Oolite Bulletins

As I posted in the shield strength displayed numerically thread I have had a EUREKA moment and come up with an easy way(relative term) to have pie chart style guages in your HUDS. Seriously.

As I have an upcoming equipment installable HUD oxp and I'm starting the assembly of a Pie Chart HUD I require any and all serious requests/ideas for either the arrangement/placement of guages in this new style of hud or what features you want to have generally in your huds. Please note that I mainly make/create/like classic style HUDS but have done/will do switching HUDS as I am starting to get the hang of the scripting.My equipment HUDS are all switching.

Voice your opinion, it's means a lot to me.

Oolite will never be the same! Hehehe

The pie chart discussion has been raised many many times and although it has never been totally ruled out as a possibility. It was put in the "very hard to do" box. If you have the time then yehaw.

I await your code with interest.

Well it's 11:30 pm where I live and and I just finished the pie chart hud.

...

what, to soon?

Anyway needs packaging, put on mediafire link ...too tired...will do tomorrow when I have time....

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

Anyway needs packaging, put on mediafire link ...too tired...will do tomorrow when I have time....

Can you use box.net instead of mediafire? I always find box.net more user-friendly for the download.

ANNOUNCING THE RELEASE OF.....PCS HUDv1.oxp

The rollercoaster ride begins now!

Edit: Due to faulty arrays in version 1 the download link now brings you the latest version.

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Pie_Chart_Style_HUDs

(Sorry commander McLane but for some reason box.net won't give me a box. Probably because I use public domain access. Oh well...)

Now it's time to tinker with what I made. The concept can be improved so be patient and you will have a real template to make those killer huds! version 2 is in the works!

All comments on what you would like to see in your huds are greatly appreciated. Feedback on this oxp is neccessary for improvement.

(We just crested the first hill...)YeeHaawwww!

No problem. Downloading wasn't actually that bad. No tons of ads popping up all around.

So now I'm firing up Oolite and have a look what your HUD looks like.

First feedback: it's certainly different, and certainly visually interesting. I would describe it as gaugeish, not really gauges. But I'm absolutely impressed that you could achieve it.

One problem for me: the shield indicators feel too big. They are visually massive, not least because they are usually full. (Unlike for instance the laser temperature indicator, which is usually emtpy.) For me they dominate too much of the left side of the HUD.

Also, of course, it would be nice if the gauge effect could become more subtle, less blocky, but I think that's what the current engine allows for.

Bottom line: very impressing result, and I'd like it pursued further, but the current form is not yet going to become my new standard HUD. Nevertheless two thumbs up for the idea and execution.

Thank you very much for your kind remarks. I really appreciate it!

I was primarily concerned with getting this concept hud out the door for viewing and comments. It is quite correct to say there are limits to what one can do with the inbuilt hud tools but there is room for tweaking this concept. Version 2 will address and enhance most of those issues as a reasonable amount of time will be set aside just for ergonomics of the design.

And please all of you indulge me with your feedback and remember this is a crude prototype. Version 2 will be much better with your comments.

Thanx in advance.
CommonSenseOTB -

Commander McLane wrote:

First feedback: it's certainly different, and certainly visually interesting. I would describe it as gaugeish, not really gauges. But I'm absolutely impressed that you could achieve it.

One problem for me: the shield indicators feel too big. They are visually massive, not least because they are usually full. (Unlike for instance the laser temperature indicator, which is usually emtpy.) For me they dominate too much of the left side of the HUD.

Also, of course, it would be nice if the gauge effect could become more subtle, less blocky, but I think that's what the current engine allows for.

Bottom line: very impressing result, and I'd like it pursued further, but the current form is not yet going to become my new standard HUD. Nevertheless two thumbs up for the idea and execution.

For those who don't have time to play/test at the moment - any chance of a screenshot or two?

I had to take a look, so I got some screenshots since I had the HUD loaded anyway.



And oh my..We see Commander Selezen as well! Probably a secret mission, so we are not at liberty to divulge the name of the system.

Here are some detail pics to make it easier to see how this HUD display method works using the speed gauge as an example..




I think it's a pretty cool idea. Sure, this is just the first "proof of concept" version, but fine tuned and developed a bit, this could make some really neat HUDs and/or panels. Nice idea and piece of work, CommonSenseOTB! Kudos!

Can the orientation of the "gauges" be inverted/ changed? Also does a full guage have to be half the pie? My two thoughts would be that if you could mask the gauges so they are actually round, and face the shield guages on top of each other for example the top half of the circle being the forward shield, and the aft shield being the bottom. Full shields would look like a full circle, with bits taken out of the appropriate side as those shields were depleted? Similar things could be done with alt and cabin temp or fuel and speed. Things like that. Also can the energy banks be represented as a full circle when full with bits of the circle taken out as they are depleted? Great job by the way!

Thanx for the positive feedback and many thanx Ganelon for posting some pics of the hud.

Gnudoll, to answer your question, no. The orientation is unfortunately fixed in this position and both half and quarter circles are possible so we can't make a full circle(top/bottom)for shields.The process I'm using combines existing hud tools in a precise combination and it's their characteristics of orientation that cause the set orientation of the pie chart displays. It is possible, however, to have split guages in the same half circle. With regards to the energy bank question I have yet to try it as I suspect the energy bank division lines would appear and spoil the look of the guage but I will test it out to be sure. This particular hud concept is the easiest of 2 possibilities, the other of which is exponentially more time consuming but CAN allow total customization.ie full circles in any orientation. I would rather try this approach first though.

Hehehe(giggles)

Did you notice what I said just now? Half and quarter circles.

I've just finished adjusting one of my shield guages and it is now quite circular. This is one of the tweaks I mentioned in an earlier post. However, there IS a minor trade off... the appearance of unwanted graphic artifacts that appear along the middle quarter circumference when at the near zero reading. It's VERY MINOR but some people might not like it. I think it adds a distinctive characteristic to this guage.

Since I made a circular guage but it's not as perfect as I(or perhaps you)would like, I'm going to refit the same hud with the updated guages so everyone can see the difference and make a choice and I will use the guage people like the most.

RL is intruding the next few days so it will be at least that before I release an updated test hud.

Please and thankyou for all your comments and things are getting better all the time!
CommonSenseOTB

I'd be interested in a circular gauge. Covering either the top left or the bottom right part by the HUD graphics is also a good idea. It would make the gauges look less massive.

ANNOUNCING ANOTHER RELEASE...PCS HUDv1a.oxp
(Round Pie Guages)

Get your pies while they're hot!!!

Edit: Due to faulty arrays in version 1 this download link will bring you the latest version.

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Pie_Chart_Style_HUDs

Check this out...


Rounded Pie Guages(Yummy!) by CommonSenseOTB, on Flickr

Please test this and post comments on what you think of both types of guages(triangle and pie). In the future weeks I will release VERSION 2. This will have 2 very useable HUDS illustrating split guages and the 2 NEW types of energy guage I've created with these new techniques. Your gonna see some things that are quite cool!

CommonSenseOTB

The work you have done already is quite cool! I see the artifact you are talking about and I do not see it as taking much away from the circular gauges. I look forward to version 2. This is an excellent proof of concept HUD, not only proving that this can be done, but also showing us the way. It has been said that we can reach the stars only because we stand on the shoulders of giants. With this excellent work, you place yourself firmly in that category!