I'm going to build the center panel this week sometime. I'll mount the X Keys on the right side, the small touchscreen on the left.

The main monitor is a Viewsonic 27" LCD. 8ms response and I run at 1280x720 native. You'll notice some CH gear. I'm running a Fighterstick, Pro Throttle, Pro Pedals, Throttle Quadrant and a DT225 trackball (for HUD cursor and radar cursor). On the right side is a Buttkicker Gamer. I got to try one out at E3 when I was hanging w/the CH crew, they had one on their multiengine sim pit. I've got Logitech Z5500 5.1 speakers, and they have a 10" sub. It thumps. There's also an X Keys Pro there, although I'm waiting for Black Shark to fully program it. It's about 2/3rds programmed now. Track IR is also a necessary part of my pit.

You might have noticed the other two monitors. The little one on the left is an 8" touchscreen on which I run TouchBuddy™ software. The program sends keyboard commands to your sim. You can make any kind of graphics you like as a background and add hotspots or "buttons" to send your k/b commands to the game. You make a profile just as you would for a joystick. Which brings us to the 17" TFT. You're seeing some of the graphics I made for Touchbuddy. But it's a monitor right? True, but come Monday the 28th my 17" touchscreen overlay will be here. So when you touch the buttons on the MFD as shown on the middle screen, commands are sent to the game, just like on the 8" touchscreen.

The profile you see on the screen shows the parts of the center cockpit panel that have active commands related to Lock On. I also did graphics for the right and left consoles from the F15. If you wanna know how to open the slipway door to refuel, you should prolly check the left panel of the F15, cuz the toggle is there and it's animated. Touch the toggle and it moves while it sends the commands to your game to open the slipway.

You can see whats going on w/TouchBuddy at the website . We're looking at releasing v1.02 soon, and there's also a drag and drop GUI so you can easily create a profile for just about any game you like. Zorlac, the creator of TB™ is working on some special stuff with 1.03. Namely .lua importing of data from the sim. Basically you can overlay real time data on top of any graphic (my MPCD in the above pic for example). As soon as I get the pit done, I'll put together a little promo flick so you can see first hand how it works.

Yep, that's pretty damn slick. Nice to see that your artwork is soon going to get some use. Nice job!

I think that with your setup and that 17" "instrument panel" you might be interested in the products of a friend of mine, Mikeloto.

He runs alone the company Simmeters ( http://www.simmeters.com/ ) that offers this products:



He also has aditional instruments for Russian and US planes, that can be positioned at will on the screen. That means that you can build any instrument panel, representing any aircraft made on those countries.

If you then cover you screen with a panel (metal, plastic, cardboard, wood) the looks is really awsome.

Rugg, looking good, man. Looking forward to seeing more pics when you get that panel finished.

Do you just fly LOMAC or other sims as well?

Ripcord

Ripcord, I fly primarily LOMAC now. I muck around a bit with F4 and when I need a prop fix I do the IL2 series.

Gadget, I saw those. The only thing is that you're stuck with a monitor that only does one thing. We can use the same .lua data exported from the sim and not only show it in TouchBuddy, but we can superimpose it upon anything we like. Below are some screens I made for the F15. While this profile is for LockOn it can be adapted to any game/sim.



Basically touchbuddy can give you a clickable cockpit for any game you like. Except you don't have to move a mouse pointer around, you just use your finger to flip a switch on the screen.

Take for example the MPCD in the screen below, you could add real time data as an Active X control in the middle of the screen. All the while the buttons on the outside of the screen have hotspots which send commands.



In fact, one of the guys that's helping on the project has programmed the ability to import the data onto his PSP..........lol.

Which particular screen do you use with touchbuddy and was it touchbuddy ready? That's some cool goings on there.

So you have these different panels created for a particular game. I see two right now. Let's say that you made a third as well (center, left and right). And then you have TB on that big beautiful monitor in front. Can you switch between panels on the same monitor? I was thinking that multiple panels would be difficult because you would need multiple screens, but I never thought of it in terms of pages that could be flipped. Is that how your setup will work?

Coot, the touchscreen comes with driver software and almost all of the little touchscreens use the same drivers. TouchBuddy, which is a program Zorlac created integrates the touchscreen into games and programs. Yes, you can create a profile for Photoshop that will send all your shortcut commands for you. There's alot going on behind the scenes, and we have a great dev team. Wild Bill Kelso and Dodger are also working on this project. Not to mention members of the community that are doing the hard part and making profiles for different games. You should see some of the F4 profiles. One of the guys made a fantastic IL2 series profile. He flies German side and his text is teutonic in nature. It's a classy profile.

