Official Fulqrum Publishing forum - Pilot modelling within the cockpit?

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- - Pilot modelling within the cockpit? (http://forum.fulqrumpublishing.com/showthread.php?t=30967)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skoshi Tiger (Post 406891)

Yes it looks nice, but lets say it takes me a second to flip a switch on my simpit or press a button on my keyboard. The animation takes 2 seconds to perform the action and return the hand to the throttle.

I reach over and close the hatch and hit the gear up and the animation has lost sync with what I am actually doing and thats only after two actions.

Because the animated pilot can only react to what you've done and can not predict your actions it has no functional application in the sim. Great for movie makers! Don't force me to use it!

If anything though, that might be a case for an animated pilot if you have anthropomorphic controls on. The amount of times that I have gone to do something and it hasn't responded and I've found out later it's because my pilot's hand was doing something else (like increasing pitch in the 109 where it's not a slider so the hand seems to stay permanently on the switch if you have it attached to an axis), having a pilot there would make that much easier since you'd be able to see where 'your' hands are.

That said though, I have to agree that pilot animations can sometimes just look plain awful, such as the flare gun in RoF where the gun seems to be attached to an arm-shaped stick. I'm happy without a pilot as it is anyway, but I would be equally happy with one I think, and as has been said before about many things, if it would be switchable there is no reason to not have it in the game, since if you don't want it, you just turn it off. Providing it doesn't take resources away from other things, of course.

Well the way it's done in another flight simulation is that only the throttle, yoke/stick and rudder movements are animated, without any (noticeable) lag to your inputs, they are real time. Must say I like it better than an empty cockpit, but there should be a way to read all instruments when needed.

MAC

Quote:

Originally Posted by simast (Post 406628)

I am not sure if this would be the correct forum to discuss this, but I will give it a shot anyway:

Thus, the question, why no flight sim attempted to implement a pilot model within a cockpit so far? Is there a particular reason why this is avoided universally? The way I see it - the ability to see your virtual pilot (or co-pilot!) would add to the immersion greatly. I can't seem to think of a reason what could possible go wrong with adding pilot models. Sure the pilot legs would probably hide the pedals, but it should not affect other instruments. And the fact that your co-pilot can obscure right-side visibility is part of the "sim" factor, right?

Some other ideas:

- Pilot hands should be on a stick and properly animated. Heck, if this can be extended to other systems (such as throttle) it would be amazing!

- You could probably model injuries better, such as blood on pilot instead of your regular red tainted screen.

Maybe this is a good idea for a mod? Still, would like to hear your opinions on this.

p.s. First-person shooters are moving from this floating-camera approach also (you can see your body/legs in BF3).

check out lock on, they did pilot models

speaking from experience and a lot of late night flying..if i was to look down all i would see are boxer's...now try and get that image out of your head. :cool:

Quote:

Originally Posted by BH_woodstock (Post 407755)

speaking from experience and a lot of late night flying..if i was to look down all i would see are boxer's...now try and get that image out of your head. :cool:

I've been saying that for years. Dude you just got shot down by a man wearing nothing but his BOXERS!!!

I like the idea of this but as optional.. why not?!

Taking it to an extreme degree, I'd say no pilot models until a Microsoft Kinect type controller is available and you can move a full-body pilot model in real-time. Can't see an instrument on the panel? Move your arm out of the way in real life and your avatar follows suit. Flick switches, make obscene gestures to your enemy, open the canopy, haul yourself up and out to bail...think of it as full-body TrackIR. Patch after next, be sure. :grin:

Quote:

Originally Posted by BH_woodstock (Post 407746)

check out lock on, they did pilot models

So did the Enemy Engaged series, and they didn't just do the legs...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Les (Post 407835)

Flick switches, make obscene gestures to your enemy, :

That would be good in ROF!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tavingon (Post 407800)

I like the idea of this but as optional.. why not?!

Because I would rather the modeling / animation guys are working on more planes, cockpits, ships, vehicles, etc... at the moment.