Quadcopter Simulator (In Development)

[Blueteak]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forums!

A few weeks ago I started working on a Quadcopter simulator. When I started doing research into the physics, I encountered the flight test channel and was introduced to the concept of FPV flying!
Regular RC sims can give you cockpit view, but they are about flying high and don't give you feedback about a lot of the nuances of FPV flying, like radio interference and camera placement.

That’s what I'm going to try to do!

I already have the basic physics down, as well as a Quadcopter controller that can fly in either acrobatic or stabilized mode.

The current Quadcopter 3D Model is from Thingiverse (3D printed quadcopter components) and has a little Arduino chip inside.

Here are a few images and gifs of the current state of the project:
(Don’t mind the slow moving propellers, I haven’t added blur yet and the gifs are 10fps, they are rotating very fast)





3rd Person View

FPV View

I’m coming to a community of RC experts like yourselves to see what type of features you would like to see.

For instance, I’ve already included controller expo and FPV camera angle, but if there are other things that you would like to see in a simulator, I’d love to hear them.


EDIT 1: The first beta test is here for offline mode

Here are two links for Windows and Mac (If you use Linux, I can do a build but can't test it)

Windows: Download

Mac: Download

EDIT 2:

Going to be taking a break from this for a while, FatShark and Immersion RC have teamed up to make something almost identical to what I was working on.

Check it out on Steam

It's already been greenlit by the steam community, so it should be released in the near future.

 

[Spastickitten]

Amazing!

I am so glad and I have been waiting for one like this and what would be minimal computer specs?
also this is what I use to control my sim but I don't know about macs http://www.smartpropoplus.com/site/

 

[Blueteak]

Glad you like it!

Obviously not everyone has a supercomputer, so I will be using all the optimization tricks of the trade to make sure that as many people as possible have the ability to use it.
The physics simulation is by PhysX, and the Controller is very inexpensive in processing power (I modeled it off the arduino chips which have WAY less power than even the worst PC). So the only expensive thing will be the graphics, which you will have control over in settings.

I'd love to be able to put it on a mobile device, since I have experience with that, and if I do, then the minimum specs will be way less anything you might have.

I want this to be a fun game as well as a good simulator, so I'll also be adding multiplayer soon because it's a huge draw for a larger audience.

Let me know if you have suggestions for what types of settings you might like. And while right now it's just a quadcopter, I am looking into things like tricopters or hexacopters etc.

 

[Balu]

Welcome to the forum

I’m coming to a community of RC experts like yourselves to see what type of features you would like to see.

Explosions!

That's something we don't get a lot in real life unless the LiPo gets punctured. =)

I'd love to be able to use my transmitter as controller. But since the Taranis can emulate a USB joystick, that might be easier than I think at the moment.

 

[Blueteak]

Welcome to the forum

Explosions!

So far everyone who has seen the sim in real life has asked when I am going to add the ability to shoot! (Might be because I am using a XBox360 controller and the triggers seem like they want some action)

As far as actually breaking the quadcopter, right now the props can break fairly easily if you hit a wall or tree, but I also plan on letting other components break off if you hit it hard enough or in the correct place.

 

[Balu]

You got me wrong. I don't want to shoot. I want to see the copter explode if I land too hard ;-)

It would make crashing more fun than it is in real life...

 

[Spastickitten]

I would love some desruction and make the blades have a chance of not braking and being fine, but make it a natural chance. For the destruction I think the idea of peices falling off would be cool, so an arm can break and you will still be able to fly but th physics would act like the motor is missing or at a random angle. If you do anything with planes do the same, I used an older simulator that did this destruction style and its fun to try to keep flying. If you can... make fpv wings too! I would love to beta test if you need some one to. Things like a paintball battle or a combat could be cool too, but please try to do multiplayer. That is one of the best things I think is possible, so yea if you need someone to help you with anything just tell me!

 

[Spastickitten]

Also i loved the way a sim called picasim has a lot of things set up so if you want to look at it its free on windows

 

[Spastickitten]

where do you live in florida?

 

[Blueteak]

I would love some desruction and make the blades have a chance of not braking and being fine, but make it a natural chance. For the destruction I think the idea of peices falling off would be cool, so an arm can break and you will still be able to fly but th physics would act like the motor is missing or at a random angle.

The props break if a force limit is hit (so if it hits with x amount of newtons of force it will break) so similar to reality. Also, the quad can already fly with a broken motor (if one breaks you lose yaw control, like reality as well) because the motors add force to the arm, not just the base of the quadcopter, so each motor acts like a lever, as soon as I add joints to the other parts (like the arm) instead of just making them like welded steel then the braking will work like in reality.

Also, check out this for one of the coolest explosion effect you will see in current software (Totally volumetric and procedural)

I am still working on getting multiplayer set up, but it will definitely be there. I can't do a beta test until I set up a control system so any computer can customize the controls for the joystick they are using (keyboard controls just don't really cut it...) but I will probably release an open beta link on the forums when it's ready so everyone can check it out.

Also, I'm from down south in the keys.

 

[Spastickitten]

boom!

 

[Blueteak]

Here's the first iteration of multiplayer!

 

[MrCaptainFlash]

This is awesome! If I could help you beta test that would be great.

 

[Blueteak]

This is awesome! If I could help you beta test that would be great.

I'll let everyone know when I'm ready for testing! Right now I need to get more controller support and ensure that it won't just crash on other computers. Right now the sequence for joining multiplayers is like 8 steps, and that needs to turn into a few button presses

Just keep a lookout on this thread for a link in the future!

 

[Spastickitten]

can't wait!

 

[bhursey]

If there is anyway you get like real flight interlink working with it or any other radio interface would be awesome!!!.. This looks better than real fights 7.5 fpv locations.. In windows interlink elite just shows up as a normal game controller to windows... So it may be able to get tied in that way..

 

[MrCaptainFlash]

Well I think I can speak for many here, but thank you for working on this!

 

[Blueteak]

Just a quick update

1) Added rebindable controller support, so if your computer sees the controller, you can bind the joystick axis in the input manager.

2) I just got my Nano QX! I've been having a blast with it and have learned a lot about the control system from holding it and trying to force it out of its desired position, so I've been able to really refine the quadcopter control system

This is the USB controller I have right now:

which works great!
And I'm pretty sure it's old, so if it works then I figure most newer ones will work too.
ALSO, I have an old EFlight controller that I will get a usb connector for shortly to make sure that real transmitters with USB hookups can work as well

 

[Spastickitten]

I use smartproproplus so I can use my 9xr, and I am wondering if you can do mapping and centering and stuff like that?

 

[Blueteak]

I use smartproproplus so I can use my 9xr, and I am wondering if you can do mapping and centering and stuff like that?

Yep! The calibrate button lets you center the sticks wherever you want (so throttle all the way down or centered depending on how you want to fly).

To map any axis, you just click the input and move the desired stick to map that axis to the input, so as long as your computer recognizes the controller you can map it to the inputs!

Edit: Also, as a byproduct of the system I am using, you can plug in up to four different controllers simultaneously if you wanted (for something like how the DJI Inspire works).