Wideview vs TH2Go

[markfire]

Edward

If you look in the latest wideview manual you'll notice that for using monitors/tv's the wideview=true needs to be set to give you the right Fov in conjunction with the zoom to give the right perspective from the cockpit and to get the horizon level.

With projectors you are using the same basic theory but to get the Fov with only three screens you need to use some more complex calcs. I'm using five screens to get 180 degrees 0, -45, 45, -90, 90 where as you are using three.

Are you also using undocked windows or just using a seperate cockpit view driven by a seperate pc on each projector.

[sluyt050]

Mike,

I am using separate views each driven by 1 Client. So the angles I use are -70, 0 and 70 deg.
I admit that I did not experiment with tv's and give you the benefit of the doubt. However, with my present knowledge I cannot imagine the difference between a tv screen and a projector screen. The VOF of the tv screen is determined by the distance to the eye and the width of the screen as applies for a projection screen too IMO. In both cases the cockpit eyepoint has to be positioned in the right spot. So it's a complete other story than sitting in front of 3 monitors on your desktop.

Anyway, I am keen to hear Phil's results.

[markfire]

I believe you have to take into account throw ratio to width of view also with projectors. Which is a bit more involved than a fixed aspect ratio of a tv/projector

Interesting stuff though : )

[sluyt050]

Ongoing story, no the throw ratio is not involved whatsoever. Actually it's quite simple.

[Nat Crea]

Guys you're overcomplicating this.

ViewViewAspect only effects how zoom translates to the view.
When this its to False, zoom to view translation is based on the width of the viewport. When it's set to True, height of the viewport is used instead.

In other words, when set to False, you need to zoom out more to see the same amount of outside view as when set toTrue.

It's been years since I checked it, but do try it...

Nat

[markfire]

Nat


Correct, if you remember when using wideview aspect with triple head to go you had to set it to false else the sides would be stretched! because you are using one window. By setting it to false whilst using wideview (program) i found i could'nt get the right perspective (zoom) to align the horizon, then i read the manual : ) and it says set it to wide, the rest is history, sorted!   I have just checked my settings and i use a zoom factor of 1.80 with five 40inch HD tv's to get the right view out the cockpit window whilst having all the horizons lined up. The zoom will change depending on what size TV/monitor you use.

[phil]

I need to do minor adjustmends with shift-enter or shift-backspace, but when saving it in fsx, shuting down and then restart it, the adjustmends are gone. What to do here ?
Phil

[markfire]

After you get your views lined up, other than the server I go into wideview setup and untick the box (top left) that sets the view angle. Then go back to your flight and save it. When you reload your flight the view angle should be ok.  Don't forget to name all the set flights on different pc's the same name. When you start up the server you can then choose the named flight and reload or setup lots of different flights with different setting and load straight from wideview on the server.

[phil]

So that is only the clients pc's ?
I have on the server the Fex clouds installed with Opus weather, wich folder do i need to copy to the clients so that they have the same cloud textures ?
Phil

[markfire]

Yes just the clients. Leave the server at its default forward view.


For textures I believe they are copied over to the FSX textures folder. I have used Rex cloud textures on the server and copied over to the clients.


I'm not in front of my PC at present but I'm sure it's the world/texture folder in FSX. If you have identical installs on server and clients just compare the folders.  Or the manual May say where the textures are put.

[markfire]

Phil


From the manual.


Finally, please consider that changing just the view angle is normally not enough, but you need to set also the zoom in Flight Simulator. The correct zoom factor to use depends on view orientation and monitor's position, further information on zoom is supplied later in this chapter. To change the zoom, press SHIFT and + (plus) or – (mins) in Flight Simulator (the zoom cannot be changed via WidevieW). The zoom information is saved in the current flight, so you will not have to set the zoom each time.





IMPORTANT!  The suggested zoom value of 1.2 is relative to monitors having an aspect ratio of 4:3 (for example with a native resolution of 1600x1200). Monitors having different aspect ratios, for example 16:9 at 1920x1080, will require a zoom of 1.45 for the same view orientation angles suggested before, providing the option WideViewAspect=TRUE is present in the [Display] section of FSX.CFG (it is advised to set this option to TRUE for any wide aspect monitor, also for a 16:10 --- you can find FSX.CFG inside %appdata%\microsoft\fsx and you can browse here by typing %appdata%\microsoft\fsx in Internet Explorer, like for a website). 


If the excessive zoom produce blurred scenery (you are actually seeing very far away), you can use narrower view angles (for example 65° and -65° for front-right and front-left views), so you can zoom-out, for example to 1.00.   


INTERESTING VARIANTS Wide(R)vieW - A configuration idea by Gerard Salden 


The following idea can be used to make the cockpit larger.   


Normally you have to choose between a projector or a WidevieW setup. The nice thing about a projector is that it can fill the whole view for 2 pilots and WidevieW couldn't, because of the angles of the monitors. You would need about 35" monitors to make the circle wide enough to accommodate 2 pilots !!! But using video projectors you loose the side views... unless you buy 3 or 5 projectors... so, how to find a solution for this dilemma ?  As you can see normally, the monitors are standing in an angle of 45 degrees... but... why not change the amount of degrees to less then 45 ? For example, for a five monitors setup, the "heading" could be set from 0.0 to -45 , -22.5 , 22.5 and 45 degrees.   


The only additional thing you have to do is change the ZOOM using the FSX defined keys. The more monitors you add the higher the numbers for the zoom, but also the more real the view will be. The max you can do is about 7 to make an half a circle. So now you can make the monitor setup wider with each monitor you add and for cockpit-builders there will be enough space for sitting in it instead of sitting in front of it. With 4 monitors it is wide enough for the cockpit of a ltitle commercial plane and with 5 or more monitors it is wide enough for the cockpit of a real big commercial plane like the 777 or even the 747. And with this way you zoom in on the scenery , making it larger and even more realistic. With 4 monitors the runway is starting to look as a real runway and with 5 monitors it looks almost as wide as a real one.   


The zoom factor can be calculated as follows: Angle of the monitors towards each other X zoom = 56.25 ...... example :  angle between the monitors = 30 degrees ---------| the zoom will be 56.25 / 30 = 1.875 , so it will be 1.85 or 1.90  angle between the monitors = 45 degrees ----------| the zoom will be 56.25 / 45 = 1.25 


Please note that sometime it is necessary to add or subtract 0.05 from the resulting zoom factor. Just try on your setup and see what happens... 


May be helpful.

[sluyt050]

Phil, I am very eager to learn the result of your setup, particularly the 5 monitor setup. I looked everything over concerning the correctness of the Window Maker Tool and for me it stands for 100% although it is not a 100% exact calculation. The tool calculated a correct zoom factor for my 3 views projector FSX/WideView setup and I cannot believe why it would fail for a 5 views setup. BTW see this: http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php?t=23199. Read what is written about Wideviewaspect and FS9.

So my findings are: if you stick to the (quite simple) "Wideviewaspect" rule given by the tool, input your number of monitor/projectors and the total FOV you want to cover, it calculates a zoom factor which guarantees a perfect horizontal alignment of all the views. Of course the centre of all monitor/projector screens should have the same distance to the eye (they all should be positioned as contiguous chords on a circle).

Just like to emphasize that nobody is to be blamed. Let's keep it pure technical. 

[phil]

Ok tomorrow i will install the 4 th pc and order 1 more on monday to get everything running by the end of next week. Fantastic and already thank you from all you cockpit builders.
Phil.