Realistic HUD alpha

[Drakkhen]

Hi,

 

the realism of HUD display has been discussed on C6 forum and I just emitted a remark that concerns EVERY flight sim I played as far as I remember (Cobalt Interceptor, ZX-Spectrum). The error could have disappear on recent video cards since they now can display additive light alpha images (often used for flames etc...).

 

It seems LO uses a full-bright alpha face to display HUD data while a real one is a light projection on a reflective support. The difference is this:

(first is LO mid-bright, second is a mid-bright as it should appear if you use additive properties of GCs)

From what I've seen on some pictures from guncams, the second would be far more realistic and easy to read, especially on contrasted/faded backgrounds.

 

Keep up with this engine, it's awesome... :wink:

[leafer]

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. It's not you, but English is not my first language. Are you saying we need top-of-the-line card to fiddle with the HUD or is that coded into the add-on?

 

Anyway, I asked for it before lomac is released. I hate the way the info looks like it's glued to the HUD instead of being projected on a reflective glass and floating on it like the real thing. On the real HUD you can see the glare from the intensity as well. Or is that because of camera?

 

But it would be cool if ED figured out the way to represent it as seen on the real HUD. :D

 

Cheers

[Drakkhen]

Did neither say you need a magnificient card, nor it will be in the add-on (my suggestion comes a bit late I guess).

I just meant that with relatively recent Direct and GL libraries, you can display faces with additive properties (quite like flares should also be) rather than simple render with full brightness.

The simple render method applies the bitmap color in replacement of pixel current one (for full opacity pixel) while the additive will combine a red background with a green additive texture to give a yellow pixel. In the first case, the green light really appears green while additive one could loose part of it teint (see its hue changed), than can be seen on the exemple I did, but after some settings on the way to render the effects (lower opacity to reduce saturation, etc...), the result is more realistic.

 

For example, (for those who tried the game) the tear-gas smokes in RavenShield are additive alpha textures (while they shouldn't! they should be simple full bright renders): the more you have overlapping smoke faces, the more it brightens what's behind. That's what the HUD's data should work like. In Raven, the smoke should more work like current LO HUD does instead. :wink:

[leafer]

Ahhh. Ok, thanks. Thought I was the only one concerning about this little detail. :)

 

Cheers

[Drakkhen]

Ah, good example: Scary_Pigeon did it right on his JetThunder sim... this guy kicks some!

[Swede]

Are working on simulator that uses the GPU to render out the HUD data, with a little transparancy, it really adds alot to the whole feeling. (Probebly the best HUD I've seen in a simulator so far)

Insed of useing solid lines.

 

It adds more feeling to the sim then I'd ever imagened :)

[Caretaker]

I suggested this some time ago to the devs; this is how it could look like:

 

 

I totally agree that this would not be a performance issue anymore, and give a much better representation (although it is still impossible to catch the true 3D-projection effect on a 2D-monitor).

 

From a programming POV the only difference is that the individual HUD components cannot be rendered independently, because they could overlay each other when transparency is used. This wouldn't be a major problem, but is no trivial change either. Still hoping to see this in 1.2 :)

[169th_Jaws]

I agree Caretaker, a slightly transparent HUD looks very cool. Much more realistic.

[Witchking]

probably if the numbers and lines are in a tga file then we can mess around with the alpha channel to get the semi transparency effect.

 

ALPHA CHANNELS ARE ALSO AWSOME TO get the appearance of bumps for rivet lines etc...... look at the game called GRAND PRIX 4. IT LOOKS GREAT becos of its tga textures with alpha channels...here is a screenshot...the alpha channel is responsible for the feeling of that LINE DIP.

 

sorry for a little OT>...but yeah...alpha channels can give us the hud font transparency.

 

 

see the DEPTH IN THE LINES....its the tga alpha channel....

 

[leafer]

Hey, that looks great, Caretaker!

 

Those screenies of F1 look awesome.

[Witchking]

lol! yeah!!

 

sorry for making the topic offtopic...but that was to show the use of alpha channels..

 

an example from lomac itself is IN THE F 18 HORNET. go to ur encyclopedia and try rotating the plane with the mouse...u can find the reflective sheen and mettalic lighting on the F18 is sooo realistic....whereas on the other planes it is not so good.

 

hopefully ED can redo all tex in tga so that we get alpha channels :D in 1.2 .

[169th_Jaws]

Hey I'm a big F1 fan, may have to pick that game up. Looks sweet!

[Drakkhen]

Anyway, to have such HUD result, the engine has to allow additive light rendering, which is not really complicated but still requires some more code lines if it doesn't. :wink: