How do I change the water colour?

[Jack_Sawyer 4,600]

Hi, I used to have FSX a while ago and always loved the greenish bluish/gray colour or the water, is there a way to change this?  See screenshots below.  I'm currently using P3Dv4.1, the latest PTA, and a slightly modified Matt Davies preset, but all I did was just lighten the cloud shadows.  It's all trial and error for me so I'm fumbling around like crazy.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

First, this is the blue that I personally think is too dark blue.

Now, the next three screens is what colour I'd like to achieve.

Especially this!

Or even this.

 

[tremor595 20]

There are some things you can do to change the look of the water but also some things which influence the look of the water. 

You could try different water sets if you own REX for example. 

You could play with the water saturation in PTA. The PTA limpidity setting and refraction setting affect the water color too as the ocean ground will shine through a more clearer water(limpidity) or the sky color will be more reflected by the water(refraction) - at least that's how i understand and see it. The problem for me is in some regions tuning down these settings give very nice and realistic results, in more tropical regions raising these settings may give a better look. But it's worth playing with them.

You could also batch edit all the water textures to give them a little more green, less saturation or whatever. I did this myself with imbatch iirc. Maybe you have to convert them before with another freeware tool i don't remember the name atm. This all takes some work but you can taylor things really to your likings.

Even the settings in the waterconstants.xml influence the look of the water. But more in terms of sun reflection, wind influence...

I played with all these options countless hours because i never was really satisfied and still try different setups, textures, normal maps and whatever from time to time. 

 

But the easiest way really should be to try some other water sets by REX or maybe ENVTEX, especially if you're just after slightly different colorisation.

[Jack_Sawyer 4,600]

Thanks, but gosh, that's a little over my head.  I would have no idea how to batch edit having never done it before.

I could use trial and error with the limpidity thing I guess.

I was kinda hoping someone would look at my desired colors and give me some numbers to work with.

I use ASCA and have the Discovery theme set, REX sky sets 5-6-5, and I don't use REX's water, I tried it once and it made things much worse.

To me all of REX's water themes are too dark bluish/purple, it was very unlike what I wanted.

 

[tremor595 20]

11 minutes ago, Jack_Sawyer said:

To me all of REX's water themes are too dark bluish/purple, it was very unlike what I wanted.

That's why I altered the textures myself. I also wasn't satisfied with any of the sets.

13 minutes ago, Jack_Sawyer said:

Thanks, but gosh, that's a little over my head.  I would have no idea how to batch edit having never done it before.

I'm not at my computer now. But you basically just need two folders, one where you backup the original water textures(I think that's around 150-200 textures!) and one where you have the same copies for editing. Then you simply select this folder in imbatch for example and with one or two sliders and clicks you change color, saturation or whatever for all textures in this folder at once. Save and copy them to scenery\world\texture (or was it ..global\texture ?) and check the results.

If you're interested I could write the exact steps down when i have a little more time these days. As I said maybe you have to convert the textures before editing, but that is also done as a batch inside the same folder, just with another tool, just with two more clicks. 

28 minutes ago, Jack_Sawyer said:

I was kinda hoping someone would look at my desired colors and give me some numbers to work with

I think that's impossible. At least for me.

Another thing you can do, look inside the screenshot forum for example. If you see some water or ocean you like just ask the author fir his settings. Maybe worth a try.

[Jack_Sawyer 4,600]

Thanks for your advice, what you describe is way over my head so I'm not even going to attempt it.

I'll go to the screenshot forum and see what I can see.

Thanks.

Jack

 

PS: Is there a screenshot forum for PTA?  If so can you please direct me to it?

[jime59 58]

Try this program (it's free) called Water Configurator by Striking Software:

www.strikingsoftware.com

Easy to use and has multiple variations to choose from.

 

JimE

[Jack_Sawyer 4,600]

23 minutes ago, jime59 said:

Try this program (it's free) called Water Configurator by Striking Software:

www.strikingsoftware.com

Easy to use and has multiple variations to choose from.

 

JimE

Thanks Jim, I'll have a look.

[tremor595 20]

26 minutes ago, jime59 said:

Try this program (it's free) called Water Configurator by Striking Software:

www.strikingsoftware.com

Easy to use and has multiple variations to choose from.

 

JimE

Is it compatible with P3D? Always thought this was a FSX only tool.

[jime59 58]

Sorry, didn't see the P3d reference. 

Yes, it's FSX only.

 

jime

[Vincent Carlo 3]

Hello Jack,

I'm not trying to get you to spend more $$$ but I have always used FEX and the water theme "GREY STORMS" has always provided me the colors similar to your desired images. I highly recommend FEX and it comes with a 30 day refund offer from Flight 1 .  Newest version is fully compatible with P3D v4.x

 

http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=flt1fex

[Jack_Sawyer 4,600]

4 minutes ago, Vincent Carlo said:

Hello Jack,

I'm not trying to get you to spend more $$$ but I have always used FEX and the water theme "GREY STORMS" has always provided me the colors similar to your desired images. I highly recommend FEX and it comes with a 30 day refund offer from Flight 1 .  Newest version is fully compatible with P3D v4.x

 

http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=flt1fex

Thanks Vincent!  Is it compatible with REX and PTA?  I do not use REX for water, only three sky colors and the runway textures.

Are there any screenshots I can see to see if it's to my liking?

 

[Vincent Carlo 3]

Here's a few I took in P3Dv3.  Don't have any from v4 yet, but the water colors are all the same in v4 as in v3

https://s26.postimg.org/57q23chd5/2016-3-3_20-50-9-382.jpg

https://s26.postimg.org/70syro2jt/2016-3-3_20-19-48-556.png

https://s26.postimg.org/w83urx5nt/2016-3-8_19-27-38-446.jpg

FEX is the same as REX meaning you can control which textures ( SKY, CLOUDS, WATER) you wish to be displayed (any or all, your choice).  FEX is compatible with all programs.

[Jack_Sawyer 4,600]

Thanks Vincent, this is precisely what I’m looking for in v4.1 PTA.

I love it!

[Vincent Carlo 3]

You're welcome :)   I personally prefer different programs for my setup.  I use ASCA for skies and clouds, FEX for water, and REX for the other misc. textures such as runways, airport environments, etc.  Having tried numerous water themes from FEX, I settled on "GREY STORMS" but there are dozens and dozens of others you may want to try,

[Jack_Sawyer 4,600]

8 hours ago, Vincent Carlo said:

You're welcome :)   I personally prefer different programs for my setup.  I use ASCA for skies and clouds, FEX for water, and REX for the other misc. textures such as runways, airport environments, etc.  Having tried numerous water themes from FEX, I settled on "GREY STORMS" but there are dozens and dozens of others you may want to try,

Just looked, they want $44 for FEX and I might only use one ocean texture color.  I might buy it sometime but I have a problem with Flight1's products, especially Ultimate Traffic Live.  I think that's abandonware already as there's zero support.