Could this effect be achieved using Gimp? aka, the poor man's photoshop?

 

Jazz

I quit using gimp after I discovered PS CS2 is now free... It's a bit out of date and the GUI is pretty clunky ( not as bad as gimps) just google adobe cs2

Using REX4 helps a lot by taking off some of the darkness with HDR. REX4 has an HDR option in their setup menu so it tames down the textures you install. That's what I use and couldn't be any happier. HDR always on for me

Sure it could, it's just a matter of lightening up those two pixels, but the problem is there are 90 tiny little .bmps that need to have this done to them and that's where the "actions" in PhotoShop come in handy.

 

Thank-You, Jim. Your information has been most helpful, and much appreciated.

 

And, thank-you, Ryan, for the cs2 tip. Will give that a google later.

 

Jazz

I love P3Ds environment, but always found it a bit to dark and harsh in contrast.So I decided to do my own sky. What started as a little tweak, became a full environment replacement over time: Sky, sun and a full range of clouds. If you like, feel free to use my mod.Theres an installer and in case you dont like it, theres an unistaller as well. But be aware, this is very different from default...

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10220226/widesky_v1.0.exe

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10220226/unistall_widesky_v1.0.exe

 

Have fun, Marcel

 

And some screens:

 

Looks awesome Marcel, will try them out right now. Thanks!

If you like, feel free to use my mod.Theres an installer and in case you dont like it, theres an unistaller as well. But be aware, this is very different from default...

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10220226/widesky_v1.0.exe

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10220226/unistall_widesky_v1.0.exe

 

Have fun, Marcel

Thanks Marcel, indeed a very different sky and a nice alternative to stock! Works nicely.

 

I think the default looks quite good but a tiny bit dark, I'm tempted to try Jim's brighten trick.

I love P3Ds environment, but always found it a bit to dark and harsh in contrast.So I decided to do my own sky. What started as a little tweak, became a full environment replacement over time: Sky, sun and a full range of clouds. If you like, feel free to use my mod.Theres an installer and in case you dont like it, theres an unistaller as well. But be aware, this is very different from default...

 

https://dl.dropboxus...idesky_v1.0.exe

 

https://dl.dropboxus...idesky_v1.0.exe

 

Have fun, Marcel

 

Thanks Marcel, I've only experimented a tiny bit, but I have to say I really like the colors it gives throughout the day. I've always been happy with FEX themes, especially Natural Haze Sky, but it tends to make daylight a bit 'cold' in P3D2. Looks like I've finally found a perfect replacement!

 

Tym

 

 

nice alternative to stock!

 

Thats actually the purpose of this mod...And thats why I did installers: This way I can easily mix my stuff with some from REX or FEX or whatever. Sometimes Im in the mood for plain stock, the other day I try new themes with REX and the next I use a mix of all.  :smile:  Everything is just a view clicks away and easily restored. Its Nice to have a so much choise...

 

 

 

Natural Haze Sky

That was for a long time my favorite theme back in good old FSX days  :wink:

 

Thanks for trying my mod

Marcel

Thats actually the purpose of this mod...And thats why I did installers

 

Hi, Marcel. I don't suppose you'd be willing to put up a zip of the textures in addition to the installers? I use JSGME for installing textures, so using an installer complicates things for me. Pics look great and I'd love to try them out.

 

 

JSGME

No problem..Here we go:

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10220226/widesky_v1_0.zip

 

I do not use JSGME with P3d but with DCS. I think the folder-structure of the zip should be fine.... Better xcheck.

 

Have fun, Marcel

No problem..Here we go:

 

 

Thanks! I look forward to trying them out.

If you take a set of sky textures (the daylight ones only) and lighten up the first two pixels across the top starting from the upper left corner it will brighten things up considerably with HDR on. I used PhotoShop and programmed an "action", IIRC I did brightness & contrast just lightening them by a factor of 50. The Action can be run on an entire folder of files so it walks through a set of sky textures in about 15 seconds. Don't try to run it from the main texture folder obviously, first backup your sky textures then copy them to a temporary folder and modify them there. Keep your backup handy in case you don't like them.

 

Jim

 

Very nice Jim. I thought about posting something similar in reply to users who found the general look of

the sim too dark. To expand a little on your subject: As you can see already on your screenshot, the building and ground

has also brightened. The first pixel (main shadow pixel) darkens about everything, including ground textures.

I found the best brightness of this pixel is between 50-70% K (=greyscale factor). With the 2.3 release I

tend more to the 70% because with the enhanced lighting gives the best contrast ratio between cloud shadows

and sun lit area's (must add that I use custom brightened ground textures). The second pixel (main light) is imho best kept as bright as possible (3% K) with a slightly yellow-ish tone to it.

 

 

Thanks,

If you take a set of sky textures (the daylight ones only) and lighten up the first two pixels across the top starting from the upper left corner it will brighten things up considerably with HDR on. I used PhotoShop and programmed an "action", IIRC I did brightness & contrast just lightening them by a factor of 50. The Action can be run on an entire folder of files so it walks through a set of sky textures in about 15 seconds. Don't try to run it from the main texture folder obviously, first backup your sky textures then copy them to a temporary folder and modify them there. Keep your backup handy in case you don't like them.

Finally got around to trying this, both with factor 50 and 25, but for me the brights became too bright. I'm actually increasingly happier with the stock HDR light.

 

But preferences nonwithstanding, it was fun watching Photoshop do an "action" on an entire folder of bitmaps, I learned a new trick! Thanks Jim!

I'm actually increasingly happier with the stock HDR light.

 

I know what you mean, the more you look at it, the more it seems natural - especially when you're seeing it dynamically in the sim as opposed to a screenshot for example. The brightened sky textures did seem to accentuate the bloom by a significant amount which I didn't like, I've since played around with the bloom settings in HDR.hlsl as suggested by ChaoticBeauty in this thread:

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/451055-toning-down-the-bloom/

 

...and I rather like what I have going now with the sky textures lightened about 40 and BloomThreshold = 03.75f, BloomMagnitude = 04.25f.

 

That's all subject to change tomorrow however, lol.

 

 

Glad you enjoyed the "action", you'll find plenty of uses for that and you can also create a "droplet" from an action (an executable) which you can drop image files onto rather than using the automate > batch function in the PS menu. I made a droplet for converting all my V-key .bmps to .jpgs and exporting them to another folder for example. I just select all the .bmps and drop them on jpeg_convert.exe (the name I saved the droplet as) and it starts PhotoShop and runs the action on all of them in a blink, ready to post on the screenshot forum.

 

Jim

Cellinsky, many thanks for sharing your enhancement - they really improve the flying experience.