One thing that erks me a little ..

[stiz]

.. is that most, if not all developers create their own term for 3d gauges. You know the type of things "uperduper smooth guage technolagy" "our own spectacular smooth gauge tech" etc. Thing is .... theres only one way to do 3d gauges, model em with mesh, then use xml to call up the default code from the sim (simplyifed but is the general method). So when you see a company touting it own "brand new uperduper smooth gauge technolagy", its 99% likely its just a marketing gimmick.

Another thing which gets me is when they also list bog standard fsx stuff as their own features like they had to do all the code for it themselfs!! :isadizzy:

*takes a deep breath* ok rant over :mixedsmi:

[harleyman]

Most guages I just look at anyways..
I fly blind in one eye and can't see out the other....

But I hear ya on that........

I personally Like the Lionheart guages..And one day I will learn to use them....LOL

[MCDesigns]

It's called marketing stiz, LOL Kinda like how you word a resume about your past job experience :salute:
grill cook at McDonalds = Production specialist in charge of multiple projects with extreme efficiency in multitasking, LOL:isadizzy:

[Lionheart]

I personally Like the Lionheart guages..And one day I will learn to use them....LOL

LOLOLOL.... Only after I do!

kidding..

Just ask and I'll walk you through them. I am about to do some video tutorials on them.



Stiz,

Arent you a developer and dont you do 3D gauge technology?

:d

Alot of people come up with cool ways of describing their planes and packages. Some do sound a little wild, almost fictional.

[Lionheart]

grill cook at McDonalds = Production specialist in charge of multiple projects with extreme efficiency in multitasking, LOL:isadizzy:

Dang! That is good!!!

[bazzar]

Don't see what the fuss is about.

A lot of it is marketing spin yes. Meant for the eyes and ears of those who don't know about such things. A common enough practice in any commercial area.

So what? Do you believe all the spin you hear from car manufacturers? ABSSS braking Intuititive SDI steering control,
SDSDIM cornering.... you know what I mean.

Anyway, you are not entirely correct in your assessment. There are other ways being developed outside of the
conventional SDK. I know of several extremely clever people who are making massive inroads into gauge creation technology that does not use the written, conventional SDK. Would you deny them their kudos or recognition simply because you cannot understand or replicate it yourself?

[Brett_Henderson]

The only gauge I ever modeled (and released), was the compass in my Bonanza.. There's no beating a modeled gauge .

From my experience though.. the "smoothness" of a 2-D gauge CAN be enhanced by increasing the reference points, and slowing the response time. I'm not sure why for example, an airspeed gauge with nearly 270 degrees of needle travel, would only have 6 or 7 reference points. It doesn't take much effort to make 20 of them. Is it because a panel full of all that extra code would cause lag ?

[stiz]

Would you deny them their kudos or recognition simply because you cannot understand or replicate it yourself?

Deffinitly not, i know that some gauges use complex code which takes stuff from simconnect or their own program and does magic to the numbers to get different numbers, those people truely have my respect!! but for the most part its just as MC said its just marketing, erks me a little, but some folks think its true and belive every word

Stiz,

Arent you a developer and dont you do 3D gauge technology?

yup and yup, but i just call em what they are, 3d gauges

[anthony31]

I must say that when I made the Tiger Moth I was stunned at how ridiculously easy 3D gauges were. I was dreading doing them and I thought it would stop the project when I reached that point but turns out they weren't as difficult as I feared. A lot easier than doing the 2D gauge work for the radios actually.

PS. The gauges in the Tiger Moth use MegaFunSuperSexy3DFlow™ technology.

[Sundog]

yup and yup, but i just call em what they are, 3d gauges

Yeah, the guy I work with for aftermarket aircraft knows I've ranted about the same thing. Thanks, I don't feel so lonely anymore. :salute:

[spotlope]

I must say that when I made the Tiger Moth I was stunned at how ridiculously easy 3D gauges were. I was dreading doing them and I thought it would stop the project when I reached that point but turns out they weren't as difficult as I feared. A lot easier than doing the 2D gauge work for the radios actually.

PS. The gauges in the Tiger Moth use MegaFunSuperSexy3DFlow™ technology.

Too bad you didn't use MegaFunSuperSexy3DFlow Pro - that's what all the cool kids are using.

[Bjoern]

I admit I don't like 3D gauges at all because they're modding unfriendly as heck.

[Francois]

'Already' irked at the ripe young age of 21 !? Wow !

