That is correct.
Allright… so in other words, as long as the HUD display positioning is fixed as it is in real life. We can just adjust the camera in MSFS which “simulates” the pilot adjusting the seat height and position. Until you get the best view in the HUD, and you would have achieved the same thing.
Wellll. Be careful. In a collimated display, so long as the pilot can see the HUD data then the HUD data is correct. That’s the point of collimation. The idea is that the HUD data is focused at optical infinity (abt 30ft ahead of you) such that the symbology is still valid regardless of what angle you look at the data (just dont be too far to where you’re not properly looking ‘through’ the glass).
Here’s an example (look at the gif/video thing): Reflector sight - Wikipedia
Notice how the data (in this case the point of aim) is always valid regardless of your head position. Thats the point of collimation.
If you have a heads up display in a jet that isnt collimated, then the visual data present in the HUD (like the velocity vector, artificial horizon, waypoints and targeting data) would all be inaccurate if your eyeballs are not in one specific spot (which is impossible IRL or with head tracking in a sim).
As a result, this is why people are asking for collimation, in VR or using TIR the current HUD model is about 90% useless.
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Ahh, got it… Yeah, I hadn’t thought about VR or or head tracking. I’m just on my static monitor where my camera setting is positioned at the default all the time and it’ll stay there as long as there’s no heavy turbulence. But yeah, I see what you mean.
But I would still think the developers would be good enough to program the collimation on the aircraft addon level.
I’m excited for the Sim4Flight A350 with a HUD retrofit installed. At least that’s what they’re claiming that they will have it.
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Yep. That’s right. On a 2D monitor if you have no headtracking and if your POV is set to the right spot and if you dont get jostled around due to turbulence. Then the HUD image you see is valid.
As far as 3rd party devs. There are some significant limitations around HUD collimation.
indiafoxtecho (aka. Dino Cattaneo) released many aircraft for FSX and P3D and they all had a collimated HUDs, this includes the original T-45. But his MSFS planes (T-45 and MB-339) so far do not feature collimation.
Milviz is running into the same issue. They mentioned in a reply to a youtube comment that once supersonic FM and proper HUD modeling are in the sim they’ll release their F-100 (I screenshotted it and put it in the F4U corsair thread, here: MilViz Corsair for MSFS to be released any day now - #24 by ShinobiShadow)
It’s apparently a significant challenge and will require some cooperation on Asobo’s part to make it feasible for addon devs.
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I never thought to ask you about that. Not having TrackIR or VR explains why it didn’t seem to make sense to you. These headtracking devices really make a difference in flight simulation!
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It seems odd that this would be challenge for them when collimated HUDs have been around for so long in other sims!
Well when I say it’s a significant challenge I mean that it’s a significant challenge for 3rd parties to achieve this w/ out cooperation from asobo.
As far as Asobo themselves implementing it - I dont think it would be a significant challenge at all. It just boils down their priorities. It’s clear that they were/are focused on other things. But I have no doubt that they could create the necessary system(s) to support HUD collimation if they wanted to.
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I totally agree. I think PMDG will be the one to get this done (in cooperation with Asobo). It’s just too bad that third party developers like IndiaFoxtEcho with the T-45C are currently handicapped by the HUD tech issue. Dino has a great looking HUD in that jet, but the collimation issue really limits the usefulness/enjoyment of it.
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another vid.
keeping this topic alive
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Not sure how to ask a question on the monthly Dev Q&A twitch live, though it appears the Dev Q&A of this month is delayed or cancelled. I think it’s it might be better to ask them about the plan for improving the HUD in the live.
Absolutely voting for this one, but just wanted to add some clarification so it doesn’t get lost when asbobo look at this.
Collimation is the act of making the light rays parallel, this allows you to set the HUD effectively at infinite focus even though it’s just in front of your face. While this may be an issue once/if we get varifocal VR headsets, for now it isn’t actually the problem… though I appreciate this term is used a lot to describe it.
What most people mean when they refer to this collimated HUD in flight sims is in fact a parallax free HUD, which of course most proper real life HUDS outside of the cheap screens that go in your car are by their nature. This property is actually what allows you to move your head without introducing parallax error and gives you that effect of the HUD being fixed in 3D space even as you move your head around.
If you are familiar with gun sights, a basic cheap red dot is usually collimated as you can have your distant target and dot in focus at the same time, but if you move your head out of position the dot will drift off target as parallax error becomes an issue. If you use a holosight or other parallax free sight, then you will notice that as you move your head out of position the dot stays on target… that is the parallax free effect in action, and is actually separate to the optical infinity achieved by collimation.
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I think this feature needs to be implemented as a standard SDK feature and not just being applied specifically to the 787X. Adding this an SDK feature would open a lot of possibility to be used for third-party developers. You know for adding the Collimated HUD for the default A320, or even addon aircrafts like the A350, the 737Max, and military fighter jets.
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Now, guess what, even a upcoming VR arcade jet racing game appears to be doing it right…come on, Asobo…
PMDG NG3 is coming this year! Hope we can have a correctly made HUD by then.
hmmm, this converted FSX freeware MiG-21’s gunsight looks kinda correct…or at least the “dot” is.
The good news is: the Rhino in the upcoming Top Gun DLC has a HUD that is at least not an “animated glass display”.
The “E” Rhino? They better put the two seater “F” as well because that’s the one I’m rooting for!!!
Any confirmation of this from the devs? As in the comment I made in the main E3 announcement thread, I’m hoping this DLC results in pushing them to implement proper HUDs in the sim, but currently, if you look at the video at 2:02, it looks exactly like the “animated glass display” you just mentioned. I hope it’s just a pre-alpha build thing, though, as you can see the attitude indicators in the left DDI and the backup attitude gyro don’t work yet either.
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Not yet, I’ve posted a “whishlist” in the question collection section for this month’s 2nd Dev Q&A live stream, it will be aired on Jun 30 [READ FIRST] Dev Q&A Guidelines
Finger crossed that the community team will pick up this question. I can’t petition for votes here as it is against the forum rule.
Actually, I think the HUD in the DLC trailer is kind of better than what you’ll find in any current 3rd party aircraft (of course other than the fact that is a pure static image in the trailer) since it has some consideration for the parallax effect. If it was the current 3rd party HUD, you’ll find the imagery is still in the center of the glass despite you’re viewing from this angle. On the other hand, in this Rhino, it is “drifted” to the left, although it is far from perfect.
Yeah I’ve noticed the left DDI and the backup attitude indicator as well, most likely due to pre-alpha I guess. BTW the US flag on Maverick’s shoulder is reversed as well…simply texture error. It’s a bit embarrassing for a trailer video.