Active Sky Cloud Art for FSX & P3D - Released!

[Guest Mik75]

I just did 2 very short test flights with the new AS16 and ASCA combination, one in live mode, the other in historic wx mode.

So far, I really liked what I´ve seen! ;-)

 

[B777ER 2,486]

With the way thunderstorms are now in P3D, with what seems like more realistic and accurate heights to them, one can't really leave the sim going and walk away anymore if there are storm cells in your route of flight. Vatsim controllers I believe will get more deviation requests now for sure!

[virtualstuff 758]

With the way thunderstorms are now in P3D, with what seems like more realistic and accurate heights to them, one can't really leave the sim going and walk away anymore if there are storm cells in your route of flight. Vatsim controllers I believe will get more deviation requests now for sure!

 

Yes noticed this for the first time you have to avoid them as in real life :-)

[vgbaron 3,627]

@DeCampos

 

 

HiFi is aware of this and it will be addressed in the upcoming hotfix.

 

 

Vic

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Agree that AS16 + ASCA with full dynamics seems to produce the best results ... sky textures still seem to be the missing link for me (none of them seem to match what I see in CA).  

 

Here are the settings I'm using that seem to work very well:

 

AS16 + ASCA

P3D Graphics settings

 

Cheers, Rob.

Rob,

 

I'm confused by one of your AS settings. According to the AS16 manual, multiple layer thunderstorms are not supposed to be used in tandem with ASCA:

o Multi-layer thunderstorm clouds
   Depicts thunderstorm clouds with multiple cloud layers instead of a single high-thickness CB structure
   Can improve cloud coverage
   Can negatively affect performance due to increase number of cloud layers and effective overall coverage
   Can cause discrepancy between METAR cloud layer information and cloud layers actually depicted
   When using ASCA, this setting should be turned off for best results
   Default: Off

AS16 Manual p74.

[regis9 4,014]

Here are a few shots from my adventure tonight...playing dangerous with thunderstorms in the Calgary area.  It was quite a feeling to break through the dense clouds...knowing there were thunderheads up there somewhere and come across this scene, a whole family of thunderheads.  What the pictures can't show is the great transitions and sense of movement when flying through clouds.  As others have noted the sky colours are a little off I think (looks too dark to me for the time of day), but overall I'm loving the ASCA and AS16 combo.

 

Oh, and just after I took these photos a downdraft sent me spiraling back to earth

 

 

 

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

How did you manage that sky color? Are you running AS16 and ASCA in Full Dynamics mode? I've only seen that dark gray sky color near dusk and then it usually has some orange and red highlights to it.

 

What I've noticed with sky colors (at least around mid day) is that directly overhead, a cloudless sky is a classic sky blue, but horizontally, the color seems more trending towards cyan. I actually had to go outside today and look at the sky to convince myself that ASCA was exaggerating the color shift with azimuth.

[basementflyguy 156]

There's clearly been a lot of discussion here about these products, and I've been on the "AS16 is great but the ASCA clouds are a bit cartoonish" side of the fence. But tonight I put commentary aside and took some time to fly through convective real-time weather near KMSP and shoot screen shots along the way. (Given the need to have power and altitude, the F-22 was the ride of choice).

 

My main goal was to take multiple screen shots of the same ASCA theme with a variety of settings, from 100% AS16+ASCA, to AS16+ASCA sky textures and cloud structures + REX cloud textures, to AS16+just REX. I have comparative shots of all of these, and I will post them later (tomorrow, I hope).

 

But overall, I was REALLY impressed with with AS16+ASCA can do. Yes, I thought some of the cloud textures looked cartoonish. But the cloud structures are remarkable, and were nearly unbelievable to fly through in a home simulator - especially considering that I had absolutely zero negative performance impact compared to Active Sky Next. In fact, I didn't notice performance issues at all.

 

Consider these shots, all of which are the "Armageddon" theme and all of which are unedited ...

 

 

 

 

 

That last shot was with HDR OFF. I thought the clouds looked blown out so I turned it on and got this ...

 

 

 

Then there are these (all with HDR on) ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seeing this out the right-hand window of the basement cockpit made me hit "pause" just to look ...

 

 

 

Those are all between FL 300 and FL 400. These as I descended through the clouds ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and did you say you wanted overcast?

 

 

 

I didn't stage these. I just found weather and went and flew around. I was pretty blown away. More so, it was just really fun to do, zooming between all these clouds. 

