I have been trying to make sense of the more advanced drone camera functions that relate to locking onto or following other aircraft, for example for virtual planespotting or making more dynamic shots possible.
Some work as intended but not very reliable or clunky, and some simply don’t work. I’m trying to figure out what is as designed and what can be submitted as a ticket for bug fixing.
These were the 5 functions I was testing:
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TOGGLE DRONE LOCK MODE (keyboard: CTRL+TAB; controller: A+LS)
What it says: The drone always points towards the target object’s frame of reference (by default, the plane).
What it means: ¯ \ _ (ツ) _ / ¯
What it does: It locks the drone camera’s focus point to either the target airplane, or most likely a random air molecule between the camera and the target airplane.
The camera will stay in its position or can be moved freely like normal, but it will orbit around the locked point in space.
When the target airplane moves, the camera pans and tilts to follow the moving object. It either keeps the airplane in the center of the frame, or mostly in the frame, or most often it pans and tilts wildly in the same vector that the airplane is moving, but turns away from the locked object.
If you move the drone camera very close to the airplane, it’s more likely to lock on properly. If you zoom in from a distance, it will more likely just pan away from the airplane along the vector of the plane’s movement.
Works more reliably with your own plane, and less reliably with other airplanes.
Bug or feature?: Both? -
TOGGLE DRONE FOLLOW MODE (keyboard: TAB; controller: RS)
What is says: Drone moves in target object’s frame of reference (by default, the plane).
What it means: What it says on the tin.
What it does: Drone will move with the plane with the same speed and in the same direction, but you can tilt, pan or even move away from it.
Bug or feature?: Works as intended. -
SET DRONE TARGET (keyboard: unmapped by default; controller: X+LS)
What is says: Set the object in the middle of the screen as drone target.
What it means: Probably means the drone will move with the targeted airplane while you can pan and tilt and move around.
It feels like it should be the first step before toggling the LOCK and/or FOLLOW mode above?
What it does: Absolutely nothing.
Bug or feature?: Most probably a bug. -
LOCK DRONE TO PREVIOUS/NEXT TARGET (keyboard: SHIFT+T / T; controller: unmapped by default)
What is says: Drone will look in the direction of this target.
What it means: What it says on the tin.
What it does: It will focus the camera at a random object and keeps it in the center of the frame. The random object could be a tree, a building, an airplane 20,000 feet above, or two airports over.
It can also be a static aircraft at the airport you’re at, and if you’re lucky, it’s another user airplane near you. It does not focus on ground vehicles like moving/static tugs or trucks or buses and such.
You could be at EDDF or KJFK on vatsim in the middle of rush hour and there is a small chance that the camera will lock onto a moving airplane within the airport.
The drone camera will stay in place or you can move it around the locked object always staying in the center.
If you select previous/next target, the camera will stay in its original position and turn towards a passing Darkstar at 23,000 feet or a Cessna 172 at the GA airports in the next town.
This could be a decent planespotting camera if it were at all reliable.
Bug or feature?: Both. -
ATTACH DRONE TO PREVIOUS/NEXT TARGET (keyboard: CTRL+PgDn/PgUp; controller: unmapped by default)
What is says: Drone will follow movements of this target.
What it means: Drone moves with the target but you can pan, tilt and translate away freely, but the drone will keep moving at the speed and direction of the target.
What it does: It will lock onto a random object and moves with it. This random object could be a tree, a building, an airplane 20,000 feet above of two airports over.
It can also be a static aircraft at the airport you’re at, and if you’re lucky, it’s another user airplane near you. It does not focus on ground vehicles like moving/static tugs or trucks or buses and such.
Bug or feature?: Both.
I have a hunch that maybe the SET DRONE TARGET together with the TOGGLE DRONE LOCK/FOLLOW MODE should yield the same result as if you were following your own airplane. I tried every possible combination and order to reliably lock onto any airplane of my choice, but it just doesn’t seem to work.
The best results are achieved with the LOCK/ATTACH DRONE TO PREVIOUS/NEXT target, but it’s basically a lottery.
I’m not even sure how I can report this as a bug or feature request, or if I’m missing something.
Any suggestions are welcome.