MSFS Popouts with Air Manager

A tutorial on how to setup MSFS 2020 popout windows with Air Manager panels. This also includes the basics for generation and use of a custom instrument panel image.

[@murraywheten6562]

Although it took you a while to get to the point, I would like to thank you for making the BEST and EASIEST explanation of how to create a transparent image! Thank you SIR!!!

[@OJHussick]

I died halfway through. Enjoying the results from the afterlife.

[@brlowe1]

Great video explaining popouts. Some people have a hard time with this but this will help them a lot.

[@vitmedia]

Very useful, thanks. I’m already at a reasonable competency with Air Manager but I have always struggled with lining up pop outs. The tip about click through was gold because I’d always assumed it was unavailable and didn’t think to turn the panel off before it can be activated. Cheers!

[@DownTheRabbit-Hole]

Yep, Hide Panel, check clck thru box, Load panel.

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

Yes it’s purposefully longer than necessary simply because this video is not specifically about creating the transpatency by itself and because I intentionally go slow and repeat myself so it benefits as many as possible. If you know most of the stuff already you can skim watch until you get to the bit you need.

[@EternalDetracting]

Hi I’m unable to control the displays using the g1000 layout once I’ve positioned them! Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

[@haysammerebe3677]

Hi i have main computer running MSFS and i have all in one touch screen computer running Air manger the cessna 172 panel works fine , I have spacedesk also , i have popped out the PFD when i drag it it goes behind the bezel i have clicked off the always on top but it still the same i am not sure whether the spacedesk or what plz help

[@ronstuveling]

Perfect. this is a good video.

[@ottopilot6536]

Hi Tony. Crunchmeister here. I agree it's unfortunate that Microsobo didn't feel it was necessary to add a feature to place popouts automatically. But also, it's not surprising, as no one at Asobo had any experience with flight simulation before this project. It's very much a case of "you don't know what you don't know", I think. In fact, everything about the popout feature in the sim seems very half-baked at this point in time and feels more like an afterthought than a properly planned feature. So far though, there's been no acknowledgement of any issue with popouts - with performance being the biggest. I ask during every live Q&A session, but my question is never answered. Hopefully that will change in the future.

[@DownTheRabbit-Hole]

Hello Cruchmeister. Thanks for great panels. Big VATSIM and AM fan. The POM works well with G3-5000 Garmin GTC 570/580 due to click thru and their enable touch feature. I am able to get all I need (2 GTC mfd pfd, AP) on one ASUS 21.5' screen without a huge perf hit maybe 2fps. using 3 wide in 1440p on 2080ti/i9. I use the Vision Jet for this reason. would like to use Longitude but the GTC's are orientated vertical oh well. The longy has issues really. PFD/MFD too dim etc. The way MSFS pops out windows is silly in the first place. Widow in window? Huh? Good Luck Keep up the good work. Have you ever looked at the Phenom 300E, G3-5000 for msfs? Might be a great coorporate jet prospect for AM panels. I have flown the Aerobask P300 on XP and Vatsim for years, Great simple logical cockpit where all I need is on one touchscreen/knobster. Awesome single pilot certified aircraft.

[@DownTheRabbit-Hole]

As for X-Plane 12 G1000 popouts... If you layout the AM bezels in the same location for every aircraft it works well. I use Asus 21.5 so I put them right next to each other all the way across top. They are very readable and they start in same location for diff aircraft.

[@misturarica7519]

You can use fancy zones to make them quickly fit to your desired window part.

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

I think I mentioned that in the video. But IMHO fancy zones and other tools do not provide the ideal solution. You still have to manually pop out the windows with fancy zones for instance and you are limited with the number of profiles you can set. There is a tool that auto pops out the windows and places them but it doesn’t work every time and has other limitations. When we get an ideal solution I think we will all be happy.

