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Howto:Configure camera view windows: Difference between revisions
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Howto:Configure camera view windows (view source)
Revision as of 15:49, 15 October 2008
, 15 October 2008copying/pasting related mailing list posting, still needs some "wikification"
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* [http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg13900.html dual head problem] | * [http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg13900.html dual head problem] | ||
* [http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg16209.html Matrox TripleHead2Go] | * [http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg16209.html Matrox TripleHead2Go] | ||
* http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg18417.html | |||
= Intro = | |||
FlightGear's multiple view features are very powerful, and it is amazing how fast things run on medium and even lower range hardware. | |||
FlightGear's camera view system supports two major modes of operation: | |||
1. If you have multiple monitors connected to your computer and setup as | |||
separate independent displays (i.e. you can't drag a window back and forth | |||
between the monitors, and can't create a window that spans multiple | |||
monitors) then you can configure FlightGear to open up a separate window on | |||
each display and draw a unique view perspective in each window. (And if you | |||
want you can configure flightgear to open multiple windows on a single | |||
display.) | |||
2. If you have multiple monitors connected as one larger virtual display, | |||
you can configure FlightGear to open up one large window that spans all your | |||
displays, but then separate that large window into individual cameras and | |||
still draw a unique perspective on each display. | |||
In addition, each view is highly configurable, no matter how your displays | |||
are configured. | |||
* You can setup a distinct field of view for each display, so you can create | |||
a seamless outside world with different size monitors. | |||
* If you wish, you can define each view in terms of the low level view | |||
frustum parameters, so you can carefully measure your monitor/display layout | |||
and configure each view to match your physical layout exactly ... including | |||
asymmetric view frustums if need be. Otherwise you can still define your | |||
views in terms of a simpler (but less flexible) horizontal/vertical field of | |||
view scheme. | |||
* You can specify the horizontal and vertical offset from center for each | |||
display. This allows you to spread out your monitors to account for the | |||
physical gap between displays ... this allows you to create an even more | |||
seamless virtual world where runway lines and horizon lines start in the | |||
correct place on the next monitor when they run off the edge of the first. | |||
Imagine taking a large poster, cutting it into pieces and the separating the | |||
pieces from each other by a little bit ... none of the straight lines in the | |||
original image will pass straight through in the separated/stretched | |||
version. Now imagine taking that same picture and cutting strips out of it, | |||
but leaving the sections where they were originally. Straight lines are | |||
preserved between adjacent pieces. This is the sort of thing I'm talking | |||
about here. | |||
Use Cases: | |||
* ATI (the ATI that makes graphics chips and cards) used a simplified | |||
(prerelease) version of this feature to demo 8 screens being driven from a | |||
single computer at SigGraph this year. | |||
* Enter the Matrox Triple Head to Go (google it if you haven't heard of | |||
it.) This is just a little box, but to the computer, it looks like one | |||
giant 3x wide monitor. It plugs into your computer on one side, and on the | |||
other side you plug in 3 actual monitors. So you get up to 3 monitors | |||
without your computer needing to know anything about it, and even on video | |||
cards with only one external display connector (like a laptop.) Using the | |||
2nd mode of operation described above, I divided my one big window into 3 | |||
camera views and was able to draw about 120 degree wrap around field of view | |||
on 3 displays. | |||