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Alternative camera control

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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby Marius_A » Wed Aug 13, 2014 1:42 pm

HelldiverSquadron wrote in Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:45 pm:<...> Given all of the temporary fixes in the thread, is there an all-around good download for the cam? Thanks!


The recommended version is v1.0. All the future improvements will be based on this version.

Usage instructions are now available here: http://wiki.flightgear.org/FGCamera
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby HelldiverSquadron » Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:29 pm

RGR, thanks.
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby Hooray » Thu Aug 14, 2014 4:42 pm

We could also package up the whole thing as a PropertyList-XML file that contains embedded Nasal and manage the whole thing as a "mod", i.e. module/plugin that can be installed via the upcoming Aircraft Center - we've been talking about this previously, and this would be an excellent test case for a fairly self-contained "addon" that could be downloaded/installed automatically via a built-in management console - and it could very well pave the way for other "addons", like the Bombable addon.
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby HelldiverSquadron » Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:25 pm

by Hooray » Thu Aug 14, 2014 7:42 am

We could also package up the whole thing as a PropertyList-XML file that contains embedded Nasal and manage the whole thing as a "mod", i.e. module/plugin that can be installed via the upcoming Aircraft Center - we've been talking about this previously, and this would be an excellent test case for a fairly self-contained "addon" that could be downloaded/installed automatically via a built-in management console - and it could very well pave the way for other "addons", like the Bombable addon.


Spiffing idea! Love the idea of a modification approach.
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby Hooray » Thu Aug 14, 2014 11:40 pm

The question is how far we'd want to go with something like this - because at some point, it would make more sense to adopt an existing package management system that is multi-platform and open source (e.g. pacm or miniconda). Otherwise, most of the building blocks for a simple package manager are already available to Nasal, i.e. http bindings and SGPath wrappers to download stuff into $FG_HOME and install stuff there. Even though it would probably make sense to also expose zlib (i.e. for extracting compressed archives). Metadata for package names, dependencies, URLs and version/description info could be provided via existing PropertyList XML files. So there's very little missing to pull this off, and a simple prototype for an existing addon, like FGCamera, should be fairly straightforward to build - it's mainly a matter of integrating existing technologies properly, and exposing them first to scripting space.
But most of the infrastructure is already available, i.e. was implemented for installing aircraft and managing scenery via TerraSync.

And particularly pacm is looking pretty good actually.
However, historically, the project tends to "re-invent the wheel" more often than not ... :?
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby HelldiverSquadron » Fri Aug 15, 2014 9:55 pm

And particularly pacm is looking pretty good actually.
However, historically, the project tends to "re-invent the wheel" more often than not ... :?


Indeed, this is true. It tends to over-complicate itself. The part with TerraSync is going to be the tough one.
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby Richi Hurtado » Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:41 pm

The Alternative Camera Control looks great.
Congratulations, Marius! :)

Please make it 'non-alternative'! :P
I think if the shake is made optional, and the different views can be customized, there's no reason to make this 'a mod' (is there such a thing in FG?).
This camera system woul'd still mantain the existing functionalities, and at the same time allow for more powerful options.

BTW, will it feature anything like View Categories?
To group the different cameras under categories (cockpit, exterior, chase, tower...) so it's easier to switch among a large list of views?
This would require at least four different key commands/bindings - ie., next category, previous category, next view in category, previous view in category.
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby Marius_A » Sat Sep 06, 2014 9:33 pm

v1.1 will have view categories.
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby santosdumont » Sat Sep 27, 2014 1:13 pm

I get this far: Image (if direct link to Google Drive doesn't work just right-click on icon, copy URL & paste into address bar).

i.e. The only camera view is
Default
, if I select
Create new camera
and
Cockpit
it appears as
1 new camera
, but clicking on either does nothing, what have I missed?
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby Marius_A » Sat Sep 27, 2014 5:42 pm

  • Did you disable default flightgear dynamic view?
  • Do you see any errors in Nasal console?
  • Do you see popup tip when switching to "new camera" or "default"?
  • Did you try another aircraft (cub, dr400, ec135, tu154, cessna 172, bo105 should work without any modifications)?
  • Does the view movement using arrow keys work when you switch to any view from the cameras list?

EDIT: setting fgcamera_cfg.xml as config should solve the problem. If you use fgrun, open advanced settings, go to "General" and select config path (point to fgcamera_cfg.xml)
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby santosdumont » Sun Sep 28, 2014 1:40 pm

Using FGrun with config path seems to work whereas just launching from terminal "fgfs" (or FGo!) gives this error:

Code: Select all
Nasal runtime error: container index not scalar
  at /usr/share/games/flightgear/Nasal/view.nas, line 215
  called from: /usr/share/games/flightgear/Nasal/fgcamera/fgcamera3.nas, line 628


so I just have to figure out how to set fgcamera_cfg.xml as config in in FGo! (my preference).
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby Marius_A » Sun Sep 28, 2014 1:47 pm

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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby santosdumont » Sun Sep 28, 2014 4:27 pm

Just copied it from FGRun log:

--config=/usr/share/games/flightgear/Nasal/fgcamera/fgcamera_cfg.xml
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby Marius_A » Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:16 pm

Richi Hurtado wrote in Sat Sep 06, 2014 3:41 pm:<...> will it feature anything like View Categories?
To group the different cameras under categories (cockpit, exterior, chase, tower...) so it's easier to switch among a large list of views?
This would require at least four different key commands/bindings - ie., next category, previous category, next view in category, previous view in category.


Preview of v1.1 (Cycling through view categories and views using 4-way joystick hat switch):


Each camera view can open GUI dialog (might be useful for displaying 2d instruments):
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Re: Alternative camera control

Postby Marius_A » Sun Oct 05, 2014 4:24 pm

FGCamera v1.1 is available here.

Changes:
  • (feature) view categories;
  • (feature) views can open GUI dialogs;
  • (feature) view name popup tips are optional;
  • (feature) backward compatibility;
  • (feature) camera views can be cloned;
  • (fix) transition from negative to positive heading offset.

Installation and usage instructions can be found in updated FGCamera wiki page.
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