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jangofett287

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Ok, let me back up. For my ICT GCSE I am making a video. My idea was to make an orbiter 'promotional' video. So far all has gone well, and the video is almost complete. However, the only part remaining unshot I have been rather foolish on. I decided, when drawing up the plans, to have shots of 5 XR2s in formation flight. The clever among you can see where this is going.

Despite my best efforts to obtain this shot with auto pilots, all attempts so far have failed. So I am making an appeal, for 4 pilots to join me on the OMP server this Saturday, and help me get the shots I need. At current I am willing to do this at any time PM on Saturday (GMT), but it may be possible to postpone to NEXT Saturday, if that gets me an extra pilot. If you need help I will be on the chatbox all this week from about 15:30/16:00 (Again, GMT), and you can always drop me a PM.

So, who will answer my call?
 

RisingFury

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The shot in the upper right corner. Would that be good enough? Do you want video or images?

I would still be interested to see 5 people fly in formation. I'd love to see how well people can do against my autopilot. I have no data in that area.
 

Grover

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id love to join in the fun, but i work on saturdays, and im probably limited for time, say, 7PM (GMT) at the earliest

but im off uni until the 6th of the coming month, and after that, im free on wednesdays as well as sundays

if you need anything else, just drop a line
 

garyw

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Inside this addon pack -> [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3508"]Computerex Add-on Pack[/ame] <- is an addon called 'simon' - I know it works under orbiter 2006 but might not under 2010.

basically 'simon' allows for a mutliple vehicles to copy what the master vehicle is doing. The flying should be perfect formation as they are just copying the main vehicle.
 

Grover

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Inside this addon pack -> Computerex Add-on Pack <- is an addon called 'simon' - I know it works under orbiter 2006 but might not under 2010.

basically 'simon' allows for a mutliple vehicles to copy what the master vehicle is doing. The flying should be perfect formation as they are just copying the main vehicle.

"Should" being the operative word, simon may say to do such a thing, but they will still be a frame behind, and those differences will all add up over the course of a few minutes of trying to get a good shot

worth a shot though i suppose
 

RisingFury

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Copying input from another vessel was one of the considerations in early formation flying design brought up by ETF. I dropped it in favor of a robust autopilot that can orient itself to a point and fly there. If I set the point in such a way that it moves with the target plane, you get a formation flying autopilot...

One of the advantages of training a human crew to fly formation over any autopilot is imagination. OBSP autopilot will fly in formation and might do so better than untrained humans, but that's all it'll do. It won't turn over and try to fly formation inverted...

jangofett287, you might consider using the OBSP autopilot, a human crew and the copy-state autopilot mentioned by garyw and then editing together the best results from each. This is for a promotional video after all...
IIRC, you were the most recent beta tester for OBSP. If so, talk to ETF about providing you with the most recent working copy of OBSP. I've made quite a few improvements to the autopilot since the last tests...
 

jangofett287

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One of the main problems, is at the end of the shot the formation needs to break apart in a certain way so that a transition I have planned works. there's also some stuff about a dog fight that I neglected to mention earlier.

Inside this addon pack -> Computerex Add-on Pack <- is an addon called 'simon' - I know it works under orbiter 2006 but might not under 2010.

basically 'simon' allows for a mutliple vehicles to copy what the master vehicle is doing. The flying should be perfect formation as they are just copying the main vehicle.

basicaly what Grover said, also I've noted that the physics isn't always exactly the same for 2 vessels, so that would only compound the problems, but I shall certainly give it a shot! :cheers:

id love to join in the fun, but i work on saturdays, and im probably limited for time, say, 7PM (GMT) at the earliest

but im off uni until the 6th of the coming month, and after that, im free on wednesdays as well as sundays

if you need anything else, just drop a line

7PM would be fine. I don't normally go to bed untill gone midnight on Saturday anyway...
 

Rtyh-12

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Orbiter has a tool that can do this for you. All you need to do is make a scenario with two (or more) vessels, and start recording while flying vessel A. The files for it will be stored inside the 'Flights' folder. Delete the flight data of vessel B, and after you start the scenario the playback will fly vessel A for you while vessel B will be in your control.