[@Techno_dad]

Got two touch screens 15.1 inch considering air manager and housing them on some aluminium or mdf adding in resin printed buttons and rotaries. if not using real knobs is it easy to sue the touch screen in those rotarys or is it a pain

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

Have a look at some of my other videos and you will see me using what’s called a knobster for the rotary controls. If you have a knobster enabled when you touch the rotary control on screen it highlights yellow and you use the physical knobster dials to operate that control. It works really well. Most users who have touch screens use knobster because it’s way better than trying to rotate with just touch.

[@ericsmith313]

i have 2 touch monitors and sfs 2020, the touch is a little finacy and not working correctly on the pop out windows, ie.. the touch panels of the g3000 you can pop out. or the 750 mod you can pop out. neither work correctly with touch yet, hoping soon.

[@general99411]

In your video you've show how to pop up panel automatically adjusted its seize to the selected space to be fuild in the MFD and PFD. However in my case they dont auto resize they conserve the black bazle and make for an ugly bezel any tips ?

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

I'm not sure i understand your problem. What time in the video do you refer? What is your expectation on what should resize, the Air Manager panel or the MSFS popout?

[@danielpark8256]

Thanks for a great video. I am not an expert and couldn’t exactly understand everything. BUT what program did you use exactly to adjust the transparent Zone panel size? What program did you use to make it? It looks like in Air manager doesn’t have the same program you are using. After some searching, I wonder if I should study on LUA or photoshop or something similar?

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

I used GIMP on this occasion. It’s a free photoshop alternative.

[@christoph8130]

how is your fps then? For me it drops from 70 to 21! Can you show your fps in practice?

[@ParkerRyanPerforms]

So how do I use overlays on my iPad ? Thank you I bought the Cessna414 and it’s awesome we need to optimize it for the iPads

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

The iPad is not the best display purely due to its limited size, that said if used as a desktop extension using an app such as Spacedesk then you can move any Air Manager overlay or sim popout onto it for use. If you don’t have already I’d highly recommend a pair of 20-24” touch screens for the best experience.

[@pulidoggy]

@ExperimentalSimAvionics A very detailed video but, given my lack of experience, at the end I am a bit confused, my fault. 😊 There's one main thing that is not clear to me: I'm already using the MSFS pop out function to get my instruments displayed on the screens of a networked pc using Spacedesk, but I don't see what is the role of Air Manager in all this. As far as I know, AM has its own set of instruments to choose from, but what does it have to do with MSFS popped out instruments? Is it just to add bezels and frames to the pop out, or else is it has some more fundamental and specific handling function that I'm overlooking at the moment? Thanks!

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

It’s as simple as just that. If the AM instrument has Overlay in the name then it is specifically designed to overlay the sim popout and provide usually the bezel and some controls. The extra bit is it enables the use of hardware if you have it, such as a knobster which greatly helps with the control of rotaries.

[@pulidoggy]

@@ExperimentalSimAvionics Ok, that's very clear. Thank you!

[@tommykoppy6872]

So i setup a secondary pc to run PDF/MFD touch displays while the main pc runs the sim. I have a g1000 panel setup in air manager and communicating with MsFS on the main PC. Now I was under the impression air manager would take those pop outs and send them over the LAN to secondary pc’s panels. Not the case I guess, what is my best option to make this work?

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

You have 2 choices. Run Air Manager on the sim PC like most people do or use remote display software to send the popout windows over the LAN. I’d recommend the first option.

[@tommykoppy6872]

@@ExperimentalSimAvionics Yea I believe I’ll just get a usb 3 to dual hdmi adapter. Main pc has all 4 outputs already in use. Sucks as I’ll have to buy other license for airmanager lol. Oh well, I attempted to save gpu resources but I guess the 3090 will have to work a little harder.

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

@@tommykoppy6872 Air Manager doesn’t use that much of the GPU at all so that will be ok I think. Let us know what adapter you go with as I’ll need one of those down the line and would be interested in how it performs.

