Can any weather/cloud texture programs do this yet?

[Noel 4,492]

What I never see in P3D and what I see frequently in the real world at sunrise/sunset is really nice coloration effects on clouds.  I'm using REX Texture Direct and Essentials, and ActiveSkyNext.  Here's a dramatic example from the local sky that I took the other day.  Are there any weather or texture packages that can do this yet?

[Johan_Dees 84]

none

[Chock 17,769]

Yup, Simul's trueSKY in Flight Sim World should be able to do visuals similar to that when Dovetail Games get it to implement realtime downloads, which they are presently working on achieving because it has clouds and an atmosphere which is a 3D presence in the simulation, so it will accept and affect the lighting information necessary to achieve such visuals. It's worth bearing in mind that you would need this kind of realistic simulated 3D atmosphere to get such an effect, because the red colour of the pic you posted is caused by the longer blue light wavelengths being scattered about when the sun is low down and its rays need to penetrate more atmosphere (i.e. slant range), so only the shorter red wavelength light makes it through (aka known as Rayleigh Scattering).

You might be able to tweak the time and season settings right now in the sim to get something sort of similar, although at present, FSW only has preset weather scenarios in it, so whilst it is using trueSKY, and so can indeed receive lighting on its clouds, with only a few weather presets at the moment, you might not be able to get those exact cloud formations.

Since FSW is presently discounted on Steam, you might want to give it a look, but as noted, be aware that realtime weather downloading is not yet implemented and the lighting model in the sim is not yet finalised, but when it is, it will be very likely that you could get visuals of the sky in the sim which look like that.

Here's a vid of trueSKY in action in FSW which whilst not showing clouds such as those, does show how they could be lit in such a manner:

 

[IAhawkeyeDDS 158]

Hate to hijack but what aeroplane is that in the video?  Looks like a great plane to zoom around in and look at scenery (great bubble cockpit).  Looks like it could be fast too.

 

Thanks...

[vgbaron 3,586]

I've seen similar in AS4 and ASCA.

 

Vic

[simaddict 46]

Hate to disagree, Chock, because I respect and follow your posts, but True Sky in FSW really looks bad, I think. Nothing like REX or any other weather programs. I call it False Sky!! It's awefull!! Unless they fix it. We'll see, but I think they had a lot better options.

Mike

[Noel 4,492]

2 hours ago, vgbaron said:

I've seen similar in AS4 and ASCA.

 

Vic

If you can capture and post a screenshot of something decent it would be much appreciated.  Thanks

[Noel 4,492]

Thanks Alan for the information on trueSky--I'll keep an eye on it to see if it goes anywhere that looks compelling.  It works in P3D v3.4?

[Chock 17,769]

2 hours ago, IAhawkeyeDDS said:

Hate to hijack but what aeroplane is that in the video?  Looks like a great plane to zoom around in and look at scenery (great bubble cockpit).  Looks like it could be fast too.

 

Thanks...

That's a Diamond DA42 Twin Star. It's unusual in having diesel engines. Max speed is about 200 knots.

 

[Chock 17,769]

19 minutes ago, Noel said:

Thanks Alan for the information on trueSky--I'll keep an eye on it to see if it goes anywhere that looks compelling.  It works in P3D v3.4?

Nope, thus far the only flight sim to have implemented trueSKY is DTG's FSW. Developers DTG are working with trueSKY developer Simul to attempt to make it suitable to read realtime downloads. A number of computer games use it, such as first person shooters and RPGs, but that is an easier proposition than implementing it in a flight sim, so it remains to be seen if DTG pull it off..

[Noel 4,492]

Ahh, well very good.  I'm so enthralled w/ P3D 3.4 and the group of sceneries and airports I have it's just nothing short of fantastic, and I've been doing this for 20y, and I'm using a 5.5 y/o 3930K.   I've learned how to live w/in my means but wow, just a short hop from FB KPHX HD > FTX KSAN at dusk and it was absolutely flawlessly liquid smooth and gorgeous.  Amazing!