Friday 2010-03-19 Screenshots and Discussion Thread

[MikkOwl]

Originally Posted by Oleg Maddox

I hope and think that we will have everywhere such good representation of lighting. We use real laws for modeling of light. And try to not overmodel some HDR and other modern features like I see overmodeled in some moder games.

Haha, makes me laugh, because I just remembered I always react to the overmodeling of HDR and bloom in so many other titles.. I didn't spend much time thinking about how Storm of War used these things for realism instead. The spitfire video was a very nice representation of this I think.

The navigator/bomber position does look really amazing I must admit. The one thing missing to perfect the picture is rendering of the crew body, as it is one of the biggest indicators of scale. Not many objects in a WW2 airplane has objects whose size is well known to us.

A question: how is the simulation of the unstable nature of flying? In IL-2 in crew positions, and even the pilot, it is usually 100% perfect smooth flight experience with no shaking, if we are just flying straight. From flying smaller aircraft (Cessna 172?) I thought it is not such a constantly smooth experience. Can be a bit uneven, like driving a car over a road that is not 100% smooth. Sudden little movements in any direction. Also sounds are part of this, airplanes can make squeeks and rattles whenever they are moved suddenly.

[Il2Pongo]

These shots make the aircraft look much more solid then previos ones. Is it the markings being gone? The CR and the JU88 look like you could pick them up. The brightness in the Cr42s inner cowl makes it look like there is a light in the engine. The 190 in IL2 had the same effect.

Very impressive. Thanks for the update.

[Flanker35M]

S!

Nice shots! Hmm..that Blenheim makes me wonder Finland has one restored Mk.IV on display, really nice looking plane when was there. Very nice shots!

[PeterPanPan]

Lovely shots Oleg. 2 things in particular:

1. Is that a seagull I see in the 2nd pic?

2. I wonder if Big Ben etc. should look a little dirtier, given this is 1940?

Cheers

PPanPan

[kendo65]

Originally Posted by ChrisDNT

"Noticed improvements in the colours of ground terrain over the last few weeks"

In this aspect, there is still a good margin of improvement : feeling of flying over England is still "WIP" (concerning the colors, the impression of cruising over the good but old Yalta map).

Agreed, but it's going in the right direction. Doesn't look as 'cartoony' as the very early shots that provoked such hair-tugging anguish. Maybe still a bit too washed out or 'pastel-shaded' looking from higher altitudes, but lower altitudes seem to look better balanced (eg last week's Tiger Moth pic, this week's from the Blenheim).

I'll leave it to Oleg to tell us why that might be ...

[Dano]

Originally Posted by PeterPanPan

1. Is that a seagull I see in the 2nd pic?

It's something attached to the wing spar if I'm looking at the same thing.

[BigC208]

Lighting is getting realy good. Someone said something about light in cowl of the Italian Bi-plane. That's sunlight reflecting of the spinner and reduction gear housing, gotta luv it. The detail level is reminding me of 1/32 scale, high quality Tamiya models.

[jocko417]

Looks good! I am happy to hear about the lighting model, too many titles are bloomed to death these days. Speaking of lighting and shadows....

Camouflaged RAF biplane fighters were painted in a 'shadow scheme' so that the top wing wouldn't cause a huge difference in camo colour appearance due to the shadow it cast on the lower wing and upper fuselage. I'm on the road now but I'll post a scan of what I'm talking about when I get home. Until then, let me just say that the upper surface of the lower wing of a biplane fighter would have been painted in camo colours of a lighter shade than the upper surface of the upper wing.

The colours were official and were (in the case of the Temperate Land scheme like the Gladiator is finished in above) Light Green and Light Earth, to compliment the Dark Green and Dark Earth used on the rest of the aircraft.

The examples following are swatches from the Simmers' Paint Shop website, keep in mind these are modern FS595 colour equivalents, not the original, official colours, as they don't exist in any colour charts anymore.

Dark Green:



Light Green:



Dark Earth:



Light Earth:




When painted in the lighter colours, the lower wing would appear 'the same' as the top wing when in shadow. You can see the effect in the Gladiator screen shot the shadow makes on the lower wing, the camo colours look too dark in the shaded portion and stand out too much. This is something the skinners (myself included) will be on top of once the sim is released, but I thought you'd like to know.

Thanks for all the updates!

[Abraxa]

Hi Oleg, very nice models!

The camo on the BoB CR42s is quite controversial. Several variants of the same, basic scheme appear in the documents.

The colours look fine and correct, if you're still using the RLMs that I sent you.

Personally, I would go for a more common pattern on the default CR42 skin. For sure, the contour of the mottling should be more blurred, as I suggested for the BR20.

Moreover, there are few details of the fuselage of the model that may be improved.

Feel free to contact me via email, if you need some help.

Cheers

Andrea aka "Abraxa"

[Zappatime]

These show nice progress Oleg, another week gone and another tantalising glimpse; I love the cockpit of the JU-88 German bomber, it looks very 'busy' in there, wish I could zoom in more to get a better, close up, look