P3D v4 Views in a MFD gauge

[Roy Holmes]

Is there a way to have a view such as the IR or NVG displayed within a gauge like a MFD?
Roy

 

[mstanden]

Hi Roy

I have a working FLIR in VC and 2D panels using the following learnt from the Tacpack SDK.

Aircraft.cfg entry:

[CameraDefinition.N]
Title = "VRSTP FLIR"
Guid = {make-your-own-guid-for-use-here}
Origin = Center
Category=Aircraft
MomentumEffect = FALSE
SnapPbhAdjust = Swivel
SnapPbhReturn = FALSE
PanPbhAdjust = Swivel
PanPbhReturn = FALSE
Track = None
ShowAxis = TRUE
AllowZoom = TRUE
InitialZoom = 0.50
SmoothZoomTime = 2.0
ZoomPanScalar = 1.0
ShowWeather = TRUE
XyzAdjust = TRUE
ShowLensFlare=FALSE
PitchPanRate=30
HeadingPanRate=70
PanAcceleratorTime=0
CycleHidden=Yes
MenuHidden=Yes
InitialXyz=0.0, 0.0, 0.0
InitialPbh=0.0, 0.0,0.0

Then I use the following in the panel:

<Element>
  <Visible>(C:VRSTP_Util:FLIRShow, bool)</Visible>
  <Texture Name="VRSTP_FLIR_VIDEO_TEXTURE" Width="185" Height="185"/>
</Element>

I think you can replace the texture name with whatever camera you have setup in the aircraft.cfg. I also had to add the following lines to the panel.cfg in the applicable windowXX:

textures_below_panel=1
textures_use_additive_blend=1

Hope you get it working.

 

[Roy Holmes]

Hi Mike
This is for Portal 1 of an F-35 MFD which is the left side of the left two portal display. With this I would have a choice of 6 displays in that portal, and I think it should work, Wil try it and let you know. It is the P3D native white hot IR display which I will try to use, No Tacpac in this bird.
Thanks
Roy

 

[JB3DG]

Without TACPACK, you would need to write your own PDK dll to link the texture name with a camera window.

 

[Roy Holmes]

Thanks, I believe there is a sample in the SDK that would get me started on that.
Roy

 

[JB3DG]

Close but not quite. One thing that is undocumented is getting the camera views and depth stencils. You have to create a Window plugin to handle the camera, and set it to render to texture mode. Then in your Render plugin Render call, you need to call pRenderData->GetTexture("WindowName"); which returns the ID3D11ShaderResourceView pointer for the actual display, and pRenderData->GetTexture("WindowNameDepth"); for the depth stencil if you are going to unproject any pixels. And on that note, the depth stencil needs to be loaded into a Texture2DMS<float2> object in your shader because the depth stencil is multi sampled. The x value of the returned pixel when you read the depth buffer is the depth value, the y is the stencil value.

 

[Roy Holmes]

Why would I need to consider shaders if I am using a standard post process?
Roy

 

[JB3DG]

Because fitting camera views into only a portion of a texture requires use of DirectX draw calls which can't be done without at least a vertex shader and a pixel shader.

 

[Roy Holmes]

Suppose I had the texture divided in two, each half with a different name, how would that play?
Roy

 

[JB3DG]

Well...if your textures are texture objects in an XML gauge where you have control over their visibility and location without using a shader, you could get away then with getting the ID3D11Texture2D object for the target texture using the ID3D11RenderTargetView::GetResource method, (The ID3D11ShaderResourceView object for the source texture has the same method), and then just use the ID3D11DeviceContext::CopyResource call to copy from one to the other, provided that they are of the same dimensions and pixel formats.

P.S. You could call me spoiled . I enjoy the control I have over rendering with shaders too much lol

 

[Roy Holmes]

In the F-35, the left half of the big MFD can be a single screen. The texture is set up that way. I’ll start with that scenario and see how good that looks. This is a jump for me and I would like to ask for help, but only when I am completely stumped, if that is OK by you.
Roy

 

[JB3DG]

By all means. I would recommend you use the invisible systems gauge template in the resources section with the v4 gauges.h and the query_pdk function to replace the sample's method of obtaining the PDK via a dll loaded via the dll.xml. If you need help converting the template to x64 I will see what I can toss up.

 

[Roy Holmes]

Looking closer at what I have to work with, it is a texture object which is also used for the Tacpack TFLIR (when Tacpack is in use, not the case here) There is one available for each portal so I do not have to worry about splitting textures. So I'm assuming I can use the method you outlined in post 10 above. However I have no idea how to find ID3D11RenderTargetView::GetResource method let alone use it if I located the details! Ditto ID3D11DeviceContext::CopyResource !
Roy

 

[Roy Holmes]

In the SDK, Camera configuration section, Sensor and Post Processing view options it says about IR or NVG options:
" Either view type can be combined with RenderToTexture settings to create a glass-cockpit display showing a sensorized or post processed view. "
and
Render To Texture Options
Views can be configured to render the scene into a virtual texture. These textures can be used in the same way that VCockpit panel textures are used to map the output onto a polygon in the virtual cockpit.
RenderToTexture False/True. Enables or disables render-to-texture functionality. These views are not selectable in the view menu and are only displayed if embedded in a panel, virtual cockpit, etc.

The SDK includes several example files that you can use to observe how changes to camera configuration settings affect behavior. Copy the .FXML files to the %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Prepar3D v4 Files folder and then load them in Prepar3D.

All of which suggests I do not need PDK to display an "IR" image on a texture object. Since these are not Custom views I should not need FXML file either.

Has anyone tried this?
Roy

 

[JB3DG]

Not sure if that will work with texture objects defined in XML gauges though. But worth a try.

 

[Roy Holmes]

I have seen it work as advertised and it seems to do all that I need. The process is as Mike Standen described it.
Roy

 

[Roy Holmes]

I have it at a field of view of 25 by 25 degrees, pointing straight ahead with an attitude HUD style display overlaid, conformal with the scene, that includes an accurate velocity vector. This greatly improves low altitude flight ops at night as well as things like the set up for air to air refueling at night.
So you can do it without Tacpack or PDK using stock sensors and standard XML.
Roy

 

[Deano1973]

I have it at a field of view of 25 by 25 degrees, pointing straight ahead with an attitude HUD style display overlaid, conformal with the scene, that includes an accurate velocity vector. This greatly improves low altitude flight ops at night as well as things like the set up for air to air refueling at night.
So you can do it without Tacpack or PDK using stock sensors and standard XML.
Roy

Hi Roy, could I ask how it was that you found a way to call the camera image into an XML gauge script? I was trying to do the same thing to create a simple, "quasi" FLIR camera in one of my F-18's MFD displays. I can see that it works in the same way as the creation of working rear-view mirrors, but can't figure out how to call the camera / view.

 

[Deano1973]

Not to worry, figured it out with a little Googling and trial and error. For anybody researching this, the basic foundation of the process, which is disarmingly simple, can be found here;

http://www.prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=117149

 

[Roy Holmes]

Hi Deano,
I have it working as two of eight selectable displays on the F-35 Portal 4. The only remaining issue is how to record what it displays separately from the normal forward view.
Roy