Today I was landing at an outpost in a small system where I usually pick up gold and palladium, the outpost is very close to the main star so it is bright. I happened to have the sun on my six as I performed my landing approach, and I noticed the shadow of my ship on the landing pad as I approached the station. I put down my gear, and saw a beautifully animated sequence of them coming down, and locking into place, in shadow! It made me realize that the engine for external view is there, but for some reason we are not allowed to see it yet.
Many flight simulator and combat simulator games have combat cameras where you can record your flights and combat, save, and then replay later adjusting views, camera angles, playback speed, etc. These cameras actually record game data and then replay it in the game engine. This would be a great way of adding third person view without changing the actual flight experience. For example, you could spend time out in a RES, then return to base, cash in your bounties, and load up the combat replay, possibly making a recording out of it and learning something at the same time. Explorers could also use this to get good views of the systems they have explored.
I agree with frontier that flying needs to be in the cockpit for everyone, but this solution would add third person and the ability to view you ship without sacrificing that.
Many flight simulator and combat simulator games have combat cameras where you can record your flights and combat, save, and then replay later adjusting views, camera angles, playback speed, etc. These cameras actually record game data and then replay it in the game engine. This would be a great way of adding third person view without changing the actual flight experience. For example, you could spend time out in a RES, then return to base, cash in your bounties, and load up the combat replay, possibly making a recording out of it and learning something at the same time. Explorers could also use this to get good views of the systems they have explored.
I agree with frontier that flying needs to be in the cockpit for everyone, but this solution would add third person and the ability to view you ship without sacrificing that.
