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drudchen

Flash Canopy Simulator

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Hey guys,

There were a few bad weather/low ceiling/cold days up here in Canada that prevented me from being at the dropzone and jumping - so I decided - why not to create a "virtual" simulator?
Here's my first beta demo version of it:
http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~drudchen/parasim.html

I'm looking forward to your comments and suggestions. :)
It's still a little slow, so you'd need a more or less fast cpu to get good smooth flight out of it. (the code is still not improved).

I took most of my data from my last few jumps under my Sabre120 loaded at 1.1:1. Data collected with my L&B Altitrack, and my subjective view ;)

Best viewed on at least 1024x768.

Have fun.

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thats pretty neat man, wish there was a swooping version



lol, actually, if you do a 360 from say 1000ft, and go onto your front risers, then full flight at about 50-70ft, and flare when you're just near the ground - you can get quite a swoop out of it :P

But the swoop version with gates, (and maybe a pond :P) is coming! ;)

Edit: Would be cool to add a canopy selector, to be able to choose the canopy to fly. Say a docile Manta, a sporty Sabre, Stilletto, Katana, and a few x-braced ones :P .. but then again, with my jump numbers, it probably will be a while until i fly one of those pocket rockets to get a first-person view of the whole thing

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how do you flare



well, you move your mouse on the screen to control the canopy. Put your mouse in the middle of the screen - and you're in full flight(no unput). Move the mouse up - double fronts, Top right corner - right front riser. Top left - left front riser. Just right - right toggle. Right Bottom - right flat turn. Just bottom - flare. It's all labeled on the screen.

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it will be better if there is another small screen that has view point from above looking down at the ground.



great suggesion - done

Btw - check out my accuracy (pic attached :P)

p.s. the red-green bar at the end is "how hard you pounded in". Green - nice landing, red - you've got yourself a few broken bonesB|

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HaHa! That's cool.

Accuracy 110m, landed in the green...I survived! Now if I can repeat that when I do my AFF, I'll be set. Well, better accuracy maybe.

Probably beyond capabilities of a flash program, but wouldn't it be sweet if you could load Google Earth locations as the landing area...even your local dropzone if the resolution is decent?
SIM 6-9, I: Attempting to land using a wing suit without deploying the parachute would likely result in serious injury or death.

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dude this is sick...
now we need wind sock...
and we need swoop pond..
and we should make the screen go red when you land too hard..

way better than i thought..



Yeah! :)
and canopy size, cells, shape ...
and wingload
and temperature, DZ ASL altitude, humidity
and PC and slider features
and some turbulence (too many trees around)
and other canopies around
and some more obstacles (a river, electric wires, a fence, people walking around)
and some thermals
and besides the target, the hangar ;)
Gonzalo

It cannot be done really means I do not know how to do it ... yet

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Hey guys,

There were a few bad weather/low ceiling/cold days up here in Canada that prevented me from being at the dropzone and jumping - so I decided - why not to create a "virtual" simulator?
Here's my first beta demo version of it:
http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~drudchen/parasim.html

I'm looking forward to your comments and suggestions. :)
It's still a little slow, so you'd need a more or less fast cpu to get good smooth flight out of it. (the code is still not improved).

I took most of my data from my last few jumps under my Sabre120 loaded at 1.1:1. Data collected with my L&B Altitrack, and my subjective view ;)

Best viewed on at least 1024x768.

Have fun.



That's cool.

But the visuals are not right.

When you do either front riser dive or significant brakes the target should float up the screen.
ie whenever or how ever you make the approach steeper the target should float up to the top of the screen.
In one case (front risers) you have faster airspeed and should drop out of the sky faster.
In the other case (deep brakes) you should slow your descent rate but also increase the steepness of the trajectory.

There is also a cross reversal with brakes added.
A little bit of brakes should float you and give a shallower approach, target drops to bottom of screen, but with more brakes you should get a steeper approach and the target should float to the top of the screen.

I never noticed any significant changes in descent rates called out, except for the flare.

Let me know if I can help you.

.
.
Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

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Thanks for the comments. Makes me think...

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When you do either front riser dive or significant brakes the target should float up the screen.
ie whenever or how ever you make the approach steeper the target should float up to the top of the screen.
In one case (front risers) you have faster airspeed and should drop out of the sky faster.
In the other case (deep brakes) you should slow your descent rate but also increase the steepness of the trajectory.


hmm.. Isn't everything that you said above already there?
1. Doing hard double front risers increases the airspeed, and a single front riser spiral even further increases the speed
2. Front risers also decreases the glide ratio, changing direction the vector of the velocity more towards the vertical.
The two combined makes you drop out of the sky faster. You can look at the "speed:" in the debug window in the top left. This is the magnitude of the velocity. Multiplying by sin(angle) and cos(angle) you get your vertical and horizontal components. ..maybe I'm not understanding you right?

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There is also a cross reversal with brakes added.
A little bit of brakes should float you and give a shallower approach, target drops to bottom of screen, but with more brakes you should get a steeper approach and the target should float to the top of the screen.