[@tommykoppy6872]

@@ExperimentalSimAvionics Will do. Also Air Manager let’s you transfer activation 3 times. :)

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

@@tommykoppy6872 Yes sorry forgot to mention you can Re-activate. 3 times is just a limit but can be extended by emailing support.

[@dziemvuong5024]

Hi , how much fps drop when you create a second panel?

[@DownTheRabbit-Hole]

I have 4 popouts, 2 GTC, MFD, PFD for Vision jet G3-5000 and I lose 2fps. 2080ti/i9. 3 wide 1440p with asus 21.5 am touchscreen below

[@jeffreydill5792]

Good insights, but didn’t get me beyond the brick wall I faced for several days. I have been trying to get Air Manager with Knobster to manipulate the Garmin 430 in the Carenado V35. I have concluded that the problem is with the Carenado files.

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

This video deals with popouts. It sounds like you have a knobster related query. I doubt it’s anything to do with the aircraft files. To get some help with this particular problem it’s probably best to ask on the ESA discord. discord.gg/cmtfwZEAug

[@shafeeqsyed7394]

Please help i want to buy air manager for my desk top computer and pay for it, the question is can i use ipad's as mfd and pfd .Or i have to buy apps for for both ipad's seperatly it means buying 3 times.please let me know

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

If you use an App like spacedesk that enables the use of iPads as wireless monitors to a desktop then you can just buy the desktop version. The dedicated tablet apps for Air Manager do not support sim popouts so a full PFD and MFD will not work with them.

[@bruceberg3574]

So helpful, thank you. I am having one problem. I get the png file with the snipping tool and load that image into Gimp. I have no problem creating the bezel rectangle to delete out the interior instrument leaving the checkerboard transparency, I then invert the selection but when I go over the bezel with the eraser tool it erases everything as I drag the eraser around, and leaves the entire result as a checkerboard, so it’s not just erasing the bezel, it is erasing everything. I know I am very close, I just need a hand finishing this step. Thanks so much if you’ve got a moment to reply. Bruce

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

Once you invert the selection it means everything but the transparent checkerboard area is now selected, so rather than use the eraser tool, use the colour picker to pick the background colour and then a wide pen to paint over what’s left with the panel colour. Hope that helps.

[@bruceberg3574]

@@ExperimentalSimAvionics Thanks for the Uber quick reply. Worked perfectly. When I first watched your vid a couple weeks back I thought really? All this? But like 99% of things if you just watch the vid a few times and trust the system the solution will be revealed. I am repurposing my PT-Actuator racing simulator into a motion flight simulator based on the Cj4. I want to get going!

[@bruceberg3574]

@@ExperimentalSimAvionics That is just trick, finally pfd/mfd on 15.6 screen and working perfectly. The last couple days have been hair tearing but now I see it is so straightforward. Thanks again, you are a hero who passes his knowledge on in a friendly but very thoughtful way. Click/click from me.

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

@@bruceberg3574 Thanks for the kind words. So glad you have it working now and you see that once you know how it’s really quite simple. Also glad you find the channel useful. Keep watching for more videos.

[@bruceberg3574]

Life’s a bitch when you’re 69. I did get it and was finally successful then spent half the day yesterday not remembering and kept trying to use the eraser again instead of the paint brush! I was like WTF? Then laying in bed this morning and mulling and mulling when it finally came back to me. Paintbrush, paintbrush, paintbrush! I will never forget it now….

[@marcw.5492]

Im trying to determine how well the KNOBS work in MSFS with Air Manager. Ive been thru this before with Xplane but the knob turning didnt work well (not with Air Manager) in fact no touch screen feature seemed to work with Xplane for some reason. Ive downloaded the Demo version of Air Manager (2nd time) and i cant get anywhere. Im trying to do the very bsic G1000 panel setup. hmmm Thanks so much

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

Your issue is the demo version. You can only run the 6 instruments provided with the demo. If you want to use other instruments like a G1000 bezel you will need a full desktop version licence of Air Manager. For the best user experience with knobs I’d highly recommend a knobster.

