Gray Clouds

[belimi]

I can only get gray-looking rain clouds to appear in Skymaxx Pro. I can't see how to get white fluffy clouds similar to the ones which appear in other Skymaxx pro users' screen grabs & videos. Over the past year or so, I've installed various cloud-related freeware plugins from The Org; could this be creating some sort of conflict?

The second issue is the interrelationship between Skymaxx Pro configuration settings & those in XP10 under the weather menu and the rendering settings. In what ways are they interrelated? For example, if I want dense large, cumulus clouds, which combination of these various settings should be used?

[JohnMAXX]

1st Low visibility conditions this is an expected result, Id like to see a SS of what you are referring to so I can confirm this.....

 

2nd For that effect try this.....

 

30,000 ft --cirrus layer

 

10,000ft-7,000ft-- Few cumulus

 

2,000-4,000ft --cumulus sct

 

Set visibility to CAVOK

 

Goto the SkyMAXX UI and set the min & max cloud sizes higher.........

 

This should give you those large puffy white clouds you are looking for....

 

-John

 

EDIT

 

Our cloud conditions correlate with the default weather settings......

 

What I mean is if you select cirrus a cirrus layer is created or overcast an overcast layer is selected, so on and so on........of course our interpretation is different over the default...... 

Edited December 9, 2013 by JohnMAXX

[belimi]

Thanks for your quick reply John. I just got home and tried you suggestions. However, still no luck, so clearly I am doing something wrong. Attached is that screenshot you asked for, which shows my view after setting up XP as per your suggestions. As you can see, these clouds still look like grayish rain clouds rather than white ones. In rendering options, cloud detail doesn't seem to affect the way Skymaxx Pro renders the clouds, (unless you have to restart XP before changes take effect, which I have not tried yet.) Time of day is midday, if that's relevant.

 

Don't get me wrong: I've nothing against gray rain clouds either! I'd just like to figure out how to choose between white and gray clouds. Somehow, white clouds are more cheery I guess.

Edited December 10, 2013 by belimi

[JohnMAXX]

Ah I see the clouds you are looking at are around noon......bring the slider left or right some......

 

It has to do with the way light reflects off the clouds.....The position of the sun and moon have an effect on the shading of the clouds......

 

Also if you have your cloud detail slider down the clouds will reflect a bit less light.....

 

((EDIT))

If you look at the promo video you can see the cloud shading transitions in action.....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIWt8wYAX6c&feature=youtu.be

Edited December 10, 2013 by JohnMAXX

[belimi]

Not much luck so far John. Even with the settings you have suggested, I can only seem to get white clouds when it's close to dusk. At midday or during the morning and afternoon, I'm afraid they remain gray. The attached screenshot was taken at 15:00 hrs. 

 

Above, I asked if other addons such as HDR Environment X II or Replacement Day & Night Lighting from TheOrg (both of which I have installed) could interfere with what Skymaxx Pro is trying to do?

[JohnMAXX]

 I dont feel as if you have an issue with anything else, what you are seeing is a screenshot taken around the same time of day as the last one with the sun in the same position......to be more precise  up high and off to the left of that image....

 

This setting you have will absorb more light then reflect it, similar to real life, here is a real image with the sun behind a cloud:

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Cloud_in_the_sunlight.jpg

 

The clouds are a simulation on to themselves and are dynamic in the very fact that they change under a variety of conditions.....

 

Take a look at the gallery, some look like the image above and some have more depth it all depends on a bunch of variables:

 

http://skymaxx-extreme.com/?page_id=2

 

But to sum it up belimi, maybe you are seeing more then me, I would try and remove the HDR environment add-ons........

[belimi]

Thanks for all your feedback John. It's such a novel experience to be able to exchange thoughts directly with the developer of a product you have purchased. In my case, every (gray) cloud has a silver lining.