Prepar3D Tweak Assistant (PTA) - Screenshots & Presets

[Eziocin 46]

Just a couple of formulas/values changed in reflectivity and limpidity - nothing earth-shattering. I still have some night lighting to sort out, so was going to wait and add them to 20_10. I've posted the tweaks on my PTA page so people can add them manually for the time being:

 

1) ReflectionCoeff: (clamp(0.70 - 0.30 * cb_Altitude/100, 0.3, 0.7))

2) RefractionCoeff: (clamp(0.90 - 0.30 * cb_Altitude/304, 0.6, 0.9))

3) Scale ratio: 1

4) Waves smoothing: 7

 

Reflection is boosted a little when under 300ft ASL - and limpidity boosted when below 1,000ft.

 

Adam.

 

Adam,

thanks a lot for your reply.

Glad to know you are working on a -10 version. I am using the - 09 and I am quite happy with that. If I may, let me give you a couple of feedbacks:

 

- Night lighting (ground lighting and building at airports) seems to me a bit too strong and blueish, even with the changes you suggest on your website. I believe you already know as you are working on night lighting 

- VC shadows and lights......perfect..! Don't change anything if possible

- daytime sky colours and haze.....perfect..! Don't change anything if possible

- Cloud lighting at dusk....in my opinion this should be tuned up a little bit as clouds seem to be too bright and "white" at dusk and do not blend well with the rest of the colours.

 

Other than that the presets are brilliant ..!

 

Regards

 

Ezio

[Adamski_NZ 952]

Thanks, Ezio - that's useful feedback!!! The cloud lighting at dusk may be a hard one to get right. Clouds seem very susceptible to the sky texture/colour in operation at any given time - as well as to the size/shape of the cloud itself (as determined by both the textures generation application used (REX, FEX AS etc.) and by the mechanism by which they're displayed (ASN, OPUS etc.) - which determines their shape and density.

If you can arrive at a value that looks good on your system - with your skies and clouds - let me know what it is and I'll see how it performs with my set and compare with my original/old settings.

Though I check my screenshots on other PCs, It looks like my main P3D system may be a tiny fraction too red - and I'm over-compensating with the blue all the time. I can't afford a hardware calibration device and have yet to find any software calibration system (online or local) that gives consistent/meaningful results. In short - I need feedback from everyone and it's much appreciated!

Adam.

EDIT: I just checked PTA - both cloud 'dusk' settings are simple on/off toggles. I have them both set to *reduce* brightness - which is all we can do at the moment. Maybe Yuri will add functions that will allow us to set values for these - as I think he's done for other tweaks in the past.

[Cruachan 705]

Though I check my screenshots on other PCs, It looks like my main P3D system may be a tiny fraction too red - and I'm over-compensating with the blue all the time. I can't afford a hardware calibration device and have yet to find any software calibration system (online or local) that gives consistent/meaningful results. In short - I need feedback from everyone and it's much appreciated!

 

Well, it looks like I'm not going to be much help as I love all your Presets, Adam!

 

I think the 'problem' lies more with how we each perceive colours. My monitor (see signature) delivers an excellent image yet we are told that it would not be ideal for professional photography because of certain inherent limitations. This is largely irrelevant to the majority of keen amateurs as the results are certainly good enough for most practical purposes. I am aware that I have what is termed an 'incomplete red green colour blindness'. This makes it difficult for me to distinguish between shades of dark green and brown. Yet this becomes less apparent under natural light conditions and certainly doesn't seem to hamper my normal colour perception.

 

Perhaps you should invite each of us to visit and capture an image of a static scene you have set up specifically for the purpose. You could provide the setup parameters as detailed in map view along with the season, weather and time of day. Then we could email the image to you or provide a link to said image. That would allow you to make comparisons which might help you arrive at the best compromise. Also, if you do go down this road, it might be worth asking us to use a particular Sky texture set to ensure some consistency in how all the affected elements in our images are lit and portrayed.

 

You will never satisfy everyone. There will be significant numbers who have little or no experience of how the world appears as viewed from the air. Where we live on planet earth will also have significant influence on how we see the landscape and skies, not least because this depends on the degree of air pollution. A colourful scene in the north west of Scotland and the South Island of New Zealand will appear very different from say a view in, say, China or in close proximity to a heavily industrialised region of the world.

 

Keep doing what you are doing, Adam, as, without any doubt, your Presets are producing some consistently wonderful imagery. It truly is a pleasure to explore the world these days. The transformation to Prepar3D, as fascilitated by PTA, is quite extraordinary and sets it apart from all the competition. We owe Yuri (KNOSSOS) a huge debt of gratitude.

