launch rocket to orbit without the HUD recording

[captainb]

I'm going to be recording some gameplay videos of my career save and would like to incorporate some cinematic shots during launch with the HUD (navball, stage indicator etc.)  hidden.  Off the top of my head I can think of 2 solutions, neither of which are acceptable to me.

Option 1:  MechJeb.    -  I could setup MJ and have it fly the launches to the desired orbit on autopilot and focus on recording the gameplay sans HUD.  However, I've never had MJ installed and want to fly my missions manually.

Option 2:  Separate Takes   -  By this I mean I would first record the launch footage on a 'dummy' launch without the HUD not caring if I ended up in the right orbit, then revert the flight  and fly the mission 'for real' with HUD on.  I could then potentially splice footage of both launches together to create something that looked believable.  However this approach seems disingenuous to me and I would like to avoid doing it.

 

Are there other ways of going about this besides these above options?  If so, do I need additional video/camera mods or other software?

I know I have seen videos of launches without the HUD active (ie shuttle recreations, cupcake lander) but I can't find any atm and don't know if any are for missions where the outcome mattered.  

 

TL;DR  Is there a way to fly a 'real mission' to a 100km orbit without having the HUD show up in the video footage?

 

Thanks for the feedback guys.  In the end I wasn't confident enough in my piloting skills to fly w/o the HUD as my launch vehicle has a nasty tendency to flip out and RUD if the nose gets too far from prograde.  I ended up just recording with the HUD on and used the Hullcam VDS Continued mod to get some cool camera angles.  If you're interested you can find the video in my mission report here.

Edited July 10, 2017 by captainb

[FancyMouse]

2 hours ago, captainb said:

Is there a way to fly a 'real mission' to a 100km orbit without having the HUD show up in the video footage?

Yes. Just press F2. Most mods even respect F2, so you don't even need to uninstall those mods just for the purpose of F2.

[Weywot8]

If just you want a few cinematic shots instead of doing the entire ascent  sans HUD, use F2 when you want to hide the HUD. 

Alternatively, you can fly the entire way HUD-less by switching in and out of IVA mode.

Or with lots of practice, just fly switching to map mode to eyeball your progress. Seems to be how some people do it.

[bewing]

The only thing you can't do on the pad before launch is set SAS into prograde mode. Beyond that, you can always get to any orbit you like without the navball -- it's just a question of efficiency. So bring some extra fuel and do it by eye.

If you insist on never seeing the navball in the footage, then launch, set SAS to prograde, F2 to kill the HUD, start the capture, fly to orbit.

If you are willing to clip out a few little glimpses of the navball from the footage, then it's even easier.

 

Edited July 5, 2017 by bewing

[Draalo]

Maybe

is a solution if you have a second display.

Open the map on the 2nd, enjoy the NavBall there + KER display...

[Spricigo]