Hi-Intensity Halogen

[Boeing Skunk Works]

I tried a small halogen shop light today while on a day trip out of Klangenfurt to try and simulate sunlight entering through the windows. This is a dual bulb lamp and I had it on high until the sun started going down on the way in to Hamburg. These suckers are so bright you can't look at them and makes the room look like sunshine.

I have another set of twin lights that are mounted on an adjustable mast, but I haven't tried these yet. The only drawback is that you can see the rest of the room outside of the monitor coverage and through the eyebrow windows.

I might do this more often and try out the dual mast-mounted lamps. Anyway, some quick sample photos of the cockpit using this smaller lamp.










Mask flow check!





On the stand at Hamburg. Sun has already set about ten minutes before this was taken.

[Trevor Hale]

Fantastic.  it is amazing how much the light on the MIP looks like sunshine.  Now, all you need to do is figure out how to make it so that when it rains you don;t get wet, and you will be all set..

I Love looking at your pictures and how much enjoyment you get from your setup.

Very inspiring.

Trev

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Thanks! I'm always trying to make it seem a bit more real, and you know me, I love detail!

That last shot was with the light on the low setting, but maybe it shouldn't have been even that bright since the sun was already below the horizon. Apron lights! Yep, must have been the apron lights.

Now if I could get them to turn with the aircraft so the light is following the sun! 

[shaneb]

That is something that always bugs me . . it is daylight outside and dark in my cockpit . . just not right. Maybe we are too detailed oriented but for me closer to real . . the more believable the simulation is.

[jackpilot]

All this is worth study and research because it is so true that a dark cockpit in broad daylight is unreal.
Especially after seing these pictures..
Thinking cap is on!

[warvet]

Mike your just too weird man lol Too me the word simulator needs to be reiterated i think lol Halogen sunlamps hehe too funny, next you'll be making your wife wear flight attendant uniform from the 1970s and call you Captain You are a hoot Mike. And the mask when i saw it on you I nearly pissed my pants sorry but I can se as background ambience lol but actual 727 pilots dont even wear those except in decompresion ahahha Well as long as your having fun Mike.

Tim
A340
*still laughing*

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Still have to do a flow check on the first flight of the day. 

Just wait 'till I get the other two lamps in there!

[ETomlin]

Tim, give him a break :-) We are all just 'playing airplane', right?

In all seriousness, I have thought long and hard about the whole ambient light thing and the only conclusion I can come to is to mount some small source of light in the flight deck behind the crew seats in a fashion that will keep the light hidden from view, but still 'warms up' the flightdeck to simulate daylight. Think recessed lighting. The tradeoff here is having a non-scale/real item mounted in your sim but of course you then have some nice daylight simulation too. What's the preference? No additional non aircraft equipment in your sim and dark during daylight, or the additional equipment but artificial daylight? Experimentation is key here for sure. I also consider the idea of having directional lighting that is mounted on the outside roof of our sims that is pointed inward, but that you cannot see the actual light source itself from the sitting position. I think that surely with some fiddling with FSUIPC, we can extract the daylight/time value from FS and have it effect some sort of relay/dimmer that would control our external lighting to autodim as time changes in the sim, or even an optical/light sensor that would detect the dimming have have the external light dim as well.

[jackpilot]

Best idea so far Eric
The progressive daylight effect linked to dawn-day-dusk in FS could drive a sort of dimmer system...(I think that I am daydreaming here) but nevertheless I am sure that there is a little genius among us who can figure  this out...would be wonderful.

[dnoize]

this topic has also been covered on the other forum a while ago.

did you guys ever consider moodlights or momolights ?

a system similar to the philips ambilight:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/philips-ambx-gamers-kit-review/1

Momolight - The Lion King HD


Stef

[dnoize]

and heres the topic on mc.org. i posted some more links there:

http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17033


Stef

[Trevor Hale]

Awesome Stef,  thanks for posting that..  I didn;t realize it was ever discussed before.

