Just thought I'd share this with you all. I've always been trying to improve my cockpit visuals and this latest development has me really excited :-yellow1First, to set the scene, I have a homebuilt enclosure as a cockpit and I look out through the cockpit windows (MDF cutouts) at the outside view only. This outside view is on a 22" CRT monitor. The instrument panels are on two other LCD monitors within the cockpit. The Captain's windscreen itself consists of a curved Fresnel Lens which is about 20" wide by 16" high. The monitor sits about 22" behind it. The monitor image is, thus, magnified about 50% and creates a kind of 3D effect. There is no FO's position so that windscreen is blanked off.In January I bought a second Fresnel Lens (exactly the same as the existing one) from a friend who had moved on to a projector system. I had actually bought this second lens to use on another PC and was experimenting with it when, following a visit to another enthusiast who uses a (hugely) expensive set of collimated mirrors and beam splitters, I decided to try something different to see if I could replicate this on the cheap :-violinI mounted the second Fresnel Lens between the first one and the monitor and booted up FS2004. I had expected to get nothing more than a distorted picture but, in fact, got an extremely rewarding result.The new virtual image is an even bigger, huge curved one - about the equivalent of a 36" x 27" projected one - and produces a remarkable 3D effect. I know nothing about the working of lenses but that's what I got. I had to spend a bit of time adjusting the position of the second lens but eventually found a sweet spot that suits my eyes.One other refinement was crucial. I lowered the monitor slightly so that the pilot's view to the screen is slanted downwards rather than level. Somehow, this, combined with the effect of the two lenses gives the illusion that you are sitting "on high" in a cockpit.:-kewl Up to now I'd always felt that the pilot's viewpoint was a bit low in most aircraft.Because the virtual image is now so big, when I look out through the windscreen I see only the scenery. No parts of the top, bottom or sides of the monitor unit itself are visible. This creates the illusion that the cabin is actually flying, banking, climbing, descending or rolling in the wind. It's amazing. In addition, I have to lean forward and practically put my nose up against the windscreen to see the ground below.I actually believe that this image looks brighter and sharper than the projected ones I've seen which tend to wash out a bit on the big screen and, of course, it's a much, much cheaper option into the bargain as well. The cockpit has been developed over several years now but I think this new visual system is the most exciting yet, even if it did happen by chance Pat

Got any pics?

Best discoveries are made by accident.But we would like to see pics.Norbert

I knew you guys would want to see a piccy and I've been trying the past few weeks to get something that even remotely resembles the true image but I just can't get it. There is also a loss of quality in reducing the pic to a suitable size. You have to be sitting in the LH seat to really see it. However, this is the best of the approximately 30 attempts I made to get a decent pic and, hopefully, will give you at least an idea of what it's like. This approximates the view the captain gets whilst looking through the "windscreen" of the aircraft from his seat. Pat

>I knew you guys would want to see a piccy and I've been>trying the past few weeks to get something that even remotely>resembles the true image but I just can't get it. There is>also a loss of quality in reducing the pic to a suitable size.>You have to be sitting in the LH seat to really see it. >>However, this is the best of the approximately 30 attempts I>made to get a decent pic and, hopefully, will give you at>least an idea of what it's like. This approximates the view>the captain gets whilst looking through the "windscreen" of>the aircraft from his seat.>> >>PatPretty cool!Can we see the whole panel and sim too? Its always inspiring to see how others have worked on stuff and what kind of solutions they are using.Btw, if the "curve" disturbs you, try turning the lens(es) the other way around too. I noticed when I tried a friend's fresnel, that if I put it "backwards", I could pull it farther from the screen without getting a "pillow" shape. Of course it hurts the pic quality a bit too, but well, the gauges are on other screens anyway, so it wouldnt be a huge issue.//Tuomas

Far from disturbing me I absolutely love curves :-)I'm old enough to remember the days of the three-projector Cinerama movie presentation process on that giant curved screen!!!You can see the sim in its "raw" state at the following URL:http://homepage.eircom.net/~patcal/clearair/caldeck.htmlStill a lot of aesthetics to do but, then, Rome wasn't built in a day either.Pat

Amazing thing PAt!Just one question ; where did you get the curved fresnel lens?ThanksDavid

David,I got it a few years ago from Bob Sidwick at www.rcsimulations.com in the UK.Last time I checked their website there was no longer any mention of Fresnels being available. I have seen what appear to be somewhat similar lenses on the web advertised as "TV Magnifiers". The lenses I have come with a frame holder which fits into two extendable base arms to allow for adjusting the position.I recall dithering for a year or two before getting the first one on the basis that it might degrade the picture too much but it is one purchase I have never regretted since. Changed my sim-flying experience forever and the addition of the second one just reinforces that.Pat

Pardon the ignorance folks, but what is a "98 FE" operating system?FASCINATING.TONY. U.K.

Tony,I use the term Win98 FE (First Edition) to distinguish it between Win98 SE (Second Edition) :-). Unlike XP it has no hangups, is non-dictatorial and never lets me down. :-haloPat

Hello guys,The 2 fresnel lenses trick is the one I am using for my new cockpit setup also.I used to have a Wideview setup with 3 pc's driving 6 outside view monitors.The idea is to built a very fast pc ( 4 Ghz ) and use 2 Fx6800 Ultra PCIe cards to drive 4 monitors.I did some experimenting and just 1 fresnel lense does not hide the monitor bars neough.When using 2 you do not see them anymore.Eg my monitor is 21" and just 8 inch before the monitor I have a 25" fresnel lense. About 4 inch fgurther I have the second one , a 22" fresnel lense.In this way I am sure not to see the bars of the first fresnel lense. If you wat a real big view you can put the monitor on its back and and use a mirror to make the angle.Then use 2 even larger fresnel lenses.The further the distance from monitor to fresnel lense the larger the image will be.Happy flying,

This website sells very good quality lenses. http://www.icetec-uk.com/Where can you purchase these large lenses from guy's?

I wonder if you can get bigger fresnel lenses that I could then use with my projected image. I have heard of giant fresnel lenses but have no idea where to buy them.