[@marcw.5492]

Hey thanks so much sir; I figured. I have tried touch screen in XPLANE but same issue - Knob turning is the thing that is seemingly the major dilemma. Can you turn knobs without the Knobster using Air Manager ? Just touch screen ? Regards. @@ExperimentalSimAvionics

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

Yea the knobs can still be controlled without a knobster but it’s so much more realistic and precise with the knobster

[@shafeeqsyed7394]

After I pop out my instrument pannels they go out of my view area and i can not find them to bring to my i pads

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

It sounds like you have changed your display configuration at some point and the sim is placing the popout in a location that no longer exists. The solution is to plug in the displays you removed if you have them and once you see the popout move it back to a screen location that you want to keep.

[@justieziegler423]

Thanks for such a nice video, it's really helpful for building MSFS cockpit set. But can I know if it automatically works when I open FS again after I shutdown my computer?

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

No not automatically just with MSFS but there is an App that will make the whole process automatic. I have a video on this channel that shows how that works also.

[@DownTheRabbit-Hole]

The new version of POM 3.4.5 I think, shuts down p[opouts and opens them automatically.

[@jimtheflea]

Holding the right-ALT key down while the mouse is over the screen does nothing for me. Does this still work in SU10?

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

Yes

[@jimtheflea]

@@ExperimentalSimAvionics Would you have any idea why the right alt / left click works on some keyboards but not others? I've seen other posts that says it doesn't work, but I've never seen a solution.

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

@@jimtheflea I think someone else had a similar issue and had to change the key that does the pop out. It might be keyboard language related.

[@lewymartain8267]

Once popped out can these be moved to another display ?

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

Yes indeed they can.

[@user-vr7vy9id7u]

Thnak yo so much from Korea!

[@natirevivo]

what abut the gtn 750 Popouts video?

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

I don’t think there’s a need for a separate video for each unit. The process is the same.

[@dave-j-k]

I've not 'got it' yet :) I fail to see why you need a transparent background behind the grey custom image mask that has a transparent hole in it?

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

It’s explained in the video. The background colour and the custom background image are 2 different layers and can be set independently so both need to be transparent in the region that the popout shows through.. Therefore you set the colour to transparent and then use the custom image to control what spaces allow the popout to show through.

[@dave-j-k]

@@ExperimentalSimAvionics Thanks, it's still not sinking in - i think the only way is to try it myself and see what/why, hopefully that will clear the fog :) I can see how the custom image/mask works but fail to see still why it needs a transparent layer behind it. I'll have to play about a bit i think.

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

The options are there to give different ways to make your panels. Because it has these 2 layers you have to have a transparent section in both to see the popout. It could be done with just the one layer but the other one is there to provide flexibility for users. You are basically disabling the colour layer by setting it to fully transparent and then use the custom image as your instrument panel. This is how the premium panels are setup and is the preferred method for most applications.

[@dave-j-k]

@@ExperimentalSimAvionics Got it going now, much easier to just do it and see what & why :) Looks good now.

[@russellgrundy8534]

Hi tony Are you in Australia

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

Yes. Why do you ask?

[@russellgrundy8534]

Live in Brisbane and keen to chat to someone that’s into air manager Want to build a simple touch screen sim using air manger

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

The Aiman discord is a good place to catch me. What sim(s)?

[@russellgrundy8534]

@@ExperimentalSimAvionics Baron Cessna type GA Amin discord, sorry not familiar with that location

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

Sorry a bit of a typo. That was meant to say Airman discord. discord.gg/xtCg7Rqh

[@geekdomo]

I kind of feel like this video could have been 4-5 minutes max.

[@ExperimentalSimAvionics]

I go slow, add extra detail and reiterate points intentionally because some take longer to grasp the concept and it is aimed at new users so may be a bit slow for a more experienced user who already understands some of the concepts involved. Hope that explains why.