Guide Balancing VC and 2D GTN screen brightness

[fppilot 4,360]

I scoured the previous topics here and was unable to find a good discussion. Thought I had seen one, but it was likely embedded in responses within a topic whose subject title was for a different matter.  Has anyone developed a harmonious balance that gets the VC screen brightness and the 2D popup screen brightness for the GTN close(r) to one another?  I seem to see three parameters or settings in play.  In the .ini file there are Rheostat,Display (0 - 100), and Brightness and Brightness,Screen (-100 to 100).  Then in the gauge System menu there is the Backlight/Manual Offset (0 - 100%).

The aircraft within which I seem to have the greatest difference is the A2A C182, but I would like to hear from users who have developed a set of settings that balance the two screens more equally.  And is there or are there additional settings I have not considered?  Contributions to this discussion most welcome.

[Indy511 686]

Hi Frank,
I was fiddling with this the other day.
The only adjustments I made are the brightness.screen = setting in the RealityXP.GTN.ini file. First I adjusted the popups [GTN_650_2.DEFAULT], [GTN_750_1.DEFAULT] to match. Then adjust the NO_BEZEL option.
These are my brightness settings for the A2A182.

[GTN_750_1.DEFAULT]
; offset brightness (-100 to +100)
brightness.screen = 0

[GTN_750_1.NO_BEZEL]
popright = 14401
; offset brightness (-100 to +100)
brightness.screen = -50

[GTN_650_2.DEFAULT]
; offset brightness (-100 to +100)
brightness.screen = -10

[GTN_650_2.NO_BEZEL]
popright = 14403
; offset brightness (-100 to +100)
brightness.screen = -55

[fppilot 4,360]

18 hours ago, bills511 said:

Then adjust the NO_BEZEL option.

Well that worked famously.  How did you know to do that?  Set value in the added NO_BEZEL section?  I thought the same value in the DEFAULT section would take care of it. It did not! 

[RXP 2,338]

Thank you Bill for posting an actual screenshots which exhibit the results! Usually, we only test these in synthetic tests just to ensure the settings work as intended, but your example shows how it goes in practice and this is great!

These options were added a while back thanks to customer feedback on the forums, and I'm glad they are helping better the integration with third party aircraft.

@fppilot It is possible the differences are only because of GTN 750 and GTN 650 different in-device brightness settings? All in all, I doubt 5 to 10% make much difference visually though, and both 'NO_BEZEL' might just render the same when using the same value as well.

[fppilot 4,360]

2 hours ago, RXP said:

@fppilot It is possible the differences are only because of GTN 750 and GTN 650 different in-device brightness settings? All in all, I doubt 5 to 10% make much difference visually though, and both 'NO_BEZEL' might just render the same when using the same value as well

Jean-Luc,
I was having a different issue.  I was having difficulty matching brightness levels between the 750 in the virtual cockpit and the associated 750 2D popup. There was a pronounced difference and when I would adjust one the other was equally affected.  The most pronounced brightness difference between the two was with the A2A C182.  Adding a value into my C182's [GTN_750_2.NO_BEZEL] section cured the issue.  I now have the VC and 2D brightness perfectly matched thanks to Bill.

Frank

[Indy511 686]

7 hours ago, RXP said:

Thank you Bill for posting an actual screenshots which exhibit the results! Usually, we only test these in synthetic tests just to ensure the settings work as intended, but your example shows how it goes in practice and this is great!

You're welcome Jean-Luc.

4 hours ago, fppilot said:

I now have the VC and 2D brightness perfectly matched thanks to Bill.

Also just to add, after setting the brightness.screen = value in the RealityXP.GTN.ini file then you will only need to make the brightness adjustment using the GTN system/backlight setting which will adjust both the VC and 2D simultaneously. Handy for day or night flying.

 

 

[fppilot 4,360]

For others finding their way to this topic, here is a before and after look at the effect Bill pointed out by using a brightness,screen= setting in conjunction with NO_BEZEL panel installations.  Please see his message above. You can see the disparity in brightness between the VC screen and the 2D screen in the left image, and the nicely matched result in the right image.  These are from my A2A Cessna C182, which is the aircraft where I had the greatest disparity.

[Bill Griffith 160]

  The difference in the panel display and the pop up display brightness was the only problem that I had with my RXP GTN 750.  I modified the appropriate files and now it is perfect.  Thank you folks.  😊  And a thanks to Frank for turning me on to the RXP a while back.

