Condor

I am working on some flatland scenery - and in this type of area, there are really tall objects that are commonly used as skyline references while flying.

The problem is that Condor seems to aggressively apply its LoD filter to all objects and so you don't end up seeing the objects until you are right up at the object. The LoD is not realistic. Are there any secret settings that I can change to effect the distance the LoD filter applies to 3D objects? I have a pretty hefty video card and sim machine so performance is of no concern.

Having objects appear correctly on the horizon is important for students when they are learning the skyline of an area - especially a flatland type area where reference objects are few and far between - but when they exist they are super important. Note that I have also added a some skyscraper buildings to this area's downtown city - and the same applies to them. The downtown skyline doesn't show up until you are right over the area.

Note: I have my LoD setting set to Super Fine - but this doesn't seem to effect *when* we start seeing the object (distance wise).



Here are some examples:


Approaching a power plant with a 3D cooling tower object - it should be visible - but it clearly is not:



What the previous image should look like (minus the water vapor from the tower - though that would be cool):



And this is how close I actually have to get before the 3D object becomes visible (this is not at all realistic):

I agree. Larger objects should be visible from a greater distance. Cooling towers potentially 20-30km or more.

Houses not so much - 4-5km? (the flat, photoreal texture works better at longer distances)

Cows/Sheep/fences even less - 1km max (field selection height).

View distance could be automated on object size if creators can't get it right?

KipperUK wrote: ↑

Fri May 01, 2020 2:25 pm

I agree. Larger objects should be visible from a greater distance. Cooling towers potentially 20-30km or more.

Houses not so much - 4-5km? (the flat, photoreal texture works better at longer distances)

Cows/Sheep/fences even less - 1km max (field selection height).

View distance could be automated on object size if creators can't get it right?

I kinda like your 3 levels of LoD suggestion:

Level 1 - objects with a z height < 5m : LoD = 1km
Level 2 - objects with a z height > 5m & < 50m : LoD = 5 km
Level 3 - objects with a z height > 50m = LoD = 30km


Also, thanks to your comment, I am now gonna have to go round up some 3D models of cows to add to my scenery...

This is on our ToDo list. We will probably introduce some naming convention for ground objects. So for example objects with ObjectName_d30 could indicate visibility of 30 km.

Uros wrote: ↑

Fri May 08, 2020 9:00 am

This is on our ToDo list. We will probably introduce some naming convention for ground objects. So for example objects with ObjectName_d30 could indicate visibility of 30 km.

+1

I would be ok with a naming convention.

BTW... The landscape is available now on condor-club. It is the RDU-USA (Raleigh / Durham) landscape.

Along with the hope for LoD improvements, I would love to see improvement to the heightmap leveling tool - to make sloped runways easier to create in Condor. Something like a "line" tool where you can define a height at the line start and a height at the line end and the Landscape Editor creates a smooth transition along the line. Being able to choose between linear and ease in / ease out functions would be cool too - as many sloped runways are not too terribly linear.

Cheers