Some images using AS16 and ASCA

[Jimm 437]

 

 

I really like the capability of the dynamic texture insertion while you are flying.

 

This may fall in line with a issue I get too often that gets annoying.  I like to call it "weather slamming".  For example, you're flying along, weather is overcast with some upper level clouds building and then SLAM, the weather changes to scattered clouds, no overcast.  I've gone through all of ASN's setting to figure out how to combat that and have turned up nothing to fix it.  Is this scenario happening with everyone else?  Would this be something that ASN is addressing with their next version?

[Zuendholz 50]

For me this looks good. The strange "satin" look come from the PTA I think, because there is a option for a different cloud shader makes the clouds a bit odd looking. If you compare these to the product page of ASCA, this looks indeed a bit strange.

 

Can some of the Betatesters please post a Thunderstorm without the PTA? 

[Ted Striker 338]

 

 

Is this scenario happening with everyone else?

It happens to me also, mostly climbing from airports in inclement weather. It was improved somewhat with ASN. I'll let the beta testers report as to weather (pun intended :smile: ) its been addressed further in the new AS16.

 

Ted

[Jimm 437]

It happens to me also, mostly climbing from airports in inclement weather. It was improved somewhat with ASN. I'll let the beta testers report as to weather (pun intended :smile: ) its been addressed further in the new AS16.

 

Ted

If there was an improvement, I still don't see it and I'm running the latest stable build of ASN.

[Novation 534]

Visuals are tough because each person has an idea of what looks good to them - it may not be realistic to someone else.

 

 

This is true. I'm a bit of a cloud nut, so some things stand out as being off, that some would not notice or care about. It would be very cool to see HS come up with some textures to compete with REX and FEX, as the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned. I they look good I will buy them, but so far I'm not that tempted.

 

I'd like to see some more please.

 

 

 

Personally, if I saw clouds like this in P3D, I'd throw my wallet at ASN

 

 

Okay, its not a perfect match to reality (your photo) but this set I made in FEX is pretty blooming nice and has a very real feel. The only problem is the FEX clouds drag performance down.

[Jimm 437]

 

 

The only problem is the FEX clouds drag performance down.

 

Oh that pesky performance issue! lol

[HighBypass 2,339]

 For example, you're flying along, weather is overcast with some upper level clouds building and then SLAM, the weather changes to scattered clouds, no overcast....

 

Apologies for the hijack, but this may be a relevant observation from someone who is just using stock FSX:SE with tweaks and real weather METAR insertion via FSOpen Clouds. I too get similar effects, usually when the weather station changes. Could it be due to the sim updating the weather?

 

Again, apologies if my theory is rubbish.

[Jimm 437]

Apologies for the hijack, but this may be a relevant observation from someone who is just using stock FSX:SE with tweaks and real weather METAR insertion via FSOpen Clouds. I too get similar effects, usually when the weather station changes. Could it be due to the sim updating the weather?

 

Again, apologies if my theory is rubbish.

Relevant question, no worries.  If it is indeed weather updating, I thought ASN could inject weather gradually, or as it was said before, dynamically.  I've seen ASN do that, but either with the latest update or something else has caused the weather slamming.

[hjsmuc 393]

Jim, That perfectly illustrates my point in my post above yours.

 

Ted

+1, long way to go. I can't see anything that would want me to buy this over my current ASN product. 

[diana91081 12]

Thank you very much for the feedback. I really appreciate it, been looking forward to hear the thoughts of everyone on here, even if critical.

 

I will be working hard on implementing improvements and changes based on this feedback along with brand new content that focuses on what people want to see!

 

I understand and agree that a good chunk of what was posted looks odd and "wrong". Not sure what our beta testers are running with to create lighting and shading effects (or what resolution settings are in play), but maybe and other add-ons or brightness/HDR/gamma options might be part of it.  

 

Just for comparison, here are a few screenshots that I've taken using P3D and FSX:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are also some screenshots and video (with more being added) at our website.

 

Also, to answer some questions: AS16 and ASCA are separate. AS16 doesn't contain graphics, and ASCA doesn't contain a weather engine. If you have preferences either way, you are not forced to use anything you don't want to. Using AS16 + other graphics add-ons is fully supported!

