Setting proper VC views

    As I was reading online, trying to set ActiveCamera on my Piper Seneca II to the most realistic view settings, I came across these videos.

    These are super well done and really worth watching.

    Personally, the key point is when the author says:

    "and just to complicate matters it's generally accepted that for our traditional 4:3 monitor, the most realistic zoom factor is actually 0.75 not 1.0; it is no concidence that this value is closely related to the shape of the monitor"

    For those familiar with the CalClassic website and work (everyone? :) you'll be aware of FSAviator's Propliner Tutorial. One thing discussed early on (and the subject of another tutorial) is the proper settings of both the CV and VC views.

    FSAviator and Tom Gibson assume the best zoom to be 1.0 for a 4:3 type monitor.

    These videos assume that value to be 0.75.

    In the case of my monitor (1920 x 1200) that would give, respectively,

    zoom = 0.83

    zoom = 0.62

    I'm more comfortable with the latter.

    I'll set up my views and will share them with you to get your feedback.

    In the meantime enjoy these videos - if you haven't seen them already :)

    Almost Aviation : WideViewAspect & Zoom: Part 1

    Almost Aviation : WideViewAspect & Zoom: Part 2

    Almost Aviation : WideViewAspect & Zoom: Part 3

    Just playing with a single parameter...

    I decided I want the horizon line exactly in the middle of my screen

    VIEW_FORWARD_DIR = 9

    51990357157_8eedc4bdef_o.jpg

    VIEW_FORWARD_DIR = 0

    51991353886_df0dd049ef_o.jpg

    VIEW_FORWARD_DIR = 1.48

    51990357172_ec100482ac_o.jpg

    And one other thing I just discovered - can't believe it took me almost 20 years.. fine tuning the ZOOM factor with the SHIFT key

    SHIFT + "+" or SHIFT + "-"

    VIEW_FORWARD_DIR = 1.48 and ZOOM @ 0.62

    51991635694_8c47b4deeb_o.jpg

    I'm ready to move on to Active Camera setup.

    Forgot to say that I had previously edited the pilot's seat height from

    [Views]

    eyepoint = -4.9, -1.07, 1.50

    to

    [Views]

    eyepoint = -4.9, -1.07, 1.60

    Those levels of zoom are close to my own preferences. With fixed wing I will generally be happy with 0.45 to 0.6 depending on the VC panel (and the cockpit in general), and only go to 0.25 or thereabouts for helicopters, simply because you need eyes in the back of your head to land something like that well - it's visual references and almost nothing else.

    I raise my seat for high panels using Shift+Enter (standard keypress, I believe), and spacebar resets that view when I need to revert. For the Beechjet 400 I've been flying a bit of late, it needs about 3 notches of seat raising to be made before I get a view well into the flare. For most of the flights I leave the seat where it is, especially since I'm often centering the view ahead after panning around using the hat control (which will reset the seat height). At the marker I will raise the seat for that final phase.

    “Every word has consequences. Every silence, too.” - Sartre

    Zitat von Ministry of Truth

    Those levels of zoom are close to my own preferences. With fixed wing I will generally be happy with 0.45 to 0.6 depending on the VC panel (and the cockpit in general), and only go to 0.25 or thereabouts for helicopters, simply because you need eyes in the back of your head to land something like that well - it's visual references and almost nothing else.

    I raise my seat for high panels using Shift+Enter (standard keypress, I believe), and spacebar resets that view when I need to revert. For the Beechjet 400 I've been flying a bit of late, it needs about 3 notches of seat raising to be made before I get a view well into the flare. For most of the flights I leave the seat where it is, especially since I'm often centering the view ahead after panning around using the hat control (which will reset the seat height). At the marker I will raise the seat for that final phase.

    Hi MoT! (Martin?)

    Was thinking just yesterday that I never learned to fly helis and would love to... Any cool heli recommendation?

    Your procedure is exactly what I was doing. Yes, SHIFT+Enter is the default, then the SPACEBAR to return to the main view.

    What I'm trying to accomplish is two things:

    1 - Eliminate as much as possible the need to raise the seat (according to FSAviatior a proper 2D and VC would never require that) - and this first attempt almost got me there; but at the same time, on a real cockpit, I could raise my head somewhat to gain a better view and, since I don't have a TrackIR system raising the seat a bit is the next best option, I guess. For this point 1) I'm using the ActiveCamera program.

