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Howto:Make nice screenshots: Difference between revisions
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Add tips on weather, liveries, time etc.
(→Panoramas with Hugin: Link another example panorama, cleanup.) |
(Add tips on weather, liveries, time etc.) |
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This means you need a decent computer with middle - good specs. At a minimum, you should able to run Flightgear with smooth frame rate with high anti-aliasing settings. | This means you need a decent computer with middle - good specs. At a minimum, you should able to run Flightgear with smooth frame rate with high anti-aliasing settings. | ||
Some people don't have this, so there is another solution proposed by Melchior Franz : [http://www.opensubscriber.com/message/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/8196594.html]. | Some people don't have this, so there is another solution proposed by Melchior Franz : [http://www.opensubscriber.com/message/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/8196594.html]. | ||
If the intention is to make a screenshot to showcase Flightgear, it's always possible to pause the sim and turn graphics settings up, and then turn settings down to resume flying. | |||
== How to get some unusual/ interesting views == | == How to get some unusual/ interesting views == | ||
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Now use your favourite panorama software and stitch it! | Now use your favourite panorama software and stitch it! | ||
No software yet? Use Google; there are several freeware programs outside. A common choice is [http://hugin.sourceforge.net/ Hugin]; it's free and open source, cross-platform and used by many professional photographers. | No software yet? Use Google; there are several freeware programs outside. A common choice is [http://hugin.sourceforge.net/ Hugin]; it's free and open source, cross-platform and used by many professional photographers. | ||
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==== Panoramas with Hugin ==== | ==== Panoramas with Hugin ==== | ||
There is a (WiP) nasal script in [https://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?t=36297 this forum thread] that takes a user configurable grid of overlapping screenshots. The script is based on the spherical panorama script. To take a line of screenshots means setting grid size to 1 by n. | There is a (WiP) nasal script in [https://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?t=36297 this forum thread] that takes a user configurable grid of overlapping screenshots. The script is based on the spherical panorama script. To take a line of screenshots means setting grid size to 1 by n. | ||
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This applies to FlightGear as well. So play a bit with the time of day, especially Dawn/Morning/Afternoon and Dusk. Play with the seasons and locations as well. In the winter near the poles, the sun is low, while near the equator the sun is standing high in the sky. As an example, this gives nice effects with the water shaders. | This applies to FlightGear as well. So play a bit with the time of day, especially Dawn/Morning/Afternoon and Dusk. Play with the seasons and locations as well. In the winter near the poles, the sun is low, while near the equator the sun is standing high in the sky. As an example, this gives nice effects with the water shaders. | ||
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== Weather == | == Weather == | ||
Our weather has improved much with the addition of [[advanced weather]]. To enable it, you must open the Environment > Weather dialog, then check "Advanced Weather" and click "OK". With advanced weather enabled, clouds are placed while taking the terrain and wind patterns into account, making for much more realistic cloud and weather patterns. Advanced weather works best with [[atmospheric light scattering]] enabled as well. | Our weather has improved much with the addition of [[advanced weather]]. To enable it, you must open the Environment > Weather dialog, then check "Advanced Weather" and click "OK". With advanced weather enabled, clouds are placed while taking the terrain and wind patterns into account, making for much more realistic cloud and weather patterns. Advanced weather works best with [[atmospheric light scattering]] enabled as well. | ||
{| class="floatright" | |||
|- | |||
| [[File:Gazelle_over_Blue_Mountains_near_Katoomba_in_Australia_with_signature_blue_haze_(FlightGear_2020.x).jpg|thumb|150px|Blue smog in Australian Blue Mountains]] | |||
|| [[File:SOTM_2018-03_Gazelle_at_Sunset._Near_Mt._St._Helens_by_StuartC.jpg|thumb|150px|Ground haze]] | |||
|} | |||
Environment > Weather > Detailed weather > Advanced options dialogue has a lot of options that affect weather. The cloud shadows options is there. The ground haze and haze structure simulates moisture. The smog slider should also be used for the organic smog of forests in areas such as the Blue Mountains of Australia, Blue Ridge mountains of USA, and some forests in coutnries like France or Italy. Turning up convective conditions and turbulence will affect cloud shape as thermals get stronger and narrower. | |||
The advanced weather simulation is very sophisticated. There are many properties of atmosphere state that are currently not exposed by the GUI, or are not practical to expose. These properties are randomised each time AW is initialised. Live METAR reports are a vague, limited, rounded off, variable quality, hint at atmospheric state very close to an airfield given at varying intervals intended for airfield operation. When using METARs to drive weather there are a lot of properties that unavoidably need to by randomly guessed by Advanced Weather. Pressing "Apply" in the Weather dialogue for a given weather condition or a METAR will create a new random set of properties. | |||