Corsair, at the bottom of the TB program are "tabs". You touch the tab and it changes to the associated screen. I have Left, Center and Right panels in my profile. I also have all of the Wingman, Tower and AWACS commands on three pages (tabs). There's also a Teamspeak plugin, an Active X plugin that is a timer, and there is an integrated HTML page that you can choose between theatres of operation as well as individual airfield diagrams. I'm currently porting all the airfield info into head down screenshots of the airfields.

The cool thing is that while you can choose different pages on each touchscreen, they also operate independantly. Just like real MFD's in the real planes.

Would all of this function (the different pages and even the integrated HTML page) be available even on a non-networked touch-buddy? I think you mentioned once before that you were running networked and I don't really want to have another unit running for this. In addition, would a bad F4 pilot such as myself be able to have the F4AF manual running on one of those tabs?

He he, I keep dismissing this as an option in my own cockpit and then you reveal more. "Just when I thought I was out, he drags me back in."

Yeah, the different pages are part of the program itself. How many pages do you want? 10? 20? As for networked, I run 2 computers out of necessity. I have a 20" monitor on my main desk, which is for all of my computer needs, while the 27" monitor is in my pit for flying. So both outs are taken. There are several people that are running local with no problems. As of now TB doesn't work on F4 with some of the mods out there, but it does work with F4/AF. Something to do with mousecapture. It works in LOMAC/Flaming Cliffs/Black Shark (one of the beta testers verified this). It works in IL2 series. It's being tested for Strike Fighters (as of now it doesn't work). It works in FS2004.

What you need is this: A compatible touchscreen (must have VGA and USB input). An extra video out on your computer. Windows XP. That's about it!

Corsair, think of TB this way: All of the functions of it are in a standalone program. Like Photoshop for example. You can add modules or plugins to TB, just like Photoshop. The touchscreen basically sends keyboard commands. When you touch the screen it's like putting your mouse cursor over a shortcut for that command. Touch and release is the same as a left mouse click. When I first started all of this it was difficult to grasp the concept of it all, but it didn't take long for me to figure out the theory of all of this. Or to fall in love with TB and touchscreen technology.

I can have clickable pits for any f/s out there.

You left out one important difference - you have a clickable pit for any f/s out there and you don't have to screw around with the mouse. A clickable pit sounds awesome until you try to put it into practice. It's a rude awakening. You get to reach out and touch something.

Now that I have a better understanding of what is going on (I had nightmares about trying to piece together numerous touch-screens) I may have to lurk on the touch buddy site and get some more info.

I'm particularly interested in your 17" and the forthcoming overlay. That sounds like an approach that I would like to take as well.

Which particular touch screen do you own and how much was it?

The one I bought can be seen here . You can probably get a better deal on it if you shop around. I recommend you head over to the tested touchscreens section of the TB forums to see what everyone else is using. There's quite a variety of brands. They all use the same drivers though.

I have looked at the list but was confused as to what was considered a solid product. There are some in the list that say not tested. That one there though seems to be a pretty good price though.

Ruggbutt, what do you think about this one?

ebay

Alot of the guys have those. Their native res is 640x480, so text on the screen is iffy when you run your screen at 800x600 res as most of the profiles are that res.

Read up in the forums, it's a good screen except for the resolution issue.

Purchased From:cbk_usa_electronics

Item # Item Title Quantity Price Subtotal
320017436587 BrandNew Lilliput 8.4" LCD Touchscreen Monitor & Remote 1 $204.99 USD $204.99 USD


Shipping & Handling via Standard Delivery to 630XX
(includes any seller handling fees) $24.99 USD
Shipping Insurance (included): --

Total: $229.98 USD

From ebay -Buy it Now price. Will be here Saturday. I've been messing with TB for awhile now and just had to take the plunge and get a real touchscreen after seeing some of the latest work being done on it by these great guys!

While you're waiting, take some time to read WBK's setup tutorial. It will help you to setup the touchscreen quick and painless.

gadget> Hi since Mikeloto is your friend could you pls. ask him whether he will support export views of MFDs for Black Shark as well? In particular ABRIS and Flir TV are essential for any serious pit attempt. So far there is zero response from the ED team about this feature. Although MSFS and others have it for years..

Perhaps ABRIS/Flir TV could be in the future supported in TouchBuddy who knows..

17" tuch screen overlay for $200 - there are probably many more. It is not that expensive if you buy the 17" lcd as refurb or 2nd hand..
http://www.touchwindow.com/miva/merchant...17inchLaptopLCD