Does ChasePlane offer the type of look control I described above, if so how well does it do it?

"Anticipation" setting... but never tried it.

I would like to give ChasePlane a try but the cost of $39 to participate in the beta program is not appealing.

For only a few dollars more (around $42 at the current exchange rate) you could buy a head tracking system complete with camera and everything you need to get going (including software) - see: https://www.trackhat.org/product-page/trackhat-clip-head-tracking-kit. However good an automated view control is, it's not going to be nearly as good, or precise as head tracking.

Without question head tracking is the way to go. The big trick is to use a rocker switch on your yoke to enable/disable and center the view. I use TrackIR and have a rocker mapped with f9 and f12. If I'm just flying around and looking at various things, I don't need the screen to be moving all the time. Quick flip and screen is frozen. Want to peer around the windscreen during a turn, lean in and look. Freeze it if you want, the possibilities are there and once you get used to it, it becomes second nature.

Just for example, say you wanted to take a good look at the overhead console in a heavy. You *could* just look up and freeze the view as you flick the switches, etc. An easier way - look down - hit the center button and look straight ahead - freeze - your head is levek and the OH panel is in full view. Quick center again and you are back to normal. Took me longer to type that than it takes to do.

Vic

Sounds like it's worth looking into for me thanks.   As long as it doesn't end up being more trouble than it's worth since as I say I bounce in and out of my seat often enough.

Ah yes, head tracking, I remember that... looking out the corner of your eye, keeping your head perfectly still otherwise and constantly resetting your "center".

If you grow tired of that give ChasePlane a try and set up 2 camera's that look left and right as desired, connected to a hotkey or button, or just turn on "anticipation".

2 hours ago, MatthewS said:

Ah yes, head tracking, I remember that... looking out the corner of your eye, keeping your head perfectly still otherwise and constantly resetting your "center".

If you grow tired of that give ChasePlane a try and set up 2 camera's that look left and right as desired, connected to a hotkey or button, or just turn on "anticipation".

I can imagine that might be an issue.  Now what exactly does 'anticipation' do?

Can TrackIR work with WideFS, or does it only operate on the computer that P3D is on?

Mike A.

14 hours ago, MatthewS said:

Ah yes, head tracking, I remember that... looking out the corner of your eye, keeping your head perfectly still otherwise and constantly resetting your "center".

That doesn't have to be a problem. I don't use TrackIR so can't comment on that, but with OpenTrack it's easy to adjust the ratio between how much you turn your head to how much the view moves. You have mapping curves which you can customise so that if you wanted a slow, small view change for initial head movement but progressively larger view changes as you move your head further, that's easy to do. The only time I even approach looking out of the corner of my eye is when I want the view to look behind me (180 degrees from the normal front view), and even then it's not uncomfortable. You just adjust it to what's comfortable for you. As far as centring goes, it doesn't drift so once initially centred it doesn't need doing again unless you disable it or take the clip off - and even then it's just a quick button press. The centring is also useful if you want to move your eye position in the cockpit to give a better inside or outside view. Also, remember that you get a full 6 degrees of freedom so as well as left/right (yaw), up/down (pitch) and rotate left/right (roll) views, you also get sideways and vertical movement (so you can look over or around the panel for a better view of the runway) and forwards/backwards movement to zoom into the panel or switches. These can all be turned off individually as required. The adjustable filters in OpenTrack damp out any very small movements so you don't have to keep your head perfectly still - a bit like an optical image stabiliser in a camera.

Like Vic, I have mapped joystick buttons to disable or centre the head tracker if I want a fixed panel view (for example, for an instrument approach) or I leave the room for any reason. It's easy to set things up as you want them and affordable if you go the TrackClip route - even cheaper if you make it yourself!

14 hours ago, MatthewS said:

Ah yes, head tracking, I remember that... looking out the corner of your eye, keeping your head perfectly still otherwise and constantly resetting your "center".

These problems only exist if you choose to set up your profile that way.

Gents, w/ TrackIR is it possible to assign a middle mouse button to disable tracking and center the view?

Noel,

You can use the middle mouse button as a hotkey, but you cannot set the same hotkey for both the 'Center' and 'Pause' actions.

Maarten

Thank you Maarten,

It seems you may be suggesting users often use middle mouse for Center, yes?  Makes sense.  So assign Pause to another key I guess is he solution.

Hi Noel,

No, I don't think so. Most users will use joystick buttons to control TrackIR. Default hotkeys are F12 for Center and F9 for Pause.

Maarten