Yes. That's true. Given that you're going into the wind. Under the canopy, to measure the wind strength you'd find the wind line, and find the brake setting that will make you go vertically down. Add more - and you're backing up, release - and you've got some penetration.
If you have a high airspeed, and you apply brakes - you pop up little and increase the angle of attack, but only temporarily, until your airspeed decreases, you loose lift, and start dropping out of the sky, or even stall. Am i missing something?


If you're going with the wind, the more brakes you add - the slower you'll descend giving you more time to "run with the wind" giving you a shallower approach and better range to make it from a far spot.
If you're going against the wind, the more brakes you add - the less penetration you'll have, and even thoguh you'll have more time under the canopy - you won't make much progress relative to the ground - making the approach steeper..

I'm confused. Maybe someone with more canopy control experience than I do can comment? Is anything I said making any sense?

hmm.. maybe I should think a little more about it;)

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Thanks for the comments. Makes me think...

Quote

When you do either front riser dive or significant brakes the target should float up the screen.
ie whenever or how ever you make the approach steeper the target should float up to the top of the screen.
In one case (front risers) you have faster airspeed and should drop out of the sky faster.
In the other case (deep brakes) you should slow your descent rate but also increase the steepness of the trajectory.


hmm.. Isn't everything that you said above already there?



no because I can 'exit' and set a steady course on the cross hair and cannot make it to the target.
If I do turns I can get to the target.
Maybe there is some algorithm that isn't quite right in the mappings?
In real life, that would not be true.

If I go into deep brakes in your simulation, the target falls to the bottom of the screen.
That is also not what real life is.
In real life, if I go into deep brakes the target will rise. I cannot reproduce that in your simulation.


Quote


1. Doing hard double front risers increases the airspeed, and a single front riser spiral even further increases the speed
2. Front risers also decreases the glide ratio, changing direction the vector of the velocity more towards the vertical.
The two combined makes you drop out of the sky faster. You can look at the "speed:" in the debug window in the top left. This is the magnitude of the velocity. Multiplying by sin(angle) and cos(angle) you get your vertical and horizontal components. ..maybe I'm not understanding you right?



I would say some back and for emails directly could clarify things


Quote

Quote

There is also a cross reversal with brakes added.
A little bit of brakes should float you and give a shallower approach, target drops to bottom of screen, but with more brakes you should get a steeper approach and the target should float to the top of the screen.


Yes. That's true. Given that you're going into the wind. Under the canopy, to measure the wind strength you'd find the wind line, and find the brake setting that will make you go vertically down. Add more - and you're backing up, release - and you've got some penetration.
If you have a high airspeed, and you apply brakes - you pop up little and increase the angle of attack, but only temporarily, until your airspeed decreases, you loose lift, and start dropping out of the sky, or even stall. Am i missing something?


hmm.. maybe I should think a little more about it;)




I only looked at the no wind situations.
I tried one 'with wind' but had no indication of what the direction of the wind was.
I could do a ground speed check, but that did not seem to be fruitful.

.
.
Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

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no because I can 'exit' and set a steady course on the cross hair and cannot make it to the target.
If I do turns I can get to the target.


Here's a test:
I choose the "no wind day" and
1) From the initial 3000ft, set the mouse on the crosshair for the no-input flight - i overshoot the target by 963m
2) Do a little of front risers (half way between the middle and the TOP) - overshoot by 394m now - so the angle gets steeper, as in I'm not making as far over the ground
3) Do max double fronts - and overshoot by 131m.
4) If i do front riser turns back and forth, i can't even make it to the target

hmm Maybe there's something timing-related with just your computer? what's the FPS value that you're getting in the top left corner?

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Is it possible to add other canopies?
And would it be possible to make importable groundimage (so you could import a shot of your home dropzone)?

Great program. With some tweaking I would make my home dz pay for this to use as a training aid for my students.

/Martin

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If I go into deep brakes in your simulation, the target falls to the bottom of the screen.
That is also not what real life is.


How's that not real life? You go into brakes - you plane out, and your eyes will be looking more towards the horizon and the sky than before. (Not talking where the sweet spot would change here)

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Is it possible to add other canopies?


Sure, but let me first get the physics right of this one canopy.

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And would it be possible to make importable groundimage (so you could import a shot of your home dropzone)?


Eventually, yes. I've added a hangar, a runway and a few things already, but it seems to be getting much slower. Flash isn't exactly your amazingly fast 3d engine - i had to do it myself. So it uses your CPU only, not the hardware acceleration of your videocard. Maybe should play around with DirectX or OpenGL to make it look nicer and work faster...

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Wow! Nice job man!!

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it, but it would be more realistic if you could change the pilot's line of sight. I should be able to control my canopy and see where I'm going even if I'm looking at my feet. Maybe let the arrow keys on the keyboard control that?

Edit: ... when will the multi-user version be available?:P

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