In the last post we went over the Iron HUD components. There is a great deal to say about the interactions and interface, but let’s just take a moment to recount everything that the HUD does over the Iron Man movies and The Avengers. Keep in mind that just as there are many iterations of the suit, there can be many iterations of the HUD, but since it’s largely display software controlled by JARVIS, the functions can very easily move between exosuits.
Gauges
Along the bottom of the HUD are some small gauges, which, though they change iconography across the properties, are consistently present.
For the most part they persist as tiny icons and thereby hard to read, but when the suit reboots in a high-altitude freefall, we get to see giant versions of them, and can read that they are:
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- Suit status
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- Targeting and optics
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- Radar
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- Artificial horizon
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- Map
Tony can, at a glance or request, summon more detail for any of the gauges.
Even different visualizations of similar information.
Object Recognition
In the 1st-person view we see that the HUD has a separate map in the lower-left, and object recognition/awareness,
In the 2nd-person view, we see even more layers of information about the identified objects, floating closer to tony’s point of view.
Situational
Most of the HUD functions we see, though, are situational, brought up for Tony’s attention when JARVIS believes they are needed, or when Tony requests them. Following are screenshots that illustrate a moment when the situational function appeared.
Iron Man
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- 3D wireframes of the local geography, air traffic
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- Big red label alerts
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- Full-overlay false horizon
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- Video conferencing
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- Tabular data (?!)
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- Resource management (power, weapons)
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- Damage reports of enemies
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- Altitude graphs
Iron Man 2
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- Bearing
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- Detailed area maps (plan view)
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- Detailed object map (elevation view)
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- 3D wayfinding
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- Suggested target points
Iron Man 3
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- Suit component status
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- Target eliminated notification
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- Collision warning
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- Optical zoom
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- Biometric analysis, target acquisition
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- Live video, in-situ object augmentation
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- Fish-eye zoom
The Avengers
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- System status of nearby machinery
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- Physics alerts
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- 3D schematics of observed machinery with damage highlights
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- 3D wireframe mini-map with enemy icons
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- Reactor illustration
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- Doom mode
Some of these illustrate why I argue that JARVIS is the superhero, and Tony just the onboard manager, but rather than reverse engineering any particular function, for this post it is enough to document them and note that only the optical zoom seems to be an interactive function. This raises questions of how he initiated the mode and how he escapes the mode, but since we don’t see the mechanisms of control, it’s entirely arguable that JARVIS is just being his usual helpful self again.
Next up in the Iron HUD series: Let’s dive deeper into the first-person view.
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Reblogged this on allabouteverything and commented:
This blog is amazing. We are so captivated by the action in movies like Iron Man and Jurassic Park that we don’t necessarily think about the things that allow these things to happen in the movie. I think I love JARVIS even greater now!