 

As you can see when I post all the theme comparisons, I think theme selection matters a lot, and when ASCA gets it right, my comparison shots suggest it's every bit as good as REX, and candidly for the convective stuff, it was better. But the textures have to be right, and the textures across themes can be quite different. I'm hoping the folks at HiFi will continue to tweak the algorithm, and that it will be right most of the time. If so, at least for me, AS16 and ASCA together are going to be a joy to use.

[whoispankaj 51]

Some screenies from me

 

[cmpbellsjc 2,961]

Some of the screen shots seem better than others but I'm still not sold on ASCA's cloud and sky textures. A lot of the clouds still look to painted and harsh against the sky and some of the sky textures still look to dramatic and unrealistic compared to all the flights I've been on all over the world in real life and in many varieties of weather conditions. I don't dispute that the sky colors can vary depending on many factors but from what I've seen so far, many of the sky colors still aren't that close to reality. I still think the old HDEv2 sky set is the most realistic average looking sky I've seen in the sim compared to real life.

[swiesma 625]

We had a really big Thunderstorm in our area yesterday. So I did what everyone of us would do.

I started the sim, set the live weather mode and did a flight from EDDH to EDDM.

 

The approach through the clouds with a lot of rain and heavy turbulences was really a hell of a ride. But it was fun!

 

What I wanted to say: After being not too happy I see more and more that AS16 + ASCA work really nice and do a very good Job.

[Cargostorm 151]

Some of the screen shots seem better than others but I'm still not sold on ASCA's cloud and sky textures. A lot of the clouds still look to painted and harsh against the sky and some of the sky textures still look to dramatic and unrealistic compared to all the flights I've been on all over the world in real life and in many varieties of weather conditions.

 

I tend to agree. Too oversaturated unnatural colours and contrast as compared to what I have seen in real life. But you never know what people are doing with their Shaders, HDR settings, post processing etc.

 

On the other hand, the new weather engine AS16 is fantastic. Little performance impact and the reproduction of haze is just amazing!

[hesynergy 67]

After hearing and reading all the noise about AS16 and ASCA, I decided to see what all this brouhaha was about.

 

Tried the Seven day AS16 trial for 20 minutes...then BOUGHT ASCA (Active Sky Cloud Art), set Real-time global dynamic weather...ten minutes later, BOUGHT the AS16 Upgrade....guess my eye bones duped me into pulling out my wallet.

 

Be sure to click on the title bar to take you directly to YouTube and then set the highest resolution.

 

 

There are those of us that are old enough to fondly remember topological goodness of FSGENESIS mesh. Per all reports, through bad business practices and financial finagling, he took devastating losses in the sale of FSGenesis.

 

After great homeless hardship, Justin Tyme's is BACK!!!

 

.. his new site is Toposim. Support him!

 

I am using his Kentucky Mesh in the vid.

 

Lovin it!

 

Chas

[Guest]

Some of the screen shots seem better than others but I'm still not sold on ASCA's cloud and sky textures. A lot of the clouds still look to painted and harsh against the sky and some of the sky textures still look to dramatic and unrealistic compared to all the flights I've been on all over the world in real life and in many varieties of weather conditions. I don't dispute that the sky colors can vary depending on many factors but from what I've seen so far, many of the sky colors still aren't that close to reality. I still think the old HDEv2 sky set is the most realistic average looking sky I've seen in the sim compared to real life.

 

Agreed. Clouds look a bit odd, showing way too much detail in some screenshots, and the sky colors are often nothing like the skies I have seen in real life. I am sure the effect of those skies can be great and awesome but if it's realistic...? After all, realism is what I want, not over-dramatic Hollywood-like effects. The weather engine looks good though. I might get AS16 to play with my GOOD old HDEv2 clouds which I have been using for years already.

[Bobsk8 12,732]

Agreed. Clouds look a bit odd, showing way too much detail in some screenshots, and the sky colors are often nothing like the skies I have seen in real life. I am sure the effect of those skies can be great and awesome but if it's realistic...? After all, realism is what I want, not over-dramatic Hollywood-like effects. The weather engine looks good though. I might get AS16 to play with my GOOD old HDEv2 clouds which I have been using for years already.

 

As 16 is fantastic. I did three flights yesterday, two into rough weather, and the cloud and turbulence  effects are absolutely amazing. The FPS are the best I have ever had in bad weather, and I still prefer the look that I am getting with Texture 4 HD + soft clouds compared to many of the screenshots I am looking at. To me the SC look like real clouds, rather than drawings of clouds that aren't quite right.