VFR Toronto - Real and Simulated (MSFS) Flight Comparison

[Bosco19 198]

Excellent! And a nice job on your bird. This was pretty revealing to my artist's eye. The noticeable differences were that 2020's scenery was very poor at portraying directional light, 2020's colors were too intense in small areas, and "popped." -  real shot illustrates very nicely how the atmosphere reduces contrast of the entire scene, and bleeds out color. One of the most jarring differences is how, in 2020, different areas had their own treatment of pallet, color saturation, and value/contrast, increasing awareness of the separate scenery tiles or areas. Might sound simplistic and disappointing, but the best solution to bring 2020 to a better representation of reality would be a simple overall filter, reducing the color pallet, saturation, and contrast (depending upon weather, humidity, and the geographic area). It also follows that the same type of filter would bring realism back to night lighting. And of course, the higher you go, the more the filtered effect would be. Some would bemoan reduction of stunning color effects, but look at that video. From even a couple thousand feet, the substance of atmosphere makes it's presence known. "Reality" is more boring than many want to acknowledge.

[Wink207 78]

9 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

 

The little bit they did/do have generated a heap of complaints on the main MS Forum.   Apparently people prefer nice screenshots over realistic.

You get the same with night lighting and water -  overall most people seem to prefer fairyland xmas night lights and unnatural waves even at low wind speed over realistic

Thanks for chiming in Glenn. I always wondered why more guys don't mention the haze. I like mountainous terrain as much as anyone, but I prefer it to look realistic.

Rick

[The Flight Level 2,114]

20 hours ago, Bosco19 said:

Excellent! And a nice job on your bird. This was pretty revealing to my artist's eye. The noticeable differences were that 2020's scenery was very poor at portraying directional light, 2020's colors were too intense in small areas, and "popped." -  real shot illustrates very nicely how the atmosphere reduces contrast of the entire scene, and bleeds out color. One of the most jarring differences is how, in 2020, different areas had their own treatment of pallet, color saturation, and value/contrast, increasing awareness of the separate scenery tiles or areas. Might sound simplistic and disappointing, but the best solution to bring 2020 to a better representation of reality would be a simple overall filter, reducing the color pallet, saturation, and contrast (depending upon weather, humidity, and the geographic area). It also follows that the same type of filter would bring realism back to night lighting. And of course, the higher you go, the more the filtered effect would be. Some would bemoan reduction of stunning color effects, but look at that video. From even a couple thousand feet, the substance of atmosphere makes it's presence known. "Reality" is more boring than many want to acknowledge.

Thank you on both accounts! What an incredible and insightful analysis of the comparison, clearly from an artistic perspective. Very much appreciated how this video inspired your comments!

[The Flight Level 2,114]

Pointed out by a viewer - for those familiar with Billy Bishop Airport, in the video you will notice all the Porter Dash 8-400 airplanes parked. Porter  service not returning till at least February 11/21.