Seriously, I have an 'irk' too..... how about all the 'Extreme' and 'Ultimate' products out there!? I KNOW FSX is the last one, but surely, there'll be a few MORE spectacular add-ons to come ??!! Oh, and 'Xtreme' is even worse.... some people can't even SPELL !

[jmig]

'Already' irked at the ripe young age of 21 !? Wow !

Seriously, I have an 'irk' too..... how about all the 'Extreme' and 'Ultimate' products out there!? I KNOW FSX is the last one, but surely, there'll be a few MORE spectacular add-ons to come ??!! Oh, and 'Xtreme' is even worse.... some people can't even SPELL !

That's what happens when you use up all the superlatives, Francois. You have to invent some more.

.... do they even teach Superlatives in school anymore?

[stiz]

'Already' irked at the ripe young age of 21 !? Wow !

guess i've been hanging around ere to often and its rubbed off on me!

[Francois]

[Cazzie]

guess i've been hanging around ere to often and its rubbed off on me!

Watch out or you'll become a curmudgeon before your time!

It's all spook talk to me. :isadizzy:

[huub vink]

I just like beautiful gauges, I don't really mind how the designer calls them.

They might all work in more or less the same way, there is quite some differnce in the looks. I remember when RealAir released their FS9 Spitfire with their 'Smooth Gauge Technology', I was amazed by the looks and smootness of the gauges.

Although I like Bill Lionheart's gauges as well, in my opnion the gauges by Mathias (Classics Hangar) are currently without compare (but of course I'm biased....). By the way these are just called "Extremely detailed and accurate set of German 3d gauges" which covers the subject quite well.

Cheers,
Huub

[PRB]

As a "consumer", "uber" this and "X-treme" that are words that go in one ear and out the other. I just look in the cockpit. If the gauges look great I say "wow, these gauges look great" and go flying. I gather the term "3D" when talking about gauges means they are somehow "built in" to the 3D cockpit model. To me, that mostly means I can't modify the VC by adding, swapping, and/or removing existing gaugues, which is a negative to me... I never had a huge problem with the "old 2D" gauges in FS9 planes. They looked great too. Can you look at a plane in FSX and tell, just by looking, if the gauges are "3D" or not?

[stiz]

Can you look at a plane in FSX and tell, just by looking, if the gauges are "3D" or not?

depends on how many screenshots there are of the panel and how close they are

[hews500d]

IPS. The gauges in the Tiger Moth use MegaFunSuperSexy3DFlow™ technology.

Do you mind if I "borrow" that term for my next project?

Darrell

[huub vink]

Can you look at a plane in FSX and tell, just by looking, if the gauges are "3D" or not?

Yes you can, as the shape changes with your viewpoint. 2D gauges are as flat as decals.
Cheers,
Huub

[bazzar]

There is a point worth noting here for those that don't have knowlege of the process. When Microsoft issued their development kits (known as SDKs) they only really included guide gauges for the aircraft depicted in the sim.

This leaves a huge amount of gauges like specific manifold pressures, superchargers, boost gauges and more that the designer must programme from scratch. It is one thing modeling up a gauge body, face and needle but another altogether different thing to make it work like the real thing. What used to be the preserve of C++ gauge designers working in 2D for FS9 and earlier sims has now become the duty of the designer to hard code programme the specific code into the output file of the model for 3D.

The way to test whether a 3D gauge functions as it should is to fly an aircraft "by the numbers" and see what you get.

Many good-looking add-ons do not depict climb rates and manifold pressures correctly for example, under specific conditions. Water temp, oil pressure and tachometers or ASIs are other examples. Even Microsoft got the P8 compass wrong in the way they depicted it working...

Spitfires and a lot of other British fighters had specific ASIs which required two or more 360s of the needle and variable scales . Also, tachometers of the period were sometimes calibrated to physically slow as the revs rose and the dial ran out of space for numbers!

You can't just model a gauge and shove it in expecting it to perform like the aircraft it represents. There's a lot more to it than that. Especially when the flyer turns up the wick on the reality sliders and starts flight testing a subject!

[Mathias]

Many good-looking add-ons do not depict climb rates and manifold pressures correctly for example...:

..and so do many not so good looking addons, so the point is?

[Rick_Piper]

Hi Bazzar

3d Gauges use XML to drive the animation and can be non linear
they are also not limited to 360 degrees of rotation
they can also be slowed down and tweaked to tell lies.

Regards
Rick