    2 - Eliminate as many key presses as possible - and that's where the secondary keyboard and the multi keyboard macros program comes in (also Active Camera). I just changed my yesterday's settings and so now I have on the second keyboard F1 seat down and F2 seat up - but I could put these combinations anywhere on the keyboard, of course. The deal is to eliminate multiple keypresses (with SHIFT or CTRL).

    As for the Carenado Seneca I'm not convinced with the FDs after all. I felt the need to add some pitch stability, went into the aircraft.cfg and that parameter is already at 4.8(!)

    MoT is Richard! But I've had other names in FS-world and in the real one as well. It's a long story.

    There are some nice helicopters out there, the Nemeth freeware AS350 Ecureuil is a favorite, as are the Icaro freewres. Also this for the EC145 https://library.avsim.net/search.php?Sea…anMode=0&Page=2 which I've been wondering whether to make a STARS repaint for (Canadian medevac) since I have a large stock of sponsor logos left over from an AI project.

    I've been flown quite often in helicopters and always liked the flexibility, and also taken a few lessons many years ago, for no special reason. It's actually quite difficult to simulate in any sim without motion simulation and with only a screen for your field of view (which is why I have the zoom far out). The thing to keep in mind and visualize is that you're pushing a column of air around to make changes in speed and so on. So, a bit like a skater pushing their skate out forward when they want to slow down or stop, you do the same wth the helicopter's downwash. Once you feel that it's actually all a balancing exercise, it gets easier to do.

    Regarding FSAViator on the seat adjustments. Whenever I get in an unfamiliar real-world aircraft, or at least one crewed by people other than me, I will always make adjustments before I do anything else, to get everything in reach, and to optimize my view of the panel and the outside world. There's always a perfect setup for each of us and it almost always requires a preliminary set of adjustments. Obviously they are saying that the setup would already reflect your position in the seat at the right height etc., so you get into the seat with everything already adjusted. It would certainly minimize keypresses since it would be the default position.

    Having said that, it's always the case that a pilot will try to get their eyeline right simply because there is an optimal position for the internal and external scan.

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    So it would make sense to set the eyepoint in the CFG to line up the eyepoint reference on the central pillar. It's what you would do for real. It would be interesting to know whether UI models have this aspect properly done.

    Raising the eyepoint and experimenting with the aircraft is probably the only way, if it isn't properly set up already.

    fine-tuning eyepoint
    Hi all,While in VC mode, its easy to fine-tune the eyepoint visually by means of the various keyboard combinations ([CTRL]+[ENTER], etc). My question is: after…
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    “Every word has consequences. Every silence, too.” - Sartre

    Brief comment. I mostly use the hight and location of the cockpit seat head rest to adjust the VC viewpoint as a start and then do fine tuning and selection of the zoom factor to my liking.

    Michael

    »Imagine there’s no countries / It isn’t hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion, too / Imagine all the people / Livin’ life in peace.«

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    AMD Ryzen 5 3600 / Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti / 32 GB DDR-4 SDRAM / MSI MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI (MS-7C37) / Windows 11

    @Richard (currently :) )

    Thanks, will check those helicopters - also, great notes about flying them.

    That cockpit video is awesome, makes all the sense and is also very helpful in terms of the steps required to setup our VCs.

    @Michael

    That's exactly my starting point, as well: check the seat visual model, both from within and outside the aircraft.

    The zoom is what worried me as I wanted to know which factor would be the most realistic. So far, taking my monitor into account, 0.62 seems to be it. With the occasional zoom out for sightseeing of course.

    A free program: F1View Utility for FS2004 is available from https://www.flight1.com/view.asp?page=library

    To quote: "F1View Utility for FS2004 implements mouse-based zooming, panning, and eyepoint adjustments, including the ability to move your eyepoint beyond the limits imposed by Flight Simulator (this feature is good to stroll about virtual cabins of larger aircraft). This module requires a wheel-mouse (a center wheel that also acts as a center mouse button). By Flight One Software."

    The only downside, that I can see, of this program is that the middle scroll-wheel is sometimes used for changing the dials on the auto-pilot and radio settings on the instrument panel.