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Is motion useful or entertaining?

Discussion in 'DIY Motion Simulator Building Q&A / FAQ' started by Steve B, Jan 2, 2022.

  1. Steve B

    Steve B Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    Arduino
    Considering building my first motion rig but can't help thinking, are they more about enjoyment or do they provide useful information about what the car is doing?

    The rig would be solely used for iRacing, GT3 and single seater's.

    Which axis are most useful for driving sims, I'm assuming heave, pitch, roll and traction loss?

    I would be adding motion to my existing profile rig with the screens static, does simtools have an output to move the image on-screen in conjunction with motion? iRacing has support for head tracking via opentrack or trackIR, seems pointless to have to add a camera and target when simtools already has the rigs orientation.

    All the documentation and videos I've seen show 6 motor channels, is this the maximum supported by simtools?

    I have a couple of somewhat unconventional ideas in mind, just trying to figure out if motion is worth the time and expense. I've had quite a bit of irl track experience from track days, karting and such, for me car control comes from what I feel not what I see and that's what I'm looking for.

    Thanks steve
  2. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    F1 and other race teams use motion sims for driver training and car tuning, as does the General Aviation industry and military. So well setup motion rigs can definitely be beneficial.

    SimTools can handle 12 axis, so for example you could combine a traditional 6DOF with a complex Gseat, perhaps with motion driven harness as well. Keep in mind the purpose of a motion rig is not to recreate all real world forces, rather it is to exploit human processing and psychological weaknesses, by giving enough suitable cues to have the brain fill in the rest.

    How many axis are useful for driving sims depends a bit on the core aim, design and budget, but sway, surge, heave, pitch, roll and traction loss are all very useful.

    No SimTools does not move game graphics, though motion cancellation is available and necessary for large axis movement rigs using VR, small axis movement rigs can get away without motion cancellation: https://www.xsimulator.net/community/faq/openvr-motion-compensation.373/
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  3. Steve B

    Steve B Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    Arduino
    Thanks noorbeast

    I will continue planning my motion rig, probably going to use DC motors and wood for now as no doubt there will be a v2 a year or so down the road.

    Thanks steve
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  4. wingert

    wingert Active Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    4DOF
    A motion sim is a transformation of real world to a model.
    To get a sufficient result there are some rules to consider.

    - the data to transfer should have the same dimension or proportionality meaning meter to meter or angle to angle or acceleration to force (F=m*a, F ~ a)

    - the real operator, pilot or driver has no movement meaning no velocity in that axis.
    Thats because of missing the interaction in a static sim between two dynamical conditions.
    Normally the z-Aches in car racing.

    - the real movement should have no addition of vectors that do not exist in static environment.
    e.g. a gravity slope curve, motorbikes, curving a plane in a roll movement

    If that rules are broken you probably get forces from wrong directions,or a unreal feeling.

    Some examples are:

    -traction loss generates forces from inner instead of outer side of curve
    -seat mover push your back instead of release
    -extensive rolling in a gravity curve feels gravity instead of weight force, the addition of gravity and centrifugal force. The same for rolling curves for planes or rolling in a motorcycle sim.
    - surge with telemetry acceleration to position feels like swinging because of dimension error
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2022
  5. Jadanza

    Jadanza New Member

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    12?? Does one of those transport you through time? Seriously, would love to see a diagram of that.
  6. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    A plugin can be coded like this: https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...ugin-for-simtools-2-0-api-documentation.8236/

    And as the SimTools dev @yobuddy points out "the plugin loads for both the ( a ) axis assignments and also the ( b ) axis assignments. So it will work for all 12 axis as needed": https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...tools-2-0-api-documentation.8236/#post-158307

    Configuration is covered in the SimTools manual: https://www.xsimulator.net/community/faq/rtfm-start-with-the-official-simtools-documentation.117/

    Not sure what you mean by a diagram, it is more a case of design and how axis are intended to be used, my initial outline is an example:

  7. RacingMat

    RacingMat Well-Known Member Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    easily when you add up actuators like this example:
    6 dof seat
    + 2 dof harness tensionner
    + 1 dof wind fan
    + 2 dof inflatable cushions
    + 1 dof bass shaker
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  8. Thanos

    Thanos Building the Future one AC Servo at a time... or 6

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    My Motion Simulator:
    AC motor, Motion platform, 4DOF, 6DOF

    Here is a good video explaining things from the user side. It's worth watching:

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  9. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    12 motor channels for SimTools v2 and 18 motor channels for SimTools v3.
    Take care,
    yobuddy
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  10. Jumping Coin

    Jumping Coin Member Gold Contributor

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    Great to know, thanks @yobuddy ! Any idea when v3 will be released?
  11. yobuddy

    yobuddy Well-Known Member Staff Member Moderator SimAxe Beta Tester SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

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    All I really know is where we are at the moment, and we are getting ready for an alpha test.
    I really can't wait to get it into a few hands to play with.
    Take care,
    yobuddy
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  12. Jumping Coin

    Jumping Coin Member Gold Contributor

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    Good to know. Thanks @yobuddy !