First I want to apologize for butting in here with a non F/A-18 related question, at least not directly related, but after searching and asking around on the net and getting no where I believe that the simmers that are most likely able to answer my question visit this forum regularly (or did at one point) so i ask your patience and expertise....
I'm working on customizing a HUD for personal use only. A gauge in a 2D panel that I display as a popup OVER the VC view. I want the HUD to be conformal to the outside world from the default eyepoint view in the VC. I don't know if this is possible but based on what i've researched i think it might be. I'm basicaly using the main "guts" (ie most of the moving parts) of the Hornet HUD (by Scott Printz / Jivko Rusev which has been used in several aircraft that are discussed here many times. I'm adding custom parts/displays/info/buttons around it and modding the heading display function.
Some background....
While at the end of the day i want to be able to use this HUD in several different aircraft (none of which have a HUD at all) but to start I'm putting it in Lotus Sims L-39. The L-39 does not have a 2D cockpit, VC only, but I can display the HUD over the VC view like any other popup gauge. I do use TrackIR but have it set up with "home" being the VC eyepoint view and have adjusted a pretty big deadzone around the view to keep the view locked forward to the VC eyepoint default most of the time, OR if this presents a problem with conformation of the HUD can setup a seperate locked camera from the eyepoint OR lock the trackIR when using the HUD. I'm not looking for collimation or conformality when I'm not looking "ahead" from the eyepoint, only conformity when in the eyepoint view, mainly keeping the HUD horizon "pinned" to the sim horizon and the acuracy of all the velocity vector related parts during approaches. I have studied this basic HUD and it's use in the F/A-18, T-45, F-14) and in all cases there is a 2D full screen HUD for the 2D cockpit available in addition to the 3D VC version, but don't see any examples of using it as a 2D "overlay" in the VC. I can deal with modifiying any of the graphical elements in the code that might need to be adjusted, or gauge/panel zoom/placement on the screen and adjustments in the Panel/aircraft cfg file. What I don't understand is the details of all the vector math used in the ladder/horizon line/velocity vector etc. and whether or not any of that needs to be adjusted specificaly for the aircraft it's being used in. The Velocity Vector seems to be working properly along with ILS and Steering vector but I can't get the ladder horizon pinned to the sim horizon. In the readme's etc on these other aircraft that use this HUD there is some info on using it in other aircraft. I have tried to follow those guides and while I get it aigned up while on the ground at sea level, the horizon won't stay on the sim horizon the way you see it in the many images and videos of this HUD in these other aircraft when doing approaches nor does the "waterline" object seem to be behaving in any sensible manner. So I'm kind of poking around blind in some respects. I assume either what I want to do ie conform a 2D HUD overlay on the 3d VC view can't be done OR more likely, I'm doing something wrong.
I have found several threads around discussions of this HUD and of conformation in general but none that go into the process of how this is accomplished or how the VC eyepoint relates to the process/math or whether the VC eyepoint even relates to the 2D HUD but in this case the 2D HUD is over the VC so is there or should there be a correlation ??. I can do the mods if I can be pointed where to mod and the methodology to be applied.
Particulars of my setup....The VC view and 2D HUD overlay are displayed on a 1920x1080 screen, WideViewAspect=True. I currently have it set to a zoom of 1.5 as specified in the Rusev modded Hornet HUD ReadMe for a screen that size, and done this setup at sea level. I tried adding [View] entries in the panel config have no effect i assume since I'm displaying over the VC view and not a std 2D view ?? I have tried many other settings mentioned in that ReadMe as well as other ReadMe's in the other carnations/aircraft etc that this HUD as been used in, and this one puts the HUD horizon closest to dead on the sim horizon, it just doesn't stay pinned or even seem to attempt to stay pinned to the sim horizon which is the problem.
I know it's been a few years since this was a more active subject but hopefully some of you in the know are still active here. Of all the HUD I've looked at and tested for my use here this is by far my favorite and i really hope I can get it to work. If any one here can give me some insight on what the process of conforming this HUD entails, where I should be looking etc it would be a great help.
Any guidance/direction would be appreciated
thanks
Joel
