Bonnet/hood shine

[Damocles]

Maybe only really noticeable in VR but, given the excellent work on the shine of the wings ( really adds to the sense of realism and solidity ) it seems a shame that the same effect doesn't appear on the bonnet/hood.

[Xpendable]

That's actually the way it is supposed to be. Seriously. Have you ever noticed almost every fighter has a different non-gloss paint over the top of the nose? It is to prevent the sun from reflecting off the nose blinding you.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[Damocles]

That's actually the way it is supposed to be. Seriously. Have you ever noticed almost every fighter has a different non-gloss paint over the top of the nose? It is to prevent the sun from reflecting off the nose blinding you.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

Seriously ?

 

I'm not sure I've ever come across specific anti reflective nose paint on standard camouflage Spit's. Yes, certainly on bare metal or light could coloured aircraft but a quick internet search didn't pick up any difference from the standard paint used on the rest of the aircraft, that I could discern anyway.

 

While I'm here, is the reflective sheen as seen on the wings, hard baked or is it something skinners can play around with and use in other areas of the aircraft ? Maybe I'm getting confused, but is it called the "Alpha" channel ? The sheen from the wings gives a very tangable sense of solidity as if they are made from something other than just coloured pixels. A lot of effort goes into the external models to make them reflect light realistically, the same can't be said when the outside of the aircraft is viewed from the cockpit, some parts are, like the wings and some aren't (even rendered). VR is changing the way we see the sim world around us and I think developers will need to start allowing for these new priorities.

 

The wings on the Spitfire are excellent by the way, I think the best I've seen so far in DCS.

[Schwarzfeld]

Yep, thats by design. Here's a shot of my beloved A-6E, note the black anti-glare paint just fore of the cockpit. The anti-glare paint ahead of the cockpit is hugely common across almost any aircraft, unless the nose is specifically designed such that it is not visible by the pilot in flight. If that nose were painted in regular paint you would be full on snowblind half the time you were doing important stuff like shooting at folks, taking off, landing, etc etc :)

 

[Friedrich-4B]

Yep, thats by design. Here's a shot of my beloved A-6E, note the black anti-glare paint just fore of the cockpit. The anti-glare paint ahead of the cockpit is hugely common across almost any aircraft, unless the nose is specifically designed such that it is not visible by the pilot in flight. If that nose were painted in regular paint you would be full on snowblind half the time you were doing important stuff like shooting at folks, taking off, landing, etc etc :)

 

 

Sorry, but taking the anti-glare panel on a modern USN jet and extrapolating that to incorporate all WW 2 aircraft, such as the Spitfire, is completely wrong.

 

British paint specifications of WW2 called for smooth, non-reflective paint on all surfaces; there was never a separate anti-glare panel along the top of the nose, except on those Spitfires that were either stripped to bare metal, or repainted in a high-speed silver. Below is a 1940 vintage document, detailing the change from pre-war matt paints to wartime 'S' (smooth) type that were manufactured using more finely ground pigments.

 

 

This beautifully restored Spitfire IX has been completed in the correct colours with the correct, satin sheen, typical of a factory fresh or well maintained Spitfire. (For skin makers, note the shape of the exhaust stains along the cowling and forward fuselage)

 

 

While flying at certain angles, the camera picks up some glare from the nose, but it is not affecting the pilot because he is looking along the upper cowling at a very shallow angle; he's far more likely to be blinded by glare from the wings, because the light is bouncing off at a greater angle.

 

 

As it is, we know that ED's ground crews work hard to keep their aircraft in tip-top shape, so us pilots can do our best to wreck the engines, get shot to pieces or do crazy things while taking off or landing. :music_whistling:

Edited December 21, 2016 by Friedrich-4/B

[Damocles]

Thanks for that description Friedrich-4/B, excellent.

 

The second video, Spit in flight, at about the 1,05 minute mark shows the reflected light moving forward over the wings and continuing along the top of the bonnet/hood quite clearly.

 

It's a small detail, of little significance and maybe only particularly noticeable in VR but, like the sheen from the wings it does help convince that the aircraft is flesh and blood rather than a painting. If comparison is needed look at the wonderfull external renders of aircraft as the light reflects of them and then try looking at the aircraft exterior from the cockpit view ( maybe only really possible in VR ?) where no extra work/layers have been applied. If you ignore the missing bits it makes a big difference to the presence of the object.

 

Given that sheen on the bonnet would possibly have been an issue even in camouflaged aircraft, I wonder if any effort was made to counteract this , I'm thinking particularly in the sunny desert theatre. Maybe adding a bit of sand to the paint just along the top of the bonnet, if not officially then maybe by SQN ground crew ?

[jocko417]

Sand was applied to the aircraft almost continuously... by the operating environment... but it tended to remove paint which made the finish shiny bare metal over time ;)