Shading software advice v4.5

[Stephen Simpson 7]

Hi folks,

Reinstalling v4.5 at the moment and seeking advice on the following for shades.

PTA

Tomato

Envshade

All I want is the most realistic visuals.

Many thanks.

[Speedbird 217 127]

I have used them all and am currently with Tomatoshade. I’m using the R&D preset and my sim never looked better. I would rank them:

1. Tomatoshade

2. Envshade

3. PTA

Another bonus with TS is the reflection maker, which allows you to add PBR like effects to non-PBR aircraft. 

[simmerhead 885]

I think it's all down to personal preference and what interface and "look" you're after.

I use PTA with Matt's latest preset (included in the download) and am a very happy camper. I use a fairly old computer and have no performance issues. I have never tried Tomato or Envshade so I wouldn't know how they compare, but life's too short for me to bother.

Edited January 10, 2020 by simmerhead

[GSalden 4,656]

 

[SAS443 1,723]

Tomatoshade is my recommendation.

It is free, and does basically everything PTA does including a dynamic reflection addon.

Envshade is nice, but little simpler 

PTA would be my last choice. Matt's provided profile is nice, but I am not sure how well supported PTA is nowadays.

[micstatic 4,319]

I used to use TS but switched back to envshade.  When i used tomatoshade I found that I got more jagged lines that required higher AA settings.  I didn't like the weird blue look all the time.  Didn't like how it looked at night all the time.  Some VC's were too dark.  Env doesn't always look as good as TS, but it works just fine for me.  In my non scientific opinion, env gets better performance.