Less eyestrain from a more realistic air-ground contrast ratio

[TDeacon]

The current typical ground color is much too dark when compared to the sky.  At "high noon" in the Midwestern USA, the perceived brightness of grass is close to the that of the sky.  Not so in AH; here is a screen shot from Trinity TT at "high noon" (the canyons are even worse, and when the "sun" is low in the "sky", worse yet).  In addition to being unrealitic-looking, it is eyestrain city when you are GVing.  Perhaps this fix could be implemented by lightening terrain tile colors?  

(BTW, I realize that monitors allow a certain degree of contrast adjustment.  The problem with that work-around is that it only goes so far, and it reduces the contrast between the different ground terrain features as well, making everything look unrealistically flat and making it hard to see things on the ground.  To clarify, this request refers to contrast between the sky overall and the ground overall).  



MH

[hitech]

That is not what it looks like to me, gamma maybe?

HiTech

[Tank-Ace]

Hey, hitech, I've always wondered......

would it be possible to have a more real-feeling sun/lighting?


I mean, it looks fairly accurate as far as lighting level goes for the most part, and depending on where you are, the color isn't too far off.

But it just doesn't FEEL like you're out there in the sun. It just looks like you're in a slightly better-lit room with scenery painted on the walls.



I guess I'm having trouble verbalizing what I'm thinking. To me, its akin to the difference between the new cocpit modeling on, say, the A6M's, P-40's and what not, compared to the older modeling for the Typhoon, 190, and such.

The newer models just feel more substancial, even when you're looking at them on a crappy low-resolution monitor.

[ImADot]

TDeacon, try adjusting your monitor properly. My game looks nothing like your washed-out screenshot. There are many websites out there that walk you through the process, and short of professional hardware, they do a good job at getting you calibrated.

[TDeacon]

That is not what it looks like to me, gamma maybe?

HiTech

No, it's not gamma.  I even fool around with the separate monitor brightness/contrast controls to lessen the contrast between sky and ground, and this can make sky and ground have similar brightnesses.  But then as I said, that makes the ground portion of the terrain look "flat", and stuff (like enemy GVs) tend to be hard to see.  

BTW, you have screen shots on the Home Page with have similar excessive sky/ground contrast, and others which look more normal.  Here's one of the former:


MH

[TDeacon]

TDeacon, try adjusting your monitor properly. My game looks nothing like your washed-out screenshot. There are many websites out there that walk you through the process, and short of professional hardware, they do a good job at getting you calibrated.

Believe me, I know how to adjust my monitors...

BTW, this post has nothing to do with an image being "washed out".  It has to do with the lightness/brightness of the blue sky, ***in comparison with*** the darkness of the ground.  The OP image was processed in Photoshop for overall brightness, based on my guess as to what would make the result visible to the average Forum viewer, so the overall brightness/darkness ***of the entire screen shot*** will vary, depending on their monitors.  

MH

[hitech]

Believe me, I know how to adjust my monitors...

BTW, this post has nothing to do with an image being "washed out".  It has to do with the lightness/brightness of the blue sky, ***in comparison with*** the darkness of the ground.  The OP image was processed in Photoshop for overall brightness, based on my guess as to what would make the result visible to the average Forum viewer, so the overall brightness/darkness ***of the entire screen shot*** will vary, depending on their monitors.  

MH

Is the original image you posted, what you want AH to look like?

HiTech

[Raphael]

 Can I add a really close related wish to this? can we have an option on graphic details that sets the fade distance of the ground clutter?
 Like the slide bars you have for object detal and such...

This way it would be optional so it wouldn't kill one's computer if he set to least.
it would make the videos look better when on full distance

[TDeacon]

Is the original image you posted, what you want AH to look like?

HiTech

Thanks, HiTech; I will post something.  Unfortunately, this may be delayed a bit, as my surge protector and PC apparently was zapped sometime last night, so my screen now looks like this.  (Or maybe God doesn't like GVs...).  Using Photoshop under these conditions is difficult, as I can barely see what I am doing. 


 

MH

[Tracerfi]

Thanks, HiTech; I will post something.  Unfortunately, this may be delayed a bit, as my surge protector and PC apparently was zapped sometime last night, so my screen now looks like this.  (Or maybe God doesn't like GVs...).  Using Photoshop under these conditions is difficult, as I can barely see what I am doing. 

(Image removed from quote.)
 

MH

Ohh Crap I thought surge protectors were suppose to stop that   

[TDeacon]

Ohh Crap I thought surge protectors were suppose to stop that  

They are.  However, the components can be damaged by surges, and depending on the design, this might not be apparent to the user.  Also even if you have a new good quality device, again depending on the design, there are limits as to how much energy the components can absorb, and how quickly they can respond to a quick-rising waveform.  

I infer the surge theory from the fact that my Tripp Lite 15-year old unit has a red on/off rocker switch which is now flickering, although the "protection" and "line ok" green LEDs are still on.  (It's mate on the older PC is still solid red).  An alternate theory is that the graphics card just wore out.  Who knows?  

MH

[100Coogn]

Can I add a really close related wish to this? can we have an option on graphic details that sets the fade distance of the ground clutter?
 Like the slide bars you have for object detal and such...

This way it would be optional so it wouldn't kill one's computer if he set to least.
it would make the videos look better when on full distance

This Sir, would make a good wish.  It would look real nice if trees and buildings would fade into view, the same way it does when flying towards the cities.
+1

 Coogan

[Raphael]

but the trees and barns do!
 What I mean is the ground clutter, the beautifull tall grass we have, fade out in a way to short distance! I think it would be nice to have the option (if your pc can handle it) to edit this "fade out" to be further away, according to the position of the slider you put in the options... like a "ground clutter distance"

EDIT: btw sorry for the hijack TDeacon 

[Chilli]

TDeacon,
I hope that you are able to get that graphics issue resolved.  I do however, disagree yet agree on some levels on your statement about contrast.    Since my eyeballs are arguably the worst in the AH community, I agree that there are areas of realism that our 2 dimension screens may capture better, the ground to air ratio is not going to give the majority of us the  candy that you are looking for, however........

I sincerely believe that if HTC decided to ramp up the contrast on the vehicles, boats and planes separately from the terrain it WOULD AID   in both realism and situation awareness.  Below is an altered screen shot.  Please take notice the contrast was increased, and the terrain that I chose was lighter (which may add to your argument).  What I now say with some confidence, the skinned object with greater contrast added better shows off the sweet  work of those who modeled and skinned them.  In addition, they sufficiently standout against a reasonable air / ground background.  This addition in contrast for "objects only" would not only increase realistic 3D like images in game, but also adds a better chance of tracking aircraft and vehicles, as more closely related to that of the naked eyeball (with the exception on mine  ).

[save]

Naked eye eyeball 1.0 is a master of detecting movements and colours,  nothing else.

During my national service , we learned how hard it was to detect a AFV, camouflaged, and sun /shadows increased difficulty even more.
You could almost walk into a well-camouflaged vehicle in a wooden / rough terrain without spotting it.

Spotting plane is easier, but with good camouflage they would be hard to detect over a wood, specially in haze conditions, if you fly higher than them, much like we have in AH, without these icons to be found in MA.