Novation - do you make your own clouds as well as skies?

 

 

No, I've never attempted clouds, but I have done some sky's. But now I'm using either REX TD or Navid's in P3D.

 

I don't quite get how HDR off has more 'pop'.. HDR off for me has always look a bit drab, as seen below.

 

HDR Off.

 

HDR On.

 

I'm sorry but the first picture looks 100 times more realistic than the second, which reminds me more of somebody applying to many "instagram filters" to his pictures.

Next time you're on a real aircraft - look out the window during dusk/dawn. It'll look a lot more than the first "HDR Off" picture.

 

 

I'm sorry but the first picture looks 100 times more realistic than the second

 

I have to basically agree.  

If going for "realism", the non HDR photo is generally more indicative of a real world look.  

 

That said, it's a Sim/Game and if people want to have it look brighter, more contrasty, etc - Have it of course!

I have to basically agree.  

If going for "realism", the non HDR photo is generally more indicative of a real world look.  

 

That said, it's a Sim/Game and if people want to have it look brighter, more contrasty, etc - Have it of course!

How do either of you know for sure?  These topics are funny.  We all see the world differently.  Or, maybe better said is that we all see from the sim what we want to see and have our different interpretations of what reality last looked like the last time we were in an airplane.  Or, is there scientific proof to show that one is real and one is not?  If so, then I am interested.  Otherwise, this is just all opinions.

...this is just all opinions.

 

 

There's no question - I simply use my experience and recollection of thousands of hours of real GA flying.

 

Again - Make it look however you want, absolutely!

To my eyes and my memory of experiences, the non HDR photo is more on point.

 

But it's all subjective - You are 100% correct

 

Novation - I just meant that [on my system] HDR off has more saturation and brightness than HDR on with no bloom. So that's what I meant by 'more pop'.

If i use HDR how come my 737NGX PFD FMA is hard to read during dusk?? Its so bright. And i've turned bloom off

Novation - I just meant that [on my system] HDR off has more saturation and brightness than HDR on with no bloom. So that's what I meant by 'more pop'.

 

 

No worries sightseer.

 

Of the two images, and given the options (which we don't have and was the point some failed to see ) I would go somewhere between the two. Though we are dealing with fairly crappy graphics here, viewed via a monitor, so I try not to get too hung up on it being that real, but pleasant with everything I need to see being visible.

 

The more options the better though.

So I quite like this, and feel its reasonably close to reality. This is with HDR off, but I upped the terrain brightness above the highest setting in RSP.

 

The odd thing with HDR off is you get more colour in the clouds at dawn & dusk, but less in the terrain. At least the horrible adaption is gone with HDR off, but it would be nice to have some colour and brightness control, which you lose. I'm sure this must be possible?

 

 

if you increase nighttime exposure in the config file you can get back some color in the sunset clouds but then nighttime is wrong.

 

and if there isn't a way for the sky texture to control ONLY the shadow portion of the cloud then you cant make a cloud slowly get swallowed up in shadow like tends to happen (to cumulus clouds)

 

 

This is with HDR off, but I upped the terrain brightness above the highest setting in RSP.

 

STUNNING shot - Love that look

Can you tell me where to change Terrain Brightness w/ HDR off?  (also, what did you set it to?)

if you increase nighttime exposure in the config file you can get back some color in the sunset clouds but then nighttime is wrong.

 

and if there isn't a way for the sky texture to control ONLY the shadow portion of the cloud then you cant make a cloud slowly get swallowed up in shadow like tends to happen (to cumulus clouds)

 

I seem to get lots of colour in the cumulus, but would like a little more colour & contrast in the terrain when the sun is low, something closer to the HDR shot at the top of the page.

 

Its crazy one pixel colour value affects more that one shadow feature. This stuff really needs separating.

 

STUNNING shot - Love that look

Can you tell me where to change Terrain Brightness w/ HDR off?  (also, what did you set it to?)

 

Search for this line (below) in GPUTerrain.fx: and change the bold number. I'm using 2.3 here.

 

const float3 finalSunColor = (sunAmbient + saturate(sunDiffuse * (sunContrib * 2.3f * shadowContrib)));// + pointLightsDiffuse);

 

 

Its crazy one pixel colour value affects more that one shadow feature. This stuff really need separating.

 

Amen to that.

@Novation:  Thanks!  Love that - Now flying with that setting.

 

I wish they'd expose more art controls, HDR or not, so we can tweak easily and share those settings more easily.

Novation - I was talking about HDR on when I said that clouds don't have as much color. They do have color. they have more color with HDR off than on.

 

and what I really mean is that cumulus clouds don't have the same highlight to shadow ratio that they did up until v2.2. before that it was FSX style and the sky textures had a lot of control but since 2.3 the clouds reach a minimal per cloud differentiation at sunset. They took out the per cloud shadows that tracked the sun and could be made more intense using the sky texture and they replaced it with a system where clouds reach minimum difference at the peak of sunset. You can have color before and after the sunset but at sunset you get a minimum of difference (highlight versus shadow) (with HDR on).

 

I agree completely that we need more control. Not just with sky textures but also control over the non HDR appearance. Why it is that they ever changed the non HDR appearance is beyond me. if they kept changing HDR that would be fine but they kept changing non HDR as well.

 

and why is it that during the day the clouds bloom a lot and the sky blooms a little but at sunset the sky blooms a lot and the clouds bloom only a little? (with HDR on)

 

 

As it is it seems we all need to learn how to rewrite the shader code just to get back some reality.

 

As I just wrote in the DTG forum - the goal should be the DTG Flight School splash screen or some similar look. Windows 7 has a default aero theme called landscapes and one of the pics is a sunset picture that appears to be US West Coast with sunshine on the rocks and the ocean is there and the cumulus clouds have both bright red/yellow highlights and blueish shadowy areas. I want that in my sim at sunset. It used to be possible.