 

Bill

[Orlaam 306]

Makes no sense to me. 😐

What exactly are you adding or changing to match the VC and 2D brightness?  In the Bonanza (A2A) it's way too bright in the VC but changing it in the GPS makes the 2D dimmer.  In the manual the NO_BEZEL option sounds as though you are losing the border of the GPS if you add those entries.  Does this deactivate or alter the buttons and knobs on the bezel if you add a NO_BEZEL entry?  If I could actually see the entire thing I'd just copy it.  I assume once it's fixed you can use the brightness in the GPS menu like real life and have it stay the same across both views?

[RXP 2,338]

6 hours ago, Orlaam said:

What exactly are you adding or changing to match the VC and 2D brightness?

These settings are additive, which means they set the 'base line'.

First, these settings are setup in a 'rendering' section which affects a single instance of the gauge (a popup and a 3D cockpit gauge are 2 instances of the same gauge for example). Therefore, these apply only to a specific instance, may it 3D instance, or 2D popup.

First, please review the inline comments (in the ini file itself):

; adjust brightness (0 to 100)
brightness.bezel = 100
; offset brightness (-100 to +100)
brightness.screen = 0

 

Bezel brightness ( brightness.bezel ):

The default bezel brightness reference is 100, which means the bezel bitmap displays as designed. Because FltSim 3D cockpit textures could have lighting properties, gauges may appear brighter. Therefore, changing the reference allows you to compensate. For example, brightness.bezel = 50 will render the bezel bitmap at 50% luminosity (well in fact because of gama, 50% is not 50% luminosity at all, but you can adjust to what fits best for you).

NB: this is about the gauge unlit bezel bitmap (the gauge background bitmap), not the illuminated parts.

 

Screen brightness ( brightness.screen ):

The default screen luminosity reference is 0. You may decrease or increase the reference point to compensate 3D cockpit texture property. The displayed luminosity therefore is:

luminosity = brightness.screen + Rheostat.Display

 

Screen Integral Lighting (the traditional screen luminosity)

This is adjusted dynamically with the following gauge setting:

; integral lighting percent (0 to 100) or index (-1) (using rxp.panel.rheostat_screen)
Rheostat.Display = 100

 

Bezel Integral Lighting (the light behind the keys/knobs lettering)

This is adjusted independently with the following gauge setting:

; integral lighting percent (0 to 100) or index (-1) (using rxp.panel.rheostat_integral)
Rheostat.Buttons = 75

NB: the comments shown above are for the next update, which enables third party aircraft vendors to link their rheostat buttons to our simvar!

 

Please also note 'Rheostat' values apply to all instances, 'brightness.' values apply to specific instances. Therefore, say you have a 2D popup and a 3D instance for the gauge, with 2D 'brightness.screen' set to default (0), and 3D 'brightness.screen' set to -50. With 'Rheostat.Display' set to 60, the 2D luminosity will be 0+60 = 60, and the 3D luminosity will be -50+60 = 10

 

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

Brilliant... this deserves to be in the User Manual

[RXP 2,338]

@Bert Pieke good point, although I believe more people read the forums than the manual 😉

Nevertheless, the more the merrier, I'll see how to fit this in for the next updates.

Edited December 4, 2018 by RXP

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

8 minutes ago, RXP said:

@Bert Pieke good point, although I believe more people read the forums than the manual 😉

Nevertheless, the more the merrier, I'll see how to fit this in for the next updates.

While you are at it.. here is a thought..

Using the UI and replacing the previous gauges, and selecting the No Bezel option in the VC, results in a NO_BEZEL gauge in the panel.cfg file, but no NO_BEZEL section in the ini file..

So, it is left to the user to add this section for this adjustment to be possible..

Might be nice if this section was generated automatically..

I am adding screen brightness -30 to every NO_BEZEL section in my hangar..

 

[RXP 2,338]

I think it has been documented already in the past: adding NO_BEZEL as 5th param is a shortcut for this feature alone. That is if you only need this setting, there is no need for a section!

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

45 minutes ago, RXP said:

I think it has been documented already in the past: adding NO_BEZEL as 5th param is a shortcut for this feature alone. That is if you only need this setting, there is no need for a section!

Guess what... if you want to adjust the brightness independently, there is a need for this section..