Developer camera: fun undocumented view to try!

  • By accident I discovered a fun undocumented view you should give a try when using the developer camera (Control-F8)!

    Turns out that pressing the key L instantly centers the view on your plane, no matter where you were looking previously!

    When this view is active, moving the mouse left or right moves the view around the plane, keeping it centered all the time. This key also does its work when you are far away from the plane!

    When you press L again the view goes back to the regular developer camera view. Take note though that when you move the camera with this L view enabled (so focused on the plane) the regular view will be in the direction you were previously looking but from the new position you placed yourself in! Sounds complicated but you'll get it if you try it a few times. ;) If you don't move your view while using the L view the regular view will be the exact same as when you switched to the L view. (Sometimes simple things are hard to put in words... ;) )

    It's a fun view you really should give a try!

    By default L also shows the names of cities etc. so if you are planning to use this view more often you might want to change that default assignement.

    EDIT

    Another great advantage of this view: when using the L view you can move towards or away from your plane very precisely! Some of you may know that when you are high up in the air and switch to the developer camera it is impossible to move the view to or from your plane just a bit: with one click of W or S your plane will disappear in the distance. With the L view it's the other way around: the closer you move towards the plane, the slower the movements become!

    Take note the latter is different from the regular external view: with that one you can only ZOOM in and out of your plane. With this L view you actually move closer to or further away from the plane, so without zooming. Give it a try and you'll see the difference.

    Edited 6 times, last by J van E (August 21, 2018 at 8:45 PM).

  • Well my life is complete :)

    Thank you for "discovering" this previously undocumented feature - sneaky chaps over at IPACS, eh?

    In tandem with mouse click 'n drag and mousewheel zoom, plus fast time setting, taking a screen is a real pleasure!