MipMaps actually work right! [pictures]

[styckx 1,871]

I saw in another thread A2A is telling people to disable cockpit panel mips which got my brain churning... FSX is notoriously awful handing Mips and no one uses them.  Does this mean??? YES!

  

MIPMAPS ACTUALLY FUNCTION OUT OF THE BOX IN V2!! NO BLUR!

 

I converted the textures of a Carenado 182T textures w/ Mips and edited each layer (except the top layer) of the mip chain with a different color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is best news out of V2 I've seen yet!!

[GSalden 4,656]

Wow !

Thanks for testing..

[styckx 1,871]

I'm soooooooo stoked about this..  Converting my hanger is going to be a long process but it will be completely worth the effort. Oh happy days!!  :dance:​ 

[RelaxX 11]

The second picture looks stunning. B)

 

How did you convert a Carenado 182T to use Mips?

[styckx 1,871]

The second picture looks stunning. B)

 

How did you convert a Carenado 182T to use Mips?

 

Just do exactly the opposite of what all the repaint guides tell you not to do.. Actually save your texture with Mips.. This alone warrants strictly v2 only planes.. And v2 only repaints..     :Hypnotized:   :yahoo:

 

[gandy 18]

Good stuff Bill

[FlyIce 354]

Those images look really nice, but what does MipMap exactly do in this case? Or what is MipMap anyway? Sorry for my ignorance...    Never mind, I did some google and I now understand what kind of the test Bill was doing.

[styckx 1,871]

Those images look really nice, but what does MipMap exactly do in this case? Or what is MipMap anyway? Sorry for my ignorance...

 

I'm using a cat picture as an example because I think it would be rude to post a developers default unedited texture.

 

Imagine the left most image is 4096x4096

 

Currently.. No matter if the camera is 1inch away from your plane, or 100ft away.. It's still rendering that 4096x4096 texture which is just wasteful and can cause aliasing.   Now, as you move away from the object it transitions to the lower resolution textures to the right..  Hence the blending of colors in my first post.

 

Direct link to picture: http://i.imgur.com/U4jLZK4.jpg

 

Edit: Just saw your edit.. I'll leave this post here for others who might not understand.

[Guest]

 

 

Edit: Just saw your edit.. I'll leave this post here for others who might not understand.

 

Thanks for that! ^_^

[1st fltsimguy 466]

Wow.....very good work!  Congratulations on discovering a new element.

[Howellerman 104]

I am curious about the jaggy shadow of the rear tail wing in the second picture - is that an artifact of the MIPS process?

[SolRayz 392]

So from a performance standpoint, is this beneficial?

[styckx 1,871]

I am curious about the jaggy shadow of the rear tail wing in the second picture - is that an artifact of the MIPS process?

 

No. That's a side affect of the plane itself in DX11 shadows. Not all are like this.. (I actually deleted and reinstalled it to verify after you pointed that shadow out)

 

For example.. Here is the Carenado 210 that I just installed. It has the same problem and I've yet to convert..  The wing shadows though are straight as an arrow. The DX11 shadows might be picking up the little ridges in the control surfaces..

 

 

 

So from a performance standpoint, is this beneficial?

 

 

You're not going to go from 9FPS to 9000FPS by any means..  You may see no actual performance differences. It's just less overhead, more efficient and less likely to see shimmering..   This is how aircraft textures should have been in FSX but unfortunately adding mips to  aircraft in FSX cause it to be super blurry. It never showed the top mip layer no matter what you did.

[mganz121 159]

No. That's a side affect of the plane itself in DX11 shadows. Not all are like this.. (I actually deleted and reinstalled it to verify after you pointed that shadow out)

 

For example.. Here is the Carenado 210 that I just installed. It has the same problem and I've yet to convert..  The wing shadows though are straight as an arrow. The DX11 shadows might be picking up the little ridges in the control surfaces..

 

 

 

 

 

You're not going to go from 9FPS to 9000FPS by any means..  You may see no actual performance differences. It's just less overhead, more efficient and less likely to see shimmering..   This is how aircraft textures should have been in FSX but unfortunately adding mips to  aircraft in FSX cause it to be super blurry. It never showed the top mip layer no matter what you did.

 

Showing my absolute lack of knowledge here. Would this potentially give a performance boost (i.e. less overhead) to correctly detailed AI traffic?

[bonchie 2,305]

Showing my absolute lack of knowledge here. Would this potentially give a performance boost (i.e. less overhead) to correctly detailed AI traffic?

 

Somewhat.

 

There was a batch file to mipmap all UT2 aircraft in FSX. It looked better (way less shimmering on liveries like American) and performed a little better.