Newcomer / Intro External Viewing of Spacecraft during Flight?

Codger

Codger
I'm happy to help with the key bindings and macros, sure.

But let me preface it by saying that I agree 100% that FDEV dropped the ball when it came to making the camera suite easily accessible.

The feature itself is excellent, with lots of options. But they hid it all away behind a very convoluted and hard-to-understand set of key bindings.

I think this is why folks have trouble with it -- there's way too much setup required, and no instructions.

Anyway, before we get to any macros, we have to first set up the key bindings for the camera suite itself. I don't know what the default bindings are because when the suite first came out there were none, and I made my own from that blank state. So all I can do is show you what I use, and you'll have to adjust it to your own needs from there.

The camera has 2 main modes -- fixed and free. In fixed mode (the default mode) you can select from several pre-made camera angles. Let's look at that first because it's the easiest.

Here are my bindings for the Camera Suite section of Controls:

camera_suite_bindings.jpg


To toggle the Camera Suite on and off in both my ship and the SRV, I use Ctrl-Alt-Space. This could be changed to something simpler, but I was already used to it from the previous camera which used that same pattern.

So, to invoke the camera, I press Ctrl-Alt-Space and voila, I'm in the camera, looking at the back of my ship. There are 9 fixed camera angles, which I have bound to the number keys on my number pad. So once I press enter the camera, I can press NUM 1 and I'll have the front cockpit view, or press NUM 9 and have the low-behind-the-ship view.

Then I can press Ctrl-Alt-Space again to exit the camera and be back in my ship.

Before I go on, get at least this much working, and let me know if you have any problems so far. :)
 

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Maenden

Maenden
If you go here:
https://edrefcard.info/
Tell it where your binds file is.
Then it will produce a page showing all your binds that you are currently using.
Save the page and print it out.

Then you can make an easy ref guide by writing the required commands for single actions onto a Post-it note and sticking them somewhere obvious. (No not there !!)
A quick glance at the Post-it saves a lot of memory work.
 

Codger

Codger
Ok, OP told me in a private message that he got the first part working. Here's the next part.

These are the bindings I'm using for the Free Camera section. I'll go through them from top to bottom, as best I can.

The way I personally have the free camera set up, I use keys on the keyboard to move forward, backward, right, left, up, down, yaw right, yaw left. I use my joystick for pitch and roll, but you could assign keys for that as well. The idea is to be able to 'fly' the camera around, so whatever works for you is good.

Toggle HUD - I use Ctrl-Z. This turns the HUD off and on while in the camera.
Increase/Decrease speed - the camera only moves at a fixed speed when you use the keyboard to move -- this allows you to change the speed. I use + and - keys.
Forward Axis/Forward Only Throttle Reverse - I don't use these because I don't have a throttle.
Move Forward - I use W to move the camera forward
Move Backward - I use S to move the camera backward
Move Right - I use E
Move Left - I use Q
Move Up - I use R
Move Down - I use F
Yaw left - I use A
Yaw right - I use D
I have my joystick bound to pitch and roll, so I've left the keys blank for those.
Stabilizer on/off (this allows you to roll the ship without moving the camera) I use J. I will do a little video about this to explain better.
Camera/Ship controls Toggle - I use H. This allows you to be in the camera, but still fly your ship.
Attach/Detach camera - I use K. This allows you to leave the camera in one spot, while the ship moves past.
The blur and focus settings are for those specialty shots. I don't use them much.

To explain how this all works together, I'll need to do a short video. I'll try to do that later today.


free_camera_bindings.jpg
 

Alec Turner

Alec Turner
@Codger do you happen to know if there's an easy way to make it that when you open the camera suite the camera HUD is toggled off by default? I'm sure I've seen videos where people seem to be able to open the camera suite mid-video and continue filming without ever showing a screen full of camera HUD controls.
 

SciTrekker

SciTrekker
Para Handy said:
Yeah - I feel your pain over this.

We originally had a nice one-key external view (called a debug camera if I remember correctly) - one press and there you were outside the ship and you could move the viewpoint about for nice screenshots - dead simple. Then they decided if you were playing Elite Dangerous then you obviously would want to produce cinematography to rival Emmanuel Lubezki so a whole load of nonsense was added - seriously, a myriad of controls I have never used. A real pain in the botty.
Click to expand...
I find it interesting that the camera suite code wasn't re-used for the Store or Livery camera/view. :unsure::confused:
 

Codger

Codger
Alec Turner said:
@Codger do you happen to know if there's an easy way to make it that when you open the camera suite the camera HUD is toggled off by default? I'm sure I've seen videos where people seem to be able to open the camera suite mid-video and continue filming without ever showing a screen full of camera HUD controls.
Click to expand...
Other than using a macro (which is what I do) no. Even then, the HUD can still flash for a moment. It always defaults to On, as far as I can tell.

I do demonstrate the macro in the video I posted above (near the end).
 

Herrle

H
Can anyone check if the The blur and focus settings for those specialty shots are still working. I can't set them up.
 

aRJay

aRJay
Herrle said:
Can anyone check if the The blur and focus settings for those specialty shots are still working. I can't set them up.
Click to expand...
They are still working for me.

Toggle between Zoom and Focus/Blur to access them.
They are for me what I term progressive controls, they increment faster the longer you hold down the control this is especially noticeable on focus where merely clicking it once will barely register.
 

Herrle

H
Thank you for your answer.
Can you still see "Zoom" on the left side of your HUD and "Blur" on the right side? I can't see "Zoom", "Focus" and "Blur" in my HUD.
 

aRJay

aRJay
Herrle said:
Thank you for your answer.
Can you still see "Zoom" on the left side of your HUD and "Blur" on the right side? I can't see "Zoom", "Focus" and "Blur" in my HUD.
Click to expand...
I see Zoom on the left then after toggling Focus on the left and Blur on the right, the key combos used are shown just above.
 
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