freddy Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 I am surprised to fly up the east coast of Australia and not see the wonderful colours of coral and the Great Barrier Reef modelled in FTX. With all the other exceptional detail of this vast country offered everywhere you fly, I find the lack of the Great Barrier Reef a little perplexing. The water does change colours from lighter blues to darker blues etc, but there's no coral reef. (Unless I am missing something here.) This is with the FSX water slider set at "2x high". I saw a post in another forum from Holger Sandmann about the difficulties associated with the best way to represent the reef ... OK, yep, the post makes sense. (http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?topic=4036.20;wap2) Looks like there are ways to achieve the goal. Are there plans to include the reef in a future project or update? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Scharnowski Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Maybe Holger's technique for glaciers can be used for the reef as well? That would be a nice compromise between representation and saving space/cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Sandmann Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Hi freddy, the Great Barrier Reef files are part of AU GREEN and the reefs look like the top image in this post: http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?topic=5886.msg46781#msg46781 Actually, the idea for the photoreal glaciers came to me when I was playing with options for the GBR and I mention it here: http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?topic=5886.msg46968#msg46968 . However, it's more complicated to get this method to look decent on water than it is on land for glaciers plus the satellite source images in this area have lots of clouds. Once we have NA BLUE out of the door I'll take another look at the reefs. Cheers, Holger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwlee Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 I think the GBR should count as another region: Turquoise! - with input from Timest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy Posted October 12, 2009 Author Share Posted October 12, 2009 Hi freddy, the Great Barrier Reef files are part of AU GREEN and the reefs look like the top image in this post: http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?topic=5886.msg46781#msg46781 Actually, the idea for the photoreal glaciers came to me when I was playing with options for the GBR and I mention it here: http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?topic=5886.msg46968#msg46968 . However, it's more complicated to get this method to look decent on water than it is on land for glaciers plus the satellite source images in this area have lots of clouds. Once we have NA BLUE out of the door I'll take another look at the reefs. Cheers, Holger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Scharnowski Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Actually, the idea for the photoreal glaciers came to me when I was playing with options for the GBR and I mention it here: http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?topic=5886.msg46968#msg46968 . However, it's more complicated to get this method to look decent on water than it is on land for glaciers plus the satellite source images in this area have lots of clouds. Once we have NA BLUE out of the door I'll take another look at the reefs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Thanks for your response. I purchased the SP3 DVD and therefore have AU GREEN. Flying near Cairns the other day I did see some lighter coloured "water" a short distance off the coast, but was flying IFR and therefore did not deviate course to investigate. The lighter colour I saw did look to match the colour seen in the images from the URL you referenced in your post. So perhaps I was indeed looking at the reef. Looks like I'll need to do a VFR flight and take a closer look. Does the reef in FTX extend down the coast towards Mackay and beyond? The lighter coloured blue waters contrasting against the darker water colour being the reef? I think that is my problem. I am expecting to see corals and vibrant colours all the way down the coast ... like what I see in glossy advertising brochures and TV ads that show low flying float planes with coral at different depths in the waters below. I am expecting to be able to fly low myself and see the same. But, given the limitations of the graphics engine in FSX and the difficulties you guys must have associated with that (which you have touched on), perhaps I am expecting too much and I haven't yet put two-and-two together in my mind that the reef is depicted in FTX perfectly well given the limitations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 Does the reef in FTX extend down the coast towards Mackay and beyond? The lighter coloured blue waters contrasting against the darker water colour being the reef? I think that is my problem. I am expecting to see corals and vibrant colours all the way down the coast ... like what I see in glossy advertising brochures and TV ads that show low flying float planes with coral at different depths in the waters below. I am expecting to be able to fly low myself and see the same. But, given the limitations of the graphics engine in FSX and the difficulties you guys must have associated with that (which you have touched on), perhaps I am expecting too much and I haven't yet put two-and-two together in my mind that the reef is depicted in FTX perfectly well given the limitations. I have lived in Cairns for over 30 years, and what I see in FTX on the reef is more vibrant than what you see in real life, trust me. The glossy brochures are just that, glossy brochures! Ah. Well it looks then like those glossy brochures are guilty of planting a seed in my mind. Thanks to those brochures and TV ads I have an imagined vision of what I am expecting to see (in FSX with FTX), but you're saying the reality is different. So there's photoshop edits and/or video enhancements to blame. Glad to know. Roger that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Does the reef in FTX extend down the coast towards Mackay and beyond? The lighter coloured blue waters contrasting against the darker water colour being the reef? I think that is my problem. I am expecting to see corals and vibrant colours all the way down the coast ... like what I see in glossy advertising brochures and TV ads that show low flying float planes with coral at different depths in the waters below. I am expecting to be able to fly low myself and see the same. But, given the limitations of the graphics engine in FSX and the difficulties you guys must have associated with that (which you have touched on), perhaps I am expecting too much and I haven't yet put two-and-two together in my mind that the reef is depicted in FTX perfectly well given the limitations. I have lived in Cairns for over 30 years, and what I see in FTX on the reef is more vibrant than what you see in real life, trust me. The glossy brochures are just that, glossy brochures! Ah. Well it looks then like those glossy brochures are guilty of planting a seed in my mind. Thanks to those brochures and TV ads I have an imagined vision of what I am expecting to see (in FSX with FTX), but you're saying the reality is different. So there's photoshop edits and/or video enhancements to blame. Glad to know. Roger that. Hi Freddy, I did give you a bit of a furphy I have realised, I fly using REX2, which replaces a lot of the coral and ocean tiles, which makes a huge difference, so what I should have said is that when I am flying over FTX and REX2, it looks very realistic, but still not quite the glossy brochure style I am afraid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 Ahh. Thanks for the confirmation. Understood. Yes, the screenshots I see of REX2 do look quite impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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