Trueglass (Fog) Preview

[odourboy 1,289]

15 minutes ago, simbol said:

Thanks found it:

Compatibility and Requirements

TrueGlass is compatible with the following environments.

Lockheed Martin Prepar3D v4.X on Windows Vista and later (x64)

The following items are requirements for TrueGlass.

Access to the source model of the aircraft implementing TrueGlass

DirectX June 2010 runtime

Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Runtime (x64)

Pricing

TrueGlass is available under the following pricing models.

For products released as freeware or at no cost to the receipient of the product, TrueGlass is free to use.

For a commercial product, TrueGlass is available for $2100 USD.

Volume discounts may apply if licensing multiple technologies simultaneously. 
Additional licensing options may be available upon request. 

Interesting facts reading they requirements, now If I was PMDG I wouldn't be happy to give my aircraft source model to another company that also make planes.. if I was an add-on plane developer that would be a deal breaker for me.

Regards,
Simbol

I'm not sure thst you're interpreting that requirement as intended (though I completely agree that if you did need to turn your model source over to TFDi to enable the technology, it would be a non starter )

I suspect what they are saying is you'll need you add a layer to your cockpit glass with some specific materials settings in your source model in order to enable trueglass.

[simbol 5,819]

1 minute ago, odourboy said:

I'm not sure thst you're interpreting that requirement as intended (though I completely agree that if you did need to turn your model source over to TFDi to enable the technology, it would be a non starter )

I suspect what they are saying is you'll need you add a layer to your cockpit glass with some specific materials settings in your source model in order to enable trueglass.

Well that sentence reads to me as: "We need access to your aircraft source model".

Regards,
Simbol

 

[odourboy 1,289]

11 minutes ago, simbol said:

Well that sentence reads to me as: "We need access to your aircraft source model".

Regards,
Simbol

 

Not to start a bun fight here, but nowhere does it say "We". Perhaps a poor choice of phrasing on their part, but again, my interpretation is that you'll need to make changes to your model source to support Trueglass, so "you" need access to it, not "we". I.e., you can't implement Trueglass without changing your model source.

[simbol 5,819]

Just now, odourboy said:

Not to start a bun fight here, but nowhere does it say "We". Perhaps a poor choice of phrasing on their part, but again, my interpretation is that you'll need to make changes to your model source to support Trueglass, so "you" need access to it, not "we". I.e., you can't implement Trueglass without changing your model source.

I see your point but of course I would have access to it if I developed it lol.

If it doesn't mean what I believe it does they should rephrase it as it sends the wrong message.

Regards,

Simbol

 

[n4gix 4,947]

48 minutes ago, simbol said:

If I was PMDG I wouldn't be happy to give my aircraft source model to another company that also make planes.. if I was an add-on plane developer that would be a deal breaker for me.

Regards,
Simbol

You misunderstand. Once licensed, the developer is given access to the SDK to install it themselves. The licensee does not send their proprietary source model to TFDi.

[odourboy 1,289]

It does dispel any notion of some tweaker adding Trueglass to somebody else's add-on, but I totally agree that the requirement phasing could be better!

[Drumcode 1,893]

1 hour ago, simbol said:

Interesting facts reading they requirements, now If I was PMDG I wouldn't be happy to give my aircraft source model to another company that also make planes.. if I was an add-on plane developer that would be a deal breaker for me.

Obviously there are legal documents that could address any concerns that the purchasing party may have. Anyways, I guess the bottom line is that we all desire to have the rain and fog effects in the PMDG's products. I'd hope they're working on something right now as if the TG gets released, they're already behind on current technology. I'd be very pleased with an update to the T7 and 73N's. :)

[Chock 17,769]

2 hours ago, simbol said:

Interesting facts reading they requirements, now If I was PMDG I wouldn't be happy to give my aircraft source model to another company that also make planes.. if I was an add-on plane developer that would be a deal breaker for me.

Regards,
Simbol

Yup, I could see where that might be a bit problematic for some developers.

[Milviz 919]

As a company that has a license to use this, I can straight up tell you that we don't have to send TFDi our models.  We just have to add the "code" to the material for the glass. Fairly easy.

@Chock.  It's not art work.  It's code.  The fog is based in code and not artwork.  So it's really REALLY fast and with almost no overhead. So, sure, other devs COULD spend the money and the time and the effort to dev their own... But, as someone who actually already DID the dev on our night lighting tech that works in a similar manner to this, it's not as easy as you seem to think.  It took nearly a year to get it right... and it cost a HUGE amount of money as well.  

[Chock 17,769]

28 minutes ago, Milviz said:

As a company that has a license to use this, I can straight up tell you that we don't have to send TFDi our models.  We just have to add the "code" to the material for the glass. Fairly easy.

@Chock.  It's not art work.  It's code.  The fog is based in code and not artwork.  So it's really REALLY fast and with almost no overhead. So, sure, other devs COULD spend the money and the time and the effort to dev their own... But, as someone who actually already DID the dev on our night lighting tech that works in a similar manner to this, it's not as easy as you seem to think.  It took nearly a year to get it right... and it cost a HUGE amount of money as well.  

Fair enough. So is the code calling a particle effect, or a texture?

[Milviz 919]

I'm sorry but due to an NDA (and basic intelligence) I'm not going to answer any questions about how it works... I suggest that if you want to know, ask TFDi.

[Chock 17,769]

31 minutes ago, Milviz said:

I'm sorry but due to an NDA (and basic intelligence) I'm not going to answer any questions about how it works... I suggest that if you want to know, ask TFDi.

Well if it's not a texture then presumably it must be a particle effect.

I realise clients might be under an NDA, but answering a really simple query such as that is nothing to do with basic intelligence; it is akin to mentioning that the Saturn V uses liquid fuel as opposed to solid fuel, it doesn't reveal anything about how to actually make a rocket. But, NDA's being what they are, I suppose it's fair enough.

Anyway, whatever individual developers decide to do, it's a cool effect they've come up with.

[mikea76 184]

Wow, that looks awesome!  I wonder if PMDG and FSL would consider getting a license for this?  I see Milviz is already onboard

[TurbofanDude 50]

Yes, the system that TrueGlass uses is a full particle system that generates real-time particles and simulates them throughout their life cycle. This is how it avoids the repeating-texture effect and is able to react properly to speed changes, etc.

I have updated the wording on the pages for TrueGlass and RealLight to settle any worries about source model access - we would NEVER expect third parties to send us the source for their models. It was just a bit ambiguous wording.

[simbol 5,819]

Thanks for the clarification.

All the best.

Simbol