
them down because I cannot reproduce them.
I have also made some patches to main.cxx and views.cxx to do two
things:
1. Expand or shrink the external view as the panel moves up and down.
2. Set the window ratio correctly, so that we don't get an oval sun
and flat clouds when the panel is visible (the problem before was
integer division, so I added casts).
Unfortunately, the window ratio is not set properly at start-up --
there are too many dependencies, and I haven't figured that part out
yet. As soon as you hide and redisplay the panel or move it
vertically (i.e. force fgReshape to be called), you'll see the correct
ratio.
I've done some substantial reengineering of the 2D panel: except for the
radios, the whole panel is built from a large table now. I'd be
grateful if you could add these changes to the main distribution.
Since I always like to provide some eye-candy with my updates, I've
fixed the ADF gauge to be more usable by slimming the needle and adding
markings every 45 deg (you'll need to use the attached textures).
- the panel uses much, much less texture memory, and draws much
faster, at least on my hardware
- there is a wet (magnetic) compass at the top of the panel
- the gyro compass shows true heading again, but don't get used to it:
we're going to set it up to drift soon
- there are TO/FROM flags on NAV1 and NAV2 (but no GS flag yet)
- the ADF looks a little more realistic (if you can forgive the ugly
needle)
- when the HUD is not open, the framerate is moved to the right side
of the screen so that it won't be obscured by the mag compass
- knobs now continue to rotate when you hold down the mouse
- the middle mouse button makes knobs rotate much faster
- there are NAV1, NAV2, and ADF radios that can be tuned using the mouse
- there are standby frequencies for NAV1 and NAV2, and buttons to swap
- there is a crude, rather silly-looking DME, hard-wired to NAV1
- there is a crude, rather silly-looking autopilot that can lock
the heading (to the bug on the gyro), can lock to NAV1, and can lock
the current altitude
- the knobs for changing the radials on NAV1 and NAV2 look much better
and are in the right place
- tuning into an ILS frequency doesn't change the displayed radial for
NAV1
Code
- I've created a new module, sp_panel.[ch]xx, that constructs the
default single-prop panel; this works entirely outside of FGPanel,
so it is possible to construct similar modules for other sorts of
panels; all code specific to the default panel has been removed from
panel.cxx
- current_panel is now a pointer
- radiostack.[ch]xx keeps track both of the actual radial and of the
selected radial (they will differ with ILS); the NAV gauges should
not spin around automatically to show the actual radial (we need to
do something similar with the autopilot)
- the panel is initialized fairly early
- make sure that standby frequencies also get initialized
- I've started combining and clipping small textures to save texture
memory; there's a lot more to do, but at least I've made a start
the NAV face, and one for a NAV needle (just a thin, slightly blurry red
line for now). I'm attaching my two new textures, together with my newest
panel.cxx (modified from Alex's to use the new textures). Obviously,
there's a lot more to do, including TO/FROM indicators, but this is a
start, and it's fun.
