More detailed screen and video captures for moviemakers in SOW

[airmalik]

Consider that Speedtree generates trees and vegetation procedurally and is capable of much higher detail than will be used in SOW for performance reasons. This being the case, will it be possible to optionally increase the detail of trees and grass when taking screenshots where performance isn't an issue? Also, would it be possible to specify the resolution for the screenshots independently of the screen resolution?

Similarly for videos, will it be possible to turn this detail level up and also add the ability to render the replay in non-realtime at the specified frame rate? Videos generated this way won't be limited by the compromises made for playable frame rates in the game.

Before I get jumped on, I'm not asking for this in the initial release. Just wondering if something like this is possible or already planned.

[swiss]

Similarly for videos, will it be possible to turn this detail level up and also add the ability to render the replay in non-realtime at the specified frame rate? Videos generated this way won't be limited by the compromises made for playable frame rates in the game.

In the IL2 engine detail level had a huge effect even on replays.
I think, unless the replies have the size of several GB, it's gonna stay way.
(This is how I understood it, correct me if I'm wrong)

But - what should that be good for anyway?

[airmalik]

The idea is that normal replays would work as they have in the past without incurring any additional performance hit. But if the player chooses 'render to movie' option for a replay, a much higher detail, non-realtime movie would be compiled from the replay footage. This would be very useful to people interested in creating videos using SOW.

For example, if waving grass and poppies cause too much of a performance hit in normal gameplay and aren't enabled, they could be enabled at the highest detail level in the non-realtime replay. Or if the grass is only rendered close to the viewer in the gameplay, it could extend out to a much further distance during the replay. In this case, each frame would take as long as it needs to render, in essence turning IL2 into an interactive 3D rendering app.

[BadAim]

Hey, that would actually be cool if they could pull it off. You could make movies with an unheard of level of detail. (Although, I suspect you'll already be doing that once you get SOW) At the very least, even if you couldn't add detail to the top settings, such a feature could at least level the playing field for movie makers with slower rigs.

[Les]

The only game I remember seeing a similar sort of feature in was the racing sim rFactor, which can export replays as AVI files.

But at it's renderer's maximum resolution of 800x600, with no anti-aliasing and no extra level of detail used, and using a system that can play the 1920x1080 replay at 60+ fps, the clips take at least ten times longer than real time to be drawn.

I have no idea where in the scale of such things that example fits, but I think you hit the nail on the head when you said "...in essence turning IL2 into an interactive 3D rendering app..." That's effectively what Oleg and team would have to make. And I really doubt that's possible under the circumstances. Maybe someone more knowledgeable could make a comment on its general feasiblility.

I myself wish it were possible, not just for selfish reasons, but so that Oleg and team could license the technology and make money off it.

It's definitely an interesting idea though. And in that realm, I'd like the renderer to also be able to output huge multi-monitor type resolutions which can then be scaled down later by the end user, so you can edit it as something like 2k or 4k footage (or try to anyway) and then export the final result down to something more manageable, for what I imagine would be optimum image quality...

Edit-

Actually, while I'm here,what I'd really like to see is a proper official greenscreen map/s. Which, as I think about it, could in some cases help with some of the issues the original poster raises. In that, you could record the planes and scenery separately with (theoretically at least) higher than normal settings due to less complex elements being present together, then recombine them in an editor that can do greenscreen keying...hmmm, the mind boggles...

[airmalik]

Originally Posted by Les

Actually, while I'm here,what I'd really like to see is a proper official greenscreen map/s.

Yes! Some tricks can be used to knock out the background from a shots of moving planes but the camera has to be stationary. This feature would be nice but highly unlikely to be added. I think this sort of thing would which is too far removed from the focus of the sim would be ideal for third party devs to develop...if tinkering with this aspect of the engine is possible.

Having watched tons of IL2 movies, one of my pet peeves are the cameras which seem to be welded to the target. That and the excessively shaky post processing. A camera that lags behind a bit when tracking a target would be awesome. For example, if the target plane breaks right, it doesn't stay centered in the screen but moves off to the right until the camera catches up. This would make external views a lot more fluid and movies would look a lot nicer too.

Having the option for different 'lenses' with different focal lengths (aperatures even?) and the ability to slew the camera to frame the target better would allow for a lot more creative shots.