6dof Flight Sim

[Cary Polachek]

Serialand parallel manipulator systems are generally designed to position an end-effector with six degrees of freedom, consisting of three in translation and three in orientation. This provides a direct relationship between actuator positions and the configuration of the manipulator defined by its forward and inverse kinematics.

Robot arms are described by their degrees of freedom. This is a practical metric, in contrast to the abstract definition of degrees of freedom which measures the aggregate positioning capability of a system.[3]

In 2007, Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, unveiled a prototype robotic arm[4] with 14 degrees of freedom for DARPA. Humanoid robots typically have 30 or more degrees of freedom, with six degrees of freedom per arm, five or six in each leg, and several more in torso and neck.[5]

The term is important in mechanical systems, especially biomechanical systems, for analyzing and measuring properties of these types of systems that need to account for all six degrees of freedom. Measurement of the six degrees of freedom is accomplished today through both AC and DC magnetic or electromagnetic fields in sensors that transmit positional and angular data to a processing unit. The data is made relevant through software that integrates the data based on the needs and programming of the users.

There are three types of operational envelope in the Six degrees of freedom. These types are Direct, Semi-direct (conditional) and Non-direct, all regardless of the time remaining for the execution of the maneuver, the energy remaining to execute the maneuver and finally, if the motion is commanded via a biological entity (e.g. human), a robotical entity (e.g. computer) or both.

Transitional type also exists in some vehicles. For example, when the Space Shuttle operated in low Earth orbit, the craft was described as fully-direct-six because in the vacuum of space, its six degrees could be commanded via reaction wheels and RCS thrusters. However, when the Space Shuttle was descending through the Earth's atmosphere for its return, the fully-direct-six degrees were no longer applicable as it was gliding through the air using its wings and control surfaces.

Motion tracking hardware devices such as TrackIR and software-based apps like Eyeware Beam are used for 6DOF head tracking. This device often finds its places in flight simulators and other vehicle simulators that require looking around the cockpit to locate enemies or simply avoiding accidents in-game.

The SpaceOrb 360 is a 6DOF computer input device released in 1996 originally manufactured and sold by the SpaceTec IMC company (first bought by Labtec, which itself was later bought by Logitech). They now offer the 3Dconnexion range of 6DOF controllers, primarily targeting the professional CAD industry.

There was once a toggle-able Experimental Flight option that used to exist way back before Warframe Revised began, that gave a sense of 6 Degrees of Freedom found in most flight simulation games.

If it were up to me, I'd add this 6DoF back into Warframe, with separate toggles for both space and open-world (and some other tidbits).

For Corpus Archwing missions, I turned EF off so as to try and replicate the feeling of playing a ground level without disorienting myself every five seconds.

And since Grineer Archwing missions and open-world are almost always wide-open spaces, I'd turn it back on for those.

I remember a time when I had EF off and I still had 6DoF in open-world missions, and it was almost impossible to keep myself oriented correctly.

I'm glad DE patched this, but I miss being able to engage in Gundam-style combat in Warframe (or at least emulate it to some degree).

I also remember when toggling Sprint on would propel the Archwing forward at all times, and LS-up/down would change the speed, and left/right would have you strafe to either side while going forward.

(yes, I play on PC with an Xbox One controller)

It was a weird but somewhat welcome change, oddly reminiscent of Fighter movement patterns in Empyrean missions, and I'd like to see it return, if only briefly, for an Archwing chase sequence of sorts.

Perhaps it could be brought back in the form of a minigame event interspersed in a story mission taking place in space? (I could most likely see it in the New War quest somewhere, or any quest that takes place in space.)

I like the 6-axis thrust control in the current Archwing (and Railjack). I haven't yet made use of roll controls in Archwing since the most convenient would take over melee and the gear wheel. It's nice to have those in Railjack.

If I understand correctly the ideas of the original poster, it would be great to have a toggle for an "orient to reference" feature. While recognizing the various scenarios would be nice I think a simple on or off would suffice. The "reference" would just be built-in based on the environment (ground, ship interior "up", etc.).

I would personally have it off in all but ground operations. It drives me nuts in open space and even the interiors of the Corpus ships. I know where I want to go and at what orientation and the auto-leveling throws that off, though it is more pronounced in Railjack than Archwing (so do the same for Railjack!).

