Screenshots!

[MajorMagee]

What's nice about the new shaders is that you can have full control over how things will look. For most aircraft I tend to go on the more matte side of the equation, so my _r.dds files tend to be done in the 6-12% brightness range.

[AnKor]

Ok, this isn't a thread for technical discussion, but as MajorMagee says the look is adjustable to one's taste. I just had to increase the overall glossiness for WOFF because they don't use _s textures and material settings tend to be on dull side. And I believe WWI aircrafts should be "shiny".

Here are a set of comparison screenshots:


Default is 5/5, but you can adjust the amount of polish ("Glossiness") and the reflectivity ("EnvReflection") separately in d3d8.ini. Extreme values like 1 and 9 rarely look good, but it might make sense to try decreasing glossiness to avoid "air-show" look but slightly increase reflectivity to get more tinting from environment colors.

EDIT: The last one actually has Glossiness=3 not 2. Don't want to reupload a screenshot.

[wiekniera]

Great !! Thanks for your tips Ankor that's what im looking for ! i do don't like those glossy planes..it's like a toys but i do like shine reflection, i did ask about this long time ago...i do like those flat effect but shiny in your first and the last one

[Led Zeppelin]

I prefer the 5/1 personally.

[gecko]

If you want a good reference, google pictures of Spitfire P9374. It's an incredibly accurate restoration of an early Spitfire Mk.I, and I think the paint finish is as good as any out there for what a realistic wartime finish would have been, though obviously they wouldn't have been kept so clean. There's quite a few warbirds out there with glossy modern paint on them and can't be trusted, but this one I believe is pretty good. The settings I'm using now now are Environment 8 (may go back to 7, still deciding), Glossiness 5. Additionally I lighten or darken the speculars until they are about 40 40 40 to 50 50 50 overall RGB value. In the model, I hex edit to ensure the specular settings are E5 E5 E5 FF / 00 00 00 42. Here are the results:

[gecko]

One more - Happy Mustang.

[greycap.raf]

Environment 5, Glossiness 2 for me.

[Geezer]

If you want a good reference, google pictures of Spitfire P9374. It's an incredibly accurate restoration of an early Spitfire Mk.I, and I think the paint finish is as good as any out there for what a realistic wartime finish would have been, though obviously they wouldn't have been kept so clean. There's quite a few warbirds out there with glossy modern paint on them and can't be trusted, but this one I believe is pretty good.

Thanks for that excellent reference. As a retired aircraft field service engineer, I can confirm your observations above. Operational aircraft are seldom that clean. Even when they DO get the inordinate amount of maintenance effort needed to look that good, there are still subtle signs of use in the real world. Most often, there would be small amounts of chipped paint along the edges of removable access panels. Also, there would be soiling around the engine, radiator, and oil cooler - even when leaking coolant and oil are religiously wiped off, the paint will eventually become discolored.

In those days, most all aircraft would leak oil. The reason is hot piston rings expand so, to avoid scouring cylinder walls, aircraft engines were designed to run properly AFTER the piston rings had expanded (to bridge the gap between cylinders and cylinder walls). So, when most aircraft engines were first started there was a significant amount of oil blow-by, before the piston rings expanded, causing oil to leak onto the exterior surfaces around the engine. Air cooled engines ran hotter than liquid cooled engines, so radials were generally dirtier than inline engines.

[wiekniera]

Nice shots gecko !! like it !!

finally without glossy things but still maintain the reflection (Glossines=1 , envreflection=5, sunstrength = 2, FRO = 0.2)

[gecko]

Where did you get those Spitfire skins, Rene? They look like John's work, but I've not seen them before. Didn't know he'd painted the Mk.IX?

[mongoose]

Thanks for that excellent reference. As a retired aircraft field service engineer, I can confirm your observations above. Operational aircraft are seldom that clean. Even when they DO get the inordinate amount of maintenance effort needed to look that good, there are still subtle signs of use in the real world. Most often, there would be small amounts of chipped paint along the edges of removable access panels. Also, there would be soiling around the engine, radiator, and oil cooler - even when leaking coolant and oil are religiously wiped off, the paint will eventually become discolored.

