Pilot spawns below deck

[Pville211]

Question: How do you prevent a pilot spawn from looking up from under a surface?

Situation: Flat object is placed at a high altitude as a floating runway. The object is collidable and has a height setting (is not a 2-dimensional runway). It is working fine for plane spawn, takeoffs and landings.

However, when the simulation is run the initial pilot view starts under the deck, looking up in the direction of the plane. When taking off, the view climbs up through the deck and ends up in normal chase view.

I've placed the pilot spawn on the deck, above the deck, and free floating off the edge of the deck. I've tried near and far distances. A previous thread alluded to using a depth buffer. Depth buffers are for photofields, and the pilot spawn has no "render to depth buffer" setting. I've tried various flat objects, always with the same result.

Clearly I am missing a setting or a technique, and have had no luck searching the forum and Google for a solution.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[td9cowboy]

I think what you are missing is the difficulty of flying in chase view from a fixed pilot spawn.

[Pville211]

I'm relatively new at airport creation, so I'm unclear about the response regarding fixed spawns. Are you suggesting there is another way to successfully spawn a plane without a pilot spawn?

In previous airports I placed a plane spawn and a pilot spawn in proximity to each other. Until now, all spawns have been placed on ground surfaces, and when running the simulator I typically have no problem with starting in chase view.

Now I'm trying to place a spawn point on a deck floating high in the air, and I'm experiencing the issue of the initial view being below the deck. I experience the issue only during the initial view when the simulation is run. Subsequent resets and switching cameras result in normal perspectives, including when I cycle through the cameras until I'm back in chase view.

I'm thinking that this concept should be similar to launching from a dock object that is sitting a few feet above water.

I appreciate any thoughts you may have.

[td9cowboy]

I think what is giving you trouble is that in chase view the spawn follows or chases the aircraft. The initial spawn on the ground could be from behind,beside, or even in front of the aircraft. It's not fixed. If you have a fixed pilot spawn position you can make default located at the same elevation as your platform, (adjust the Z axis on the spawn to the same elevation as the platform) take off using that one then switch to chase for the flight if you plan to leave the area. I have never tried this, but once your default fixed pilot spawn is located on the platform, RF may never spawn below the aircraft in chase view just like being on the ground.

[Maj. Numbskully]

heres a thought ..
edit a camera and set it about 30 ft or so behind the plane ...............end of problem

[jeffpn]

Placing a camera below the plane will result in it's view being higher than the ground when the plane is on the ground. Now with the OP mixing spawns and chase views (Which are different), I'm confused. A spawn is a fixed position for the pilot to view the aircraft. Spawns are placed on the ground, not relative to where the model is. Spawns can be created or moved in the airport editor. Hitting x (I think) switches your view from spawn to spawn.

Chase view is a function of the model. It works similar to using the aircraft editor to place a camera behind the aircraft.

I don't know which method the OP is using. He's describing aspects of both.

Can you post the airport here for us to see?

[Pville211]

td9cowboy provided the info I needed. Now I know that I couldn't figure out how to control the initial perspective because it's not something I can control. After seeing his response I looked in the manual, and sure enough it says that RF automatically positions the initial spawn.

My AP has a ground-level spawn point that was going to be a secondary location. I will simply make it primary and dress up that area a bit.

I've played a bit with cameras and understand how to position them. I don't have much free time, so getting creative with cameras is on my project list after I complete some of the AP concepts that I want to do.

Thanks, everyone!

[Flare]

i have had that problem alot.