** Help needed with Pilot's eye view ***

[Guest]

Guys and Gals,I need some help here. We are trying to figure out how to adjust the view in FS so the pilot appears to be sitting dead on the center line of the runway looking straight ahead. The way it is now, the center line appears to be pointing to the right. For the person sitting in the left seat of our cockpit, the view is correct. However, the guy in the right seat feels like the plane is yawing sideways down the runway. We would like to center the view. I realize this will create a minimized yawing effect for the left seater equal to the right seater. But this way, it wont be so dramatic for the right seater. I've tried everything I can think of to change this with no luck. Taking a look at the panel.cfg in FS, I played with the below setting:[VIEWS]View_Forward_Dir = 1.0, 2.0, 3.0Note the 1.0 entry adjusts the view vertically. Note the 2.0 entry adjusts the view in a tilting to the left or right.Note the 3.0 entry adjusts the view left or right. It does NOT reposition the pilot. He is still sitting in the same spot on the runway.Please the illustrations below and any help anyone can offer would greatly be appreciated.http://www.avsim.com/project757/pics/temp/image1.jpghttp://www.avsim.com/project757/pics/temp/image2.jpghttp://www.avsim.com/project757/pics/temp/image3.jpg

[Guest Stamatis]

Open the aircraft.cfg file and go to the section.Below it, there is an entry called "eyepoint". For example:eyepoint= -3.95, -0.85, 2.1 These values specify, in feet, the longitudinal, lateral, and vertical position of the pilot

[Guest]

Stamatis,Thank you.I assume then a 0.0 in the second entry would do the trick for us then???Michael

[Guest Stamatis]

Correct.

[RobertVA 0]

In a normal two pilot aircraft if the aircraft is centered on the runway, the pilot in the left hand seat would be to the left of the runway centerline. Thus the runway centerline would produce an angle leaning left towards a common vanishing point betwen the centerline and the left edge of the runway. If the plane's wings were level and the runway centerline was exactly vertical it would indicate that the pilot, instead of the aircraft, was centered on the runway. This is a known aspect of projecting a three dimensional world on a two dimensional image like a computer monitor (or for that manner a painting) and has been in use for about four centuries. The pronounced angle of the centerline would be "worse" with small aircraft then it would be with high cockpit aircraft like a B 747 or a front loading military transport.Notice how extensions of both runway edges and the centerline intersect at the horizon. That's the vanishing point. Any featue, like taxiways, aprons and buildings, that is parralel to the runway would have edges that could be extended to the same vanishing point.For a pilot in the right seat the two dimensional projection of the centerline would lean right.Of couse for single pilot aircraft like an F-16 the pilot would be seated in the center of the plane and the centerline would appear vertical when the plane is centered. If the FS viewpoint is set properly the screen should show the appropriate angle.Also if the horizon is visable you could determine when the pilot is aligned with the runway centerline by waiting for the image of the centerline to be perpendicular to the horizon.

[David Vega 348]

Glad you received your answer, but this is the best explanation I've seen of the VIEW_FORWARD_DIR parameter. Thank you for the clear illustrations.Dave Vega

[Guest]

Yes, fortunately we knew all of that. The problem was with repositioning/orientating the view to balance out the issue for both pilots. Stamatis' suggestion solved this for us. Just the same, thanks for your comments.Michael