Panel Design: Realism v. Readability
David G. Bell
the various default designs associated with converted aircraft models
from earlier versions of the program.
Some of the panel designs are very realistic, but I find that the most
realistic depictions are sometimes of little practical use. OK, so I
have a smaller monitor than some people, at only 14-inches nominal size,
but I find myself asking if the most realistic panels are worth using.
I find myself wondering if part of the problem is that panel designers
are putting too much into one panel section. It's nice having the
complete panel visible, but it isn't the way that people look at things.
The basic panels in FS98 allow things like the radio stack to be brought
into view, and then hidden again. Should that principle be extended to
other parts of the panel.
Think for a moment about the basic Cessna panel. There is the standard
set of 6 instruments for blind flying, the VOR displays, and a lot of
relatively minor indicators. Do they all need to be shown in the same
scale, or could the less critical instruments be shown undersized, and
repeated in sub-panels that could be toggled for when we need them? Do
we need more than the autopilot indicator lights visible all the time?
The Cessna panels are simple enough to be workable as a single panel.
Do the same with four sets of engine instruments, and things start to
get squeezed.
Has anyone tried this sort of arrangement. Is it worth trying?
--
David G. Bell -- Farmer, SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
David Durst
create all my panels for 800x600 resolution, they work in 640x480 and
1024x768 but I try to get just what you need to use to fly the aircraft
without all the other stuff involved!
--
David
ddu...@uswest.net
www.japan.co.jp/~durst
--------------------------------------
AirWest Virtual Airline
www.flyairwest.com
Ian Guy
play with!) I tend to fly jets, and have found that some designers are
actually taking the functionality aspect on-board. Photo-realistic panels
are great, so long as you can see the display, something I can't always say
Ian www.iguy.freeserve.co.uk/navs.htm
(some panels on the above site!)
"David G. Bell" <db...@zhochaka.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:924288...@zhochaka.demon.co.uk...
Barry Cameron
says...
> Yes there are a few of us that go for both of these and can achive them! I
> create all my panels for 800x600 resolution, they work in 640x480 and
> 1024x768 but I try to get just what you need to use to fly the aircraft
> without all the other stuff involved!
Music to my ears David. I only want what's essential, practical and
usable. Others are willing to sacrafice those for panels that more
closesly approximate the craft, regardless that many items don't do
anything while others that do are unrecognizable, even at high
resolutions.
It will be interesting to see how TRI approaches this as they claim that
every panel button works along with accurate depiction.
Thanks for your work and upholding a philosophy regarding panel design I
agree with, endorse and recommend.
--
Barry Cameron
barr...@usa.net
Tim Dickens
Bell") wrote:
>There are a lot of control panel designs out there for FS98, as well as
>the various default designs associated with converted aircraft models
>from earlier versions of the program.
>
>Some of the panel designs are very realistic, but I find that the most
>realistic depictions are sometimes of little practical use. OK, so I
>have a smaller monitor than some people, at only 14-inches nominal size,
>but I find myself asking if the most realistic panels are worth using.
>
>I find myself wondering if part of the problem is that panel designers
>are putting too much into one panel section.
With some creative gauge design, you can achieve both.
You can program the open windows option into gauges to relieve this
problem. By creating a bank of gauges as one gauge, and alternating
the size of the bank of gauges via the different window options.
I think this is the best way to"get it all" with the FS98 panel
system.
Tim Dickens
Olathe, KS
Webpage: http://www.kc.net/~dickens/heartland
Visit the Full Throttle website at: http://www.ftmagazine.com