Trev

[Maurice]

I just had a stroke of 'genius' about this 'problem'...only fly on a moonless cloudy night and problem solved  .

Seriously now, realistic ambient outside lighting would be fantastic but even multi-million dollars simulators do not try to simulate that as far as I can remember. But it sure would be nice if it could be done.

Maurice

[ETomlin]

I just had a stroke of 'genius' about this 'problem'...only fly on a moonless cloudy night and problem solved  .

Seriously now, realistic ambient outside lighting would be fantastic but even multi-million dollars simulators do not try to simulate that as far as I can remember. But it sure would be nice if it could be done.

Maurice

Maurice, you are pretty much right on with my thoughts too, other than the fact that many times I notice that in the photos and videos of the 'Real Deal Sims' they have the maplights turned on and so it kinda warms up the flight deck. That would be the simplest solution in daylight flights IMHO, but what's the fun in going the simple route, right?

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Flying a daytime mostly nothern or southernly route would be the easiest to emulate.

Just crank up the halogen worklights and point them at one side or the other.

The photos I posted in the beginning of this thread were actually a little brighter than the camera captured. The instrument panel shot is a good example of that. The rest of the cockpit was pretty much lit up too.

I'm going to do this again but with the twin light set-up as well as the smaller lamp.

I'll hang the smaller lamp from the ceiling and point it down towards the eyebrow windows. I'm glad I have a working gasper fan outlet because these do generate a fair bit of heat that you can feel coming through the glass.

I get tired of flying in a dark cockpit in broad daylight.

[Maurice]

Mike,

The only thing missing in your setup is a few Canada Geese being ingested in one or more of your engines. I think this is the only way you will ever be totally satisfied that the simulation is realistic enough.   

Maurice

[Trevor Hale]

LMFAO Mau... 

[Boeing Skunk Works]

The more real the better, but don't feed the geese. 

[Maurice]

LMFAO Mau... 

LOL - Beautiful artwork. Until I saw the link to abcnews, I thought you were the artist 

Maurice

[Trevor Hale]

LOL...  Yeah..  "Google Image Search"  LOL

[warvet]

OK guys seriously,
I'm not trying to be a kill joy here not at all. as Eric would be led to believe But I'm looking at real practicality. Let me explain, Light Halogen = extreme heat, the last thing we want to add after screens, cpus, electrical circuitry everywhere is heat to our sims. I think Mike's quest for the holy grail of outside lighting is awesome, truly a very cool idea, but at what compromise. Remember heat is a electronics killer, now if you have a setup that will accommodate that issue, then bravo,GO FOR IT! As far as 15,000,000 sims not delving into this idea , well that's simple they are going for functional not esthetic. We on the other hand are all about esthetics. Mike why don't you do this, rig up a simple timer to a dimmer, then as each hour passes so will the light levels additionally just like the sun, have it move on a simple motor cable pulley idea. So as again each hour passes the sun will travel across your sim without interfering with your screen, by placing it only where it will be needed. You could even use a RC motor with RC controller to do that or an autotimer switch. just some thoughts. see Eric I'm not opposed, just think it may be a little much with regards to all other stuff that is far more important to a sims operation. JMO

Tim

[Boeing Skunk Works]

I think stationary illumination is fine for a two hour flight. It's the brightness that counts if you fly during a sunny day...which is most of the time when you're above the weather. You can always kill the lights when descending through the overcast on a crappy day at Schipol or London.

Heat in the cooler seasons like now is no factor, but I don't know that I'd have this many halogen lamps on when it's 95°F outside. Especially since the thermostat is so far away.

My three computers are located in a nice cool shop area so that is no factor either.

Other than an output card for some indicators and a fourth computer, my sim is technically about as far as it's going to get and I'm now trying to tie up some loose ends and experiment with other ideas and different ways of doing the impossible.

Oxygen anyone?