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Author Topic: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria  (Read 17766 times)

DeltaSim

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Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« on: May 03, 2012, 01:51:16 am »

Morning everyone,

I started creating the landing site at my favourite flying region (47°46'32.71"N, 12°13'46.12"E), to be used with the hanggliding simulator. It compares really well with the real thing (see images - btw. the red glider is mine :-)). But of course it creates ever more desires, like the 3D model importer: I'm really eager to import more models and plant (deciduos) trees where needed! One nice feature for placing objects would also be to be able to scale them - e.g. to let the trees grow or have a slightly bigger house. And wind: The main purpose of my simulator is to practise landing approaches under itchy wind conditions. Is there any possibility that you include a first primitive wind model (just constant wind and turbulence all over) in one of the next updates? I guess it would be fun for others too :-).

Cheers, Martin

PS: I've been trying out the simulator with Outerra and it works fine. The ever finer resolution of the terrain gives you the feeling as if you were approaching a real patch of grass - just great!
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DeltaSim

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2012, 02:06:53 am »

For those who are interested - here's a picture of the simulator and me staring at the screen (obviously trying to hypnotize Outerra or something...).
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ZeosPantera

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2012, 02:20:00 am »

Congratulations on being the first person I have ever seen in a hang-gliding simulator at home. You are awesome.

Might I suggest you sell your car and buy a HUGE projector!
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cameni

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2012, 03:41:55 am »

This is so great 8)

The main purpose of my simulator is to practise landing approaches under itchy wind conditions. Is there any possibility that you include a first primitive wind model (just constant wind and turbulence all over) in one of the next updates? I guess it would be fun for others too :-).
Will need to check what JSBSim expects. If it has some simple properties that can be set, it shouldn't be a problem. We have been also thinking about getting a simple uplift simulation based on the terrain topology.
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PytonPago

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2012, 06:22:17 am »

For those who are interested - here's a picture of the simulator and me staring at the screen (obviously trying to hypnotize Outerra or something...).

That is a great thing ! ... how is the handling done in your "sim-pit" ? Are you just lean to the sides/front/back on some pressure-sensors hanging ?
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DeltaSim

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2012, 04:24:13 pm »

Might I suggest you sell your car and buy a HUGE projector!

I don't have a car... But I did cough up an IR head tracking program using OpenCV for using it with FlightGear, ultimately wanting to use some video goggles. It works fairly well, though it tends to lose track when you're jerky. That's without any optimisation done, however. As with FreeTrack & Co., you need to build yourself a very ridiculous hat with LEDs on it ;-). The program is really simple and head tracking would be REALLY great with Outerra - so if you're interested, I can post it here.

Alternatively, I actually thought of strapping a mobile LED projector to a helmet and building some sort of spherical screen instead of video goggles :-). Would look even more ridiculous - at some point you might be asking yourself if it's not a bit of a bore having your girlfriend laugh at you every time you play around with Outerra...

That is a great thing ! ... how is the handling done in your "sim-pit" ? Are you just lean to the sides/front/back on some pressure-sensors hanging ?

Yes, there are three struts attached to the control bar, one of which you can see disappearing to the upper left corner. This fixes the bar and there is a force sensor on each of them. The measured forces are then fed into JSBSim using the "external reactions" function; it allows you to introduce virtually arbitrary forces on your aircraft. This is great for simulating hanggliders, because our control moments behave differently as those from aerodynamic control surfaces (rudders, elevators etc.).

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DeltaSim

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2012, 04:32:52 pm »

Will need to check what JSBSim expects. If it has some simple properties that can be set, it shouldn't be a problem. We have been also thinking about getting a simple uplift simulation based on the terrain topology.

I can also check FlightGear's property tree the next time I run it. There is one branch in there with all the parameters controlling the atmosphere and FG let's you browse the whole tree really nicely.
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ZeosPantera

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #7 on: May 03, 2012, 07:07:47 pm »

If the LED projector(s) were bright enough and the room was small/painted properly.. And you had ceiling mounted super accurate head tracking that would solve my previously expensive and lacking full room projector idea..

.. What's the ALT code for the Copywrite logo?
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Bartolomeus

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #8 on: May 04, 2012, 02:31:49 am »

Hi Martin, that's amazing. Really nice simulator.

Marko

C. Shawn Smith

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #9 on: May 04, 2012, 03:13:42 am »

.. What's the ALT code for the Copywrite logo?

Alt-0169

©

In my line of hobby, you get to know a few of those intimately ;)
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DeltaSim

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #10 on: May 04, 2012, 05:08:44 am »

If the LED projector(s) were bright enough and the room was small/painted properly.. And you had ceiling mounted super accurate head tracking that would solve my previously expensive and lacking full room projector idea..

Head tracking would have to be mounted on the ceiling anyway - you move around too much in the simulator. One of the many things on my shopping list... My old climbing helmet (the white one in the front) would do nicely to wear a projector (back in the 90ies: "Yeah, wear a projector - sure..." ;-)).

Talking about head tracking: Does anyone know how to control a webcam at a fairly low level? Currently, the cam only delivers <20 fps, which is quite jittery. I guess this could be due to the cam running in automatic exposure/white balance mode and needing to crunch numbers on the fly. However I didn't really find much in terms of a webcam control library (-ish).
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DeltaSim

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #11 on: May 04, 2012, 08:56:35 am »

Will need to check what JSBSim expects. If it has some simple properties that can be set, it shouldn't be a problem. We have been also thinking about getting a simple uplift simulation based on the terrain topology.

I guess the place to look for this would be somewhere here:

http://jsbsim.sourceforge.net/JSBSim/FGWinds_8cpp_source.html
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ZeosPantera

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2012, 12:42:12 am »

Sony playstation eye webcams did tracking at 120 FPS. If you can get the custom drivers working on that in windows you would be wet.
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DeltaSim

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Re: Hangglider landing site in Bavaria
« Reply #13 on: May 06, 2012, 03:04:28 am »

As a matter of fact, I just discovered that I still had an old Quickcam 4000 lying around. Using that one instead of the brand new cam, head tracking already runs at 30 fps >:(. Could have saved myself the bucks and hours spent on the damned thing... I'll have to try out if 30 fps is OK, though.
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