Ipad on horizontal or vertical position?

[morenoquinteiro]

Do you guys use it on which position? I like to use it in vertical position, since it resembles a bit more a real pin table. But in some tables (like Genie), I like to use it horizontally, since the real table is wider than most of other tables.

PS: sorry about my english, I'm from a non-speaking english country

 

[Kevlar]

Welcome morenoquinteiro. Portrait ( vertical ) here for all tables. Strangely I play Zen pinball in landscape though, but thats because none of the portrait views are any good.

 

[Fungi]

Horizontal. It gives me a larger view of the flippers which I use for aiming, and gives me lots of space on the edges so I can flip without my fingers blocking the view.

However...

Vertical for Twilight Zone. Works better for the "Powerfield".

 

[MadScience2006]

Portrait for me with the scrolling camera (for the most part). There's no right or wrong way to play. As long as you're comfortable with it, that's all that matters.

 

[Kolchak357]

I always play in landscape (horizontal). Just feels more comfortable with my hands not so close together. But most tables look better in portrait to me.

 

[Bride of Trolls]

I always play in landscape (horizontal). Just feels more comfortable with my hands not so close together. But most tables look better in portrait to me.

Same for me. I will buy a 12'or 13' iPad if Apple will offer it in the future.

Vertical for Twilight Zone. Works better for the "Powerfield".

Maybe i should try this. At the moment i am increasing my TZ score and
the powerfield is something difficult for me.

 

[night]

I use to play portrait but lately I prefer landscape.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Landscape as well...

 

[Longi]

Always portrait!

 

[Dpdropout]

Landscape all the time. Not only to play pinball, I actually have the rotation locked unless I read a comic or book.

 

[mmmagnetic]

I use to play portrait but lately I prefer landscape.

I do too. In my early days of TPA I used to always prefer portrait + the highest camera I could get, but lately I´ve been shrinking my virtual self more and more to the point where I can almost put my chin on the playfield.

Today was actually the first time I played TPA on my iPad in landscape in months, and it´s surprising how much more comfortable it is to hold the device, even with the (relative to the normal iPad) lighter Mini.

There has been a survey on the Pro Pinball forums recently about the viewing angles people prefer the most, this guy made an interesting point:

ErikM wrote:

The tradeoff is always this: A higher view gives you better perception of the ball's position; a lower view gives better perception of the ball's speed and acceleration. True for both real machines and simulations on a screen.

I go pretty low for viewing for both real machines and sims, which I think is more correct once you know a machine well. You'll start to know the ball position by intuition but you always want to see subtle shifts in speed and spin, especially around the flippers, which is better done from a low viewing angle.

I used to think that obviously a more top-down view had to be better than lower angles, since you get a more "objective" view on the table, but I recently discovered that lower angles give me a more, well - instinctive feel for the ball and the flippers. I like the feeling of the balls coming TOWARDS me, maybe it connects more to the primal reflexes in our brains than something falling vertically down, if that makes sense.

Since I have very little real pinball experience, this realization took me quite a while. It was only after I saw a picture of a guy at a tournament lowering his head to aim for a precise shot that it made me rethink my preferences - I used to think the lower angles in pinball sims were just to cram the whole table on the screen.

The downside is that I no longer enjoy playing top-down pinball games anymore. Sorry, Crystal Caliburn II and Revenge Of The Rob-O-Bot...

Welcome morenoquinteiro. Portrait ( vertical ) here for all tables. Strangely I play Zen pinball in landscape though, but thats because none of the portrait views are any good.

I just tried this out, and man, you´re right - I´m actually starting to kinda enjoy Zen Pinball now. The portrait views are all way too high; in landscape I can actually HIT stuff now Especially Paranormal was absolutely unplayable in portrait, the flippers were incredibly tiny.

(I realize this post is mostly about camera angles and not the actual device orientation, but they are kinda of related.)

 

[9u1d0]

Portrait, camera view 3, locked, no event cam.

 

[CycOd3liC]

Portrait.

 

[haj]

Portrait, and hold middle of iPad so thumbs placed slightly lower than the center. Since I've changed camera 1 to 2 and feel improved somewhat.

 

[gooche77]

Portrait all the way. The tablet was made for digital pinball!

 

[pinballchris]

Portrait all the way. The tablet was made for digital pinball!

I agree, and had not thought landscape as very popular and useful until reading this thread with the reasons on why others use landscape. I played HH just now and seemed ok, may try it more on some others