P3dV4.4 Metal...PBR style

[Steve Dra 7,574]

PBR means more than a cheap beer brand now (or the Professional Bull Riders). 🤣  For flightsimmers running P3dV4.4, it means metal and reflections like you've never seen before!

Screaming outta' KSFO....the metal is....😲.  Working on this re-do of my original AA textures with the new PBR model, soon to be released by Leonardo. The new updated model is slated for this weekend, this paint shortly after that.

 

 

[fppilot 4,350]

All I can say is unreal real for simulation! 

[scottb613 1,187]

Hi Steve,

Glorious - simply glorious - almost a religious experience... I’m a sucker for the dawg... Now if we could only get you to wear proper colored shoes...

😂

Regards,

Scott

Edited December 21, 2018 by scottb613

[P_7878 6,551]

What a phenomenal asset (and sim experience) this is for P3DV4.4 Simmers...!

This plane, and also these marvelous PBR-enabled textures thanks to accomplished artists like Steve!!

[Guest]

I've been looking forward to this update, excellent shot, thank you! 

I've seen a lot of other PBR work from vendors and it's nothing short of stunning!  

Cheers, Rob.

[Jetset408 108]

Wow Steve. Amazing. Rough the paint up a little round the nose cone and front widows then BOOM.... it will leap outta the monitor and suck you through it's engines, that thing is so bloomin' real!

Edited December 21, 2018 by Jetset408

[Phantom88 3,284]

Mad Dog at it's Finest! 

[scottb613 1,187]

Hi Folks,

Reminds me of my absolute favorite RW shot of an MD-80...

http://imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/1/7/3/0761371.jpg?v=v40

Regards,

Scott

Edited December 21, 2018 by scottb613

[ryanbatc 12,799]

Is that at SAN?

[scottb613 1,187]

4 minutes ago, ryanbatcund said:

Is that at SAN?

Hi Ryan,

The photo I posted - yep...

It's a fun approach there - I've flown in numerous times...

Regards,
Scott

Edited December 21, 2018 by scottb613

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I miss the old American livery, and having worked for American after they retired it I feel I have a right to say that.  I helped American convert US Airways crew scheduling software to theirs in 2014 on a short term project.  Their old livery would be contemporary, even today.  Felt the same about US Airways old livery, and United's.  Livery changes do not attract customers, guest service does, like the guest service I had on British Airways last year.  I started my career as a retail and hotel customer/guest service worker and manager before moving to hospitality IT.  I saw many mergers and rebranding along the way.  Sadly, Montgomery Ward, my first real job, then owned by Mobile, went out of business as did Mervyns and other retailers known for their customer service.  Mergers and acquisitions are so tough, the movie "Wall Street" is a good example of how they can affect an airline or another company.  My last salaried job at JDA software was with a company well known for mergers, then layoffs of the company workers they bought.  They were hit with a merger, bought out and my former team members, save for one, were laid off.  But they were well qualified and found work almost immediately for other companies.  The business world, especially incorporated businesses, is a tough place.  Shareholders in a business are a form of socialism and are rarely qualified to run the business they own stock in.  They do not vote, I never did for my Mobile stock, their votes are done by proxy.  But that is life as we know it.  I always favored working for a private business but I only knew of one or two private airlines, such as STOL Air Commuter in Napa, but it did not stay in flight, our ground transport to SFO, Evans, was more competitive and less expensive.  I knew the family that owned STOL, nice people, their father was a captain on a TWA flight home from a tour we took in Europe together.  TWA, another airline with a great livery.  So was AirCal, and PSA with their smileliners, and Hughes Airwest with their Banana colored Fokkers and DC-9's.

John

[SP2472 2,292]

Stunning work Steve!

[Steve Dra 7,574]

Thanks for all the great comments guys!  Trying a few different methods to bring out the metal, and I tell ya its a process.

So...in the past we had the base layer, and the Alpha layer that basically controlled the shine, both on the same texture map.  Neither really had an interaction effect on the other except to control the shine on the surface.

Now we have an entirely new texture map that controls the metallic and shadows...and we have to edit 2 out of the 3 color channels on that texture map to get the effect right.  This issue is that ALL 4 layers on the 2 separate maps interact with each other and when you adjust one, it effects all 4!  The level of complexity has gone up exponentially to do a paint with the right shine and reflections, and doing a bare metal "texture" is even more complex still.

All the current 3d model viewers (that I know of) don't handle the new PBR effects that you can easily pop the textures into and do a quick look, then adjust...oh nooooo....you have to load it in the sim....look, and usually exit the sim entirely after because the new tweaks won't reload...so...a process.🙄

Anyway....with the holidays not sure if I can get this one done with the scheduled release of the update this Sunday....but know when I do, you won't believe your eyes. 🙂

Scott,  Wonder how many know the reference means that you think I wear the wrong colored shoes? Hehe.

John, great story and interesting history.   I love the old liveries too...in fact my friend Brian Neuman, who is also the Avsim Library manager, did some great old time paints on the MD...including

Check out all his paints here: https://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?DLID=&Name=&FileName=&Author=brian+neuman&CatID=p3dacrp

He's also working on PSA, and I'm doing AirCal. 😉

 

[Steve Dra 7,574]

Here are the results of my nightly tweaking session:

I moved all my AA textures over to the new paintkit designed to assist in creating PBR paints.  Phew that was a JOB!

Next, I reduced the blue-metal effect (washed it out basically) and adjusted the alpha since it seems it does impact the shine effect a bit.  I think the metal looks better at some angles and times of day..and too gray and plastic in others.  I'm tellin ya guys...unless I'm missing something...metal is not gonna look good in 100% of every angle and time of day....but when it does..its jaw-dropping!

Hang with me guys....this is going to be a journey...can't just slap textures on anymore and expect decent results...you gotta put the time in. 🙂

 

[P_7878 6,551]

Looking lovelier by the minute, Steve!

Even I can tell that Metal PBR repaint is not for the faint-hearted for sure...🙂...Thanks for your efforts!

Edited December 22, 2018 by P_7878