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Prepar3D V4.4 with PBR Engine Released

Dino Cattaneo said:
Has anyone found a good PBR recipe for the canopy glass?
Click to expand...

I'm working through my setups for metals, dull and shiny, painted surfaces, glass/canopy and various surfaces like asphalt, concrete and organics.
Glass and transparent plastics are at the top of my to do list. I'll post up as I work out the settings.
 
I guess you need to ask yourself why you need PBR for glass. We are getting dynamics and a good reflectivity/colour by using "FSX"style materials. Unless you are going to have a canopy with deep gouging in it or something, I see little point. The normal mapping for glass in PBR can produce a very unrealistic "orange-peel" effect that I certainly don't like. I stand to be corrected but I don't think LM use PBR for the glass on the F-16. Probably for similar reasons.:engel016:
 
bazzar said:
I guess you need to ask yourself why you need PBR for glass. We are getting dynamics and a good reflectivity/colour by using "FSX"style materials. Unless you are going to have a canopy with deep gouging in it or something, I see little point. The normal mapping for glass in PBR can produce a very unrealistic "orange-peel" effect that I certainly don't like. I stand to be corrected but I don't think LM use PBR for the glass on the F-16. Probably for similar reasons.:engel016:
Click to expand...

The only thing I can think of is he wants to simulate the metal glint of the actual gold material in the F-35. All U.S. stealth planes, F-35, B-2, and the F-22 have an actual layer of gold in the canopy/windscreen to shield the cockpit from radar.
 
Understood but that can be done via traditional materials with manipulation of the spec layer. I really do not think that PBR will give the right results as it makes use of the normal channel and it is very hard to get that subtle enough. Time experimenting will see.:engel016:
 
Well,

thing is that PBR material seem to have a slightly different reflections at certain angles (e.g. sky and ground reflections look a little different and arguably more realistic than on non-pbr materials)... so my current glass settings look a little "odd" - but just a little. Very very little to be honest. Currently the models with PBR fuselage and non-PBR glass look OK - I was just wondering if they could be better. It may well turn out that "traditional" materials do a better job for the glass: as usual, the important thing is the result.
 
Another thing that I am interested in is the interior reflections on the canopy material. I'm having good results with the interior canopy reflecting ground polys, runway lines etc. using the traditional setup. I'm curious to see how those reflections will work with a PBR setup.

For me the entire process will be an ongoing exploration of what tools may be needed as the platform develops.

FYI:
I'm sure you gentlemen check, but Arno has just updated MCX for V4.4. It's on the Development Releases page. I noted that it looks for V4.4, but I triple checked all of my addresses to make sure everything was directed to the correct file.

Below:
I ran across this. The GP is similar to what can be constructed in Quixel or Substance Painter. The same reflective values seen in the water could also be modified for grimy or worn canopy material. This would be especially effective with enhanced rain effects i.e. TrueGlass or future LM iterations of rain effects in V5.

Of course, these PBR effects are also going to radically improve what we can offer in GP. I am currently experimenting with terrain textures for grass/brush in areas between runways or on the periphery of airport taxiways etc. So far they are working extremely well with my vegetation and volumetric grasses.


 
Last edited:
Gordon, that video is incredible. If this is what is in store, you've sumited that PBR mountain!
 
As for the question regarding why new glass materials? v5 will likely bring a completely new graphics engine. PBR based but not backwards compatible. LM has already hinted at this in many interviews this year. Adam Breed said it him self that v5 would be a block point that is appropriate to introduce something completely new. So it's kind of a do it now or do it later....my thought is, if you're doing everything else other than glass....why not just do it al? Then you don't have to do it again! Unless you're like me and are never satisfied...then you do things over and over....LOL
 
000rick000 said:
Gordon, that video is incredible. If this is what is in store, you've sumited that PBR mountain!
Click to expand...

The video is from the Fly Tampa team, but I am definitely working on similar. Arno just released the new MCX with V4.4 compatibility, so today I'm able to place ground polys using the tool. At the moment I am updating KBIH Eastern Sierra Regional...my testbed.

I'm just hoping I am anticipating the V.5 engine correctly and won't need to go back and re-invent all my stuff...….again. lol :beaten:
 
Like for like comparison...

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Very nice comparison.
The one on the right looks like an excellent model for a sim.
The other one, on the left, looks like a real world picture.
 
Oh man....PBR is such a refreshing and needed aspect in P3D. I'm so excited about these developers who are jumping in. Great work.
 
Learning curve

I agree it's refreshing and well worth the learning curve.


The SDK indicated that emmisive maps (nightime textures) need a lua script:
"Emissive Map= Map that defines areas of the textured material that will illuminate. Intensity of the illumination can be adjusted through scripting."
I've been experimenting with different metallic and albedo textures and modified the F-16C scripts for emmisive maps that work on lights being toggled to emmisive maps that show up at night.
I've included it below if it's of any use to anyone. I dont know if the lua syntax is correct, but it's working.
The emmisive scale needs to be adjusted from 0.0 t0 1.0 to suit your texture and model and it is added in the normal manner.


<-------------------------------------------------------------->
!lua
if varget("E:TIME OF DAY", "enum") == 3 then
varset("T:EmissiveTexture", "string", "Wings_LM.dds")
varset("T:EmissiveScale", "number", 0.03)
else
varset("T:EmissiveTexture", "string", "")
end
<-------------------------------------------------------------->


Where I am struggling is with glass, especially cockpit glass.
I'm wondering if a lua script might also be a way to go.


Dino's glass on his PBR model shown above looks to have preety good cockpit glass.
Could you share your recipe Dino?


Best wishes
 
That does look realistic! RTX would be next but I hope it's not a big hit in P3D. If LM does will defiantly get a second generation RTX card. Games look fantastic with RTX.
 
I ran across this. Wow....

As I'm working through the learning/understanding curve, it is becoming clear that we are moving to another level entirely.

 
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