Quote:
Originally Posted by Redwan
Uncorrect. These clouds are reald 3d clouds.
Have a looks at this videos and the related ones to convince yourself
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They sure look nice, but more so the less they move. The FSX cloud system still uses big 2D billboards which have depth sorting issues (resulting in lots of flickering), they look unnatural when the camera is turning rapidly, they are difficult to use for line of sight calculations and they cannot change their shape dynamically (you can fade the textures in and out but that's it).
There is no perfect system for rendering clouds yet (i.e. true volumetric rendering with acceptable impact on performance), so compromises have to be made. From what I can see Oleg has chosen to further develop the Il2 cloud system, with better shading, higher resolution and more variety. He's still using less contrast than for example Rise of Flight which helps to reduce flickering, and more generic shapes which work better from all angles. That's important in a combat sim where you are more likely to fly through clouds at any angle - unlike a civilian sim where you are flying level for the most part.
Also don't forget that the REX clouds used as a reference is a commercial addon that costs about as much as the full SoW.
10-31-2010, 11:08 PM
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