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Question Does each Axis Need to Equal 100% or Each DOF/Axis is 100%?

Discussion in 'SimTools DIY Version' started by Michael Jeffries, Sep 14, 2019.

  1. Michael Jeffries

    Michael Jeffries Member Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2019
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    485Coins
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    My Motion Simulator:
    Motion platform, 4DOF
    So, I just added the AMC Controller with 4-DOF PT-Actuators 150mm 250mm/s Mega Monster Actuators.
    I mainly race in iRacing and have only gotten a Profile completed for iRacing so far.
    After a week of testing it seems good as is but others are saying that my actuators are probably not moving enough.
    I have Tuning Center Values 8 and 10 mainly.
    I have Axis Assignments as Heave 30% on each axis, Pitch 15%, Roll 15%, Sway 25% Surge 20%
    I put Smoothing value of 10 on all the axis assignments because it felt a bit jerky
    Also, I was having jarring jolts when there was an impact with a wall or another car and I was told to add a boundary to help that. I put a boundary of 3 on heave, surge, and sway, on each axis.

    Someone else is telling me that with my values and 3 on boundary, my actuators are barely moving.
    Is that correct? Am I supposed to have 100% under each of the 5 DOF assignments for each axis?
    For example, he has Axis1a Heave 100%, sway 100, pitch 100, etc - is that the actual correct way to do it? Or is it supposed to equal 100% across all the DOF's for axis1a, and then the same for all the other axes?

    Can someone please explain this to me?

    Also, this same user (who has 100% seat on each DOF/Axis assignment) said that at boundary of 5 his actuators are barely moving but if he sets boundary of 95 he gets ALOT more actuator movement.

    What's the correct way?
  2. GWiz

    GWiz Active Member

    Joined:
    May 12, 2019
    Messages:
    186
    Occupation:
    Dentist
    Location:
    Aberdeenshire, Scotland
    Balance:
    1,498Coins
    Ratings:
    +120 / 0 / -0
    My Motion Simulator:
    DC motor, Arduino, 6DOF
    The idea with the 100% is that each axis should total up to 100% across the various movements (Heave, sway etc.). This is so that if you are racing and the simulator is trying to pitch, sway and heave all at the same time, it is able to do this without clipping. i.e. If you had too much movement already assigned to pitch and you hit the brakes going down hill, you may not feel like you are braking much as your rig has already moved as far as it can.

    2 howevers:

    1) You can generally go above 100% as there are few situations where you would be using such a combination of movements that you would max them all out.
    2) Altering settings such as the tuning center will have an effect on overall movement. i.e. If the max output from the game is 10 for pitch and you have set it to 20 in the tuning center, you will only ever pitch up to half the amount you have allowed for pitch and vice versa.

    Boundary means you reach maximum motion and wont output higher. i.e. small movements are the same, larger movements like crashing don't feel as big as they would without a boundary set. I'm pretty sure having a lower tuning center value achieves the same, but someone correct me if I'm wrong.

    Ultimately, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks your rig should be doing, if it feels good to you then it's right! I think you can have axis settings way over 100% depending on other settings such as the tuning centre without getting clipping/loss of fidelity. You could have different settings which both move the motor/actuator by half its maximum distance but with one which gives you detail with small movements in game but little extra with large movements and the other way having small movements barely felt but more detail for larger movements.

    I think it is always worthwhile fine tuning one type of movement at a time in isolation and then mixing them together and potentially fine tuning further to get the best feel. For myself, I find I get the best feel with the rig not moving all that much which doesn't look so good to onlookers but Meh! :rolleyes:
    • Agree Agree x 1
  3. Michael Jeffries

    Michael Jeffries Member Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2019
    Messages:
    105
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    485Coins
    Ratings:
    +17 / 0 / -0
    My Motion Simulator:
    Motion platform, 4DOF
    I agree mine does not move as much as some other ones that I have seen but I feel like it is enough