New Release TroposcopeMFD (Proof-of-Concept)

[Moach]

wello, everyone! i've got a little doodad i'd like to share:

i call it the "Troposcope" MFD ("Tropo", from the greek "Turn/Conversion", "Scope", well... "Scope")


it's simply a polar-space, 180-degree gyro coordinator, look:

this is a Proof-of-Concept version - right now it only shows your prograde/retrograde reference points (white ball: prograde, gray 'X': retro)

but it stands to show that it can be done, and should look awesome...
i initially devised this to help vessels rendezvous with stations and stuff... sometimes, you can't see everything in the HUD, but in the Troposcope, you can! :thumbup:

next version should have the target-locking feature, which would allow you to see your target's direction (and away-direction), as well as your relative dir and some other points that could be of interest :hmm:


the way it is right now, it's a lot "green" - but already it offers an easy way to find your bearings... it can become a lot more useful once it matures a bit

source is included, in case you wanna have a go at it :thumbup:

cheers!

 

[tgep]

Ooooooooooh, a nifty new spiffy looking docking aid ! Me likey :thumbup:

 

[RisingFury]

Could you (well, I know you *can*, I'm just asking if you would :thumbup make it look like the existing MFDs with circles? Like... docking MFD that has those three circles, with logarithmic scale? That'd keep the thing more intuitive.

Other then that, my suggestion would be to add (besides the prograde, retrograde, normal + and -, zenith and nadir) a way for a user to define direction... let's say that for some reason you wanna mark the direction between prograde and normal +. You turn your nose there, click a button and the position is marked.

Also, you could maybe add vectors showing relative velocities to selected objects.

 

[Ghostrider]

It would also be a great targeting tool...

 

[Moach]

Could you (well, I know you *can*, I'm just asking if you would :thumbup make it look like the existing MFDs with circles? Like... docking MFD that has those three circles, with logarithmic scale? That'd keep the thing more intuitive.

Other then that, my suggestion would be to add (besides the prograde, retrograde, normal + and -, zenith and nadir) a way for a user to define direction... let's say that for some reason you wanna mark the direction between prograde and normal +. You turn your nose there, click a button and the position is marked.

Also, you could maybe add vectors showing relative velocities to selected objects.

good thinking - i'll have it allow up to four user markers in different colors (perhaps with a cursor, so you don't have to waste RCS to mark them)


i was thinking of using some symbols to identify the reference points

would be something like this:

notice that for each type of marker, there's a (back) version... this ensures that reference points are ALWAYS visible, one way or another... for the troposcope has 180 degrees of range, so when one isn't visible, it's counterpart will be


there's gonna be some show/hide options to avoid cluttering the screen... although, the icons are quite small, so that's not too likely to happen...

and if you have trouble remembering what symbol is what, there'll be a legend button that shows a visual glossary like the one above (but better drawn, of course) :hmm:


i'm not sure about making it more like the docking MFD... those lines are there for a reason, as they gauge the distance and alignment.... here there's nothing to align to, so it would be mostly meaningless - it's gonna show relative velocity and distance to target, anyways

also, this one is already logarithmic, note how the markers move "slower" near the edge and become more sensitive in the center :thumbup:


nice to see you guys like it

cheers!

 

[Izack]

It would also be a great targeting tool...

That's just what I was thinking. There could be a vector straight to the target, and another for an optimised firing solution (after input of muzzle velocity.) If the weapon doesn't point towards z+, then there could be some other fixed marker with its direction (like the HUD marker for the Shuttle's OMS offset.)

 

[Moach]

huh :blink: - i originally devised it to guide G42 docking maneuvers... but if you wanna use it to gun stuff down, be my guest! you have the source files


now, good thinking about fixed markers - some ships may have angled thrusters - so "prograde" must be acconted for... i guess it's easy enough to add marker "bugs" for such cases :thumbup:

 

[Izack]

huh :blink: - i originally devised it to guide G42 docking maneuvers... but if you wanna use it to gun stuff down, be my guest! you have the source files


now, good thinking about fixed markers - some ships may have angled thrusters - so "prograde" must be acconted for... i guess it's easy enough to add marker "bugs" for such cases :thumbup:

Well, I wouldn't use it only for weapons.

It's just a tool with a lot of versatility. Sort of like a gimbal instrument combined with a whiteboard - what can't you do with it?

 

[Spike Spiegel]

Kind of reminds me of this (Wing Commander):

The circle in the center of the console. That's the radar, where the center circle is ahead of you, the middle ring is divided into quadrants for above, below, port, and starboard, and the outer ring is what's behind you. You might remember this game. I played the heck out of it back in the day.

Does the troposcope work the same way?

Also, I'm pretty sure I recall seeing an MFD that duplicated the Wing Commander radar.

 

[Moach]

pretty much the same way, yes - but there are no "sectors", really... it has a more "analog" feel with a 180-degree polar display... targets behind you are represented with a different symbol, instead of shown anywhere else


i was thinking, right now, the troposcope is more sensitive towards the center and less around the edges... this is because of the way the vectors are projected onto the screen, it's a simple normalize-and-flatten, really....

but if i get the arcsine/arccosine from the axes and re-scale them - i can have a linear-travel projection, which i guess could be useful as well, no?

buttons, buttons.... i'll leave that one up to toggle, i think :hmm:

 

[Ghostrider]

but if you wanna use it to gun stuff down, be my guest!

Hey, you know the old saying about humans - we can turn anything into a weapon or a toy.:thumbup:

 

[Moach]

Hey, you know the old saying about humans - we can turn anything into a weapon or a toy.:thumbup:

yes... most women will say that about men, too :lol:

i once told my girlfriend "...i can take most trivial objects (tv remotes, etc...) and imagine how it could be a spaceship..." - she said to me, "...then you should also be able to imagine how it could be a supository..."

she won that argument - hands down :blink:


i should have seen that one coming...

 

[Lucy]

i was thinking of using some symbols to identify the reference points

would be something like this:

I like this, though I'd suggest emulating Orbiter 2010-P1's prograde and retrograde indicators from the new HUD - they're instantly recognisable, and only a little different.

 

[Moach]

I like this, though I'd suggest emulating Orbiter 2010-P1's prograde and retrograde indicators from the new HUD - they're instantly recognisable, and only a little different.

good thinking - will do! :thumbup:

 

[jgrillo2002]

found a bug. for some reason the troposcope mfd is not shown in the mfd list while playing orbiter. im using the orbiter 2010 patch 1 version

 

[Moach]

hmmm have you activated it in the "modules" tab on the launchpad?

 

[jgrillo2002]

Yes I have

 

[Moach]

ok... i suspect you're encountering the same problem some folks are having with my G42... it's been compiled in "debug" mode, so you need to have MS Visual Studio 2008 to get it to run... i think that's the case, i mean....

what says Orbiter.log?

 

[Lucy]

Well, no, just the VC++ 2008 runtime would do. No need for the whole IDE.

 

[orb]

Well, no, just the VC++ 2008 runtime would do. No need for the whole IDE.

VC++ 2008 runtime redistributable doesn't include debug libraries. You need either install VS/VC++ 2008 (then you can copy the debug libraries to Orbiter, and uninstall the VS/VC), or extract the debug libraries from Visual Studio / Visual C++ installers, or find them on Internet on sites serving .dll files.