FORUM ALERT X-Plane 10: Clouds & Datarefs - Questions

[Murmur 3,941]

cloud link is not working can you re-upload

 

The "filedropper" website was temporarily down, now it should work again. Sometimes it takes a few attempts before the download starts. Let me know if you still have troubles.

[efis007 884]

Good job Murmur  :Applause:

 

it is possible integrate your LUA code into RTH?  :im Not Worthy:

[Murmur 3,941]

Good job Murmur  :Applause:

 

it is possible integrate your LUA code into RTH?  :im Not Worthy:

 

I think RTH uses some of the same datarefs used in my script. But if you remove the duplicates datarefs used, there should be no reason you can't use both.

[efis007 884]

Testing Murmur soft clouds (with dedicated LUA) and RTH.

 

Weather engine: FSGRW.

Zone: Alps and switzerland.

Sky colors my project working progress "mixing" with Murmur sky color mount "blue gradient".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Murmur 3,941]

 

Testing Murmur soft clouds (with dedicated LUA) and RTH.

 

Weather engine: FSGRW.

Zone: Alps and switzerland.

Sky colors my project working progress "mixing" with Murmur sky color mount "blue gradient".

 

Not bad, some screenshots are very good. They are too bright during daytime though, maybe you can adjust the light levels of the clouds inside RTH.

[Denco 48]

This is the way I made my clouds look.

 

 

 

Now if only there was a way to stop them from abruptly changing on weather change, the way real weather connector does, and I would be happy

[efis007 884]

New test with new clouds and new sunrise gradient.

 

 

 

 

 

 

working progress

[Lynk 4]

Do you guys know why the bitmaps for sky clouds etc are at a low resolution in X-Plane (higher than 1024px)? 

[Denco 48]

I don't exactly understan you question, but if you want higher res clouds let me know. I've upscaled the hd clouds to 4k.

[efis007 884]

4k clouds not recommended, framerate killer.

The best compromise are 1024 pixels clouds.

2048 or 4096 clouds are recommended only to PCs with powerful video cards (Titan or similar).

This recommendation is valid for x-plane and also P3D/FSX.

[Murmur 3,941]

New test with new clouds and new sunrise gradient.

 

working progress

 

Nice cloud textures, have they been made by you?

[Lynk 4]

I don't exactly understan you question, but if you want higher res clouds let me know. I've upscaled the hd clouds to 4k.

 

4k clouds not recommended, framerate killer.

The best compromise are 1024 pixels clouds.

2048 or 4096 clouds are recommended only to PCs with powerful video cards (Titan or similar).

This recommendation is valid for x-plane and also P3D/FSX.

Right! Okay for clouds we can see clouds at 2k and more but why the sky bitmap is usually small. For example, I think the weird horizontal layering in the blue color for the sky is not looking good. Looks like FS in the 90's at 16bits color. 

 

Is this a limitation from X-Plane? 

[efis007 884]

Nice cloud textures, have they been made by you?

Yes and no, these are FS2004 clouds 1024 pixel adapted on x-plane. I find the correct textures combination for good visual appeal. can you help me? How it works x-plane matrix clouds?

Guys, if we unite forces we can make beautiful clouds and sky.  :smile:

[efis007 884]

For example, I think the weird horizontal layering in the blue color for the sky is not looking good. Looks like FS in the 90's at 16bits color.

 

Is this a limitation from X-Plane?

The weird horizontal layering in the blue color for the sky depends on texture "gradient color uniformity."

If the color is not uniform they see small horizontal stripes.

Example, this gradient is not uniform:

 

 

"Is this a limitation from X-Plane?"      Yes Sir!

 

Each X-plane sky texture is 128 horizontal pixels x 32 vertical pixels.

 

With 32 vertical pixels are generated 32 individual horizontal stripes on the texture, this graphic artifact is inevitable.

 

The trick to have a nice sky gradient... with 32 pixel only... is to make more "smooth color stripes" possible.

 

The X-plane sky is very similar to the microsoft FS sky.

X-plane, FS9, FSX, etc, use too small textures to represent the sky dome.

 

640 x 160 pixels (ie 128 x 32 multiplied by 4) would be preferred to represent the sky dome without graphical artifacts.

128 x 32 pixels are too few. 

[Murmur 3,941]

Yes and no, these are FS2004 clouds 1024 pixel adapted on x-plane. I find the correct textures combination for good visual appeal. can you help me? How it works x-plane matrix clouds?

Guys, if we unite forces we can make beautiful clouds and sky.  :smile:

 

It's very simple (I also explained it in a previous post):

 

the first column (4 textures) is used to draw "cirrus" and "few cumulus" clouds;

the second column is used to draw "scattered cumulus" clouds;

the third column is used to draw "broken cumulus" clouds;

the fourth column is used to draw "overcast" and "stratus" clouds.

 

"cloud_puff0.png" is used to draw the cloud puffs closest to the camera;

"cloud_puff1.png" to "cloud_puff5.png" are used to draw the progressively more distant layers. In other words, the farthest clouds you see are draw using "cloud_puff5.png".

 

My advice is to use the same textures for all of them (so you have 6 duplicates cloud_puff png's). This way, the border between the different layers is less noticeable and clouds should look better.

 

Be advised that if you use my LUA script, X-Plane does not use the first 2 png's (cloud_puff0 and cloud_puff1). This produces better looking clouds and higher FPS.

 

Finally, you can use .dds textures instead of .png textures (for example, using a program like DXTBmp). This also brings better FPS. But be careful: if inside the "clouds" folder you have both types of files (.png and .dds), X-Plane will only use .png's. So you have to actually delete or move the .png's textures from the "clouds" folder (and you have to re-do that every time you run the updater, since it will notice those .png's are missing and will put them again in the "clouds" folder).