In those days, most all aircraft would leak oil. The reason is hot piston rings expand so, to avoid scouring cylinder walls, aircraft engines were designed to run properly AFTER the piston rings had expanded (to bridge the gap between cylinders and cylinder walls). So, when most aircraft engines were first started there was a significant amount of oil blow-by, before the piston rings expanded, causing oil to leak onto the exterior surfaces around the engine. Air cooled engines ran hotter than liquid cooled engines, so radials were generally dirtier than inline engines.

Exactly. I just don't believe wartime paintwork would have been that 'clean' Frankly if I was in an ac I wouldn't want the enemy to see the glint on a reflection off my ac!

[Geezer]

Fascinating concept, and many of the aircraft would round out the line up for the Spannish Civil War and the Japanese invasion of China. Your models look great by the way!

Thanks. Its a complex process to convert Max models to Gmax, so I'm going to ease into it by first releasing a bunch of "1938" ground objects. Lots of airfield facilities, plus vehicles and figures. Shots below show stuff being finished prior to exporting to Gmax.

[greycap.raf]

Where did you get those Spitfire skins, Rene? They look like John's work, but I've not seen them before. Didn't know he'd painted the Mk.IX?

You just won the Internet by being the very first person to notice. And there have been a lot of shots of Spitfires posted by me over the years!

It's John's work, and yet it isn't John's work. He indeed didn't paint the Mk IX - in a way I did. I took his Mk VIII "Grey Nurse" as well as his Mk XIV, used a very great deal of Paint Shop Pro, and ended up with a fleet of Mk IXs, some XIVs and even a couple of Vs. They were made back in the day when there were close to no skins for the Zuyax Mk IX but there definitely was a need for them.

I presented them to John back then and I think he even gave me permission to upload them but I never got around to doing it, and in a way I wouldn't like to. They're still his work, just mixed very heavily by me.

[gecko]

Well, you have my interest if you want to share, I don't have enough Spitfire skins. I can't have enough Spitfire skins.

[Bravo/4]

I did indeed tell Rene to upload his skins, I have them all, and they are really nice!

[wiekniera]

[FOO FIGHTER]

The settings I'm using now now are Environment 8 (may go back to 7, still deciding), Glossiness 5. Additionally I lighten or darken the speculars until they are about 40 40 40 to 50 50 50 overall RGB value. In the model, I hex edit to ensure the specular settings are E5 E5 E5 FF / 00 00 00 42.

Thanks for this! I only changed Environment to 7 but will be using these settings from now on!

I also don't trust the color of paint and/or placement of markings on restored aircraft. I have seen too many inaccuracies in my time and I try to rely on period photos if going for an historic scheme..

[Geezer]

Been reviewing my airfield objects, Some are OK, some need finishing, and some need upgrades. All need conversion to .dds format. Good practice for converting Max models to Gmax.

[Threedp]

Where does one find the 'sunstrength' and 'FRO' options?

[Led Zeppelin]

This 1938 stuff looks really promising, thanks for the update

[wiekniera]

@treedp
it's in model.fx (shader30 folder), but i don't know if it's still effect the newest ankor shader

[BorekS]

Been reviewing my airfield objects

yum, what a very very nicely looking 3d assets library! I like the mix-up of a the low / mid poly objects at the scene, its my favorite approach too (a few samples here).

love to see such kind of stuff as some cfs3 scenery (or another flight sim... or another game globaly).

[BorekS]

@wiekniera: outstanding looking images, mate!

still, if we would take it all "as photorealistic close as it gets", I would prefer the visual settings similar to what geckos latest images presents
note: Ive noticed pilot figures at some of your shots may be less specular, actually they should be matt material, but I am not sure, if this can be fixed somehow simply.

[wiekniera]

[wiekniera]