Jump to content

Watery pair


Adam Banks

Recommended Posts

Thanks for the nice feedback, folks - glad you like them!


 


@Anthin - no black magic involved - just REX/Texture Direct in DX10. I've never got on with any "special" water add-ons. I usually find them totally unrealistic and/or "cheesy".


 


I think the REX water texture is called "Photoreal" - but a lot depends on the time of day and weather conditions (as they affect the colour of the water). That particular texture is great for the higher altitudes (like pic #1) but not brilliant for low level stuff. The ones that look good at sea level often do weird things higher up (repeating patterns etc.) - so it's always a bit of a compromise.


 


I spend a fair bit of time playing the the DX10 Fixer Water sliders. They can make a big difference too.There's a global "brightness" slider that can affect how much underwater detail shows through. When there are good base textures to start with (as in this NZNI area, where they're utterly gorgeous) then they really make a huge impression.


 


Also - credit where credit's due ... that wonderful "herring-bone" texture to the right of the darker muddy area isn't FSX wave animation - it's pure FTX. I've been lucky enough to have had a couple of RL flights around this area and it really looks *exactly* like that. There was a thread a while back where I asked who did it - I could be wrong, but I think Tim Harris put his hand up for being "responsible". Good man!


 


Adam.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great pics! ORBX uses custom water textures for the FTX regions which override any textures that REX is inserted and not just for photoreal. I believe wave patterns are not custom except for what is "burned" into their custom textures or photoreal water textures. I may be wrong on that one though. I will add that photoreal water textures are underutilized across all flight sim developers since they don't require as high of a resolution to be immersive. Also land-based photo scenery is laid bare for its two-dimensionality when flying low whereas photo scenery of water is supposed to be relatively flat so the effect is not spoiled. That area near Auckland is a perfect example. ORBX does this kind of stuff more frequently and better than anybody but I sometimes wish they did it even more. In NZ, the LINZ imagery is free and high enough quality for water. I even downloaded the LINZ imagery for the Thames Estuary on the North Island to make my own little addon but I now have to figure out how to get usable coordinates for each image (NZ did not use lat long). According to the NZNI user guide, Alex Goff was involved with photoscenery for NZNI so he may have had a hand as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ORBX does this kind of stuff more frequently and better than anybody but I sometimes wish they did it even more. In NZ, the LINZ imagery is free and high enough quality for water.

 

I agree - particularly as NZ is defined just as much by its coastal waters as by its mountains and lakes! Auckland is brilliant - as is the area around NZMF and Martin's Bay - but a notable exception is Farewell Spit (very top of NZSI).

 

Where do you stop, I suppose! :lol:

 

Adam.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...