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Manfred's C-47 with PBR

Just found the cause for the Nav Lights showing up mostly white for some users: it is the HDR setting. They go back to normal red/green once you turn HDR off in options. (TBH, never liked it anyway.)

On my setup I have Red and Green lights with HDR ON. If I turn HDR OFF I only have white lights...go figure.

Garry
 
Jankees, PBR is a new skillset to learn. One thing, is to understand what actually does what in the texture files, and how the Albedo (diffuse) map interacts with the Roughness Metallic files.

P3D has it setup differently than DCS, but it still applies. The Albedo color needs to be MUCH MUCH lighter than anything is FSX or non PBR P3D ever did. The brightness of the color plays a part in it's luminosity in terms of PBR bloom. The problem I see most, is that people will confuse the SMOOTHNESS, with the METALNESS. While BOTH work together to create a "Metallic" surface, increasing the Smoothness without increasing the Dielectric component usually results in something looking "Wet" or glossy. The other HUGE consideration with PBR in P3D, is that at least to my eye, appears to not use the environment very well as the reflection. It's too washed out. In order to get a convincing Aircraft aluminum, you need to have bright, direct sunlight, with no clouds, and a HIGH contrast sky color, like very dark blue. Otherwise, at least to my eyes, the PBR is not rendered well in low lighting conditions.

2019-01-04_10-08-03.jpg


2019-1-5_0-57-39-123.jpg



You can see in the images above, that the contrast is much better. This was a significant change from the actual color in the FSX/P3D (non PBR) version of the XF92 skin. In previous non-PBR the skin tone was actually about 50% brightness dark grey #808080 RGB. This image is nearing the white range in terms of Albedo color. Perhaps this has changed in v5, but it doesn't appear so?

These are images below are some paints I've done for DCS, used for comparison for PBR. But it illustrates better how a rendering engine uses PBR. Unless the paint is glossy with some kind of clear coat, the smoothness required is much lower. I use ~50% brightness in the Green channel for paint. The Blue channel I use somewhere near almost black (#191919) for paint that is a non conductive insulator.




Screen_200420_091243.png


Screen_200416_092233.png


Screen_200428_222606.png


Screen_200415_181941.png
 
One surely wishes LM had taken over DCS's PBR system and logic wholesale -- as your pictures amply demonstrate!
 
@Yoyo: Seen this, and easily tested. Run the model (PBR C-47 if you want) through MCX with the new v5 option set up, recompile, set the Blue channel to whichever shade of grey (note LM's reply to our thread there - zilch), and see if it makes any difference. I don't have v5 yet, so can't tell. To be honest, I don't expect much of a change, so won't bother at this time. Others might try it though.

BTW on the claim that the v5 ImageTool is necessary for PBR, if you handle the metallic channels via Photoshop and the Nvidia plugin, there is no need to use ImageTool, new or old. Bumps, or 'normals' as they are now called, may be a different matter.
 
Hi Manfred,

Apparently this is related to the sim's HDR lighting option. Try turning it ON if off, or vice versa.

Does not work on my side i'm afraid.

Do have another solution though :) Just add these extra lights to the aircraft.cfg at the [lights] section, added two on each side:

light.6 = 3, -27.48, -47.25, 1.10, fx_navred ,
light.7 = 3, -27.48, 47.25, 1.10, fx_navgre ,
light.8 = 3, -27.52, -47.25, 1.10, fx_navred ,
light.9 = 3, -27.52, 47.25, 1.10, fx_navgre ,

pbr-nav-lights.png


Marcel
 
My knowladge about MCX isnt very well, Im noob here :loyal: but I can try, what can I do to set up this for v5 option?
Btw. My MCX is 1.4.0.0. version.


1. MCX 1.4. is correct, make sure it's the very latest (April 2020). It gets updated frequently.

2. Download and install the v5 SDK from LM.

3. In MCX options, set up the paths pointing to the SDK.

4. Load the model. In MCX Material Editor, set material type to PBR Materials.

5. Open the first _albedo material. Set the reflectance switch to TRUE. Possibly repeat for the second _albedo, or keep the second as is, to see the difference.

6. Export the model as P3d v4.4+

7. Tweak the Blue channel of the _metallic texture trying various shades of grey.

8. Check in sim. Restart the sim after each texture/model change.

Good luck!
 
Hi Manfred,



Does not work on my side i'm afraid.

Do have another solution though :) Just add these extra lights to the aircraft.cfg at the [lights] section, added two on each side:

light.6 = 3, -27.48, -47.25, 1.10, fx_navred ,
light.7 = 3, -27.48, 47.25, 1.10, fx_navgre ,
light.8 = 3, -27.52, -47.25, 1.10, fx_navred ,
light.9 = 3, -27.52, 47.25, 1.10, fx_navgre ,

Marcel

Marcel-

THANKS for that! It works. There were already entries for 6, 7, 8, and 9 so I just added these below. Is there a way to get the light glow SIZE reduced? I thought I remembered something about that as well...

C

eulZ3Le.jpg
 
Manfred-

I did reach out to Gordon, however, I am not sure what the other cockpit folder in his paint is supposed to do... "texture.dgint" (it's still early on a Saturday morning on the west coast)? Any idea?

C

Can anyone shed light on this folder? I did put it in the C-47 PBR folder, but looking at the .cfg I'm not sure I see any reference to it...

Ta- C
 
Hi,

Can anyone shed light on this folder? I did put it in the C-47 PBR folder, but looking at the .cfg I'm not sure I see any reference to it...

It's Gordon's VC repaint, so his repaints refer to it, example:
[fltsim]
fallback.1=..\texture.dgint
fallback.2=..\..\..\..\Scenery\Global\texture
fallback.3=..\..\..\..\..\..\Scenery\Global\texture

Regards,

Marcel
 
Just found the cause for the Nav Lights showing up mostly white for some users: it is the HDR setting. They go back to normal red/green once you turn HDR off in options. (TBH, never liked it anyway.)

Just the opposite for me HDR on = red/green
HDR off = white lights (P3D V4.5)
 
Thanks very much for re-uploading the patch file . . .

:applause:

I'm a little late to the show, but what does that patch do? I installed the PBR recently and
wonder if this something that wasn't fixed in the later release of the PBR C-47?
 
Hi,



It's Gordon's VC repaint, so his repaints refer to it, example:
[fltsim]
fallback.1=..\texture.dgint
fallback.2=..\..\..\..\Scenery\Global\texture
fallback.3=..\..\..\..\..\..\Scenery\Global\texture

Regards,

Marcel

Thanks Marcel- that clears it up... appreciated!

C
 
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