Flyinside FSX (Virtual Reality Flight Simulator) Kickstarter Stretchgoal Prepar3d Support announced!

[gpbarth 12]

I can really see this in something like auto racing. You have your gas, brake and clutch, shift lever and steering wheel...not much going on with switches, buttons or other controls. But tell me how to control the VC in, say, the PMDG 777 or 737NGX. Enter the data into the FMS. Set the altitude, heading and airspeed. Set VNAV and LNAV. Tune in the radios, etc. There is a lot of things to do in a big cockpit, aside from looking around. And your sight is confined to the inside of those goggles. ALL you can see is the virtual cockpit around you. I like the idea about putting the keyboard on the screen. But with the more complex controllers, there are a lot of buttons, axes and switches that you have to look at to use, along with the keyboard. And as with TrackIR, even if you're using the mouse to click on hot spots, knobs and switches, you have to focus on those items to mouse-over and click on them.

 

I'm all for this new technology, and I can't wait to hear how these "limitations" are going to be addressed. I've been in the computing field since way before the PC, working with big HP mainframes, hard rives and tapes the size of washing machines, perf cards and perf tape. I know how fast technology moves, and this is just the latest and greatest stuff coming down the pike. But Oculus and the rest are right now cutting edge, and not even available to the public yet. Looks like next year before anything is on the actual market. And what I see right now is not the answer that I, at least, would spend what would be hundreds, if not thousands of $$ on.

 

As I stated previously, when I first heard about Oculus Rift, I thought it would be a great port-over to FSX or P3D. And now that it's happening, I can see the problems being experienced, and hopefully fixed and improved. By the time this thing is selling on FS Pilot Shop and Amazon, it will work great. But that might take awhile. Meanwhile, I am getting a great deal of enjoyment with TrackIR and EZ-Dok...the "poor man's" Oculus Rift.

[ceno 0]

Oculus just aquired Pebbles Interfaces. 

It seems a proper input solution is not far away. 

 

 

... next haptic feedback please... that could take a bit longer  

[ceno 0]

[louisdecoolste 12]

Like all emergent tech, I think we will need to give it some to time to emerge. As others have noted the peculiar issue in the sim virtual world is the need to not just interface with the controllers, but also the systems in the aircraft. And as for the complexities of the walkround, well that's another level of challenge for the developers. 

 

These will not be launchday solutions, and will probably need a three-four year development cycle before resolution in a sophisticated enough manner for our needs. The OR vid above is woeful - in an aircraft you actually need eye-tracking, not head tracking for panel use, and head tracking not just eye tracking for outside views. I see no possibility of that in any current iteration released or propose for OR.

The other thing that the video demonstrates is the field of view and depth adjustment is far more important in flight simulation than other games.

[ceno 0]

Like all emergent tech, I think we will need to give it some to time to emerge. As others have noted the peculiar issue in the sim virtual world is the need to not just interface with the controllers, but also the systems in the aircraft. And as for the complexities of the walkround, well that's another level of challenge for the developers. 

 

These will not be launchday solutions, and will probably need a three-four year development cycle before resolution in a sophisticated enough manner for our needs. The OR vid above is woeful - in an aircraft you actually need eye-tracking, not head tracking for panel use, and head tracking not just eye tracking for outside views. I see no possibility of that in any current iteration released or propose for OR.

The other thing that the video demonstrates is the field of view and depth adjustment is far more important in flight simulation than other games.

You just nailed it, exactly.

[CaptCWGAllen 49]

Dan Church the developer just issued an update. He shows how you can use desktop apps inside the VC without the need to remove the headset (e.g. chart look ups), also the ATC window can be used now. All this can be manipulated either through the mouse or you own hands using leap motion. Not yet showing manipulation of knobs and switches.

 

He is now very close his stretch P3D goal so if you are interested have a think as to whetehr you want to contribute to his kickstarter.

 

I am currently using the FSX Alpha version (free) prior to the Beta release. It is mind boggling and that is in its current raw state.

 

[ceno 0]

The demonstration with virtual desktop looks interesting, very early stage indeed.

3 Days to go and it just needs a little final push towards the prepar3d stretchgoal to get it up on the priority list.

 

edit: just found out that there is a 22% discount right now in the leap motion store

https://twitter.com/LeapMotion/status/624347823794987010

[pipeorgan 0]

I can only add that I am a true believer in OR for FSX/P3D. You just cannot explain what this software and Oculus Rift archives; it can only be experienced. Although the quality of the OR display is limited at the moment, the immersive experience more than compensates and you really believe that you are flying. No multi screen display can come anywhere near it as you can look round 360 degrees and see the world perfectly.

 

When CV1, the consumer version, is released early next year, and FlyInsideFSX is officially released for both FSX and P3D then this will be a a complete game changer for the flight sim community.

 

I am a backer of the Kickstarter campaign and hope that others will come on board.

[chass32 138]

Probably in 5 years time, all the flight simulators fans will have sold their multi-screens plus expensive gadgets for one of these.

 

As I always say, VR it´s very difficult to fully explain. You can tell a thousand times what do you feel when you are in there, but it takes only one second to turn a non believer to a true VR follower once the`ve tried Oculus Rift with P3D or Assetto Corsa, or DCS.

 

People tend to see it (flight simming speaking) as a wider track-ir, but you are in a life-size 3D flightdeck. I keep on hearing, How can I reach my maps if I don´t see outside de VR? well you don´t have to, the maps in your VR flightdeck are as big as a real newspaper. We just have to change the way we have interacted with  Flight simulators till now. The first time you are inside, let´s say the Hawker XP850 by Carenado, you´ll spend the next 30 minutes with your mouth wide open. And as the time go by, you can completely forget you are not inside a plane. When you remove the googles, you find hard to explain that you are in your room or wherever you really are.

 

The final target of flight simming with VR will be to do everything you do outside the flight deck but inside VR. At the moment I can use the mouse to press buttons, knobs and everything. Of course it´s not the best input, and it´s not easy to read all the data from the screens at least you get closer, I`d say 2-3 years until we have a great input system as Pebbles interfaces, where you can reach and touch everything inside the cabin (because a camera in your googles can scan your own hands and put them in VR).

 

The next milestone is a better resolution, enough to read all the data without problem, and that comes next holidays with the Steam Vive and early next year with the CV1 Oculus Rift.

 

As it is now, maybe is not enough for most of the hardcore simmers, but you can taste what is coming, and it´s really awesome. If atmosphere is your thing this will blow up your mind. I wish everyone could try it.

 

I´m a backer of the Kickstarter too,

[eminyilmaz 17]

Probably in 5 years time, all the flight simulators fans will have sold their multi-screens plus expensive gadgets for one of these.

 

+1. Whatever it'll cost, it'll still be cheaper than building a real B737 cockpit. I'll get one of these when they release consumer version. Having said that, nothing can be comparable to having those cool B737 cockpits.

[ceno 0]

5 Hours to go and 30k just funded, prepar3d stretchgoal reached!

 

 

 

YEAH!

[ceno 0]

From the Prepar3d V3 Changelog:

Oculus Rift VR headset fully integrated into core. Headset now appears in camera mode list if connected.

...good news!!