WIMAC for ClearView flight sims

[Andrew Fernie]

I bought a licence for the ClearView (http://clearviewrc.com/) RC flight simulator for $40. It allows the user to create and import scenes and models. So, last Friday I went out to the field and took a series of panoramic photos - one set from one of the airplane pilot stations, the other from the heli pilot station. I stitched the airplane images together last night to create a panoramic view with spherical mapping, added in a sky model I downloaded (http://www.philohome.com/skycollec/skycollec.htm)(use the equirectangular format version), and saved the whole thing at 8160*4080 resolution. Imported it into ClearView this morning. Section of a screenshot is attached. Next is the heli area. I also think that I can define some crash volumes around the trees, etc., so will work on that eventually.

Note that because this is a photographic scene rather than a scene modeled in 3D with depth information when you fly "behind" the trees, you still see the model in front - solvable by modelling some polygons in the plane of the trees one day.

I think that some of the other RC flight sims can import the same sort of files. If anyone wants a copy let me know and I will prepare a CD - at 10MB it is a bit big to email. have also put it on the Windows Live Skydrive (http://cid-2b4dc8f6bd223f57.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.Public). I haven't tried this before, so am not sure if the link works. Give it a try and let me know if it is accessible.

Andrew

[xed]

Tsk tsk Andrew, you are in the no-flyzone!!!

Very cool though!

[Burning Head]

:D:D, ''that's rock'' Andrew, thanks

[briankizner]

Amazing. Very impressive. Get Albert and Andre in the picture with cups of coffee in their hands and the sound of a few of us shooting the s**t and I will have to get that simulator.

[Dwight Macdonald]

The panorama looks good in Firefox, very nice sky also. The only thing that is a bit strange is the bent runway ... does it look that way on the sim?

[zorba]

Save the picture in your PC and then you can scroll right and left and is fine.

[Andrew Fernie]

The panorama looks good in Firefox, very nice sky also. The only thing that is a bit strange is the bent runway ... does it look that way on the sim?
The image has a spherical mapping so that it can cover the full 360*180 view, and this bends straight lines. When it is rendered in the simulator everything is straightened out.

Andrew

[Dwight Macdonald]

Andrew, how realistic is the simulation compared to other popular simulators when flying an aircraft?

[Denis Cloutier]

I have download your 360 file and will try to do the same in RealFlight 4.5 and in Reflex.

[Andrew Fernie]

Simulation quality seems O.K., and certainly good enough for basic flight familiarization - I have only tried FSOne, so can't comment on G4.5, etc. Of course, some models are better than others, but everything can be tuned. I was trying a large scale Yak last night (same one as in the picture), and I found the roll rate very high. If I hook up a real TX I will bring use dual rates or flight modes to tone it down for normal flight, and leave it high for 3D.

Given the $40 price (+$10 or so to order an interface card for your TX from eBay if you don't already have some form of controller), it makes perfect sense for me for beginners who want to get some practice in.

[Andrew Fernie]

If you want to check the simulation quality, just download the free demo. It includes a few airplanes and helis. It doesn't seem to be too tough on the computer. I have a recent AMD 3 core processor, but only the graphics on the motherboard and it works fine for me. One feature that ups the graphics load is the smoke if the aircraft is close to the view point - if it is stepping try turning the smoke off. Probably not an issue if you have a good graphics card with higher fill rate.

Andrew

[Andrew Fernie]

It is going to take a while before I get the heli image ready. Some of the shots are way out of focus. Oh well, back to the tripod...

Andrew

[Elgreco]

Andrew, any way you can upload somewhere the actual pictures you took before joining them ?

Phoenix needs the pictures before joining in order to create a site I think. I still try to figure this thing out but it does not want to load the full panoramic pic.

[Elgreco]

This is what I read form a forum...

"To get you started:

First get your field 360x180 pano converted to cubic. This is done in other software than creator. Then load your images into creator something like; -z is front +z back, +x right -x left,+y top -y bottom for it to make sense. (You may have to rotate the sky and bottom images to line them up correctly.)
At that point you should see your field within creator."

I don't know what to use to convert it to cubic...

[Andrew Fernie]

Think of yourself sitting inside a box, each face of the box consisting of a photograph. That is what it is after.

Clearview starts from the single panoramic photo and produces six images that it uses at run-time. I will up-load the six it generated for you to give it a try. Maybe tonight, otherwise tomorrow.

Andrew

[Andrew Fernie]

I have uploaded the files from Clearview. Rather than being a cube they are a squished box (2048 wide by 2048 deep by 1024 high. Not sure if that will be O.K. for you.

Otherwise, look for a program that creates cube maps. This (http://www.outerspace-software.com/bixorama.html) is one example I found (but have not tried).

Some info on the technique here (http://www.modwiki.net/wiki/Cube_maps).

[Andrew Fernie]

Tried a program called "Pano2QTVR (http://gardengnomesoftware.com/pano2qtvr_download.php)". Primary purpose is to generate Quicktime files, but the free version includes the feature we need. Load an equirectangular format file (like I generated) then use it to convert to cube. Results have been uploaded as "WIMAC Cube Map.zip" You will have to figure out which file is which in terms of X/Y/Z axis.

Andrew

[Andrew Fernie]

I have done some more work on my WIMAC models for ClearView.

1. You will find a zip file with a complete ClearView model for the airplane flight line here (http://cid-2b4dc8f6bd223f57.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.Public/Flight%20Sim%20Files%20for%20WIMAC/Airplane/Summer). In case you want to work on a model for a different flight simulator you will find the original panorama image and a cube mapped set of images in the same directory. The ClearView model includes some basic collision structures (pilot's station fences, shelter).

2. You will find a zip file with a complete ClearView model for the helicopter flight line here (http://cid-2b4dc8f6bd223f57.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/.Public/Flight%20Sim%20Files%20for%20WIMAC/Helicopter/Fall). Same idea as for the airplane model - in case you want to work on a model for a different flight simulator you will find the original panorama image and a cube mapped set of images in the same directory. No collision models yet.

3. Mapping out collision volumes in ClearView relies on a special helicopter mode that makes it easy to position a model in X/Y/Z and determine its co-ordinates. I created a simple model for this. You can find it here (http://cid-2b4dc8f6bd223f57.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/Flight%20Sim%20Files%20for%20WIMAC/CollisionHeli.zip).

Have fun. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who tries them out.

Andrew

[Burning Head]

Great work, thanks Andrew for the time taking for:cool:

[Sempai-mj]

I imported the pictures in Realflight G5 and the runway comes out all curved.
Does anyone have any experience with realfight it would be nice to have the Wimac field in the sim.

[Andrew Fernie]

Send me any information you have from the G5 instructions regarding the format of the pictures the program expects and I will have a look.

[Sempai-mj]

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for help, I've uploaded the PDF manual to this link, check out the Import option.

Regards,
M. Jenkins

http://www.cowper.ca/G5Manual.pdf

[Andrew Fernie]

My images are in the "Equirectangular" format they want, so should be O.K.
Try playing with the image offsets they reference - the one that moves them up or down (not sure is this is X or Y).