In one of the many MFS videos on Youtube I noticed the narrator saying they hope the detailed grass seen in a certain still shot would be affected by wind.

This is off topic but I definitely see wind blown grass in the teasers for the new flightsim Deadstick on Steam (at about the 2 second mark into the video).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/771800/Deadstick__Bush_Flight_Simulator/

 

Useful for small fields without windsock (or to check that the sock show the proper wind direction , just sayin') 

3 minutes ago, domkle said:

Useful for small fields without windsock (or to check that the sock show the proper wind direction , just sayin') 

Or helicopter

it'd be a neat visual effect, especially for helicopters. It's not something I've ever noticed in real life flying fixed wing though. 

Important and wanted feature. Not "Essential" (like sloped runways). But important.

It would sure be nice. But at the same time, I'm not sure in the context of flight simming that the added benefit is really worth the potential performance hit.

It’s a cool feature. Same as trees moving with air. My concerns are the visual gain vs performance hit.

I mean. It’s something that is almost only perceptible stopped (or with a typhoon over you), but how much could impact the FPS?

Every individual blade of grass worldwide would have to be modelled and rendered.  Personally, I'd much rather the power of my system be devoted to flight dynamics etc.

5 hours ago, andyjohnston.net said:

Every individual blade of grass worldwide would have to be modelled and rendered.  Personally, I'd much rather the power of my system be devoted to flight dynamics etc.

Actually the company that sells Speedtrees (the 3D trees in P3d4) also has a grass model that like the trees, is affected by wind. The detailed models are only visible close to the user's viewpoint. At distance, the simplistic billboard models are used.

20 hours ago, andyjohnston.net said:

Every individual blade of grass worldwide would have to be modelled and rendered.  Personally, I'd much rather the power of my system be devoted to flight dynamics etc.

Well it's not as intense as you think that would be. They just model one patch of grass, or maybe several. A land class system will then tell the engine where around the globe grass may grow and once you come close enough to such an area (maybe below 20-60 feet of altitude or something) the engine will start drawing that patch of grass everywhere withing range where the grass may grow. 

So they won't have to model every individual blade of grass worldwide and it will only cost you a fraction of system power (it's not that expensive to draw grass) once you come below 20-60 feet. But it will make that low altitude environment (or taxiing) around the airport a lot more lifelike and realistic. It may also help you determine wind direction on airports without a windsock if they choose to go into such detail. Furthermore you can probably turn it off if it costs your system too much power.   

I just hope that arguments about the new simulator when it releases focus around things like this and not everything else that is core.  Of course we can say if you just model a few blades of grass with movement and replicate it, then it won't take into the consideration the air speed of the wind as globally the grass will move simultaneously in the same direction at once.  Although this may be solved by creating more models in a collection with an index and radius and then iterate through the collection at a velocity.

8 hours ago, carmined said:

Of course we can say if you just model a few blades of grass with movement and replicate it, then it won't take into the consideration the air speed of the wind as globally the grass will move simultaneously in the same direction at once.

So what? The pilot will never see it even if it did. The most one might possibly see is a half-acre of 'grass' at any given time.

If I'm in a small field in Iowa, why would I even care which way the 'grass' is blowing in Flander's Field?

8 hours ago, n4gix said:

So what? The pilot will never see it even if it did. The most one might possibly see is a half-acre of 'grass' at any given time.

If I'm in a small field in Iowa, why would I even care which way the 'grass' is blowing in Flander's Field?

Isn't corn the only grass you have in Iowa  😄 ? It should be tall enough to show the direction of the wind, except in winter of course  ! 

Edited August 25, 20196 yr by domkle

Actively wind blown tree branches would not only give the wind direction but also an indication of the wind speed.

Usefull for bush-, ultralight- and sailplane pilots.

Sorry, just day-dreaming.