Warming up for PSX, - a tale from the past :)

[Kurt]

Hi forum.

Yesterday I had the oportunity to fly the 727-200 and the DC-10 in full motion simulators. It was a joy with all manual flying , - no glasscocpit at all. I managed solo to complete an all manual IFR flight from EKCH to EKCH in the 727 and KEWR to KEWR in the DC 10 without any help from the instructors .

What impressed me the most was the zippy feeling of the 727 compared to the slow bus-like DC-10 and on the technical side how they managed to make the 3d feeling of the visual scenery with such ancient technology..

Both simulators are over 20 years old and run on som old Digital equipment with tape memory ) unbelievable.    

Cheers  

F

[Hardy Heinlin]

Ah ... 727 ... still impressive ... that elegant body ... and that majestic T-tail ... very beautiful :-)

Was that scenery a mechanical mini model picked up with a camera or was it a digital model already?


Cheers,

|-|ardy

[Simpilot767]

If you have spare 355.000 Euros, you can buy an used  737-200
simulator of 1980 of Delta Airlines.
Look at the bottom of this ducument:
http://www.simaviatik.com/downloads/Simulators_for_Sale.pdf

Timo

[Kurt]

Ah ... 727 ... still impressive ... that elegant body ... and that majestic T-tail ... very beautiful :-)

Was that scenery a mechanical mini model picked up with a camera or was it a digital model already?


Cheers,

|-|ardy

Hi Hardy,

Sorry for the late answer  :oops:

The visual system must be digitalized because during position reset we sometimes went below ground level like in the old days with msfs 3 and 4

The scenery was all nighttime and all visual was lightdots . Buidling silhuettes were also made up of white dots.

What impressed me most was the smoothness and especially the sense of depth felling of the ancient visual system. It did not feel like looking on a CRT screen 2 meter in front of you, -The system provided full depth perspective which together with the motion platform completed the illusion  

Anyone have a clue on how they are able to make the perspective illution work?

Cheers

F

[Hardy Heinlin]

Anyone have a clue on how they are able to make the perspective illution work?

Visual motion in general, i.e. the motion of the dots alone may already generate a 3D impression in the brain: Dots in the distance move slowlier than those close to the viewer.

Do those dots vary their size and brightness with distance? If it varies, it may inhance the 3D impression.


Cheers,

|-|ardy

[Pierre Theillere]

Hi Flygenring!

I guess the sense of depth is related to the front image being "collimated to infinite". That is, the screen isn't simply a white screen (like for movies); it's a spherical mirror, where the projector lens itself gives parallel lightbeams.
I remember having seen a promo movie (in .wmv format) from Evans & Sutherland, where they show the moment they put the "tension" on the mirror layering on the metal frame, it's very impressive!

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

In other words, the collimated image causes the pilots's eyes to have to focus on infinity when looking outside. Next to causing more strain on the eyeballs (inside, outside, inside, outside) it also fools the brain a bit better.