Per Pixel Lighting

[eemer 0]

In the quest for micro stutter free smoothness, I was just randomly picking things in the settings menu to turn on and off. One of the unintended results was to notice the difference in how the overall dawn and dusk environment looks when "draw per pixel lighting" is unchecked. Until now, I had assumed that having more options checked meant a more realistic scene. And I had been very much enjoying what I've been seeing for the longest time with it checked. But today I unchecked it and was pleasantly surprised as to how much more realistic the reflections on the buildings looked. Buildings facing the sunrise or sunset are the first and last things to capture the sun's glow in reality and this setting "unchecked" really brings it out.

In the 'Special" section up top I have the "show sky colors" set at "clean" and WOW!!

Now I imagine that everyone's "clean" sky colors pallette is different (X-Plane 10, Resources, bitmaps, sky colors) but............experiment and hopefully you'll be as pleasantly surprised as to how much more natural it looks. No hit on frame rate either.

 

Tom

[render2017 0]

Wow Tom !

I tried both with before and after screen prints. I always suspected that X-Plane could do better, but never worked out how.

 

Congratulations on raising this significant improvement.

 

Personal opinion variations may show not everyone will agree, but as a near professional photographer I can only agree with you fantastic discovery, in particular the pixel setting. My buildings come alive after unchecking the pixel setting at near sunset.

 

Thanks for letting the forum know. I also recommend trying it nothing to lose.

[Comanche 417]

Interesting find. I always had it on and never messed with that setting. Ill have to give it a try,

 

Thanks for reporting your findings.

 

Rob

[eemer 0]

At times it may seem a little harsh, but when using the adjustable settings in MaxxFX , it can be tweaked to each person's personal preference.

 

Tom

[Humpty 751]

Tried it before leaving for work. the sky looks different does not have the natural feel. But that is debatable. 

[tonywob 4,768]

Please remember that disabling per-pixel lighting will switch off normal-maps/bump maps and per-pixel specularity. What this means is that you won't see the nice effects on planes such as rivets on the wings, different reflections based on surface indents etc, scratches, etc.. I'm not sure many developers have used these on their scenery (I have when doing EGNU), but I know some default hangars have normal maps to do the ridged effect on corrugated roofs etc.

 

I guess the effect of turning this off means that the entire building starts showing equal reflections across the surface, as opposed to just the areas defined in the normal/specularity map. What I'm curious about is why there is such a big difference without this enabled when a building doesn't have a normal-map defined, there should be absolutely no difference (I could be wrong, but I understand that this is the only effect the per-pixel lighting has). I've very rarely seen any scenery using per-pixel shaders (even payware). 

[Humpty 751]

Please remember that disabling per-pixel lighting will switch off normal-maps/bump maps and per-pixel specularity

 

What is all this non-sense ?

 

I have noticed the Texture Resolution is a fps killer. 

 

I will Texture Resolution=High on the laptop and connect it to the 40  " Sony and check how is the performance when I reach home. 

[tonywob 4,768]

What is all this non-sense ?

Read the rest of the post ;-)

[ryanbatc 12,816]

If you're using nvidia GPU did you try disabling thread optimization?

[alexcolka 183]

If you're using nvidia GPU did you try disabling thread optimization?

 

That's a good practice for mitigating the stutters, not sure if increases fps but at least this option disabled really stabilizes fps.

[Humpty 751]

Read the rest of the post ;-)

 

Ya, I did read all that actually. 

 

But I am wondering from when did a programmer start understanding about graphics.  

[tonywob 4,768]

Ya, I did read all that actually.

 

But I am wondering from when did a programmer start understanding about graphics.

Well errrm let me think. I guess W2XP and the airports ive done don't require knowledge of graphics at all. I best give up now ;-)

[Paraffin 2,197]

Please remember that disabling per-pixel lighting will switch off normal-maps/bump maps and per-pixel specularity. What this means is that you won't see the nice effects on planes such as rivets on the wings, different reflections based on surface indents etc, scratches, etc.. I'm not sure many developers have used these on their scenery (I have when doing EGNU), but I know some default hangars have normal maps to do the ridged effect on corrugated roofs etc.

 

 

Right, the effect on external appearance of aircraft is the reason I always leave per-pixel lighting turned on. I take a lot of screenshots from outside the plane. Maybe it's not that important if you're always using cockpit views, and seldom look at the external view. 

 

One other thing -- there is a dramatic difference when per-pixel lighting is combined with HDR turned on. Not just the rivets and reflections on the aircraft, but the sky and environment in general. That combination of two settings is a completely different look from any other mode in X-Plane, without that "self illuminated" flat appearance typical of early flight sims and 3D games.

 

This is something I didn't realize until recently, when I upgraded my GPU to a GTX 970 that let me keep HDR on all the time, instead of just for nighttime flying.