 

Please keep feedback coming and I hope that you will decide to try ASCA when released, as well as our separate weather engine product: AS16. The design goal so far was to create realistic immersion (including not overdoing shading/lighting/HDR) while being unique and also focusing on performance, which was/is a big challenge. But I can work on and provide whatever styles our customers and the community wants, and adjust design priorities to fit this. So I am definitely paying attention and am eager to work hard on what it is you'd like to see.  

 

Thanks everyone!

[DeCampos 41]

still looks wrong. Not at all natural. Too cluttered.

[Flic1 1,000]

 

 

Please keep feedback coming and I hope that you will decide to try ASCA when released, as well as our separate weather engine product: AS16. The design goal so far was to create realistic immersion (including not overdoing shading/lighting/HDR) while being unique and also focusing on performance, which was/is a big challenge. But I can work on and provide whatever styles our customers and the community wants, and adjust design priorities to fit this. So I am definitely paying attention and am eager to work hard on what it is you'd like to see.

 

Diana - I think these shots are great!  I agree, some of the new shader tweaks can make things look strange and maybe that is what happened on some of the beta shots.  I was looking at clouds on the way home from work today in the Florida sky and that 3rd shot could have been a picture I took!!  Nicely done!

[Guest]

Weather can be so drastically different from one's perception of "how it should look" ... I live near a Mountain with regular micro climates along with SF/Bay Area fog that can roll-in all the way back to Mt. Diablo.

 

I do A LOT of hiking and biking to about 4000 ft and every time I take some pictures of the weather it's never the same ... like a finger print, unique every time.  What some call "wrong" I've seen very similar real world, and what some call "right", I've never seen real world.

 

But out of all that, my strongest desire for clouds is to avoid repetition ... although I have seen repetition in the real world also along with popcorn clouds.  ASN "as is" has done a good job (with room to improve) at avoiding repetition, if AS16 and ASCA improves on that, it would be a big benefit for my day to day flights.

 

Understanding current day and future hardware limitations of true volumetric clouds, I think the compromises I've seen here are viable options.

 

Keep up the great work and look forward to release.

 

Cheers, Rob.

[TheFlightSimGuy 514]

I will be supporting both HiFi and REX by purchasing both of their products. HiFi for weather and REX for textures, just as I do now. They are both great at what they excel at and by looking at these pictures, HiFi is yet to surpass REX on the texture front although they seem to be closing the gap in some unique ways. I'll keep my eye out

[cmpbellsjc 2,963]

 

Thank you very much for the feedback. I really appreciate it, been looking forward to hear the thoughts of everyone on here, even if critical.

 

I will be working hard on implementing improvements and changes based on this feedback along with brand new content that focuses on what people want to see!

 

I understand and agree that a good chunk of what was posted looks odd and "wrong". Not sure what our beta testers are running with to create lighting and shading effects (or what resolution settings are in play), but maybe and other add-ons or brightness/HDR/gamma options might be part of it.

 

There are also some screenshots and video (with more being added) at our website.

 

Also, to answer some questions: AS16 and ASCA are separate. AS16 doesn't contain graphics, and ASCA doesn't contain a weather engine. If you have preferences either way, you are not forced to use anything you don't want to. Using AS16 + other graphics add-ons is fully supported!

 

Please keep feedback coming and I hope that you will decide to try ASCA when released, as well as our separate weather engine product: AS16. The design goal so far was to create realistic immersion (including not overdoing shading/lighting/HDR) while being unique and also focusing on performance, which was/is a big challenge. But I can work on and provide whatever styles our customers and the community wants, and adjust design priorities to fit this. So I am definitely paying attention and am eager to work hard on what it is you'd like to see.

 

Thanks everyone!

Diana, if you're using AS16 and ASCA together to get the interested live texture injection can you suppress certain sky and cloud sets from being injected? I like the idea but some sky color sets just look to unnatural to me and I wouldn't want certain one or certain cloud sets to be injected. I know that would narrow the options but wanted to see if that was possible.

Okay, its not a perfect match to reality (your photo) but this set I made in FEX is pretty blooming nice and has a very real feel. The only problem is the FEX clouds drag performance down.

No cloud set from either REX or FEX should perform any differently as long as they are the same size and compression.

 

In fact if you use a cumulus REX set that is 1024 DXT5 and then try a FEX cumulus 1024 DXT5 set and set the same weather scenario the performance will be identical but will look different. Since both sets use the same size texture sheet with the same compression it's not possible for one to perform better than the other.