• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

City Place Tower - Dallas TX

MichaelD

MichaelD

Messages
106
Country
us-texas
Here's my first "real" building for Flight Sim. The first shot is an artist's drawing for reference.

I'm still tinkering with the daytime texture. There is too much reflection, making it look too glossy and pale. I'm having trouble figuring out how to limit the reflection to just the glass. The textures were created from scratch in Paint Shop Pro because getting good photos was impractical.

In reality, the color of this building looks different all of the time. Sometimes it looks like a very fiery, golden brown (just like the drawing) sometimes the color in my screen shots and sometimes almost a pale maroon, depending on the time of day. So, I had to settle on one.

It's a vast improvement over the default, which is nothing more than a big gray box. I would have thought Microsoft would have given it a little more attention since it is the tallest building in Dallas outside of the downtown area and is also right under the flight path for Dallas Love Field.

-Michael

cityplacefullxq8.jpg


cityplaceur0.jpg


cityplacetowernightvl2.jpg
 
That does look good.
Bear in mind that you can control exactly where the reflections and highlights appear, by using a Specular and reflective map.
With the specular map, you can define the colour of the shine, which will change the colour of the building depending on how the light strikes it. For instance, I've been working on a (somewhat smaller) building which has a coppery finish. I've made the normal texture map very dark copper, and defined the specular map colour as a golden-yellow. This gives a pronounced colour change when the light reflects.
Adding a very slight reflection map to the windows gives another layer of realism -- but you can't overdo this if you are mainly relying on specularity for effect.
Have a look at some of the FSX building textures for specific buildings -- for example in scenery\OCEN\texture, there's some buildings I know well -- take a look at the normal day texture, and the specular maps, to see how you can confine the effect to the windows.
 
Last edited:
Very nice!

When you read my reply regarding how the _spec.dds is created, bear in mind that although it's an "aircraft" example, the principles remain the same... :D
 
Thanks for the compliments, everyone!

Bill, thanks for the explanation in the other thread. I think I get it now. I'll try it out tomorrow as it's 2:30 a.m. and time for bed.

Rob, thank you also. That may be a way to get the changing color effect that eluded me.

I'll combine both of your suggestions and let you know how it turns out.

Thanks again!

-Michael.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top