Animated HUD gauge requests

[CommonSenseOTB]

Anyone that would like to request gauges/readouts for specific equipment or other purposes that would be included in HUDS to be equipment activated if oxp equipment is detected, please feel free to post your thoughts here. Include also what style of gauge for the equipment if applicable and/or what style of hud you would like to see it on. If you have a specific idea in mind as to what it should look like or how it should operate then a picture is worth a thousand words. Anything from an icon to a full multi-gauge display or even an alternate function hud for the specific use/need of said equipment can be requested or discussed. The sky is the limit here.

[Commander Wilmot]

I want to make a hud that has a visible cockpit for a ship I am planning. It would be a dynamic hud, which would change based upon which viewpoint your looking at, the changes would be to show the struts (forward view would show forward struts something like this , side views would have struts like this , aft view would be without any struts, a rear view camera real-time video stream projected directly into the background of the hud.). I was wondering if you would be willing to make something up if I sent you images for the cockpits background (after I am done making the ship's model, which won't be any time soon), I know that isn't what you were looking for, but you said on another forum topic that you wanted to make huds that hadn't been done before, and that you had put a post up asking for ideas; and this was the closest topic I could find.

[Wildeblood]

I really like the enlarged compass in the numeric HUD. I'm wondering what it would be like to omit the usual cross-hairs and put the compass dead centre in their place. (Er, that doesn't actually involve animation, does it?)

[CommonSenseOTB]

Hello Commander Wilmot. So far no one has done a dynamic view direction hud but I believe Killer Wolf is making one for his new Phantom ship. There are a couple of things to be aware of before attempting the kind of hud I think you want.
1-setOverlays and setBackgrounds don't work on any of the views gui screens for some reason. This is what was holding back KW's hud as the intention was to make a mask I believe. If you want this style of hud all you can use for the images is the legends part of the hud.plist which means that it is all behind the gauges and there is no masking.
2-Many have commented on the fact that there will be no shadows from the light coming into the cockpit and that this might not look so good. It might look more like a viewscreen behind the cockpit mockup so it might not be as realistic as it could be or as you might want.

These things aside I would love to do it for you. Everything else seems straight forward. If it is just bar gauges I could do it quite quick. If you are looking for any type of animated gauges then it might be some time yet as I'm still refining the techniques. Currently I have agreed to attempt a hud for Staer9 and it will be a custom animated gauge hud similar in style to KW's dynamic huds. That one will be started when I am far enough along on the creation of the needle type of hud as it will use alot of the techniques needed for that one. Just PM me with the particulars when you are ready and we'll discuss it then.

Designing new types of hud gauges is my current priority but I will be able to fit side projects in as long as the timetable is flexible with no need for anything in the very short term.

As I previously stated anything HUD and HUD gauge related as far as requests/ideas, etc. are up for discussion in this thread and pictures do a good job of illustrating to everyone what you have in mind but are by no means necessary. All related posts are welcome.

[CommonSenseOTB]

Wildeblood, that's a different take on the compass. Would never have thought of that. Well, lets see. All you do is go to your basic hud and make the crosshair clear color I believe to make it invisible. Then you give the compass the same x.y as the crosshairs. and size it and set the rgb to what you like and there you go. On a basic hud there is no animation involved.(I sort of created that just recently you see).

What is the result, however. Well, as you pitch and roll your ship the beacon icons would eventually block the view of where you wish to aim your lasers. Probably wouldn't be very practical. That's probably the reason you don't see the compass used in this way. Perhaps you could design your own sights using a program like GIMP and then add the image to the legends section of the hud.plist at the correct x,y and size. You could make it look like the compass without the beacons to block your view if that's your style. Good luck with that and I'm glad you liked the compass in the numeric hud.

[Commander McLane]

1-setOverlays and setBackgrounds don't work on any of the views gui screens for some reason. This is what was holding back KW's hud as the intention was to make a mask I believe. If you want this style of hud all you can use for the images is the legends part of the hud.plist which means that it is all behind the gauges and there is no masking.
2-Many have commented on the fact that there will be no shadows from the light coming into the cockpit and that this might not look so good. It might look more like a viewscreen behind the cockpit mockup so it might not be as realistic as it could be or as you might want.

Couldn't that be overcome by actually modeling the cockpit? That would surely raise the polygon number of the ship, but there isn't a limitation on that anymore, anyway.

[Killer Wolf]

The Phantom's HUD was simply a set cockpit that changed to a GUI puter screen thing when the F5~8 keys were pressed. Hadn't thought of doing different HUDs for different views, the set up of the craft might not make it aesthetically viable.

[Wildeblood]

Couldn't that be overcome by actually modeling the cockpit? That would surely raise the polygon number of the ship, but there isn't a limitation on that anymore, anyway.

That's the way to do it. Take a look at Ramon's Anaconda, where there is a camera viewpoint inside the cargo bay. I've flown this ship, and deliberately encouraged pirates to blast the cargo bay door off, after which you can see the interior of the ship and the view outside of the pirates chasing you.

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Ramon's_Anaconda

For a simpler ship, why would it even raise the polygon count very much? If a ship model has a raised cockpit, isn't it just a matter of completely deleting the faces representing the cockpit glass? For a ship like this, e.g.:

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Merlin_(Oolite)

Doesn't it just require deleting the three black faces that represent the cockpit glass and adding textures to the inside of the two pillars?

