Cloud Generating Plugin?

[refract]

I like their explanation at the end. Very good setup. Considering most shots are quite fast, or close to 2 to 4 seconds.. (some much longer, I know).. This solution is very good. I have thought of something like this for some time.

But.. for games, the XBox calculates alpha additively,.. Thus one alpha on top of another is very expensive. Depending upon the game, ..and/or scene,. in most cases, i would assume a developer would only do 2 to 3 cards for speed. Which would still work for those cases.

Do you know what solution they have if you actually fly "through" the clouds so it doesn't pop past the alpha's?

[Mike Truly]

I don't know. I will have to try and fly through some clouds using FSX and see what popping occurs. I know the cloud quality is generally very good. I just wish there was a similar MAX cloud plugin available because the setup of this one looks very easy and good.

Thanks!

[ejann99]

Put billboard clouds far from camera , and let AB clouds at the path of camera moving through. It's a trade off between effect and time. I think it's really a good balance of effect and time too. That's a easy idea inspired from this Thread.

[seismograph]

you can download the microsoft FS 2004 sdk. which includes the script:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/d/e/4de1e425-c932-4232-829b-eeb7f2658885/fs2004_sdk_gmax_setup.exe

Maybe we can "rewrite" the script, because it need some changes:
1. It doesn't generate the material with the maps.
2. It doesnn't generate the different levels of brightness (lower clouds will be darker..)
3. It does generete a look at controller, which is somehow really buggy

well ..and there is another problem...
All of these materials are intended to be used within Microsoft Flight Simulator. If you wish to use any of it for anything besides Microsoft Flight Simulator and especially in any commercial application, you MUST check with the Microsoft legal department first.

[Mike Truly]

Thanks for all the thoughts on this. Eventually, I will get back to cloud issues but am swamped at the moment with other things.

Thanks again.

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