Dynamic Shine

[Guest Ionizeyou]

Could someone help me to understand the Dynamic Shine (DS) feature better? Am wondering if the DS component is controlled by the Model or with texture maps? Also, if within either one, can the DS be modified to either enhance or minimize the effect within a particular situation? Any advanced info pertaining to DS would be greatly appreciated.Thanks!Kevin Sparkuhl

[Guest panzerschiffe]

I can only speak for FSDS2 here...to control the amount of dynamic shine a model has, you simply modify the material's specular power. The bigger the number (0-255) the more powerful the effect. You can also set the color of the effect. It's that simple. It has practically nothing to do with the textures.I have no idea how the effect is attained in GMAX.

[Shaka 2]

I'm not sure what you mean by "particular situation" - could you give an example?>within either one, can the DS be modified to either enhance >or minimize the effect within a particular situation? Any >advanced info pertaining to DS would be greatly appreciated. I know GMAX handles DS differently than FSDS2, so my comments might not be at all helpful to you (if you use GMAX). In FSDS2, you set the DS when you select the material. For most aircraft, I find that a small amount of DS can create a nice effect when combined with reflective textures. I use a dark grey colour, and a specular power of 20-30. I find that using a small amount will prevent having too much glare. This might be a matter of taste though.DS seems more effective on "medium" coloured textures - not too dark, and not too light. It also has a nicer effect on a curved surfaces, like the fusealage, rather than wings, which tend to be flat shaped. So, generally, I use a lower power on the wings. For this same reason, DS looks nicer on a model that has more (smaller) evenly spaced polygons. Larger polygons reflect too much at once, and kind of take away the subtlety of the effect.For bare metals, I use a higher power. When you combine this with reflective textures, it yields a nice result. The same thing goes for glass - I use a power of 127, and a light grey specular colour.Above all, experiment! The material is easy to change at the last minute, so you can play around all you want. I find that different projects will require a little tweaking in the DS - there's not one solution for every aircraft.- Martin

[Guest adevins]

If you want to modify the level of dynamic shine on an aircraft you will need the source files (.fsc or .gmax)Gmax handles the dynamic shine the same as fsds2 only you need to have middleman and mdl comander installed becuase there is some weird thing with the microsoft exporter.Alan

[Guest Ionizeyou]

With "particular situation", I'm referring to different levels of DS due to the type of paint scheme or material involved. For instance, the DS would be very low with a type of military paint scheme and would be much higher with a metallic base, such as that of an American Airlines livery. I was just curious if I would be able to adjust these settings myself, and indeed it appears that I can do this if I have the source files and know how to properly adust the settings. Practice makes perfect as I can see...Thanks for your answer!Kevin

[Shaka 2]

Ok, I see what you mean. Basically you have two choices. You can creat two seperate models with different levels of DS, or you can try to achieve the different levels of DS by using reflective textures.As a matter of fact, I'm working on a project right now that brought me to this very same situation. My aircraft could either be in an acrobatic display version (high DS) or in a ground support version (low DS). In the end, I decided to keep the DS level the same for both, and I used reflective textures for the acrobatic version, and non-reflective textures for the ground support version. This results in some DS for the military paint scheme, but if you look at photos of real aircraft, you can still see some reflectivity in the paint. Overall, I am happy with the result, but you might try it both ways and figure out which you prefer.- Martin