Regarding force feedback, thanks for the update, please let me know if you have time to revisit this. I'm still learning to find my way around Chrono so I don't think I can be of much help right now, but I could definitely help with the controller part of such an implementation.
On Monday, June 27, 2022 at 9:19:59 PM UTC+2 Radu Serban wrote: > Hi Marcel, > > > > Thank you for the PR! I just merged it. > > > > Regarding force feedback, I don’t know for sure, but I doubt the students > working on this implemented it. A main roadblock for that is that we > currently do not model the steering column (steering input is used to > directly actuate the steering mechanism, e.g., through a rotational angle > motor on the Pitman arm’s revolute joint). I have a draft of a (compliant) > steering column model but put it on the backburner as I ran into some > difficulties. I’ll revisit that when I get a chance. > > > > Best, > Radu > > > > *From:* [email protected] <[email protected]> *On > Behalf Of *Marcel Offermans > *Sent:* Monday, June 27, 2022 5:31 PM > *To:* ProjectChrono <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [chrono] Improved joystick (wheel, pedal, h-shifter) > support... > > > > I've further evolved and tested my earlier solution and made sure it works > on different systems here, including both sequential and H-shifter setups. > I've created a pull request here: > https://github.com/projectchrono/chrono/pull/405 > > > > Looking forward to any feedback! > > > > Greetings, Marcel > > > > On Wednesday, June 22, 2022 at 5:28:53 PM UTC+2 Marcel Offermans wrote: > > Hello Radu, > > > > Thanks for the feedback, I will work towards a PR. One other question came > to mind, since you say you've implemented something for the Logitech wheels > (assuming you're talking about the G25, 27, 29, ... range of consumer > wheels here): did you also implement any force feedback? Although I'm not > sure if the IrrLicht interface supports that, going directly to > DirectX/DirectInput would, so that could be another thing to add that would > improve the feeling of the cars a lot. > > > > Greetings, Marcel > > On Wednesday, June 22, 2022 at 2:12:06 PM UTC+2 Radu Serban wrote: > > Hi Marcel, > > > > This part of the code was indeed more experimental and has not seen much > use as implemented in the main Chrono repository. Having said that, > students in the lab have implemented more sophisticated joystick > interfaces, as well as interfaces to driving wheel controllers (such as the > Logitech sets). As you suspected, these were implemented in external > projects that are built on top of Chrono & Chrono::Vehicle and which we use > for human-in-the-loop simulations. > > > > Having said that, more robust support for such controllers in Chrono is > probably not a bad idea and you seem to have implemented a pretty > comprehensive interface. I think this would be a nice addition to Chrono > and encourage you to submit it as a PR. > > > > As for making ChPowertrain::SetGear() public, that’s fine. For what we > needed so far, we’ve always use ShiftUp and ShiftDown, but a fully manual > transmission box would indeed allow you to traverse gears non-sequentially. > > > > Thanks, > --Radu > > > > *From:* [email protected] <[email protected]> *On > Behalf Of *Marcel Offermans > *Sent:* Tuesday, June 21, 2022 8:32 PM > *To:* ProjectChrono <[email protected]> > *Subject:* [chrono] Improved joystick (wheel, pedal, h-shifter) support... > > > > Hi all, I've been working a bit on the ChIrrGuiDriver class, a class that > provides "human in the loop" support for many of the vehicle demos. That > said, in it's current state, it definitely had some serious limitations. > Before offering a PR, I put up a commit with my changes so far in a fork of > Chrono I have on my github, because there might be some discussion points > that need to be addressed. > > > > This is the commit (so far): > > > https://github.com/m4rr5/chrono/commit/bb4367c0767bfb42a2bd4a1b6a2a82367a7d6bab > > > > So what did I change? First and foremost, I implemented support for > assigning joystick axis and buttons in a scenario where you have more than > one "joystick" attached. This is pretty common when you talk about modern > simulators. They come with pedals (separate USB device), a wheel (one or > sometimes even two devices), an H-shifter (separate device) and a button > box (again, separate device with tons of buttons to change in-car systems). > > > > On top of that I added basic support to calibrate each of those axis, > setting the minimum and maximum (raw) value for that axis as well as the > intended (scaled) output values. More could be added here for sure, such as > deadzones and non-linear behavior, but I'm putting those features up for > discussion first. > > > > Also, I changed the way you map your axis and buttons. Instead of > hardcoding them, there is now a "../data/joystick.json" file that allows > you to assign all axis and buttons. An example, for my development machine > that only has an XBox controller (and it does not map all the H-shifter > buttons, an exercise that can easily be done by the reader): > > > > { > "steering": { > "name": "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", > "axis": 0, > "min": -32768, > "max": 32767, > "scaled_min": 1, > "scaled_max": -1 > }, > "throttle": { > "name": "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", > "axis": 2, > "min": -1, > "max": -32767, > "scaled_min": 0, > "scaled_max": 1 > }, > "brake": { > "name": "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", > "axis": 2, > "min": 0, > "max": 32767, > "scaled_min": 0, > "scaled_max": 1 > }, > "clutch": { > "name": "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", > "axis": 4, > "min": 0, > "max": 32767, > "scaled_min": 0, > "scaled_max": 1 > }, > "shiftUp": { > "name": "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", > "button": 4 > }, > "shiftDown": { > "name": "Controller (Xbox One For Windows)", > "button": 5 > } > } > > > > So I think the values more or less explain themselves. By using the names > of the controllers, it does not matter in what order they show up on your > system. At startup, they get mapped to joystick IDs. > > > > I also added sequential shifter support. The underlying code right now > will only let you shift if you have a manual gearbox. I left that as is for > now, but you could argue that it makes sense, even in the scenario of an > automatic gearbox, to allow drivers to manually override gears. > > > > There was some code in there too for H-shifter support, but in its current > state I could not get that to work. I modified the code a bit to support up > to 9 forward gears and added support for shifting (as long as you have the > clutch pressed down). Again, you can argue if that (pressing the clutch) is > needed. Especially modern race cars typically allow shifting without > clutch. Up for discussion! > > > > Now another issue I encountered is that there were some bits of API that I > had to modify: > > 1. There were methods to Get/Set JoystickAxes directly, but those did > not take into account what Joystick (ID or name) to use, so I commented > those out. As far as I can see, nobody was using them (but that could be > different for upstream projects using Chrono). > 2. I had to make the SetGear() method public so it could be accessed > from the driver. I saw no other way to implement the H-shifter and make it > change gears. The existing code had nothing to shift?!? > > I also added a few minor things such as: > > - Protection against "double shifts" (timeout currently hardcoded). > - Debug mode that will, twice per second, print all the values of the > joytick axes and buttons connected, very handy when you're writing a > joystick.json file, can be disabled otherwise. > > I'm sure I accidentally left in a bug or two as well, so feel free to > point out anything that can be improved, or suggest different ways of doing > things. > > > > Greetings, Marcel > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "ProjectChrono" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/projectchrono/b9db4907-3086-445e-b2a9-016c4f41a0ban%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/projectchrono/b9db4907-3086-445e-b2a9-016c4f41a0ban%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "ProjectChrono" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/projectchrono/ef5a33fd-5ca1-454e-bf93-c7dab257d7efn%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/projectchrono/ef5a33fd-5ca1-454e-bf93-c7dab257d7efn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ProjectChrono" group. 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