something ive been working on

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

thought I’d share something I’m working on
mainly to hear what you folks think about this
at the moment it is being considered to be included with NEFR

can you spot the difference?

Before


After


 

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Bottom pic is better........but that truck at the intersection is about to hit a car up the arse!

[J G 927]

I like the top shot best. The bottom shot's car headlights are overdone In the street lights. On an unlit road they would be right.

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

thanks guys

the idea was initially tough of due to the unlit roads

the beams definitely add to the night spectacle at these pitch dark roads

with that; it’s hard to tell from these still images; the visibility of the beams adds more life to the night

it’s notlifeless anymore; you can see motion far ahead; this adds to the night effect significantly

the close up shoots were to show the beams from up close; i think im at 300ft there

 

here are few more

 

enjoy

 

 

[J G 927]

I think if it is a case of having one or the other I would go with the second picture. Better to have the more visible car lights on an unlit road than not, I think.

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

here are some shoots with our "Rustic” feature turned on
rustic bring the more authentic night visuals where many highways don’t have lights installed
here's an example of the same location when the rustic function is active
 

 

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

It's a pretty effect. I'd love to see a few seconds of video to see how it moves...cuz my gut says the lights are kinda bright, and too short..like they should extend further and dimmer, yet be very bright at the headlight source and not so bright immediately off the bulbs. The beams as they are continue the brightness of the source bulbs almost to the roadbed...but perhaps while moving the effect "Spreads" along as it moves???

 

OFC, I have NO CLUE how you do all this stuff, and imagine you have many limitations with the FS programs.

And...I really need to pick up one of these eventually, they really look lovely, I just Hate flying at night.

 

 

(15 minutes later...i am so easily self suggestible...downloading NE California . I had JF points to redeem and this seemed a good time to burn them on some new night lights )

[allardjd 1,853]

Very nice work. I'm impressed. No criticism from me. I can't do it and I'm not going to start criticizing someone who can.

 

John

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

thank you guys

i will try to get a short video of the scene so you get the "feel" for it

here some shoots of a standalone vehicle

the beam length, width, color, brightness and opacity are all configurable

this is just the first library i made with 160 cars; i opted to keep the brightness at low level toward high altitude visibility

even though i snapped my shoots from a low alt; it was mainly to show the beams up-close

we don’t usually find ourselves at that level unless we approach landing; so our continues visuals are getting higher priority

and yes there are allot of limitations working with our beloved Sim platform; but this doesn’t stop us; it fuels us

the way i go about it is fairly primitive; i draw what i want; then find a way to make it happen

if i went about things the other way around; it’s a limiting thought in my eyes

[adrians69 159]

Very cool Chris. As a fan and user of your NE series I am impressed. Bring it on! Could it be patched into earlier NE releases or is it too late for those?

 

Adrian

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

Thank you Adrian

although it is being considered as an additional NE enhancement;

Technically you are looking at an external library i build; so yes this will work with earlier NE regions!

The library is not tied specifically to NE; cars with light beams will show up on all roads; worldwide,

over default texture or photoreal textures

generally speaking all existing NE regions will get the v2 upgrade in time

there's just so much wealth of features we are introducing; we want to make sure everything is stable;

once everything is verified stable; we will begin updating existing regions to v2,

don’t expect all new regions to come out as v2;

at the moment only NEFR is planned to be released as v2

all other regions will continue to be published in our existing format until we are ready for the switch

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

here's a live shoot

[hifly 925]

Excellent Chris!  I hope my pc doesn't go pop with all that detail.

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

Thank you Geoff

on my little Yoga13 i5 Ultrabook (my development station)

i am getting well over 20FPS inflight with everything you see on there (lock is set to 30)

performance is actually much better then with the default car library (which we replace with our new one),

i am able to GAIN performance with 100% traffic + light beams;

compared to 35% traffic density with the default cars lib;

and spikes are a thing of the past with the new library!

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

Really cool. The video shows the benefit of the new lights very well.

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Really well done, but that intersection would more than likely be well lit as it looks like a major junction. to have it unlit in reality would be highly dangerous. especially with the volume of traffic moving through. Therefore I'd say the lit junction versions are the more realistic.

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

Thank you Alan

the video was intentionally captured over a major intersection; far outside Marseille to demonstrate the effect when its pitch dark

NEFR customers will have both options to select from;

the standard fully lit intersection renditions as we introduced this far,

as well as our new "rustic feature"; this is the function turns off roads we identified as unlit at night,

with Rustic feature turned on; some of the main roads and intersections will be off outside main city area's; to add another realism layer

during development when rustic function was on; it bothered me that these roads were not seen in anyway

we came up with these car beams to help in identifying unlit roads at night; the motion of the cars adds another dimension to the view up ahead

the flickering and motion of the car lights was the right thing to do to bring in live random motion to the view

it all came together really well when executed

[J G 927]

Hi Chris.

 

I think what you have done is absolutely amazing.  As you know I am looking forward to NEFR and to be able to see the traffic in the way shown above is something I especially look forward to.

 

I have several NE regions already and to have them do what you show above would be a must have upgrade as far as I am concerned.

 

Well done, and thanks for sharing this with us. - if it were down to me, producing an upgrade pack for already issued NE regions would be on top of my work pile.  Would I pay for a single upgrade that worked on all installed products? - Yes I would.  There is clearly a lot of work in what you have shown us here, and as long as the upgrade could be applied to all installed NE regions for a one-time purchase and didn't cost more than a standard region, then I would buy it today.

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

Thank you John

ill reveal a little secret project we've been working on

it’s an updated NE v1.2 for existing customers, the update includes several enhancements as follows (not final list yet)

a new single folder structure for each region (no more multiple folders for each)

Globalize migrator - you will be able to globalize NE v1.2 regions and have them all run as a single global region!

and finally... all v1.2 will get a the new manager, no more manual changes for advance settings; all will be done via he manager GUI,

with the manager we are considering adding some of NE v2 new features to NE v1.2, like star light enchantments, and car beams showcased on this thread

the manager will allow you to configure and manage all NE regions from a single convenient interface; applying all advance configuration directly from a GUI interface,

including globalized and standalone v1.2 regions (you can select which will be globalized and which will remain standalone region)

all new NE v2 regions are configured from the same manager interface

[Captain Coffee 2,030]

^Doing it Right. Kudos.

 

Loving my single NE California region btw. I was running cargos around NorCal at dusk and shortly after. It's so very nice to be able to steer towards the airport lights 20 miles away while following clear freeway lights. Ridge road lights give clues to ridge tops...very helpful. Very much looking forward to car light beams racing around down there also.

 

Also like the effect of seeing the external view against the lighted background...lovely; A silhouette from last night...guess who? (not that it is hard with all that background light )