Heiko Glatthorn Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Gentlemen, fasten your seat belts... Heiko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxter Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Ohhhhhh, those are sensational. It is difficult to come up with more superlatives, they have all been said. Well done guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstyles Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 It is difficult to come up with more superlatives, they have all been said. How about Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxter Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 It is difficult to come up with more superlatives, they have all been said. How about Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ! Yup, what he said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared Charalambous Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Mango, These shots are truly stuning, and instantly identifyable. The last shot from the beach especialy, it gave me chills. Who needs to fly when this is the simulator quality... Wow!!! 2 questions. Are the custom buildings in the cbd ftx or voz x? Also as far as you know are the ga airfields pack going to be bundled with the ftx blue release? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike707 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I cannot express how absolutely excited I am for this upcoming release. The screenshots in this thread are truly the most realistic shots I have ever seen. I cannot possibly imagine how any future versions of MSFS can surpass the visuals presented with FTX. Perhaps in 10 years. FTX is truly ahead of its time. Thanks so much to John and his team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwolb Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I think I will use that also: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falknis Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 One word -AWESOME Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VH-JLC Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 i lost my wallet whilst in Melb a while ago... Bligh me, i think I can see it next to the freeway ramp 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
}SkOrPn--7 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Are some of those roads/freeways been edited in? Is there a reason why the colour of the bitumen between the image and what has been added so different if they have been added? Apart from that glaring bituman that stands out it looks great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Meiklejohn Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Skorpion,, The freeways haven't been 'edited' into the picture via a paint program if that is what you mean? They are a different colour because the bridge and overfly models that are being called are a slightly different colour to the textures for the roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
}SkOrPn--7 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Skorpion,, The freeways haven't been 'edited' into the picture via a paint program if that is what you mean? They are a different colour because the bridge and overfly models that are being called are a slightly different colour to the textures for the roads. Care to explain what overfly models are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deswing Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 What a wonderful place to fly low and slow in a ultralight !!!!!! STUNNING ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Meiklejohn Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Care to explain what overfly models are? Where a freeway 'overlies' another road. Not a flight sim term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
}SkOrPn--7 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Care to explain what overfly models are? Where a freeway 'overlies' another road. Not a flight sim term. Oki Doki is there anyway we can tweak those overlies to match the surrounding bitumen or isn't that possible to do with FSX? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Meiklejohn Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Keep in mind the product is still in beta and these issues are being worked on... It's still worth sharing the images so you can see how we are progressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 These are beta shots. Most of the textures you're seeing in most screenshots (apart from the ground textures) are placeholders and will be replaced. That includes buildings, roads, trees; the lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
}SkOrPn--7 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 These are beta shots. Most of the textures you're seeing in most screenshots (apart from the ground textures) are placeholders and will be replaced. That includes buildings, roads, trees; the lot. Oki Doki I wasn't sure if my eyes was seeing different colour than everyone else so it stood out more but that explains it then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike707 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 John, What sort of changes to textures for buildings,roads, and trees are anticipated. Looking forward to whatever you and your team put together as I am sure it will be excellent. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 John, What sort of changes to textures for buildings,roads, and trees are anticipated. Looking forward to whatever you and your team put together as I am sure it will be excellent. Thanks. Hi Mike, Well the roads are a hodge-podge at the moment, cobbled together by me using some placeholder textures, without any real consistency. So those need a makeover. The CBD buildings will be re-skinned. We have hundreds of photos we've taken that we can draw upon for the new textures. I am trying to create a balance between old world classic architecture and the new modern inner city feel (combination of apartment living and modern office blocks). Then we will add lots of shop fronts and retail buildings at the lower levels. The housing too will get an upgrade. We create houses using complex multiple shapes, so we've been able to get total control of the roof textures to facilitate that method. That means less variety in the side textures of each house, but we're going to create old-world inner urban (californian bungalow, 50's architecture etc) and then new-world modern brick veneer in the 'burbs. Then the industrial estates will get a facelift too. Again, we've taken lots of photos so have plenty of resources there. We also need to create new roof textures for CBD, industrial and houses. Right now there is far too much red house roofing in the region, so we'll tone that back. Last but not least, we have a whole bunch of custom autogen gmax models in the urban areas, for schools, sporting clubs, shopping centres, gymns etc. Those will need to be textured as well. So not a trivial task, and I will be starting on that texturing work this weekend. I am 95% done with the annotation so we are in good shape to do the final texturing work while Matt is doing the seasonal recolouring for the ground textures. Summer is already in beta testers' hands, winter by Monday (fingers crossed). We are working like demons to make our advertised Feb launch date, but if we miss it by a week I won't lose any sleep, and the product will be better off for it anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Baumanis Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 The lengths you are going to, to create a realistic city-scape are mind-blowing. Are you giving this treatment to all the state capitals? Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falknis Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 "SkOrPn--7" why do you have to whinge and whine so much? just wait till these guys finish their stuff, it is called you get what you are are given! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxter Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 "SkOrPn--7" why do you have to whinge and whine so much? just wait till these guys finish their stuff, it is called you get what you are are given! Ummm, I have this strange feeling in my water that its not going to be much of an issue anymore... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike707 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 John, Thanks for your answers. Your and your team seem to have thought of everything and I am truly impressed. I have a couple of follow up questions that I hope you can answer. In FSX, lakes and rivers appear to be textures that lie on top of the ground textures, which to me creates an inaccurate representation. Are there any plans, or is there any way to have lakes and rivers appear that they are a bit below or sunken into the ground texture so the body of water looks like it has river or lake banks. Is there a way to add a water reflective characteristic to the roads so when the weather is rainy, the roads reflect similar to how the runways look when it rains. In regards to trees, FSX seems to display just copies of the exact same tree in a scene. Will FTX display more of a variety of trees for a scene? Will the brightness on the ground change based on cloud conditions? Not talking about cloud shadows, but if it is cloudy and overcast, will the ground look the same as if it were sunny. Last, you mentioned in another thread that ftx will contain an sdk that will allow developers to create objects to place in the sim. I am not too technically oriented but the thought of creating and placing objects interests me a great deal. Will a non-developer be able to do this and will the tool allow the user to place the object easily, and can the newly created scenery be shared with the community? John, I cannot express in words how incredible this product is looking. Simply amazing. Many thanks to you and your team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Venema Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 John, Thanks for your answers. Your and your team seem to have thought of everything and I am truly impressed. I have a couple of follow up questions that I hope you can answer. In FSX, lakes and rivers appear to be textures that lie on top of the ground textures, which to me creates an inaccurate representation. Are there any plans, or is there any way to have lakes and rivers appear that they are a bit below or sunken into the ground texture so the body of water looks like it has river or lake banks. Is there a way to add a water reflective characteristic to the roads so when the weather is rainy, the roads reflect similar to how the runways look when it rains. In regards to trees, FSX seems to display just copies of the exact same tree in a scene. Will FTX display more of a variety of trees for a scene? Will the brightness on the ground change based on cloud conditions? Not talking about cloud shadows, but if it is cloudy and overcast, will the ground look the same as if it were sunny. Last, you mentioned in another thread that ftx will contain an sdk that will allow developers to create objects to place in the sim. I am not too technically oriented but the thought of creating and placing objects interests me a great deal. Will a non-developer be able to do this and will the tool allow the user to place the object easily, and can the newly created scenery be shared with the community? John, I cannot express in words how incredible this product is looking. Simply amazing. Many thanks to you and your team. Lakes and rivers are placed at ground level according to the elevations of the mesh being used. This of course means that if you have a decent mesh addon (and Orbx will be providing a freeware 90m SRTM based mesh on the FTX website), that lakes with steep banks will be depressed into the ground, as will rivers. Rain reflective road textures is something we have not thought about, and we're not sure if the SDK supports it. Worth looking into, but I suspect that function is unique to airport tarmac and only if they conform to the synthetic (i.e. non-photoreal) textures of default airports. Trees in FSX (as in FS9) are varied according to the annotation adopted. We have chosen to use only 4 native eucalyptus tree cells, which will mean repetition, but better performance (less textures being loaded in bushland). That said, the 4 cells we are using is a 50% improvement over the default FSX which only uses 2 cells for eucalypts. The trees you see in the beta shots are still only placeholder trees from VOZ. We are creating brand new trees for release. Ground terrain texture do vary in lightness according to the time of day, but the degree of hue change is very coarse and tends to be only in hourly increments. To create changes based on cloud cover, light conditions and other environmental factors is beyond the function of the engine. One approach is to load custom sets of textures but this is unweildy, will lead to huge HD storage requirements and defragmentation on your HD which will adversly affect performance. The SDK is currently a "closed doors" program only aimed at the current VOZ and VSX development teams. To use the FTX SDK, first apply to the VOZ forums to be a tester or developer, learn the ropes about scenery and/or airport design there, and then you will be able to participate in the FTX SDK Program. Hope that answers your questions Mike? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike707 Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Thanks very much for the answers, and yes, you did answer my questions very well. It would be great if sometime down the road, pardon the pun, your team could look at the possibility of rain reflective roads. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMan Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 GET OUT?!?!?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxter Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 GET OUT?!?!?!?! Huh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heiko Glatthorn Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 I guess he mean RELEASE !?!?!?! Heiko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mstyles Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 He could be commenting on the previous posters remark "It would be great if sometime down the road, pardon the pun, your team could look at the possibility of rain reflective roads". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxter Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Jeez guys, you both should be working for ASIO or some other intelligence service given how well you decoded that comment... Sensational stuff, now back to work testing or developing or whatever else you guys are doing The wait is killing me... Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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