Not true. Even on a 2D screen you'd be looking down at it so it would still appear slanted, but the lines wouldn't point straight down. They would be orthogonal to the scanner. But in VR when you look down at the scanner it is tilted.
I just figured out why the scanner annoys me so much
- Thread starter amadeus1171
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Not true. Even on a 2D screen you'd be looking down at it so it would still appear slanted, but the lines wouldn't point straight down. They would be orthogonal to the scanner. But in VR when you look down at the scanner it is tilted.
It would prevent a lot of scanner rage from new players.
The scanner that we’ve had since 1984? I’ve never had a problem with it, and it looks even better in VR
The vertical lines are wrong in VR. They go straight up and own instead of being orthogonal to the scanner.
I must say I've never noticed. Must be because I've been looking at it for 30 years now LOL
I get what you're saying, will have to take a closer look tonight, but I have no real problems with it.
Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
.... since 1984.
You've been conditioned to accept it. You'd be surprised how many things we've been conditioned to accept when there's a better, more intuitive way to do things.
I'd need to see both in action to determine which is "better, more intuitive". There's a reason it is the way it is. Perhaps initially due to limited resolution and performance and it's never been changed because if it ain't broke don't fix it. Or perhaps the "proper" rendering was tried and it just wasn't as readable?
I'm fairly certain all the games that I've seen which have cloned the "Elite Scanner" (and there's many) have all used vertical lines and tilted scanners. If the other way is so much better, I'm sure at least some of them would have tried it...
It's not wrong though, it's a hologram, and it doesn't care if the cockpit dashboard it is being displayed above is angled, flat, or made of egg shells. If I remember rightly, the hologram isnt even on top of the physical part of the dashboard, it's closer to you, so it looks like it's hovering over the physical dashboard.
Ok I paid a bit more attention to the scanner last night and I think it would not work as well if the lines -were- orthogonal to the disc of the scanner. Would really need to see a mockup of the alternative, but it works perfectly well for me the way it is.
Maybe I got conditioned to the way it is, but I don't recall having any problems with the original either when I first started playing many moons ago.
Maybe I got conditioned to the way it is, but I don't recall having any problems with the original either when I first started playing many moons ago.
Tbh, the first time i saw the scanner back in the first elite i found it pretty logical and got it right away...there are way worse examples in gaming industry....
Are you talking about the ship's radar? The thing that's mounted on a sloped dash in front of you? Complaining that something mounted on a slope is sloped?
What's next, being upset that fire is hot?
What's next, being upset that fire is hot?
No, I'm talking about the lines going straight down instead of orthogonal to the slope.
Does everyone know what orthogonal means?
In VR it would be better off flat because you'd see it slanted, anyway, from your perspective.
Yes, at right angles. I'm just not sure to which lines you are referring. Pictures help.
I made a rough sketch to illustrate the difference.
Not fussed either way really. Maybe it's a VR thing?
In practical terms it seems like a scanner with perspective properly applied might be misleading with regard to estimating distances between contacts.
OH! Those.... yeah, never really cared. I interpret them as indicators of something having a +X or -X value relative to where my ship is - the closest thing to "above" or "below" that you get in space. But I don't really pay that much attention to the radar. There are no radar markers out where I am anyways, and it's going to be a good long while until I see one again.
It's "straight" insofar as it's parallel to the deck but your noggin is above is so you're looking down onto it - thus it's "sloped" from your perspective.
FWIW, a slightly more irritating example of this "issue" is the way stations and ships look in the HUD.
If you align yourself so that, say, a station looks "square-on" in the holo, it'll actually be skewed away from you.
Conversely, something that IS squarely in front of you will look skewed in the holo'.
It's all 'cos of the vanishing-point perspective that the holo's use to draw images, coupled with the fact that they're either side of your noggin.