Clouds in P3D

[virtualstuff 750]

Staring at a computer monitor for hours at a time pretending to be flying an airplane is a bit pointless too but we still do it, lol.

Lol

[Guest]

Bit pointless having softclouds if you have REX4D as you can set 512 res clouds

I don't own them but Soft clouds (obviously, I'd say) aren't simply low res versions of existing clouds...

[Bobsk8 12,524]

Soft clouds look great and almost no impact on FPS. 

[Nyxx 6,993]

Bit pointless having softclouds if you have REX4D as you can set 512 res clouds

The point is Soft clouds look a lot better than there normal REX4D clouds and installed at 512 have no hit.

There not some low res version there imo the best clouds out there.

 

Win win.

far from pointless  :smile:

Staring at a computer monitor for hours at a time pretending to be flying an airplane is a bit pointless too but we still do it, lol.

:smile:

[Driver170 42]

So does soft clouds have a less impact than REX4D?

By pointless i mean, if REX4D produce 512 low res clouds why buy soft clouds? Sorry but am i missing something here?

[joemiller 269]

haha. Really. And followed in majority by full grown men.

[Guest]

So does soft clouds have a less impact than REX4D? By pointless i mean, if REX4D produce 512 low res clouds why buy soft clouds? Sorry but am i missing something here?

Yes, you are missing something. It's not about the resolution at all. Soft clouds offer 'volumetric-like' soft looking clouds so they are and look different (and according to some more real). They are simply not REX4 clouds in low res. Most people who own REX also bought Soft clouds so that shows there is a difference. (Why soft clouds had to be a seperate product and not simply an update for REX is another story...)

[AviatorMoser 353]

My problem with soft clouds is that they look out of place in the summer.

 

They look like heavily glaciated winter clouds.

[AviatorMoser 353]

See below for a comparison of the top level MIPs from one of the standard REX 4 TD 512 cloud layer texture sets and a soft cloud set. It appears to me that the soft cloud sets are images that have been processed with some type of blur filter in order to make the transition from one "layer" to the next more seamless. FSX and P3d use multiple layers (these layers are actually vertical planes) to achieve what is termed 2.5D volumetric clouds. Note that the sim default texture MIP is 256.

 

The blurring makes for more a fuzzier transition, which is quite accurate for older, decaying clouds, where much of the condensate has evaporated.

 

 

However, it's inaccurate for younger clouds where evaporation has not begun to set in heavily, and the transitions are sharp and sudden. Such as the one below, before we penetrated its updraft a few minutes later.

 

[shea3412sc 1]

Staring at a computer monitor for hours at a time pretending to be flying an airplane is a bit pointless too but we still do it, lol.

Lol

The point is Soft clouds look a lot better than there normal REX4D clouds and installed at 512 have no hit.

There not some low res version there imo the best clouds out there.

 

Win win.

far from pointless  :smile:

:smile:

Quick question.  Do you turn on REX's HDR setting?  Is there even a point in using it since P3D has it's own HDR sliders?

[Hubinwa 27]

Soft clouds look great and almost no impact on FPS. 

I agree, coming from FSX with Rex 4 to P3D3, all I have added is Soft Clouds and I could not be happier with the results. 

[Driver170 42]

Ok i'll try out soft clouds because in dense clouds overcast my performance drops

[Jim Robinson 122]

Soft clouds wont change that. Buy them if you want more variety in your REX clouds selections but if you're already running 512px clouds in REX4 you won't see any benefit performance-wise. A 512px .bmp is a 512px .bmp whether it's alpha channel has been softened or not.

 

I still say buy them though, they really seem "right" in these winter months here in the US.

[Driver170 42]

I unticked - Enhanced overcast conditions in ASN, that seemed to bring off the stutters

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

 

 

The blurring makes for more a fuzzier transition, which is quite accurate for older, decaying clouds, where much of the condensate has evaporated.

 

Where exactly did my post go to?