Drivers heads camera, making it better?

[Mr Whippy]

Is there any way we can improve the camera SMD for the drivers head?

I often wonder why it doesn't feel real when driving and it's because my head isn't an SMD camera.

It rocks forward when I brake, and tilts up when I accelerate. It's subtle, but it changes the outlook on the road and the appearance of pitching etc.

In theory, the offset_to point could be used at the drivers bottom, and then rotate the camera 90deg to look forward again, so the camera is now on the end of a line pivoting about the base of the seat.
Et voila, you brake hard and the head moves forward but also looks down. Corner and it leans a bit left and right, rather than just staying flat and moving left/right.

Tweak to how you feel it should be.

Just looked at FM3, GT5 and rFactor (rFactor camera for driver has many more controls), and they all do this effect more and it adds lots of realism.


Hmmmm

 

[QuadCoreMax]

Since Racer supports Track IR, the driver's head should move accordingly to the TIR head.
For drifting realism, the head should be able to keep looking sideways for a certain amount of time, usually we drift & keep looking partially in the side windows when reaching extreme drifting angles.

 

[Mr Whippy]

Well, the drivers head with TIR isn't getting the real g-forces, so it's kinda nice to have the g-effects there impacting the drivers camera (set per car), to give the player the feedback they need to get an idea of how many g's there are. Having the TIR then work over the top of that makes some sense.
I'd find more value in the visual feedback of g forces that I can quickly relate to, than rigidly followed TIR movement.


Without these cues you will struggle to sense the level you are pushing the car to, imo.

As for drifting, that is interesting. Maybe some kind of factor to help point the camera in the actual direction of travel? Hmmmmm

Dave

 

[QuadCoreMax]

As for drifting, that is interesting. Maybe some kind of factor to help point the camera in the actual direction of travel? Hmmmmm

The camera/head camera should be facing somehow parallel to the splines/track direction independently of the car position/orientation, imo. We usually keep focusing on the "drivable" road, even if we landed in the grass, for sure with the head's rotation limits => approx. -90° to 90°. G-Force should be somehow mixed with it to give a real head/pilot movement....hmm

 

[Mr Whippy]

Problem is defining the track/splines if we are on a big airfield site or skidpan etc... probably best to aim to have the head looking where the car is moving to, not where it's pointing

Or bias it that way anyway?! Hmmm...

Either way, the SMD system we have now is ok, and can do some fairly interesting stuff. My main issue with it is that it gets shaky when you are about 5km+ away from the track origin

Dave

 

[QuadCoreMax]

Problem is defining the track/splines if we are on a big airfield site or skidpan etc... probably best to aim to have the head looking where the car is moving to, not where it's pointing

You're right, poor Ruud/Mitch, another headache !

 

[Some1]

My main issue with it is that it gets shaky when you are about 5km+ away from the track origin

Yeah, not only does the camera get shaky, but also the car... But as Ruud said, it is a very hard if not impossible to fix.

 

[Mr Whippy]

Ruud doesn't know the meaning of the word impossible

Dave

 

[BVSX]

Awesome thread guys!

I looked many ways to have a good head camera. If you guys mentioned Drifting, (that i usualy do in Racer xD) so i think we can make the camera to point in the direction of the front wheels somehow... if its possible tho..

 

[Mr Whippy]

Not front wheels, I want to know about where the car is heading

Dave

 

[Alex Forbin]

Awesome thread guys!

I looked many ways to have a good head camera. If you guys mentioned Drifting, (that i usualy do in Racer xD) so i think we can make the camera to point in the direction of the front wheels somehow... if its possible tho..

Poof! your wish is granted. Actually it's been there a long time, I just never use it. Look in racer.ini for this...

  ; Following the steering angle.
  ; An attempt to make the car cameras point in the direction where
  ; the driver would like to look. With high speed, use a smaller angle,
  ; since this can otherwise be disturbing to look at.
  pov_follow
  {
    enable=0
    min
    {
      ; Speed in m/s (100 m/s=360 km/h), angle in degrees
      speed=5
      angle=10
    }
    max
    {
      speed=50
      angle=1
    }
  }

and set it accordingly.

Alex Forbin

 

[Alex Forbin]

Since Racer supports Track IR, the driver's head should move accordingly to the TIR head.
For drifting realism, the head should be able to keep looking sideways for a certain amount of time, usually we drift & keep looking partially in the side windows when reaching extreme drifting angles.

The last time I checked Track IR is still another unsupported item (even though it's shown) in racer.
Ruud said he would look at finishing it, maybe including it in 0.9 would be a good reason to prod him again.

Alex Forbin

 

[Ian Strom]

If I may; I know I have not been posting much lately.. but I would like to +1 TrackIR related stuff being fixed/improved/added/etc.

 

[QuadCoreMax]

@Alex

I actually tried it, but can't see any difference...any tip ?

 

[Alex Forbin]

@Alex

I actually tried it, but can't see any difference...any tip ?

Just tried it myself, apparently it's broken now.

Alex Forbin

 

[BVSX]

Not front wheels, I want to know about where the car is heading

Dave

well.. i mentioned, while Drifting it can be usefull...

Poof! your wish is granted. Actually it's been there a long time, I just never use it. Look in racer.ini for this...

  ; Following the steering angle.
  ; An attempt to make the car cameras point in the direction where
  ; the driver would like to look. With high speed, use a smaller angle,
  ; since this can otherwise be disturbing to look at.
  pov_follow
  {
    enable=0
    min
    {
      ; Speed in m/s (100 m/s=360 km/h), angle in degrees
      speed=5
      angle=10
    }
    max
    {
      speed=50
      angle=1
    }
  }

and set it accordingly.

Alex Forbin

So this we put in the cameras section of the car ini or where at?

 

[boomer541]

I think it's in racer.ini, use Ctrl-F key to locate.

 

[Alex Forbin]

well.. i mentioned, while Drifting it can be usefull...




So this we put in the cameras section of the car ini or where at?

Did you read the post right before the one you posted? Did you read the QUOTE IN YOUR OWN POST?!?

sigh.

Alex Forbin

 

[BVSX]

Did you read the post right before the one you posted? Did you read the QUOTE IN YOUR OWN POST?!?

sigh.

Alex Forbin

I don't see the problem with my post, the quotes are normal, the answers too, whats wrong?

I think it's in racer.ini, use Ctrl-F key to locate.

ok, so if I enable it I need to do some modification to the cameras in the car.ini? bcoz I enabled it and it doese'nt work

 

[KS95]

What he's saying is that the answer is right there in front of you! He's saying is that the code is already in the racer.ini and you just have to change enable=0 to 1.

And no, it's not working here either