I wish for new clouds

[715]

I have a question: do any flight sims have clouds that look good from the outside as well as inside?  Clouds are inherently three dimensional, i.e. volumetric.  Graphic cards are inherently two dimensional, i.e. they render 3D objects as a collection of 2D polygonal planes.  There are no volumetric graphic cards; for example there is no such thing as a real time ray trace card.  So how do you make convincing volumetric clouds with current technology?

[TWC_Angel]

And for my first post ever, Check youtube for IL2: Cliffs of Dover or 1946. those are amazing cloud rendering and they appear volumetric. Havent a clue the work that goes in to it.. but that is a start.
Here is a link to a perfect example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHOWYhn3UbY  <----dog fight through clouds.

[TDeacon]

-1

From a purely selfish, personal perspective, I don't enjoy the flying in the few terrains which have areas of dense clouds.  It's hard enough to keep from being swamped by groups of other players as it is.  Just adds to the workload, realistic or not. 

So far as visual effect goes, I would like to see less contrast between the sky and the ground, and brighter ground colors.  When I log on in the evening, it is all too common to have the sun low in the sky, and the ground colors a dirty, dark brown-green.  I have to crank brightness up to 80-100 percent in order to have a chance of seeing stuff on the ground, especially in the "canyon-type" terrains, where the ground often in deep shadow.  Then the sky is too bright; can't be good for the eyes...  Actually, AH1 had prettier graphics on my system.  :-(

MH

[Vudu15]

I have a question: do any flight sims have clouds that look good from the outside as well as inside?  Clouds are inherently three dimensional, i.e. volumetric.  Graphic cards are inherently two dimensional, i.e. they render 3D objects as a collection of 2D polygonal planes.  There are no volumetric graphic cards; for example there is no such thing as a real time ray trace card.  So how do you make convincing volumetric clouds with current technology?

Rise of Flight...from about 1min 36 sec to 2 mins Im in clouds on the video I jumped this guy from a thick layer at 5K, spotted the flight through breaks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XLcg7IIv-c&list=UUADnOaV0-52prmVlAkLEZ_g&index=27&feature=plpp_video

[Butcher]

If we can shut all the graphics off, then it wouldn't be an issue for someone with low end computers, I know because I was rock bottom with under 20 FPS all the time and still was fine even with bump maps.

I really want some upgraded clouds, many times I look at the clouds and wish instead of getting ganged 1vs4 I could simply climb into them and try to escape as so many did in WW2.

Puffy Clouds, clouds that have shapes, all kinds of clouds.

Remind me so much of sheep, I so miss them.

[matt]

+1

[Arlo]

If we can shut all the graphics off, then it wouldn't be an issue for someone with low end computers, I know because I was rock bottom with under 20 FPS all the time and still was fine even with bump maps.

I really want some upgraded clouds, many times I look at the clouds and wish instead of getting ganged 1vs4 I could simply climb into them and try to escape as so many did in WW2.

Puffy Clouds, clouds that have shapes, all kinds of clouds.

Remind me so much of sheep, I so miss them.

Then you go from incorporating something that takes a great deal of effort to code that porks the frame rate universally to a graphic feature (that still takes a great deal of effort to code) that can be turned off so you can see your opponent when they can't see you (which makes the eye candy that took all that effort to code a complete waste of time).

[715]

Rise of Flight...from about 1min 36 sec to 2 mins Im in clouds on the video I jumped this guy from a thick layer at 5K, spotted the flight through breaks.

I don't know, I didn't really see a puffy cloud from the outside that you flew into the inside.. I just kinda saw a sudden drop in fog distance and then a temporal variation.  AH already has fog distance built in- you can play with it off line under Arena Setup/Environment/Ranges.  Maybe HTC could keep the current clouds, but dynamically vary fog distance when the client detects you're inside a cloud.  Of course, detecting when you're "inside" a cloud might not be trivial.

[DrSlugger]

We do need some new clouds. Then we can call some people Cloudtards/Cloud monkey. 

[PanosGR]