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[HiFlyer]

http://sundog-soft.com/sds/blog/

The referenced Outerra post. http://outerra.blogspot.com/2009/08/logarithmic-z-buffer.html

POSTED BY FRANK KANE ON 23RD JUNE 2015

Soft clouds in SkyMaxx Pro 3

Logarithmic depth buffers seem to be gaining wider adoption with our customers lately. The idea stemmed from an article by Outerra on how they preserved depth resolution at both near and far distances. Like Outerra, many of our customers need to render something like a cockpit close to the eyepoint, while at the same time rendering distant terrain hundreds of kilometers away. Conventional depth buffers cannot handle such a wide difference between your near and far clip planes, without producing artifacts from depth buffer resolution (“z-fighting.”)

While Outerra’s original article on log depth buffers covered the basic idea, it wasn’t refined until 2013 in this update. This newer article is much more explicit about what needs to go into your vertex programs in order to change how your depth buffer values are written, and it produces good results. All you have to do is add this snippet of code, plus one uniform value, into all of your vertex programs (and maybe a few of your fragment programs, too.)

See article for the rest.

[Acetone]

Someone is using Google "Outerra" -> latest results -> 24 hours

[HiFlyer]

Someone is using Google "Outerra" -> latest results -> 24 hours

Close. And it gets me a look at any new Outerra videos even if they don't show up on YouTube

[HiFlyer]

Looks like Skymax 3.0 is about to be released. I wonder how much looking at Outerra helped them, in the end? (If at all)

New stratiform clouds! Stratus and overcast cloud layers may now be represented by thick, volumetric clouds.
- Extends all the way to the horizon
- Both solid and broken stratiform representations
- Advanced lighting model with real Mie scattering and fogbows!
- Realistic in-cloud effects for convincing IFR landings and takeoffs
- Simulated scud layer
- Real simulation of single, double, and multiple scattering of sunlight and moonlight through the clouds
- Even faster than SkyMaxx Pro 2's clouds!
 
Vastly increased cloud draw distances!
- 3D volumetric cloud layers adjustable up to 200KM wide
- Uses "dynamically generated imposters" technology to keep frame-rates up
- Convincing high-altitude weather for jetliner pilots
 
Soft cloud / terrain blending
- Adjustable soft blending of any cloud type with terrain
- Makes for gorgeous ground fog, or clouds surrounding mountaintops!
 
Improved memory usage and memory management tools
- Clouds now consume less video and system memory
- Real-time video and system memory monitor alerts you when resources get low
- VRAM and RAM usage displayed in the SkyMaxx Pro configuration screen
- VRAM usage reported is the actual usage reported by the video drivers, not an estimate
 
Integration with SoundMaxx
- Lightning effects in SkyMaxx Pro 3 will trigger 3D positional thunder sound effects when SoundMaxx is installed
 
Lots of extra polish.
- Rendering anomalies with lightning addressed
- Better darkening of clouds as the sun sets
- Cloud layers automatically avoid visually distracting intersections
- Improved appearance of cloud shadows in low-visibility conditions