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[W0W66]

I'm slowly creating a Opentrack profile that works for me. And I have more questions.  I know that there is the centre toggle, but, I noticed that the reticle moves around and doesnt always return to centre.  or should I say, I guess the pilots head doesnt register as on center? Belts should keep the pilot in the middle of the seat right?

When I look up, the reticle follows the head tracker motion up the sight till it disappears. Same when I look down.  Same for rolling or head yaw. Reticle eventually goes off one side.  I have to make minute head movements to get the reticle back in the middle.

A) Is this reticle behavior  correct?
B) is there a way to stop the reticle moving about?
C) Is there a "head snap" back to middle?  I.E if your close enough to head on the reticle stays in the hud?
D) Pilot body or head centering?
E) Did I make a mess of my mapping which is causing all this?

Any of this make sense?

Thanks for reading

[sniperton]

If we're talking about Il-2 1946 or CLoD, there's an in-game command called "gunsight view" which fixes the position of the reticle. Il-2 GB is a bit different in this respect.

Anyway, my suggestions:
1. OT > Options > Shortcuts: assign a key to "Center" and tick "Center at startup".
2. OT > Options > Output: set Roll, X, Y, and Z to "disabled".
3. OT > Mapping > "pitch" and "yaw": set a "deadband", so that your curve starts this way _/ This will ensure that small head movements won't affect the reticle.
4. Once everything is working to your liking in-game, re-enable X and adjust it's curve until you have a natural feel.
5. The rest (Roll, Y, and Z) are not that important, you can leave them disabled for the time being.

[W0W66]

sniperton,

Thank you, I will follow you advice.

I am starting to wonder if the headset clip might be better(though I prefer the cap)  Reason being that I have a tendency to lean back in my chair, and that changes the spacing between the LED's on Opentrack.  The middle upper led gets much closer to the two lower LED.  I bet this affects accuracy/how Opentrack reads the positions. More tinkering to come. Or make a side clip.

Thanks again for your help

[WxTech]

WOW66,
The behavior of the reticle you describe is quite normal and correct. A collimating gunsight does not project the reticle *upon* the reflector plate, as though the latter were an opaque projection screen. Instead, the reflector is merely redirecting the collimated light which results in the reticle appearing to lie way outside at essentially optical infinity. This in turn results in the all-important fact of the reticle exhibiting NO parallax; it effectively lies far off in the distance. This is what permits the pilot's eye to wander about while the reticle indicates the aim of the guns. Hence the reticle moving about with respect to the sight itself as your virtual viewpoint moves about in the cockpit.

You are discovering exactly what a real pilot has to do in order to keep his line of sight properly within the bounds set by the diameter of the collimating lens. If said lens is 5cm in diameter (as it is for the American N-2 and N-3 sights, for example), the pilot's eye must be constrained to the same 5cm cylinder centered upon the sight's optical axis if the reticle center is not to become invisible. A 9cm diameter collimating lens (as in the British GM-1 or USN Mk provides a 9cm cylinder within which the eye must remain in order to see the reticle center.

Our disadvantage with 6DOF is that we are not inside an actual cockpit, which would provide much better positional awareness of our eye point than the image on a screen can simulate. But over time you'll develop an improved sense of where to position yourself to quickly regain sight of the reticle. What will help is to lean forward, if you use the Z axis for fore-aft positioning. Being close to the sight makes the assessment of your offset from the correct line of sight much easier. And the reticle will be more likely to be seen in its entirety if large, such as the Italian San Giorgio or Russian PBP-1.

By the way. I've built from scratch collimated sights, and have worked in precision optical fabrication. I understand the operation of such devices inside and out.

[W0W66]

WxTech,

Thanks for confirming the info re the reticle. I will have to figure out a way to get the PS3 eye closer.  I think that this will help a fair bit as well.

Very cool that you have made these sights.

[WxTech]

When I suggested to lean forward, it was in the context of getting your virtual viewpoint nearer to the sight. This does NOT imply that you have to position the PS3Eye nearer to your sitting position than you currently have it. Merely ensure that the range of Z axis movement required by the cockpit dimensions is easily achieved via the distance you yourself are moving toward and away from the camera. The tracking software will (or should) provide adjustments in all axes/rotations which affect how sensitive to your physical movements are the virtual pilot's movements.

[W0W66]

WxTech,

Thank you.  I will keep trying different things till I get there.  I am learning.

Shift F1 Gunsight mode as suggested by sniperton is working pretty well for me.  I will have to map that to a button.