Improve the unnatural Track IR aft view

[Old Sport]

There is one problem with TrackIR that affects gameplay and could be improved.

Much of flying in AH II involves looking aft. Unfortunately the Track IR virtual head rotates in the Yaw axis unnaturally on a point, not like a real human head that is supported by neck and torso. As a result, the Track IR virtual head can rotate 180 degrees aft on the rotation point and look directly into the headrest, something that is impossible for a normal human to do (little Regan excepted). This requires exaggerated unnatural compensation to not look directly into the headrest.

It seems to me that the TrackIR SDK could be used to modify the virtual head movement in AH II when looking aft without a major expenditure of development time.

Yaw (turn left and right) and X (move left and right) both exist already. Both are sampled separately and plotted separately to the virtual head.

I suggest adding an additional "gauge" in AH II (similar to the six gauges in Track IR). You could call it the "N-T gauge" (neck-torso) that moves left and right based on input from Yaw (not the X sample) so that when the virtual head is rotated in Yaw there is automatic X compensation.

For example, when I rotate the virtual head left Yaw to 90 degrees, the Yaw sample is also automatically plotted to the N-T gauge and the head automatically starts to slide left. As the virtual head continues rotating aft in Yaw, it also automatically continues to slide left on the N-T gauge until you reach 180 degrees rotation, the virtual head automatically slid left a fixed amount according to the N-T gauge.

It is impossible for a human to sit in a chair and rotate the head on a point to look directly into the headrest. The neck and torso naturally force the head to move out from the point of rotation. This N-T gauge modification to AH II - Track IR view would increase the level of natural viewing yet another important step.

Best regards

[Tilt]

The idea of turning your head about an arc need not be limited to the use of Trak IR.

It could be a function of the standard POV set up...........

[Bino]

If you have the TrackIR 3 you can add the Vector Expansion.  This allows you to not only rotate around the three axes, but also move in a line along each axis.  I find the support for "6DOF" to be very well done in AH.

[Old Sport]

Originally posted by Bino
If you have the TrackIR 3 you can add the Vector Expansion.  This allows you to not only rotate around the three axes, but also move in a line along each axis.  I find the support for "6DOF" to be very well done in AH.

I have TIR 4, and I agree, generally speaking, that operation in AH is quite good. If you read my original post you see that I speak about one particular issue that I believe could be improved without reinventing the wheel.

No human can rotate his head on a point to look directly aft into a headrest. But if you look at the rotation of the TIR virtual head, you see that it rotates unnaturally on a point.

That means that to look aft in AH without staring directly into the headrest you have to physically slide your real head in the X (left-right) direction, something that actually occurs naturally when a real person looks aft. In other words, in real life a person doesn't have to think about sliding his head left or right when looking aft because the neck and torso force the head to the left or right automatically. So, again, in real life it is impossible to look directly into a head rest, but in AH it is programed to happen, unless you physically slide your real head left or right.

My suggestion is for AH to develop a 7th gauge that takes the TIR Yaw sample and applies it to the X direction. Thus when your real head rotates and the virtual head reaches say 90 degrees in Yaw, the virtual head also will begin to slide to the side. As the real head continues to rotate, the virtual head will continue to rotate AND to slide a bit. You will not have to unnaturally slide your real head to make the virtual head slide. Thus, more naturally, you will not look directly aft into the headrest.

Best regards

[Snubby]

I agree with old sport

looking "over your shoulder" in AH  with TIR is kinda tricky, because you have to first move sideways to the side of the cockpit, then turn your head...  insted of just looking back like you would in real life..

getting a track clip pro makes it A LITTLE easier, but its still not an intuitive motion, like looking left or looking right..