What is KiteShow?
KiteShow is a quad line kite flight simulator. It can simulate individual, team and megateam flying. It operates from any recent device equipped with Internet access and a browser.
All quad line kite movements are possible, except freestyle for the moment. Our aim is to make simulations as realistic as possible. Team flying simulations are available:
We hope to use KiteShow to illustrate and promote individual, team and megateam flying practices. We also hope to enable kite flyers to simulate their choreography in a simple and intuitive way.
Is KiteShow free and open source?
KiteShow is free! Our activities are voluntary.
The simulator is not open source at the moment. We plan to make its source code public at a later date.
What does KiteShow need to be open source?
It’s a question of priority, source code stability and available time.
For the time being, we’ve created a gallery of maneuvers, as we believe this brings a lot to the community. The simulation engine is still evolving as complex figures are developed. For example, the Blender maneuver is available for different team sizes.
We hope to take the time to animate a github and a community around it.
Can I create and modify choreographies?
Choreographies are not currently editable. They are stored as lines of code.
Eventually, we hope to make 2 editing modes available:
- Create free simulations with movements such as moving forward, stopping, turning 90° on the right wing, etc.
- Make live calls as a leader, e.g. ball, burst, return, back to line, etc.
How does the simulator work?
The simulator runs in your browser using Javascript technology.
For each choreography, we have first :
- Written the movements of each kite, e.g. 90° rotation in the center, 100 pixels forward, 180° rotation on the left wing, waiting for the other kites, etc.
- Write leader calls
- Record leader’s vocal instructions
Before displaying the choreography, the simulator will load this preparation in the form of lines of code, as well as images and sounds.
The simulator calculates live the movements of each kite, as well as the leader’s written and spoken instructions. At the same time, it displays the routine as a video player with specific options.
What functions does the simulator offer?
- Simulate solo, team or megateam choreographies
- Read and listen to calls made by the leader
- Watch the simulation like a video player: play, pause, play cursor, full screen…
- Change many options: number of kites in flight, playback speed, pause when calls are made…
Other functionalities are ready but inactive for the moment:
- Play background music, just like at a festival!
- Generate a video from the simulation
- Increase or reduce simulation resolution
- Pre-save a list of choreographies for on-demand display
- Use keyboard shortcuts
What’s next?
- Publish an animated guide to individual, team and megateam figures, with concrete examples and choreographies
- Adapt the simulation to the performance of your device, so as to display in high definition if possible.
- Enable the creation of new choreographies
- Issue live orders during simulation