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SkymaxxPro 2.1!!!!

No words, simply watch

Hello, all, This will serve as a formal forum announcement that we have released the version 2.1 update for SkyMaxx Pro. All customers who have purchased SkyMaxx Pro up till now have been sent an e-mail by X-Aviation with complete instructions on how to obtain your update. We have made this a very simple process! For those that purchase SkyMaxx Pro from today forward, your purchased download will already be updated to version 2.1 for you. What if I didn't get the update e-mail? If you did not receive your update e-mail don't fret! X-Aviation has updated our system to allow all customers to update with ease, regardless of whether you received an e-mail for the update! Here's what to do: 1. Login to your X-Aviation account here: https://www.x-aviati...talog/login.php 2. View your past order history invoice that contains SkyMaxx Pro purchase on it. 3. At the bottom of the invoice you will find a blue highlighted link to your update that says: "SkyMaxx Pro". There are some important fixes and requests implemented in this update. The following is a list of additions/fixes included: What's New / Changed: Cloud reflections now supported in low water reflection settingsCloud shadows animate smoothly nowSmall efficiency improvements (eliminated unnecessary callbacks)Added reset button to configReduced memory footprintUse new dataref in 10.30 to disable default clouds (saves VRAM)Improved cloud visibility distance computationClouds get darker with coverageSmoother cloud lightingLess cloud popping as camera movesFaster weather update handlingCloud shadows no longer interfere with other shadowsCloud shadows applied more consistently in HDRAnvil clouds now fade out with distance like other clouds doCumulus clouds no longer allowed to intersect ground level As always, thanks for being a customer with X-Aviation. We appreciate your feedback and support! Enjoy these latest updates, and stay tuned to the forum as we continually announce the latest happenings.

I just wanted to say thank you for yet another update. This version is to my mind absolutley the best yet. Some screenshots here - if you have 2 or 3 screens use them as size matters - they were taken on my 3 screen set up. http://1drv.ms/1zwtkkR The smoothness of transitions, the lighting, the way the shadows transition over the ground as the clouds move and the sheer realism is very special. Have been P3Ding a bit lately (horses for courses and all that) and I use Rex - and whilst it can render a variety of clouds that the X Plane weather engins does not seem to be able to muster, those coulds are not as good as Sky Maxx ones in my opinion. When you are in them they just don't have that special wow feeling that the Sky Maxx ones muster. I have included a couple of P3D shots (I hope this is allowed?) and you can tell the difference straight away - they are good but just not that real - more like a painting for a scenery backdrop than a real cloud. Thanks again for a great product and another free update - would have paid all over again but much appreciated that I didn't have to. cheers Peter

Hey John, Ok, understood. Thanks for the quick reply! Cheers, Jim

Jim, Yes this has to do with how we apply our shadows in X-Plane. They darken the whole scene and we are unable to differentiate lights from the total scene, our trade off to bring shadows into SMP.... My suggestion would be to adjust the cloud shadow slider down in the smp ui until you get a more acceptable result....

A huge thank you to our beta testing team! Over 20 people tested this update over the course of several weeks, and their feedback ensured a smooth upgrade for the X-Plane community.

The official term for this is "billboard" trees and its widely used in computer graphics ... of course, with more development resources invested in trees, its - especially with todays hardware - its definitely possible to make more "advanced" graphics engines (and there do exist quite a lot out there) which have a adaptive LOD for their trees. Where you can see a detailed 3D model when close up, which is then reduced the farther you go away (down to billboards) .... Laminar does have some ideas to progress in that direction ... but they do also have a pile of other ideas but only a limited number of developers .... So, in the end I wouldn't cross my fingers that we get improved tree rendering any times soon. Especially as the current technique is working acceptably and looks quite OK most of the time .... and there are far more important things needing developer resources . By the way ... add to this the many many artist hours needed to create the appropriate 3D trees (and the appropriate LOD levels ... to make LOD transitions smooth)!

Thank you Jan, very informative video and post!!! Angelo

Jesus fecking Christ those textures are amazing.