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P3D v4 Photoreal Blendmasks no longer transition smoothly.

Rotornut44

Rotornut44

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I've had this issue since day 1 of owning P3Dv4. Is this an issue with P3Dv4 itself (as a software) or could this be some sort of incompatibility? I'm surprised I haven't seen more posts on this issue, however it would make since if it's only an issue on my end..

The Blendmask is an 8bit grayscale (uncompressed) Tiff - The same format I have been using from FSX to P3Dv3 without issue.

Any ideas?

bearisland_blendmask_p3dv4.jpg


BearIsland_Blendmask.jpg
 
Hi Christopher:

I knew I should have had a 3rd cup of coffee today, as I am thus far not seeing the 'anomaly' you allude to. :coffee::coffee::banghead::coffee:o_O

Are we seeing shaded cloud 'reflections' on the water surface ? :scratchch

Is this a P3Dv4 representation of 'cloud shadows' seen on Hydro polys ? :confused:

GaryGB
 
GaryGB said:
Hi Christopher:

I knew I should have had a 3rd cup of coffee today, as I am thus far not seeing the 'anomaly' you allude to. :coffee::coffee::banghead::coffee:o_O

Are we seeing shaded cloud 'reflections' on the water surface ? :scratchch

Is this a P3Dv4 representation of 'cloud shadows' seen on Hydro polys ? :confused:

GaryGB
Click to expand...

Hi Gary.
Do you see where the water surrounding the island is a more light blue than the darker surrounding water?
If you follow this lighter blue water to its outermost edges, you will see that instead of blending smoothly into the darker water, it comes to an almost sharp edge.

This is the anomaly in which I speak of.
 
Hi Chris,

Sounds like it's a P3D v4 problem, if the same file works fine in older versions. I think I have read about this once before, but I can't fully remember.
 
I was just going through the LM-P3D forum threads today, and I saw a report of waves disappearing inside the blend transparency gradient area near shorelines. :idea:

Could this possibly be due to a similar mechanism involving Blend Mask values for the Gray Scale 'colors' in the transparency gradient that it uses within the TIF file ...near the edge of the island ? :scratchch

GaryGB
 
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robystar said:
http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/th...onger-transition-smoothly.441000/#post-780799

Try a LZW compression. that works for me.
Click to expand...

FYI: LZW compression in a TIFF file, regardless of whether it is a 1-Bit, 8-Bit, 24-Bit or 32-Bit file format, when used with FS / P3D Terrain SDK Resample, results in longer compile times.

[EDITED]

NOTE: Final output source file format for TIFF Masks must actually be 8-Bit gray-scale; see:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/th...-scenery-achievable.440912/page-4#post-789447

[END_EDIT]

While this is not usually that noticeable with less-than 24-bit gray-scale files such as Blend Masks or Land-Water Masks, it is IMHO not necessary or desirable, except when one is working with very large source file sizes that 'risk' exceeding the 2-GB task session work-space and/or 2-GB output BGL size limit of Resample.


One may reduce visibility of gradient 'banding' in the 256 gray-scale Blend Mask by 'dithering' the image with ex: Floyd-Sternberg techniques etc., but that would, like use of LZW compression, have no impact, IMHO, on what the OP is showing here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd–Steinberg_dithering


I believe what we may be seeing here is "excessive transparency", possibly by having used certain gray-scale values on the 'wrong' side of the mid-gray-scale point (RGB 127,127,127), such that the ex: Blend Mask 'transparency' is beginning to allow the under-lying Water Class texture color to show through to the top of any over-lying custom photo-real aerial imagery contribution to the hydro polygon area rendering in FS at run time. :twocents:

GaryGB
 
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robystar said:
Try a LZW compression. that works for me.
Click to expand...

The issue is still there, even with LZW compression. I'm thinking it's either something pertaining to my sim itself or P3Dv4 in general, as I'm seeing it on other photoreal coverage areas as well.

Maybe someone running P3Dv4 could check a few different sceneries and verify?
 
Just checked a couple, and I can't see anything like that.
Just a couple of things:
Maybe an issue with your INF? What does the water mask look like?
PTA for v4 does let you adjust the transparency (limpidity) of water, so it could be an errant setting there, or a shader issue?
 
toprob said:
Just checked a couple, and I can't see anything like that.
Just a couple of things:
Maybe an issue with your INF? What does the water mask look like?
PTA for v4 does let you adjust the transparency (limpidity) of water, so it could be an errant setting there, or a shader issue?
Click to expand...

Ahh. I'm not using PTA, but I am using URP. I disabled the URP shaders and my water has returned to normal. Sadly, the sim now looks trashy. lol
I would say that solves that mystery. I'll contact Simhead (I think his username is?) and see if there is any chance of making a correction in the future.

Thanks for the input. In a way, I'm glad that it's not the sceneries themselves, but I'm disappointed it's URP that causes it.
 
Well, I didn't know what URP was until I googled 'Prepar3d URP' and it turned out to be Ultimate Realism Pack.
PTA is P3D Tweak Assistant.
'PTa'uRp! is Klingon for 'let me Google that for you...'
 
toprob said:
Well, I didn't know what URP was until I googled 'Prepar3d URP' and it turned out to be Ultimate Realism Pack.
PTA is P3D Tweak Assistant.

'PTa'uRp! is Klingon for 'let me Google that for you...'
Click to expand...

Thanks Rob, that was excellent ! :laughing::D

GaryGB
 
I do not have to tweak my p3Dv4. It works perfectly, unfortunately (for this thread at the least).
I do not have any problems with photoreal compiled with the P3d resampler.
Glad Gary mentioned that we had not yet learned Klingon :).
 
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HI Roby:

Many thanks for the incidental posting about your experience with achieving (satisfactory ?) display of MDL-based GPs in P3Dv4 via both ADE v1.70x GP feature and also via the MCX version of August 20, 2017. :)


BTW: Would you be willing to also post this latter information on your success with GP display in P3Dv4 to offer some help to Gerard in a thread ...here: ? ;)

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/gp-and-custom-ground-lines.440977/

[EDITED]

Roby, do you have an example MDL-based GP made with ADE's GP feature that you would be willing to share with us here ? :scratchch

[END_EDIT]

GaryGB
 
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Sorry, Gary, but no.
This thread is about resampling and blend masks and has nothing to do with GP poly. .
I should not have mentioned the latter in this thread, sorry.
I'd better delete it.
 
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So, IIUC, in all cases the GPs are exported via MCX G-Poly Wizard to create the MDL-based P3Dv4 GP_BGL ?

Do I understand correctly that you have not tested compilation (only) via ADE GP feature ...to create the MDL-based P3Dv4 GP_BGL ?

GaryGB
 
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