HDR lighting settings in P3Dv3.1

[WebMaximus 372]

What HDR lighting settings are you guys using in P3Dv3.1, are you happy with the default settings or did you adjust them?

[Greggy_D 935]

Personally, I disabled HDR.  Can't stand it.

[tazz 16]

This is what works best for me and my BenQ ...

 

Brightness: 1.08

Bloom: .75

Saturation: .80

[Sbacchini 15]

The HDR settings are completely subjetive, there's no point in using other person settings. They will depend on your monitor, your preferences, your colour calibration, etc. Just mess with them until you find something you like

[scottb613 1,186]

Hi Folks,

 

Yeah - and other shader options as well - I've been using Reshade with MasterEffect and I'm pretty happy with the results...

 

Regards,
Scott

[Guest]

Agree with Stefano ... but if your monitor is calibrated and you have "normal" eyes these should work reasonably well:

 

 

There is no such thing as "too dark" any more in P3D, adjust to find what you like.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[joemiller 269]

No longer "too dark?"  Great! All videos I've seen online has that 'dark' look to it, making it very un-natural. So, if Lockheed fixed this then, this is great news.

[Guest]

The HDR settings are completely subjetive, there's no point in using other person settings. They will depend on your monitor, your preferences, your colour calibration, etc. Just mess with them until you find something you like

 

This. I have a (more or less) callibrated monitor and normal eyes (I am a graphic designer so I know my colors etc.) but my HDR settings are 1.2, 0.3 and 0.9. So quite different than Rob's settings. This simply is way too personal and subjective to ask about on a forum: just use what looks good to you.

 

And btw it also depends on the plane you fly imho: I fly the A2A Comanche with a black panel and using a higher bloom than 0.3 makes the sky too light when I look down to the panel and back up again: I have to look sideways in order to get the sky looking 'normal' again. A lower setting sort of solved this 'problem'. If I would use a plane with a white panel, this setting would probably be higher. In short: it depends on too much things which makes general advice impossible imho.

[scottb613 1,186]

Hi Joe,

 

I think you can make it lighter - I've noticed the darker P3D shots as well...

 

Here is a simple unedited image using the aforementioned reshade and mastereffect on a hazy California day - it gets brighter - P3Dv3.1. It's fairly bright but the clouds when present still look good...

 

 

Regards,

Scott

[joemiller 269]

Hi Joe,

 

I think you can make it lighter - I've noticed the darker P3D shots as well...

 

Here is a simple unedited image using the aforementioned reshade and mastereffect on a hazy California day - it gets brighter - P3Dv3.1. It's fairly bright but the clouds when present still look good...

 

 

Regards,

Scott

 

Ouch, yeah that's a little too bright. But, I get your point- it can be adjusted. So, that is a good thing.

 

On a second note. Does P3D needs to use Nvidia Inspector and add tweaks within the CFG as well or no?

[windycloud 30]

Wait. wait. wait. wait.  Is that the Digital Aviation Cheyenne??!!!

[fakeflyer737 990]

Wait. wait. wait. wait.  Is that the Digital Aviation Cheyenne??!!!

Thats was my favourite plane in FSX and FS9

[Guest]

On a second note. Does P3D needs to use Nvidia Inspector and add tweaks within the CFG as well or no?

No and no.

 

Unless you need better FSAA and want to add some super grid sampling stuff, then you need Inspector. Some people think P3D's AA options are good enough and others don't. It also depends on the resolution you use. I don't think P3D's AA is good enough but using Inspector's extra AA options hurt performance too much (specially in clouds) so I don't need Inspector.

 

And I myself believe in a non-tweaked cfg with P3D because the few known tweaks do nothing for me. Also take note that a lot of old FSX tweaks now simply can be set in P3D's option screens so even though you won't need to edit the cfg you in fact will be using some tweaks but then the easy way. (Well, obviously those aren't tweaks anymore but regular official options.)

 

In short: your question can be answered with No and No because unlike with FSX Inspector and tweaks aren't mandatory, but if you want to, you can work with them anyway.

[SolRayz 392]

Now wouldn't screenshots posted here on Avsim look different for everybody depending on ones particular monitor calibration settings? Its almost impossible to submit screenshots and expect the end user to see the same quality image. Makes me wonder if screenshots I post, looking normal to me, could be completely wonky for someone else.  

[Guest]

Makes me wonder if screenshots I post, looking normal to me, could be completely wonky for someone else.  

 

Actually that happens ... people will post saying XYZ is way too dark and post the image ... when I look at the image is looks about "normal", then the same user will post an image of what it "should look like" and it's completely blown out and way too bright.  That's when I know it's a monitor calibration issue with the person who posted.  

 

Adjusting one's monitor contrast, brightness, color tints, etc. etc. will NOT affect how someone else sees an image posted publicly, but if the user has made any adjustments to HDR in P3D to compensate for what they feel is a dark image, that WILL show up as being way too bright on someone else's calibrated monitor.

 

Win7, Win8, Win10 all have built in monitor calibration tools that can be used to help get a pretty good close ballpark calibration.

 

 

Click on Calibrate Color

 

 

Now follow the process.  It may not be "professional grade" but it will certainly get someone pretty close to a well calibrated monitor.

 

Cheers, Rob.

 

EDIT: Keep in mind some people may just prefer VERY bright images ... or very dark images ... back to personal preference.  So there is a "correct" calibration, but there is personal preference that can move that to the left or right of correct.