[Genma Saotome]

After a very long hiatus I'm once again working on the Cal-P. Of late I've put my time into fixing the Distant Mountain displays, which, IMO, were both quite bad looking (bad art) and too darn close. As usual I've taken a number of screenshots for the purpose of checking my work... these are not meant to be good looking shots, they're purely review. Anyway, I thought I'd post a handful as a "coming out" (again) sort of progress report.


This is the first time I've been able to get the full distance across the bay (~10km) as foreground images with Mt Tamalpais in the background.




Same issue here WRT distance... the locomotive is at Nevada Dock and the track sweeps around the right side of the screen, past Martinez and up to the Benicia Bridge




I like using the Solano marshes to check out vistas... great expanse of perfectly flat marsh surrounded by higher terrain. The background is Martinez and the Benicia Bridge.




When checking my work I'll raise the camera up pretty high -- small aircraft altitude -- and take in the long view. This one is looking southwest over Martinez/Ozol, across Contra Cost and Alameda counties, all the way to Marin, SF, and San Mateo counties on the far side of the bay.




IIRC this view from the west end of the Port Costa yard never had DM and now it does. I'm always fiddling with water textures, never really satisfied. The problem is I have three distinct types of water and the sim offers just one set of water textures. SF Bay can be brilliant blue... or deep ocean green, depending on the day and view; The Sacramento River is always full of silt and its color runs from a light blueish gray to murky brown and then there are the sloughs in the marshes which are always a deep green from the reflection of the reeds and rushes over shallow mud bottomed channels. The firt few screenshots are a previous version of water... the last one is what I'm reviewing right now. It's frustrating to say the least.

[Mipman25]

That looks amazing, Dave! I can only imagine how it'll look once all the scenery is in.

[conductorchris]

Yes, looks good indeed! I was admiring it too.

Maybe Open Rails will save the situation with some water texture upgrades by the time everything else is done?

Christopher

[Genma Saotome]

I think what would help me the most is the ability to specify water textures -- either my own art or what OR can do alone w/ software -- on some smaller area than the whole route.

Here is a view of the Sacramento River That is most familiar to me and yet this is only a couple of miles away to the east while this one is a couple of miles to the west.

And hereyou can see all three of the above in one view

What does one do?

[Genma Saotome]

Here are a couple more shots:


Late afternoon just north of Richmond. This shot is looking to the west.





A mile or so north of the previous image.





Crack of dawn at Port Costa, looking west.




Same as the above only as seen from the middle of the river. The bridge at Crockett is in the distance, peeking thru the fog.



All of these images are from Open Rails using a 10km (6 mile) near object display with a 100km (60 mile) DM setting. The admittedly huge range is due to the fact that you do see that distance from a lot of locations in the Bay Area and Central Valley -- morning for instance; Mid afternoon the haze over the valley kicks in and cuts the distance to a third of that. I would be nice if OR could vary view ranges by time of day.

[cwvs]

Hello Dave!

Just a thought, have you tried experimenting with different colors UNDER the surface of the water? Maybe using a light blue with a pretty strong alpha on the surface and your primary color on the bottom. May take a bit of work, but it might get the coloration you want.

Bob :bigboss:

[Genma Saotome]

Bob, I have tried that... multiple variations too. I have tried different tertex art under it all too.

Maybe it is the art I have to work with but it seems I'm never very pleased with how it looks in all places. I might have one that's fine for the river but terrible for the marshland. A different one looks good for the bay but is all wrong for the river. It's frustrating.

[captain_bazza]

The background vistas look great, Dave. You're on the right track - oy! http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif

Cheers Bazza.

[conductorchris]

To be honest, I've never seen water in MSTS that looks convincing. I was stunned when I show a screenshot of water in TrainSimulator 2014. It had the reflective quality that water does and really looked good. I don't know the technical aspects of how it was done, but it would be nice if it could. Perhaps this is the sort of thing that would be part of an open rails route editor? Looking down the road a few years here, I think.
Christopher

[delamate]

Genma Saotome, on 07 September 2014 - 12:17 PM, said:

After a very long hiatus I'm once again working on the Cal-P. Of late I've put my time into fixing the Distant Mountain displays, which, IMO, were both quite bad looking (bad art) and too darn close. As usual I've taken a number of screenshots for the purpose of checking my work... these are not meant to be good looking shots, they're purely review. Anyway, I thought I'd post a handful as a "coming out" (again) sort of progress report.

Clipboard0606.jpg
This is the first time I've been able to get the full distance across the bay (~10km) as foreground images with Mt Tamalpais in the background.



Clipboard0617.jpg
Same issue here WRT distance... the locomotive is at Nevada Dock and the track sweeps around the right side of the screen, past Martinez and up to the Benicia Bridge



Clipboard0619.jpg
I like using the Solano marshes to check out vistas... great expanse of perfectly flat marsh surrounded by higher terrain. The background is Martinez and the Benicia Bridge.



Clipboard0608.jpg
When checking my work I'll raise the camera up pretty high -- small aircraft altitude -- and take in the long view. This one is looking southwest over Martinez/Ozol, across Contra Cost and Alameda counties, all the way to Marin, SF, and San Mateo counties on the far side of the bay.



Clipboard0629.jpg
IIRC this view from the west end of the Port Costa yard never had DM and now it does. I'm always fiddling with water textures, never really satisfied. The problem is I have three distinct types of water and the sim offers just one set of water textures. SF Bay can be brilliant blue... or deep ocean green, depending on the day and view; The Sacramento River is always full of silt and its color runs from a light blueish gray to murky brown and then there are the sloughs in the marshes which are always a deep green from the reflection of the reeds and rushes over shallow mud bottomed channels. The firt few screenshots are a previous version of water... the last one is what I'm reviewing right now. It's frustrating to say the least.

I am really pleased that you are back at work on this route. The photos across San Francisco Bay are amazing!

John DeLamater