[Staer9]

Couldn't that be overcome by actually modeling the cockpit? That would surely raise the polygon number of the ship, but there isn't a limitation on that anymore, anyway.

That's the way to do it. Take a look at Ramon's Anaconda, where there is a camera viewpoint inside the cargo bay. I've flown this ship, and deliberately encouraged pirates to blast the cargo bay door off, after which you can see the interior of the ship and the view outside of the pirates chasing you.

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Ramon's_Anaconda

For a simpler ship, why would it even raise the polygon count very much? If a ship model has a raised cockpit, isn't it just a matter of completely deleting the faces representing the cockpit glass? For a ship like this, e.g.:

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Merlin_(Oolite)

Doesn't it just require deleting the three black faces that represent the cockpit glass and adding textures to the inside of the two pillars?

In fact it is even possible to make the windows so you can see out of them, but not inside from the external camera, If people really want this sort of thing I can model it

[Lone_Wolf]

I'd like to see a different symbol for shield strength, where each shield would be represented by mini-shield icons displayed in half circles or a triangle.

xxx
xx
x


xxxxxx
xxxx x
xx x x
x x x



(xxx'es are only there to make a triangle)



10 mini icons, each representing 10% of shield strength and should be dark if shield strength is below that level.

Personally i'd prefer half circles, but my drawing skills are almost non-existant.

[Killer Wolf]

"Personally i'd prefer half circles, but my drawing skills are almost non-existant."

D

[CommonSenseOTB]

Well Commander Wilmot, looks like you have some choices to make. Either way I can help you out. Be aware that for the modelled cockpit your view positions will have to be set meticulously before you hand it over to me for hud design. Only do what you feel comfortable with. Dynamic View huds alone raise the bar and will be cool(very) but adding a modelled cockpit as well will be a tremendous achievement compared to what has come before. It might be tricky to get the view positions and hud to align just right. Expect this one to take a little longer and in this case the final extra time to get it right will be mostly for me, provided the modelling goes as planned that is. Think carefully and consult others by (PM/dedicted viewtopic) for thier advice and help. Then let me know when the particulars are ready and I will give it a shot.

To the Wolfpack(Lone Wolf and Killer Wolf), what you are describing is actually a Button Style animated gauge and relatively easy to do. It won't even require frame callbacks, just a timer and attack update triggers. This style of hud/gauge will be covered in a future oxp. After I have some needle style huds I will make animated style huds/gauges as well and your idea/request is a good one and will actually be a standard method of displaying the shields on such a hud. Perhaps down the road each of you might have a hud request for a particular ship and then it can be made to your individual specifications. I will have time for side projects but anything advanced will have to wait until those particular ideas/gauge types have been developed so I can use that method without a complete design from scratch if possible.

Many cool ideas.

[Wildeblood]

This is what I'd like, but have no clue if it's possible: HUD switching based on target distance, and HUD as prime-able equipment (on the N key).

When you had no target you would prime the "Big Scanner HUD" by pressing N. The scanner would enlarge to the maximum possible size to help you line up a distant target. As soon as a target was acquired, the scanner would revert to normal size, then the HUD would switch through a series of other changes as the target got closer or more distant.

[CommonSenseOTB]

Wildeblood, it's all doable and in fact hud gauge swapping is the simplest part of the numeric hud. What you describe would be like a combat or bounty hunter's hud. The target range gauge in numeric hud already looks for information on the target and uses it to alter the color and flashing of the range number. Easy enough to use range and identity information of the target to control other gauges/displays on the hud. All without hud switching. Good idea Wildeblood.

You know, I'm starting to think that with all the customization now possible that a general purpose hud will no longer do. After I finish exploring/creating new gauge/hud types I think it will be time to look at equipment purchase and activation of the hud itself and create some kind of standard so conficts won't happen. You buy a cobra3 and it has a standard hud. You want to go bounty hunting so you puchase an addon or you want to go mining/scavenging so you purchase an addon and the hud addons don't confict and are either switched automatically by information/conditions or manually by n activation. You want a permanent hud change and you purchase a primary hud replacement. Everything would be bought and sold as equipment and swapped out easier than changing missiles. And just about every modification would be additive in nature. A fully hudded out ship might have a dozen addons all doing thier thing automatically. A combat specific ship might have just those hud addons and replacements to be a really effective killing machine and exactly to the style/technique of the pilot.
An experimental system that I developed january/february has basic huds of different designs/purposes(like combat) that you purchase as equipment and It even has a primitive hud addon feature where you for example purchase a combat hud addon and when you have a target that is hostile at less than 5km it replaces the standard hud. It works very well just using hud switching. This is before everything else I've discovered that can be done without hud switching so it needs to be updated before release. The other thing that kept me from releasing it is I need to know exactly what is the best way for controlling what is in the hud or the hud itself before trying to create a compatibility standard that would allow equipment purchase of huds and maintain compatibility with other independant oxp's offering hud equipment. I have a ideas on this but it is still early yet. Things will probably change even more so best to leave it open for development for now. Still lots to learn and develop.

[Commander Wilmot]

Thanks for the comments. I won't have the model anytime soon though. I like the idea of hud upgrades, maybe you should put it as a suggest on the Looking Ahead forum topic.