Why Is My Image Stretched

threelittlefish · Post by **threelittlefish** » 08 Jul 2009, 13:40

I installed TH2GO Digital and noticed that the edges of the image on the outer panels are distorted. The extreme left and right sides seem stretched. Any ideas?

Butch_N · Post by **Butch_N** » 08 Jul 2009, 14:07

Are you using a resolution that maintains proper aspect ratio for you monitors?

Oh and welcome to WSGF :)

Post by **scavvenjahh** » 08 Jul 2009, 16:06

This is what some call the "fish eye effect", and we educated people of the WSGF call "edge distortion". :mrgreen:
Check out The Truth About Edge Distortion and the Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition Featured Review to find out more.

Butch_N · Post by **Butch_N** » 08 Jul 2009, 16:51

It's not possible to make it go away. But in FSX (any game really) using a res with the same aspect as the monitors does help reduce it.
It is much more noticable at 3840x1024 than it is at 4320x900 on mine. I have 16:10 monitors. But it is always there.
Using TrackIR to pan the view (hat switch will do if you don't have TIR) and keeping your eyes on the center screen as much as possible really helps. Let the side panels fill your peripheral vision only. Don't look at the sides, or at least as little as possible.

I found that setting the monitors in a straight line really helps too. Some disagree though. For me having them at a angle amplifies the effect. I'm using 3 larger than average panels though (25.5"), so that might be why it works like that for me.

Anyway, after you use it a while, and learn to focus on the center panel most of the time, it soon becomes less annoying. In fact it is hardly noticable, until you look over at one of the side screens.

PapaLes · Post by **PapaLes** » 08 Jul 2009, 18:19

You may like this, maybe not. In FSX the default zoom is .30, increase it to somewhere between .60 to maybe .75, then using ctrl+Enter adjust your seat position so that you are back behind the dash panel comfortably.
Don't look straight down or you will realize that you are actually behind the seat. If you don't like it you just return your zoom to .30 and your seating with crtl+ BackSpace.
I use this trick when flying the Grand Canyon in an Ultralight and it really reduces the skewed look on the side panels.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 08 Jul 2009, 18:31

Are you using 16:9 or 16:10 displays at 3840x1024 by chance? Double check to make sure you're using the right aspect ratio for your hardware. Then check the FOV settings specific to that game.

threelittlefish · Post by **threelittlefish** » 11 Jul 2009, 05:07

Thanks for the responses. I agree it's distortion and I'll jsut have to live with it.

Thanks for the tip concerning adjusting seat position and zoom. That was helpful.

Leapo · Post by **Leapo** » 11 Jul 2009, 07:20

You may like this, maybe not. In FSX the default zoom is .30, increase it to somewhere between .60 to maybe .75, then using ctrl+Enter adjust your seat position so that you are back behind the dash panel comfortably.
Don't look straight down or you will realize that you are actually behind the seat. If you don't like it you just return your zoom to .30 and your seating with crtl+ BackSpace.
I use this trick when flying the Grand Canyon in an Ultralight and it really reduces the skewed look on the side panels.

It's worth noting, this will reduce edge distortion on any game with a movable camera (basically any 3rd person perspective game).

For instance, I've used this very same trick in Fallout 3. Reduce the FOV to 30 and then go into 3rd person mode and zoom out backwards until you have a comfortable field of view.

Here's an example screenshot: http://kimag.es/share/66873719.jpg

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