Attention all skinners!

You inspired me to look at the CR42 in MAW.

For the DR_CR42_171-41 (and all the others that have a black frame around the gunsight glass) first add reticle_cr42.dds to the [ReticleStatic] section to the TextureMagic.ini file in the Shaders30 folder.

Then add this text to the effects section of the aircraft xdp file:
<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="IT_CAI_eto-_gunsight" PosX="0.005" PosZ="-0.70" PosY="0.6825" Pitch="90" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
 
For the 3gb_Beaufighter_Mk1,3gb_Beaufighter_Mk1(nf),3gb_Beaufighter_Mk1F,3gb_Beaufighter_MkVI(ITF),3gb_Beaufighter_MkVIC and 3gb_Beaufighter_MkVIF

I use :<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="UK_RAF_Bob1-_gunsight" PosX="0.00" PosZ="0.95" PosY="0.92" Pitch="90.0" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
 
For the five Beaufighters that came with ETO you may use this line in the effects section of the aircraft xdp file to add the dynamic reticle.

<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="UK_RAF_Bob1-_gunsight" PosX="0.00" PosZ="0.975" PosY="0.91" Pitch="90.25" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
 
For the DR Ju87b Stuka series you can add this line to the effects section of the aircraft xdp file for the dynamic reticle.

<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="GR_OKL_Revi16b_gunsight" PosX="0.000" PosZ="0.75" PosY="0.775" Pitch="90.5" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
 
For the DR_lyslander_xxx use:

<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="UK_RAF_Bob1-_gunsight" PosX="0.000" PosZ="1.075" PosY="1.058" Pitch="90.0" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>

also you can modify the shaders30>TextureMagic.ini>[ReticleDynamic]scale>reticle_raf_bob1-.dds=1.2|1.0|0.60|0.30
 
The positioning is good, but that reticle has a circular mask, and the reflector glass in the Lysander cockpit is square. You might prefer to use this one instead.

<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="UK_RAF_ETO_gunsight" PosX="0.000" PosZ="1.075" PosY="1.058" Pitch="90.5" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>

The pitch has also been adjusted slightly to align the gun convergence point with the center of the sight.
 
I worked out the reticle positioning for ETO_P_51d_100_45. One of these lines should be added to the effects section of the aircraft xdp file.

Based on the reflector sight modeled in the cockpit I would use:

<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="US_AAF_N9_gunsight" PosX="0.008" PosZ="-0.675" PosY="0.770" Pitch="90" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>

Based on the default static reticle referenced by the aircraft you could use:

<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="US_AAF_K14_gunsight" PosX="0.008" PosZ="-0.675" PosY="0.770" Pitch="90" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
 
For the Firepower FP_P51d you may use these lines in the effects section of the aircraft xdp file to add the dynamic reticle.

<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="US_AAF_K14_gunsight" PosX="0.035" PosZ="-0.375" PosY="0.6325" Pitch="90" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="US_AAF_l3a_gunsight" PosX="-0.035" PosZ="-0.375" PosY="0.6325" Pitch="90" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
 
Hmm, you bring up a good point Andy, on the reticles I've made, the viewing area has always been round, as I thought it's shape was determined by the round lens rather than the square glass. But I don't understand many of the details of how these things work. Does the size of the glass determine the size of the viewing area as well, or are there other limitations?
 
As you look at the wide variety of cockpits we have you will see reflector glass that is square, rectangular, round, oval, etc. Typically the cockpits were constructed in a way that AnKor's dynamic reticles will only display what is inside that area (there are a few exceptions).

To better match those shapes, and avoid having the reticle display outside the boundary of the glass, my reticle pack included both full square versions, and ones with a shape mask to match the particular reflector glass. My standard naming convention includes the "-" character to designate reticles that included the custom mask shape.

The reticle shape itself is fully defined in the Alpha layer, and should not include any clipping of the shape to match the glass. This is done entirely in the color layer with black defining what needs to be masked out.

The size (z value, positive is smaller) and position (x and y values) of the reticle display is controlled by the positioning in the cockpit relative to the reflector glass. If you use EffectName="US_Test_GUNSIGHT" you will be able to see the size and position of the square mask. I use this to fine tune everything before I finalize it with the proper effect name for that reflector sight.

To get the shape mask I would take a picture in the cockpit, and then overlay that on the square to know where to paint out the black border. Blurring the edge of the shape mask provides a nice fading out effect as the bright reticle comes near the edges of the reflector glass.

The colored part of the shape mask determines what color the reticle will display as. The white alpha areas being the shape mask color, and the black being the multiply value of that color with itself (light yellow becomes darker orange)
 
My question was actually related to how the real reflector sights worked. What design feature determines the size and shape of the area in which the reticle is visible? Glass size and shape, or lens size and shape, or something else altogether?

But speaking of how Ankor's work, I'll add a couple of my own observations:

1. If part of the reticle shape touches the edge of the alpha layer, any visible pixels on the boarder will repeat to infinity. It seems possible that this was the case on some real sights, but I've not been able to confirm this.

2. The size of the display area is directly controlled by the size of the sprite as defined in the effects.xml. The values there are actually many times smaller than the reticle will actually be, and are expanded by the shaders. Moving the reticle forward and aft also has the same effect, and might be better in most cases so the same effect can be used on multiple cockpits where the dimensions might be slightly different. The draw back is when it has to move so far that the reticle begins to appear in front of or behind other objects in the cockpit. Neither method changes the stadiametric ranging properties of the reticle - those are adjusted in the texturemagic.ini.
 
The lens projects the reticle image, but the reflector glass limits what can be displayed.


Mark_III_free_gun_ref-84abe0.gif
 
At the bottom of the glass the reticle doesn't display in the corners on that one, I assume due to the lens?
 
That's probably an artifact of the straight line that the head movement was following in this gif. Positioning the view track a little lower on the reflector glass and you probably would see the reticle displayed in those lower corners of the glass as well.

Part of what makes this difficult to figure out is the difference in perspective between thinking the gunsight is projecting an image on the reflector glass. versus we're looking down into the gunsight using the reflector glass. The physics of both are probably the same but the the second makes it easier for me to reconcile why a round reticle doesn't look like an oval when projected onto an angled surface. As I move my head around I'm using different parts of the reflector glass to look down into the gunsight to see the round reticle image.
 
For p_47d_25 82nd FS and p_47d_25 512th FS you can add these lines to the effects section of the aircraft xdp file for the dynamic reticle.

<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="US_AAF_K14_gunsight" PosX="-0.035" PosZ="-0.15" PosY="0.940" Pitch="90.5" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="US_AAF_K14_gunsight" PosX="0.035" PosZ="-0.15" PosY="0.940" Pitch="90.5" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
 
It seemed the best way to cover the wide shallow rectangle of the reflector glass. The two squares sit side-by-side without overlap, but touching, and the reticle image moves seamlessly across the boundary so you don't notice it being two different merged effects.
 
Playing around more dynamic reticle, I am having a problem with AvH_US_P-51D-25d ; only a portion of the reticle is visible.:dizzy:

<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="US_AAF_N9-_gunsight" PosX="0.011" PosZ="-0.500" PosY="0.753" Pitch="90.0" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>

Does the pitch nee to be adjusted ?
 
This is what I've been using:

<Effect Type="Track" EffectName="US_AAF_N9_gunsight" PosX="0.008" PosZ="-0.675" PosY="0.770" Pitch="90" MinVel="-999999" MaxVel="999999"/>
 
Thanks for the input.:encouragement:
Still having trouble distinguishing using between US_AAF_N9_gunsight or US_AAF_N9-_gunsight.
 
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