Experimental Flight had no auto-leveling orientation, and no movement limits. Rolling with it was a pain as it was oversensitive af. I'm pretty sure that it was meant to be used with an analogical controller...

Back in the day for Archwing missions, I turned Experimental Flight off for Corpus and on for Grineer.

I remember using (holding) X on my XB1 controller to bank left or right whenever EF was on, and that just felt right to me.

I feel that should be the same for modern-day Railjack (and 6DoF/OtR in general), as using D-pad left/right to bank (as per my custom controller bindings) just feels awkward imo; I'd rather reserve that for cycling between Battle Avionics.

I can see where some people enjoyed it and others didn't; it was just a thought I had that it could return as an option for those people that did enjoy it.

Btw, the "Arcade Momentum" I described in my initial post didn't have 6DoF integrated into it.

Personally, I don't see the point in 6DoF. It's neat, but Warframe is not a flight simulator. I'm not exactly opposed to it, but I'd rather it were entirely optional and I DEFINITELY don't want to go back to that stupid implementation of momentum.

Here's my issue with 6DoF - it almost always causes you to tilt even if you're not using tilt controls. Because your Yaw plane is relative to your current Pitch, pitching up or down then yawing sideways will always cause a slight tilt which can get progressively more severe. In fact, just rotating your mouse in a circle would slowly invert you upside-down. There's no way to "fix" this because it's inherent in the controls necessary for that kind of movement.

This makes dogfighting really only possible with the railjack as the pilot. I would think this would be the best place to use archwing 6DoF, as to me the railjack feels more like a boat given the scale-to-movement-speed ratio and the archwings feel like fighter jets (with 6DoF). So having 6DoF back for archwing can make the combat more dogfighty.

One thing I saw mentioned in another thread is the ability to fly at any angle in openworld areas, I thoroughly enjoyed doing that in the Plains as flying upside down is added some complexity and fun to traveling from location to location.

Please DE I gotta beg for this one feature back. The experimental flight mode was the only way I enjoyed archwing in the open world maps. I really enjoyed it so much that I now loathe having to use archwing to travel in the open world maps now that it's gone, which I'm sorry to say. It was just so fun and it felt good ?

After almost 40 years of active flight simulation (my father had the first MS Flight Simulator back then), I have now fulfilled a big dream at almost 50.

It started with the change to VR-glasses a few years ago. Anyone who uses VR knows what I'm talking about - there's no way back. VR has already brought the flying experience very close to reality. However, as an enthusiast and a big fan of DCS, I wanted more and started looking into motion platforms. My dream was to also be able to feel the movements of the plane in the VR immersion. I saw a lot of great DYI projects from motion platforms on YouTube, but I didn't see any chance of realising something like that myself. I just don't have the time or the technical background. I needed a plug-and-play solution - so I researched as best I could all the platforms that could be purchased and obtained the missing information from the manufacturers. After all, such platforms cost a fortune - others buy a great motorbike with that money...

A) Highly professional web presence with a variety of different platform solutions. Among other things, they are also the manufacturer of the V3 platforms distributed by NextLevelRacing, so they also offer a mass product with corresponding quality assurance and customer support.

After more than 2 years of email exchange (as you can see, it wasn't a quick decision), I got in the car and went to Wroclaw. I tested a 3-DOF and my current 6-DOF platform (PS-6TM-150) on site. It became clear to me then that their hardware was of outstanding quality, but that the software and adaptation to DCS would still mean (joint) work. I decided to go for the somewhat more complex and expensive variant of a 6 DOF system, in line with the motto "all or nothing". I simply wanted to have every movement of the aircraft / helicopter transmitted as realistically as possible.

The software respectively the implementation of DCS on the platform was still in its infancy at that time, some movements were missing, others were simply wrong. However, given the trusting and sympathetic contact with the MoSy staff, I was confident that we would manage to get the maximum performance out of the platform in combination with DCS. So at the end of 2020, the platform was ordered and the adventure took its course...

In February 2021 the platform was delivered, the biggest challenge was to get the more than 300 kg into my basement. But that's another story...

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