P-51B Skin Compression?

[Vraciu]

I'm curious about something.  I don't know if this is due to something I accidentally changed without realizing it or was always there but...

As an experiment I used the same wing details on a P-51B that I had on a P-51D.   The result is below.   Looks like the P-51B blurs or compresses the details some.   Is this the case or did I mess something up on my end in one of the maps?

I really didn't notice this before today, so I'm wondering if I caused it.  The most obvious difference is in the details of the fuel cap itself.  The dark border I use to show a gap seems to disappear.   Perhaps I did something in GIMP during 32-bit conversion that is blurring it...???

[Vraciu]

A shot from in-game.  The national insignia fuzzes out on the B but not the D where the blue outline meets the white bar inboard/aft.

[Devil 505]

are the colors crisp in external mode and from a overhead viewpoint?

[Vraciu]

are the colors crisp in external mode and from a overhead viewpoint?

Not in the game.   In the skin viewer they look good (although the fuel cap still isn't as good as the P-51D's).

[Vraciu]

The national insignia looks crystal clear in the viewer, not in the game.   

[Devil 505]

Something I've noticed in the way that the game renders the diffuse maps is that the colors will bleed from certain positions and even a shift of a marking 1 pixel can make a difference.

It could be that the positions of your markings on the B are in areas where the colors bleed when laid over the 3D shape.

[Vraciu]

Something I've noticed in the way that the game renders the diffuse maps is that the colors will bleed from certain positions and even a shift of a marking 1 pixel can make a difference.

It could be that the positions of your markings on the B are in areas where the colors bleed when laid over the 3D shape.

Could be.   This P-51B has some real goofy things in the diffuse so that could very well be it.


I'm beginning to wonder about the ENV map.

Ever since the skin viewer began rendering things yellow I've been having some weird things happen.

If I use an all-gray p51b_e.bmp Environment map I get controllable flaring that works like it should.   As soon as I introduce any gradient to it or try to change the way paint vs metal behaves it flares up massively.

I used my Diffuse Map darkened to almost pure black and it flares.    An all-black Environment map with no details in it doesn't flare.   Does that make any sense to you?????

[Devil 505]

The E maps were fubar from the start. Have you not noticed how they react to shade? I've noticed nothing different since the yellow light update.

[oboe]

What do you mean by "flaring"?  I'm not sure what this means WRT the Environment map, and the reflections it generates.

Personally I don't use the env map for much beyond the landing gear strut piston.   I can't get anything else to look right - it always just looks like reflections on a glass surface.

[Vraciu]

The E maps were fubar from the start. Have you not noticed how they react to shade? I've noticed nothing different since the yellow light update.

Yes, I complained about that a long time ago.  We basically came to the conclusion we can't do anything about it, so we just have to ignore it.

The yellow light update may or may not be the issue, or it may be the update since then.   It may also be a difference between the way the B and the D Mustangs are interpreted by the engine.

[Vraciu]

What do you mean by "flaring"?  I'm not sure what this means WRT the Environment map, and the reflections it generates.

Personally I don't use the env map for much beyond the landing gear strut piston.   I can't get anything else to look right - it always just looks like reflections on a glass surface.

These screenshots should give you an idea.   Even a solid black or solid white E map does better than the one based on the plane itself.  I've tried every possible grayscale brightness of the latter for the B Mustang and it is not working.   The D is nowhere near this bad.

What do you use instead?  Gray like the bottom one?

[Vraciu]

BTW, that gray in the ENV map turns the entire plane yellow in the skin viewer, even though the bottom wing looks normal in the game.

 
 

[oboe]

My Env maps are so dark that you can't see much detail.  The only bright areas are of the landing gear piston and things like signal and navigation light lenses.

They're closer to your first example, but even darker.

[Vraciu]

My Env maps are so dark that you can't see much detail.  The only bright areas are of the landing gear piston and things like signal and navigation light lenses.

They're closer to your first example, but even darker.

Wow.   I did mine like that a long time ago.  With the P-51D I made the ENV almost the same as the SPEC and it wasn't terrible.  Probably still too glossy.  So I will try your style next update and see how it goes.

I'm stymied by how differently these two planes react to the same settings though.