1,360
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 6:
Line 6: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
FlightGear Newsletter December 2012 (view source)
Revision as of 11:17, 5 December 2012
, 11:17, 5 December 2012→Development news
== Development news ==
== Development news ==
Note to all contributors: Please also copy your newsletter additions to the changelog of the upcoming release: [[Changelog_3.0.0]].
Note to all contributors: Please also copy your newsletter additions to the changelog of the upcoming release: [[Changelog_3.0.0]].
=== Atmospheric Light Scattering ===
The atmospheric light scattering rendering framework received a major overhaul. Snow is now generated procedurally, which improves the performance if no snow is in the scene, but also allows the user to control the thickness of the snow layer - the shader can do a very light snow cover like in the winter textures all the way to a closed, thick snow layer.
A new runway effect shader, similar to the one in the default rendering scheme, shows a hires bumpmap for runway closeups and displays also snow drifts in high resolution on the runway if the terrain at this altiude is snow-covered. This is complemented by a high resolution grass texture for the green around the runway.
Major changes have been done to the ambient lighting of terrain and clouds in low light - the previous ambient light curve has been replaced by a light curve measured from a large set of photographs of sunsets. As a result, the color balance of cloud shadows in low sunlight is now much more realistic, and the effect of clouds casting a shadow on other clouds is now also effectively accounted for.
In the course of these changes, the framework is now also able to render moonlit scenes at night, however this is not currently integrated to be done automatically.
[[File:Light scattering dec12 10.jpg|300px|Procedural snow and hires snow drifts on the runway.]]
[[File:Light scattering dec12 05.jpg|300px|Early morning scene over the French Alps.]]
[[File:Light scattering dec12 13.jpg|300px|New color balance of clouds in low light]]
Combined and fully integrated with Advanced Weather, Atmospheric Light Scattering is now able to render highly realistic lighting and high-quality scenery texturing, rivaling the visual quality of FSX.
=== Random Buildings ===
=== Random Buildings ===