3 hours ago, LHookins said:

They're talking about clouds in Real Life, not in a flight sim. 😄 

Seriously.  Go outside some time. 🙂 

To me, the clouds look like out of focus photographs.  Or what you'd see with severe nearsightedness (myopia).  So I guess we could call them "myopic clouds" and refer to the people who think they're correct as "myopic."

😄 

Hook

PS.  It's not just you, WarpD.  I've been amazed for over a decade at what people think look realistic.  I guess it's a style thing.  One company made clouds that looked like what you'd see in a painting... attractive but unrealistic.  People loved them though, and they did make for interesting screen shots.  But they didn't look like actual clouds.

H.

The question probably would be, what are the alternatives?

Right now, there is a general consensus that these are probably the best clouds ever seen in a simulator. If there are better, I certainly want to see them. 🙂

8 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Right now, there is a general consensus that these are probably the best clouds ever seen in a simulator. If there are better, I certainly want to see them.

Google "time lapse clouds."  What I see with Active Sky Cloud Art compares favorably.

Hook

10 hours ago, joemiller said:

 

So, I know we are all excited about the new Flight Sim  from MS.  But,  don't forget our sub-hobbies that come with flight-sim...    Building and overclocking, and tweaking. That's right..  tweaking. 

Yes, I agree, most of us would rather have a sim that needs absolutely Nooo tweaking. But, if that were possible, then 'part of the fun' would be missing. (maybe)

 Humm, I'm not sure I like those clouds. I wonder if it's just the way the videos were recorded? Or why they look so undefined. They are not sharp on the edges. Looks like out of focus; like mashed potatoes from a distance. Not sure why.

And also,  the terrain...  not so sharp. Hopefully, it's just the videos and will not be so in the real sim. But the lighting and how earth will be rendered in? Yes, Amazing. No more generic earth.! 

The vast, vast, vast majority of clouds are not 'sharp around the edges.' Once airborne even fewer are. Up close, almost none are.

They could refine the rarer varieties but the majority look really good.

2 minutes ago, LHookins said:

Google "time lapse clouds."  What I see with Active Sky Cloud Art compares favorably.

Hook

True as far as it goes, I myself used Rexx clouds for years, but are these truly volumetric? Or still billboards.

Dunno clouds in game look better then any sim I’ve ever played. Or any 3rd part clouds I’ve ever seen.

a recent flight over Louisiana, and in game clouds from MSFS 2020.

 

look pretty close to me.

 

 

3 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

True as far as it goes, I myself used Rexx clouds for years, but are these truly volumetric? Or still billboards.

Billboards, but I seldom notice even when looking for artifacts.  Truth is, I'd rather have realistic looking billboard clouds than myopic volumetric masses.  Just my personal preference.

Seriously, I've seen cloud depictions that the only way you know they're clouds is because they're generally white and they're in the sky.  And people praising them for how realistic they are.  

 

2 minutes ago, AKMGuru said:

look pretty close to me.

They can look pretty good.  There have been some really dramatic cloud shots in the published screen shots.

Hook

1 minute ago, LHookins said:

Billboards, but I seldom notice even when looking for artifacts.  Truth is, I'd rather have realistic looking billboard clouds than myopic volumetric masses.  Just my personal preference.

Seriously, I've seen cloud depictions that the only way you know they're clouds is because they're generally white and they're in the sky.  And people praising them for how realistic they are.  

Billboards don't do well in Vr, though, and that's where I prefer to fly. I'm already worried, wondering if the MSFS ones will work correctly or have problems in VR like Skymaxx did for quite a while.

12 minutes ago, 2reds2whites said:

The vast, vast, vast majority of clouds are not 'sharp around the edges.' Once airborne even fewer are. Up close, almost none are.

You've certainly seen more clouds than I have 😄 but I have seen them up close.  I'd prefer to see the occasional wispy edge.  What we've got looks a little low resolution.

Hook

1 minute ago, HiFlyer said:

I'm already worried, wondering if the MSFS ones will work correctly

I'm pretty sure they'll work in VR.  They work ok with TrackIR.

Hook

22 minutes ago, 2reds2whites said:

The vast, vast, vast majority of clouds are not 'sharp around the edges.' Once airborne even fewer are. Up close, almost none are.

They could refine the rarer varieties but the majority look really good.

+1! Thats exactly how it is in real life. Even those "sharp" CB clouds shown in the photographs a couple of posts ago will look very blurry once you get close. That's how it is in reality. It seems to me, that too much of the flightsim community has gotten used to those crisp billboards from the past that can look nice from distance but become completely unrealistic when getting close. Simmers, please go outside, get in a real aircraft and fly close to some real clouds and then come back to your PC and judge again. The MSFS ones are way closer to reality than anything else we have seen so far in any sim with any add on. That being said: While I even still see some room for improvements, to me complaining about unrealistic clouds in MSFS is somewhat absurd. Because they are one of the major breakthroughs that come with this sim, and a big leap forward (beside cirrus 🤐).

4 minutes ago, Weatherman said:

Simmers, please go outside, get in a real aircraft and fly close to some real clouds and then come back to your PC and judge again.

I have.  Been a couple of years.  Wish I'd taken more photos.

Hook

Recommended reading. It's interesting, with a nice writing style, especially for pilots and even more so if you fly gliders.

Edited August 9, 20205 yr by Chock

I scratch my head sometimes when my favorite streamers fly through rex clouds in p3d like they are flying through a sky of super models. Just in love with them. And I'm like. Uh?  I mean , I think they are  the best looking clouds I've seen in a sim that is not MFS.  But they look like grey spaghetti to me. Spaghetti in beautiful authentic cloud shapes. But still spaghetti. No fluffiness. 

When I am mowing my lawn and beautiful large clouds roll by , I see what I see in MFS. 

1 hour ago, Weatherman said:

Simmers, please go outside, get in a real aircraft and fly close to some real clouds and then come back to your PC and judge again. The MSFS ones are way closer to reality than anything else we have seen so far in any sim with any add on. That being said: While I even still see some room for improvements, to me complaining about unrealistic clouds in MSFS is somewhat absurd. Because they are one of the major breakthroughs that come with this sim, and a big leap forward (beside cirrus 🤐).

I wish I could give this post 100 upvotes. 

 

So, the best clouds in flight simulation, or any game I'm aware of, are not good enough eh?  I suppose there is always room for improvment, but flipping heck, simmers are hard to please 🤪