Have
you ever spent hours searching flight simulator sites for a gauge you
just had to have for the custom panel you were creating, only to come up empty?
Have
you ever considered enrolling in a C++ course at a local college just so you
could program that Elliptical Framuzoid Indicator? Have you, in your frustration,
considered selling your yoke/joystick and picking up that long-ignored copy of
War and Peace? OK, I’m exaggerating a little, I admit it. However, with the
advent of some very capable panel design tools, the lack of custom gauges is
beginning to affect more and more folks in our hobby who want to try their hand
at making realistic (or just more functional) panels. If you’re one of these
folks, EasyGauge is for you.
Designed
for the non-programmer, EasyGauge simplifies the gauge coding process to such an
extent that, beginning with the component images, simple gauges can be created
and compiled into *.gau files in less than two minutes. Even the time it takes
to create complex gauges is drastically reduced. In this handbook, basic
programming techniques are explained using EasyGauge tutorials so that
non-programmers can become proficient gauge designers. Experienced gauge
programmers will also find EasyGauge quite useful as it has considerable
extensibility, including custom variables and functions.
So, put the Tolstoy back on the shelf, postpone that programming course until next semester, and begin creating your first gauge. Who knows: maybe the framuzoid you create today is just what the flight simulator community has been waiting for!