 

Regards,

Mike

[ankh21 17]

Keep doing what you are doing, Adam, as, without any doubt, your Presets are producing some consistently wonderful imagery. It truly is a pleasure to explore the world these days. The transformation to Prepar3D, as fascilitated by PTA, is quite extraordinary and sets it apart from all the competition. We owe Yuri (KNOSSOS) a huge debt of gratitude.

 

Hear ya! I can only agree to every word! Thanks a lot!

 

Matthias

[RaptyrOne 1,414]

Keep doing what you are doing, Adam, as, without any doubt, your Presets are producing some consistently wonderful imagery. It truly is a pleasure to explore the world these days. The transformation to Prepar3D, as fascilitated by PTA, is quite extraordinary and sets it apart from all the competition. We owe Yuri (KNOSSOS) a huge debt of gratitude.

 

AGREE. I restored original shaders to compare after running -09 for a while. The difference suddenly made P3D look a little ugly. Such is the improvement!

 

Just wish I could get water looking good. For me it's just a little too saturated/bright.

[kiwi_biplane 635]

Adam's PTA 2.0 Preset v20.09

 

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Gennadiy,

 

What can I say except WOW! No, that should in fact be DOUBLE WOW!

 

Details, oh yes, we need details, lots of details: Sky textures - yours, I presume? Clouds? Location? Addons - ORBX? Hang Glider? Camera - Canon? Nikon? Lens? Exposure? Only joking.....I think!

 

Honestly, these could be real photographs and about as true to life as we are ever likely to get! Incredible!

 

I am speechless for these images are truly extraordinary!

 

Regards,

Mike 👏 😀

[Adamski_NZ 952]

Double, triple WOW!!!! That first pic ... OMG ... could be from a travel brochure!!!!

 

@Greg ... I'm not going to give up with the water. I'm quietly optimistic! One thing we know for sure - Yuri listens to our moans - and I'm sure he enjoys the challenge! :wink:

 

@Mike ... a great post. I like the idea of some kind of a generic scenario for comparative purposes. The problem may be not so much in getting people to replicate the sky/ground textures, but getting the same scenery. For instance, I have many ORBX areas but also with FTX Global - which affects every square mile of the P3D world. It's not something I feel good about disabling/enabling ... so I imagine otheres might feel the same.

 

Adam.

[Cruachan 705]

The problem may be not so much in getting people to replicate the sky/ground textures, but getting the same scenery.

Hi Adam,

 

Fear not, sir, I think you have at least one willing participant who may be able to satisfy your setup requirements 😉 Let me know if I can contribute in any way. However, please be assured that you are certainly not obliged to do so. Recent posted images, strongly suggest you have everything in hand and probably don't need much additional help.

 

I see HF3 has appeared - hopefully it won't introduce any PTA compatibility issues. I'll try updating drivers and the P3D Client sometime over the next couple of days. Fingers tightly crossed!

 

Regards,

Mike

[kiwi_biplane 635]

Thank you guys! In the future, I will point out all the necessary attributes. Here you will find the daily texture  of the sky, clouds and a great free glider. When you're all done, your Sim will look screenshots. This set is not on my page of the site. Sorry for my English. My translator had gone to university :smile: .

Regards

 

 

[scottb613 1,188]

Hi Folks,

 

Wow is right - those shots are incredible... All that white and you don't have that glow effect that is so common...

 

Question - to get the most of this - should I remove Reshade and Mastereffect ? If so - anyone recall what files I need to delete ?

 

Thanks...

 

Regards,
Scott 

[kiwi_biplane 635]

Hi Scott! I did not use Reshade and Mastereffect, so I can not help you, but I must clarify that in the noon, when the sun is high and there are no shadows, details on a very white areas disappear. However, photographers try not to shoot at noon as well  :smile: .

Regards

 

[Adamski_NZ 952]

Gennadiy - wow (again!) ... that sky looks irresistible ... going to grab it, thanks! I'll see how it works with my current preset. I agree - most photographers avoid those mid-day hours, but you shouldn't be getting quite such a white-out!

 

Your English is damn' good ... probably better than most Kiwis' !

 

Adam.

[FlavioSSA 44]

It seems that current PTA version is not compatible with the new .22 p3d hotfix, correct? What´s the procedure? Wait a new pta release and reaply the preset? Thanks!

[KNOSSOS 122]

It seems that current PTA version is not compatible with the new .22 p3d hotfix, correct? What´s the procedure? Wait a new pta release and reaply the preset? Thanks!

Yep.

PTA 2.10 beta (with hotfix3 compatibility) in development now. I think it takes a couple of days.

Upgrade instructions, as usual, will be included in release notes.

 

Cheers,