One more simpit

[kamaz]

How do you feel about the thickness of the MFD frames? That was another thing I was concerned about--they're so thick that they would really be sitting pretty far above the screen.

The parallax is noticable, but the labels still line up well enough with buttons to see which is which . My photo:

Alternatively, you can forgo the frames and just use touch screen

 

[ao7g]

The thickness was not really a problem, but I had to adjust the tablet so as to have no space between it and the cougar !


Other problems bothered me during the construction :

- the annoying android taskbar at the bottom of the screen ( its Android 4...), solved luckily with an app : "Hide Bar" ( which makes the bar disappear )

- and the cougar, obstructing the part of the screen you need to touch to confirm the startup : the solution is to extract the tablet at start, then reinsert it...




As I have also an "old" 9.7" tablet (Android 2.?), I tried it with VNCMFD :

As one can see, there is much more surface, and it is also more pleasant to use.

So why not use it as a FMS, or as "the on-board computer" ? It would be the place for the autopilot MFDs...

I made a mockup :

The buttons around it are not implemented yet.

Hacking a cougar, keeping the electronic board and soldering wires to it and to the buttons would do...

The numeric keyboard has a symbolic function, only to reminder that there should be buttons here...

The apps used :
on the 7" tablet : AndroidVNC and Hide Bar
on the 9.7" tablet : RemoteVncPro ( because rotation of the screen is needed)

Work in progress... but slow...

 

[RacerX]

very cool. Are you planning on keeping all those screens/monitors or will you be going with (i forgot the name) lenses that wrap around? fresnel lens or something like that? I want to do your setup with the MFD's and whatnot but I would like to go with a fully emersive environment. Do you guys think this is possible with orbiter?

 

[kamaz]

Great work :thumbup:

Other problems bothered me during the construction :

- the annoying android taskbar at the bottom of the screen ( its Android 4...), solved luckily with an app : "Hide Bar" ( which makes the bar disappear )

- and the cougar, obstructing the part of the screen you need to touch to confirm the startup : the solution is to extract the tablet at start, then reinsert it...

Just some information to give you more flexibility on the layout.

The MFD screen does not absolutely have to be near the top or left side of the tablet screen. The trick is to set XSize and YSize to physical resolution to the device, and then you can use ScreenX and ScreenY to put the MFD screen anywhere on the physical screen. For example, the following settings in VNCMFD.ini should give you a centered 400x400 MFD screen on an 800x560 device (horizontal):

XSize = 800			; Panel width
YSize = 560			; Panel height
ScreenX = 200		; Location of screen's top-left corner on the panel - X coordinate
ScreenY = 80		; Location of screen's top-left corner on the panel - Y coordinate
ScreenWidth = 400	; Screen width
ScreenHeight = 400	; Screen height

You can also override default position for each on-screen button using Button1X, Button1Y, Button1Width and Button1Height (replace "1" with button number).

 

[ao7g]

very cool. Are you planning on keeping all those screens/monitors or will you be going with (i forgot the name) lenses that wrap around? fresnel lens or something like that? I want to do your setup with the MFD's and whatnot but I would like to go with a fully emersive environment. Do you guys think this is possible with orbiter?
SimPit Overview - YouTube

Not for the moment : I think I'm done, for a certain time, with the "hard (nuts and bolts and screws)" part of this project.
It has occupied my mind for a year and I need change...

I want to focus more, now, on the add-on side, maybe programming... and learning c++ along (oops!)...

But the fully immersive environnement would be very nice... maybe somewhat more challenging to do also...

---------- Post added at 10:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 PM ----------

Great work :thumbup:



Just some information to give you more flexibility on the layout.

The MFD screen does not absolutely have to be near the top or left side of the tablet screen. The trick is to set XSize and YSize to physical resolution to the device, and then you can use ScreenX and ScreenY to put the MFD screen anywhere on the physical screen. For example, the following settings in VNCMFD.ini should give you a centered 400x400 MFD screen on an 800x560 device (horizontal):


You can also override default position for each on-screen button using Button1X, Button1Y, Button1Width and Button1Height (replace "1" with button number).

Thanks for the info, Kamaz,

I would have to reposition the cougars ( and drill new holes in the alu bars...Huh), am not sure if the "connect" button of the app would not be masked then, so well...

But maybe there are other vnc apps which would fit... have not tested all...

 

[ao7g]

Well, I could add that feature to Master/Slave I believe. You just need to call oapiCameraSetCockpitDir() on the slave. But I want to see your solution first

Hi Kamaz,

I didn't knew it was possible, it would be a very nice solution, and the most simple for the user, you're welcome ! :jiggy:

:camera::camera:

Now, a little bit history :

I first did some attempts with dummy attached vessels, pointing right, left or whatever, but it was complicated, and had some faults...

Then tried to modify the cpp's of exising vessels, succeeded, but the vessel sdk must be available, and there are a only a few...

And at last found a way to make work an existing add-on :

A little archeology resarch at Orbit Hangar gave the very interesting "Multiview" addon from Computerex ;

The Computerex Add-on Pack :

[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3508"]Computerex Add-on Pack[/ame]

Multiview works with a cfg file, were you can put the position and orientation of the wanted cameras in cockpit mode.

It works fine in Orbiter 2006. But alas not in Orbiter 2010 ... The cam direction points always forward.

So I had to engage in C++, do some research in the forum ( the solution was given by Martin himself in a post...), and modify accordingly the .cpp file.

Surprisingly it worked, and here it is :

View attachment Multiview 2010.zip

The cpp :

View attachment main.zip

Disclaimer : I'm a beginner in C++, have yet to understand the philosophy of this language ( was almost bitten by a wild callbackfunction lastly...).

All I know is copy/pasting existing programs and hit "F7" to "generate a solution"... (and for every solution there is a problem...).

On my pc it's working, I hope it does on other pcs.

 

[LTrotsky]

Should this thread not be linked in the "You know you're addicted to orbiter when . . ." thread?

I say this only out of pure jealousy. :lol:

 

[ao7g]

Sometimes I tell myself it's a case of sheer lunacy :yes:

That's why I'm mothballing the harware, I have to keep sane...:lol:

 

[kamaz]

Well, I could add that feature to Master/Slave I believe. You just need to call oapiCameraSetCockpitDir() on the slave. But I want to see your solution first

As promised, new version of master-slave with built-in camera positioning: http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=451291&postcount=25

 

[ao7g]

Thanks !

Santa Claus is not a legend, after all... :thumbup:

 

[AstroBeatle]

O. M. G.....This is one badass cockpit, can be a shuttle cockpit!!! My dream is to build something like this when I grow up, I want to build a replica of the Atlantis cockpit maybe around the same size as your cockpit...with detail on the outside looking like the nose of the shuttle, and high detail in the inside with printed control panels and grey spray-painted plywood...and with buttons and switches to function Orbiter.