Tracers Rounds (From SimHQ)

[Robotic Pope]

Originally Posted by choctaw111

A tracer that is viewed from directly behind will appear as a dot, yes, BUT a tracer viewed from the side or even a little off center, just like machine guns or cannon in the wings from a pilots perspective, will appear enlongated and also appear to have the same thickness for the entire length, just as appears in Cliffs of Dover.

I don't see anyone who has actually seen tracer fire complaining in this forum about how they look in CoD but rather saying how good they look. Doesn't that really say it all?
I have seen and fired hundreds of thousands (estimated) during my time as a Paratrooper and the CoD tracers look great!

yes, although if viewed side on from a distance away the same tracers would appear to that person as dots. If that person started videoing the tracer it would then appear on the film as lasers.

The laser effect you see with your eyes is caused because your brain cannot percieve detail at that speed just like waving your hand infront of your face. While the camera Laser effect is caused by long exposure to the light and nothing to do with speed. Two separate phenomanons.

[choctaw111]

Originally Posted by Robotic Pope

yes, although if viewed side on from a distance away the same tracers would appear to that person as dots. If that person started videoing the tracer it would then appear on the film as lasers.

The laser effect you see with your eyes is caused because your brain cannot percieve detail at that speed just like waving your hand infront of your face. While the camera Laser effect is caused by long exposure to the light and nothing to do with speed. Two separate phenomanons.

Yes, from a distance and viewed from the side, they would look like dots, in film also.
The closer you are, the more the apparent speed seems to be and they will look more like streaks than dots both on film and the naked eye. When I say film, I am not talking about digital film, as many digital cameras may film 30 fps or more, but have extremely short exposure times which are NOT consistent with the sensitivity of the human eye.
I am not so sure what so many people cannot understand about this seemingly easy to grasp concept.

Edit...
I wanted to mention that when Ilya says the tracers are perfect, he is referring to the fact that from the observers viewpoint, apparent speed and distance are taken into account and therefore the tracers will appear as dots from behind and at a distance from the side view, or as streaks as you move closer and the tracer moves across your field of view at a faster rate.

[Robotic Pope]

Originally Posted by choctaw111

Edit...
I wanted to mention that when Ilya says the tracers are perfect, he is referring to the fact that from the observers viewpoint, apparent speed and distance are taken into account and therefore the tracers will appear as dots from behind and at a distance from the side view, or as streaks as you move closer and the tracer moves across your field of view at a faster rate.

Agreed, This is how it should be.

[The Kraken]

Originally Posted by choctaw111

I don't see anyone who has actually seen tracer fire complaining in this forum about how they look in CoD but rather saying how good they look.

You should check again then. For me, who never had the pleasure of firing tracers or witnessing them in real life, it's quite confusing that some who apparently have real-life experience, are saying CoD's tracers look perfect, and some say the opposite. But then again we've already had this with flight models and what have you

Anyway, maybe through those "virtual camera settings" mentioned by Oleg the effect is customizable enough that everyone is happy in the end. As in the image I linked above there seems to be quite some difference in rendering (and we've also seen pictures where the tracers are indeed only small points even from the side). Then again this setting may affect the prop rendering at the same time...

[Slechtvalk]

I don't worry about tracers, but ''bullet drop', hope they drop enough.. with il-2 they go pretty straight in my eyes at least.. (especially after some old patch).

[The Kraken]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

In any case, that screenshot of the 110 shows something which looks realistic enough and yet it happens to be one of the screenies that got royally chewed when it was released

In fact that's more or less why I remembered it: pretty much the first shot with tracers in action, and all that people were commenting on was the ground graphics (which was still set to low anyway). Go figure...

I can solve this tracers issue right now from personal experience.

You can see tracers coming towards you.
Example of this is hold a torch, turn it on, face it away from you. Can you still see the light flare at the base of the torch? Yes you can? Well imagine that torch to be a small blob of buring phosphorus, you will see it. You might not see every tracer but 1 out of 30 bangs home the message

The tracers will be good in COD.

[1.JaVA_Sharp]

Originally Posted by Slechtvalk

I don't worry about tracers, but ''bullet drop', hope they drop enough.. with il-2 they go pretty straight in my eyes at least.. (especially after some old patch).

One of the first things I've read on here was about Luthier having to learn how to shoot again. I'm very curious now about the .303s and realistic gunnery, this could get interesting...

[Upthair]

Originally Posted by speculum jockey

I've shot 8mm tracer ammunition (WWII vintage stuff) out of my Mauser and it's pretty much just like the videos and the pics from SOW. When you fire it, it looks like you are lobbing a bright dot since you can see the rise and fall of the bullet along its path. When looking from the side it looks just like star wars, long streaks or laser bolts. In my experience they look almost exactly alike on and off camera.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The vidoe above, which you selected to show I was wrong, actually proves my doubt. Please look at the following pictures captured from the video.

In either picture, the tracer "light rod" has both varying brightness and varying diametre (thickness) from head to tail. The fact is too clear to be overlooked.





More can be captured from the video but these two are enough. In addition, the absence of homogeneity (eg, in terms of brightness) along a tracer "light rod" in the air may not be visible at night, because all parts of it are too bright in darkness, so that the camera or the human eye will most probably register all parts as "maximum brightness".

Some people may have also noticed that the distance between the tracer and the camera can play a part in influencing what the tracer looks like in the film - which is quite natural, since the nearer you are, the more details you get.

As I said, what tracers look like is a complex subject.

~

[Skoshi Tiger]

Ha!

Just got a call from my Bro'. He was given a mixed box of about 20 WWII vintage .303 rounds. From the Head Stamps two apear to be tracers.

We've been looking for a excuse to get our Lee Endfields out from the safes and run a few rounds through them.

Now we just need to wait for our Total Fire Ban to end and then get tickets of leave from our lovely spouses for a day.

By the end of August I may just get a chance to see a tracer in person!

Cheers!