== Locations == | == Locations == | ||
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As an example for showing an aircraft just for presentation, use an "empty" background like the sky, sea or desert. If you want to show the aircraft during operation you could choose some of FlightGear's better airports like [[EHAM]], [[LFPG]] as the background, or some of the more detailed custom sceneries. | As an example for showing an aircraft just for presentation, use an "empty" background like the sky, sea or desert. If you want to show the aircraft during operation you could choose some of FlightGear's better airports like [[EHAM]], [[LFPG]] as the background, or some of the more detailed custom sceneries. | ||
== Picking the right Livery == | |||
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| [[File:C172p-preview5.jpg|150px]] || [[File:C172p-preview4.jpg|150px]] | |||
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The right colour scheme for the scene can make a huge difference. Liveries in FlightGear can often be changed mid flight. These two shots of the c172p show the difference it makes. If the liveries were swapped in the two screenshots, the result would be less pleasing to the eye. | |||
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== Hoping to stumble upon the right shot versus changing what you can control to increase your chances of finding a good shot == | |||
FlightGear can create an almost infinite variety of environment, weather and lighting conditions. No two exactly alike. Much like nature. The need to randomise many Advanced Weather properties because METARs are only inconsistent hints, as well as the need to randomise properties which aren't exposed to the GUI or can't be exposed, means no two initialisations of the advanced weather engine will be the same. So if you visit the same spot twice, at the same sim time, and with the same METAR, a lot of the atmospheric properties will be randomly different. Similarly with the same weather scenarios. | |||
Unlike taking photos with a physical camera, you don't have to hope you are in the right spot, looking in the right direction, with the right weather and lighting exactly right for that direction. The time, environment settings, weather, and lighting can all be controlled. The landscape is harder to control as relocating or approaching from another direction does take time. | |||
If you are flying and find a particularly striking location or view suitable for a particularly good spot, it's always possible to imagine if it would be better with different approach direction, environment settings, weather and lighting. Experimenting with different settings can help. The previous weather can be restored when you resume your flight. The flight recorder lets you look through the historical flight path and change weather (some craft support this better than others). | |||
The sim can be paused at any time. This lets you to easily switch view, tweak Field of View, change environment settings etc. There are two different clocks, the environmental clock and the clock used by carft systems and physics. Weather are also part of physics. The sim must be unpaused for Advanced Weather to be re-initialised with new random properties and populate clouds. The sim must also be briefly unpaused to let change of time affect the scene lighting. Slowing physics time down can help you change weather without your craft going past the landscape. In fact if you slow down physics time, you can 'catch' lighting by pausing, and then take a screenshot. | |||
[[File:Lightning_strike_showing_illumination_of_nearby_clouds_(Flightgear_2019.x)_01.jpg|thumb|150px|'Catching' lightning by slowing physics time then pausing]] | |||
Lighting in the atmosphere is all about angles. Time, sun position, moon phase, view direction relative to the sun. You can use this knowledge to make it more likely you see what you are looking for. For instance rainbows are light scattered back by a rain volume. Rainbows form a circle around the point opposite the sun (called the anti-solar point). Using this, you can increases the odds of a good rainbow screenshot by flying when the sun is low, and approaching interesting scenery in a direction that places the scenery between the point opposite the sun and your camera. Of course, the point opposite the sun has to be in a rain volume too. Flying when the sun is low is simply a good way to spot rainbows. If you found an interesting scene you want to showcase like an airport, you can always try to put the sun in a good spot by changing time of day/year and re-initialise weather until you get a rain volume where you want! | |||
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== Colors and whitebalance == | == Colors and whitebalance == | ||
As in real life, in FGFS the pictures often have to be corrected in colors and white balance. This can be done with almost any image editor. In [http://www.gimp.org GIMP] this can be done through <tt>Layers > Colors > Brightness and contrast</tt>. | As in real life, in FGFS the pictures often have to be corrected in colors and white balance. This can be done with almost any image editor. In [http://www.gimp.org GIMP] this can be done through <tt>Layers > Colors > Brightness and contrast</tt>. | ||