This is what I'd try first as it seems to be the easiest way to do it. Though obviously it's not as fun as multiplayer or OBSP autopilots, it should work.
 
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RisingFury

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One of the main problems, is at the end of the shot the formation needs to break apart in a certain way so that a transition I have planned works. there's also some stuff about a dog fight that I neglected to mention earlier.

I don't know off the top of my head how the LUA function for formation flying is currently set up, but if it's set up the way I think it is, OBSP could do that.

You first let vessels fly in formation normally, then delete that instruction and create a new one - this time, you tell the vessels to spread formation a lot. The autopilot will bank almost 90° and pitch up afterwards to try to fly towards that point.
 

jangofett287

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I don't know off the top of my head how the LUA function for formation flying is currently set up, but if it's set up the way I think it is, OBSP could do that.

You first let vessels fly in formation normally, then delete that instruction and create a new one - this time, you tell the vessels to spread formation a lot. The autopilot will bank almost 90° and pitch up afterwards to try to fly towards that point.

I'd been meaning to PM you about OBSP. You might remember a while back I posted about how I couldn't get the ships to fly in formation, and I have now found out why. the autopilot was fighting code built into the XR2, so that its attempts to correct were not being successful.

As for recording each ship individually as Rtyh-12 suggested, while this would work for the formation, getting the break to happen well would be tricky, as there would be noticeable delays as I try and copy previous ships for the timings. Also it would be impossible to a dog fight as all 5 ships would need to react to each other and not just the ones who had come before.

Oh and RisingFury; you actually ninja'd my previous post, so I hadn't read your suggestions about obtaining the latest beta. I think that using the copy-state for the launch, OBSP for the main flight, and humans for the break/dogfight would probably be the best solution. As you said it will be interesting to see how well 5 people can fly in formation, and it certainly will be very fun to try!

This is a given, but I am going to point out that pilots will be mentioned in the credits.
 

jangofett287

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I will also be making an Orbiter Replay if this goes through, but making replays with OMP can be buggy, so we can only hope it works.
 

Lydia

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hmm what spacecraft you need? i have an array of craft i can use but i need restrictions if i get some info ill see about OMP
 

jangofett287

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Looking at it now I can see it isn't entirly clear what I'm calling out for here, so I'll try to make it clear.

I want 4 Pilots to join me on the Orbiter Multiplayer Project server to fly XR2s in formation, break and then take part in a 'Dogfight'. I plan to do this either this coming Saturday, or next Saturday, depending on what suits the pilots best. Whichever Saturday we pick, it will be Afternoon GMT time, the exact timing to be decided when I have the pilots.

I will be recording the event with screen capture software, and Orbiters in-built record function. The resulting footage will be used in an 'Orbiter Promotional Video' that I am making for my ICT GCSE.

Help on setting up OMP can be obtained through PM'ing me, or here:http://omp.dyndns-server.com/index.php

At this point can I also make a request that we use teamspeak, so I don't have to do odd things with the chat box, I can just close it?
 

Fizyk

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I might be able to join and try to help, though I'm not sure at the moment. If I have time (and don't forget about this :p), I'll join, trying to fly in formation will certainly be fun ;)
 

astrosammy

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Oh, would like to join and have time, but I'd propably screw everything up with my high ping. FSX can handle this, but I've seen strange results with OMP.
We can just try it and when you see me jumping around like hell because of the ping I'll leave.
 

Lord Wasteland

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I can help prolly. I can not install TS on this computer, otherwise it crashes the computer. Some weird program is messing around on this, and I am currently pealing what the hell is causing it. So, give me orders preflight.
 

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I will do my best to arrive, formation flying is fun :)
 

Face

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I'm in, too. As you've already narrowed the date and time, I'd suggest to just set it now and see who's showing up. I hope Ren is up to it, too, otherwise we'd have to use my fallback server, if Ren's is crashing.

I'd also suggest to reserve some hours for the session, because it could take time until everyone is up to speed. In addition, formation flying is not something you can quickly adapt to - we'll have to have a training ;).

As for the chatbox window in OMP: you can close it once everything is running. And I think Teamspeak is a must-have in this case.

regards,
Face
 
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