Is there anything for this?

[bosflo 53]

Ok, this problem is haunting me forever and I was wondering if anything new has been released for it.

 

A long time ago there was a program called active camera and I can't even remember what sim it was for, I think fs2004.

 

Anyway now having p3d v2 I really miss the ease of that program and all it could do. I could "drive" the camera to any spot at the airport and watch planes land all day. There was no "configuring" need to get the camera to work. I don't remember any global or aircraft config settings because I am not sure if fs2004 had those. The camera followed the ai planes as they arrived and then when an ai aircraft moved away from the camera view distance then the camera would switch and automatically track the next ai due to arrive. I am pretty sure there was more to it under the hood but I never needed to worry about that.

 

I have seen opus, ezdok, and a new program called camera position x but I don't think those programs can do what active camera did. I mean they can walk around the plane and the cockpit but that is not what I want. I only spot ai planes so that's what I need the program to do. I also don't want to start playing with the built in camera definitions of p3d v2. because I will never understand that.

I guess I am a pretty tough customer but I really don't like tinkering around with important settings that may break the sim.

 

Does anybody have any suggestions or advice on this. I hope the answers can also help out others who may be wondering about this too, unless I am the only one who would like this and you all found other options:)

 

Thanks so much guys

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

Part of this could be achieved with ORBX's "Bob", it allows you to freely roam your scenery.

 

The tracking of AI is a function of the camera definitions in the simulator itself. So a second option would be to add fixed camera positions by lat/lon coordinates to your simulator's "cameras.cfg" that are always there for you. If you set those up for example at the end of you preferred runways and activate the "track" property, they will do pretty much what you want - except that they cannot move.

 

The CameraPositionX can help you set up camera definitions for your own aircraft (and for "Bob") or the fixed world cameras, as that is what it does - it is not a "floating camera addon" like Opus or Ezdok.

 

Personally, I am using the JustFlight Marshall vehicle (= a simulated follow-me van) for aircraft spotting and to drive around the airports "realisitically". I have added a few camera definitions to it, for example a tracking one, so when I reach a nice spot, I just switch that camera on and relax. But I have to admit that setting up a camera like that with just the in-sim camera definition parameters is tricky.

[bosflo 53]

How do you add a camera definition to the just flight vehicle? I don't have just flight but i do have world ground traffic and that has a few police cars that I can drive around. Can I add a camera definition to that and does it move with the ai aircraft?

[RW1 615]

 

 

A long time ago there was a program called active camera and I can't even remember what sim it was for, I think fs2004.

DBS Walk and Follow, and it was the best camera ever, and yes it was for FS9. wish DBS would remake it for P3d, then we could ditch Ezdok.

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

You can add camera definitions to every vehicle in the aircraft.cfg.

But you won't get the same functionality as FS9 I'm afraid, because FSX and P3D do not offer the necessary methods. FSX was very limited when it comes to this type of camera - By the looks of it, camera control is lot better in P3D V3, but I haven't looked too hard into this yet.

The easiest way to get halfway what you want is to change the global AI Traffic camera definition's tracking behavior:

- Close P3D
- Find the "cameras.cfg" in C:\AppData\<yourname>\Roaming\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D
- Open it with Notepad
- Locate the CameraDefinition with the title "AI Planes"
- Change the line "Track = FlatChaseLocked" to "Track = Track"
- Save the file
- Restart P3D

Now, when you select an AI aircraft from the AI Traffic list, it will be tracked from your current position. This of course is not as convenient as an automatic tracking, but at least it works.

I am currently working on a AI traffic "movie app" and I will see what can be done with camera views. Maybe there is a programmatic solution.

[Cargostorm 151]

I think EZDOK is just the right (alternative) program as you can define external view, walk around, adjust panning speed etc. In the recent version, v1.87 you can also use World Camera in P3D. EZDOK "drives" the camera to any spot at the airport and watch planes land all day  - just as you want. Have you really tried all the capabilities of EZDOK?

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

As far as I understood the OP, the issue is not setting up camera positions somewhere. There are a few tools that can do that.

 

IMHO the problem discussed here is, that you cannot get FSX/P3D cameras to track (all) AI aircraft automatically, the same way that was possible in FS9.

[bosflo 53]

hey guys, I will give you the long version of what I would like, get ready

 

With active camera program I was able to "drive" the camera to any part of an airport but most of the time I chose to be near the runway. There is some sort of magic involved in the program because I did not have to define any coordinates or positions. It just worked.

 

While I was sitting at the runway the camera would swivel to catch the ai planes on arrival and the camera would move along with the arriving planes and follow it right to the runway. It was sort of a fly by view but on the ground. When the plane passed out of a pre-determined range then the camera would stop following that plane and start tracking the next plane on arrival and follow that one in as well. The process would be repeated as long as I was at that airport, we are talking hours of observing planes and without having to move the camera for each plane. If the departing planes on a parallel runway were close enough in range then the camera would follow the departing planes as well.

 

I am embarrassed to say that I spent lots of time sitting on the couch watching tv and plane spotting with active camera without having to lift a finger, boy those were the good old days. So that is what i am hoping to achieve in p3d. I thought it would be easy, but it seems like p3d is a whole new thing and doesn't behave like the other simulators. 

[Cargostorm 151]

we are talking hours of observing planes and without having to move the camera for each plane. I

 

I am embarrassed to say that I spent lots of time sitting on the couch watching tv and plane spotting with active camera without having to lift a finger, boy those were the good old days.

 

 

It is always interesting to read how many different facets our hobby has. I would rather spend many of hours flying instead of watching AI planes. Each to his own. ;-)

 

I am not sure whether there is a way to define individual camera positions and their behaviour in P3D (via cameras.cfg) in order to achieve what you want? Hopefully someone else comments that has tried it. But according to Oliver (Lorby_SI) it is not possible.