PilotEdge Forums

Thanks, I will take a look first chance ...... Between work projects and Ground School twice a week, I am a bit tight on time

Here is a short video of the HUD in hardball IFR weather.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvYcVCh ... ata_player

Just found these guys. They make a plugin that gives you a significantly better HUD. I wonder if I ran this with a black background if it would work on my rig? I think I'll pick up a copy. Too bad it doesn't run on its own. That'd be sweet, a standalone.

http://www.flyrealhuds.com/


but their HUDs look really nice! Better than FSX or XP10

So I have been doing some more experimentation in my laboratory. The prototype design I built with a flat panel monitor works OK, but only during night flights or with the NV turned on in Xplanes. I had mentioned before that I thought the optimum way to illuminate the HUD was with a reflected projected image. Here is a pic of me testing that theory, and here is what I found.

1) Projected-reflected image is well powerful enough for daylight use and delivers a very sharp image even on bright, sunny days.

2) Projected-reflected image is too powerful for night flights. You actually get the double image from the light reflecting off the front and back of the glass pane, even with the treated glass.

3) Tried various screen colors, red, green and black, to see how it would effect the projected-reflected image. I was also trying to determine if I could reduce the background to a true black without buying a really expensive projector. The background image is worst during night flights. What I found was that if I projected against a black screen for night flight the HUD worked perfectly, and projecting against a green or white screen worked best for day flights.

So with 1024x768 projectors down to $200, I can prolly finish out my HUD properly.

The test rig is nothing too fancy.

Using a black background helps give the reflection more of a true black background, free of reflection other than the HUD symbology.

And by black background I mean projecting the image onto a black background (black construction paper.) It makes the projected background a true black image when viewed thru the reflection of the HUD.

Here is the assembled HUD, ready for mounting..

Here is a.look thru the HUD. This is custom built HUD from xplane. I will soon be testing the jet HUD from flydealhuds.com. the glass is surprisingly cheap from telepromptermirror.com and you can specify a size and reflective value. This 6x6" piece was $20 with $12 shipping.

So here is the final update on the HUD project. Using a 2500 lumen projector, a spare PC, and a $20 piece of glass (and some balsa wood for the frame of the HUD) I have it up and running on my simulator. The glass is from teleprompterglass.com. The projector projects onto a black screen (to keep down the background image) and the image itself is a HUD against a black background (replace the aircraft's panels with a black screen.) If you are using monitors for your primary display, you may be able to get away with using a monitor for the HUD. If you use a projector, the monitor's reflection will be washed out.

Anyhow, here is the hand built Xplanes HUD built in planemaker. I like it but it is not interactive like the software I show later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUYAVJCwhVM


This is with the flyrealhuds.com app. The HUD is now interactive with overlay symbology for the runways. This is the executive jet HUD. The helicopter HUD looked waaaaaay cool. Be cool to build one on a 12x12" screen, eh?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDpa_rId9D8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4e2qrjl9s