Correct lighting for missiles/AB/Explosions

If you look at videos of SAM being launched they are always bright glowing and cast light all around on clouds, also see the same effect from afterburners on jets. Currently we dont have much to see as far a lighting with missles and afterburner. Lighting is one of the more major things that when simulated well can really increase immersion. As I have noticed a good increase in gun hit effects, explosions still seem to be a bit dull on lighting. Would love to see this inproved and simulated more realisticly. Attaching a video to show an example from Syria.

Thank-you guys for such great and hard work and the best combat sim to date!

 

https://youtu.be/P5oh6cIDZtE

 

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The reason such launches always look like small suns is because the metering system on the camera is trying to expose for the 90% black around the missile exhaust and as such, the exhaust plume is massively overexposed.

 

In DCS, you’re getting a more HDR-ish look at things so the overall scene is more properly exposed as your eye would perceive it and not as a camera which can’t handle the extreme contrast ratio.

The reason such launches always look like small suns is because the metering system on the camera is trying to expose for the 90% black around the missile exhaust and as such, the exhaust plume is massively overexposed.

 

In DCS, you’re getting a more HDR-ish look at things so the overall scene is more properly exposed as your eye would perceive it and not as a camera which can’t handle the extreme contrast ratio.

Thats not true. Yes some cameras over expose but not to such a degree that it looks like a sun in the camera. Thats not over exposure. I have seen missle launches before in my career in my past. They do very much light up the clouds and make bright flashes. These pictures and video I posted are very close to naked eye. You can see the same with almost all videos of SAM missle launches at night. DCS Certainly needs to have some adjustments on missle and afterburner illumination and ambient light pollution on the environment.

 

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That is most certainly light bleeding, happens to all digital cameras

And all three images are out of focus which also adds to the exaggerated bloom of the exhaust.

DCS hasn't really had proper lighting since 2.0 was released and the deferred shading system went in. You have the occasional full-bright texture here and there to give the illusion of lights, but there are very few actual light sources in the game that affect their surrounding, and the few that do has such an attenuated effect that they might as well be fullbrights as well.

 

There have been a few improvements to the lighting engine recently, but ironically enough they've all been to fix issues where there was too much illumination — external lights shining through cockpit walls and the like — and the lack of proper illumination from light sources is pretty much the same as ever.

 

As much as what you're asking for would be The Right Thing™, OP, it's highly unlikely that anything of the kind would be implemented in any foreseeable future – far too many pre-existing light sources (nav and landing lights, airport lights, stars, fires etc) need to be given proper illumination capabilities first.

DCS hasn't really had proper lighting since 2.0 was released and the deferred shading system went in. You have the occasional full-bright texture here and there to give the illusion of lights, but there are very few actual light sources in the game that affect their surrounding, and the few that do has such an attenuated effect that they might as well be fullbrights as well.

 

There have been a few improvements to the lighting engine recently, but ironically enough they've all been to fix issues where there was too much illumination — external lights shining through cockpit walls and the like — and the lack of proper illumination from light sources is pretty much the same as ever.

 

As much as what you're asking for would be The Right Thing, OP, it's highly unlikely that anything of the kind would be implemented in any foreseeable future – far too many pre-existing light sources (nav and landing lights, airport lights, stars, fires etc) need to be given proper illumination capabilities first.

Yeah you are probably right. But missle burners are pretty important game feature so maybe we will some improvements here in the next year or so as they move along with the new terrian engine used for the new upcoming maps. Glad that you seems to know that this is something that needs work, the other guy wants argue after I have seen with my naked eye a SAM missle launch at night when I was doing contract work in Isreal 2 years ago and they are very bright when they are in launched.

 

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For the record, “the other guy” is a photographer and someone who has worked in video production for 30 years (the avatar is not just a stock photo) so he kinda knows what he’s talking about when it comes to camera meters, exposure and focus.

 

Sorry in game doesn’t look “right” to your eye but a camera’s “eye” simply doesn’t work the same as a human eye.

Sorry in game doesn’t look “right” to your eye but a camera’s “eye” simply doesn’t work the same as a human eye.

The problem is that it's the human eye that needs to be replicated here so the operation of cameras doesn't particularly matter. If someone says that a particular piece of footage is close to how it looks to the naked eye, then it doesn't matter how or why the camera made it look that way — only that that's the look that should be replicated and that the footage works neatly as a reference in spite of any potential technical shortcomings of the camera.

Maybe for some things, but lights are a special beast. Point your phone camera at headlights in the dark and tell me it shows the same shape/outline as your eye without being extremely underexposed. When you push the dynamic range of a camera with dark and light you’re not going to get the best performance.

Take a look at old movies done with film, film treats light bloom completely different

Maybe for some things, but lights are a special beast. Point your phone camera at headlights in the dark and tell me it shows the same shape/outline as your eye without being extremely underexposed. When you push the dynamic range of a camera with dark and light you’re not going to get the best performance.

Take a look at old movies done with film, film treats light bloom completely different

Yes, but none of that matters because the goal is not to replicate how it looks on camera, but rather how it looks to the naked eye (or to NVGs, which is a wholly different kettle of fish :D).

 

The point the OP made was that how it looks in-game does not match his real-life experience, and that the footage actually provided a reasonably accurate reference for how it should look. How cameras interact with and capture light doesn't change the value of that reference.

 

It's an interesting conversation as to why this particular footage happened to recreate the look so well (supposedly), but that's a completely different topic than what the OP is discussing. I'd be interested to hear how well other first-hand observers feel it recreates the spectacle, because ultimately that's all that matters. :)

Yes, supposedly, I don’t see any mention of real life experience in this thread, we are all consumers here and no one here is a proclaimed SME. The picture doesn’t even look like it’s focused!

For the record, “the other guy” is a photographer and someone who has worked in video production for 30 years (the avatar is not just a stock photo) so he kinda knows what he’s talking about when it comes to camera meters, exposure and focus.

 

Sorry in game doesn’t look “right” to your eye but a camera’s “eye” simply doesn’t work the same as a human eye.

My argument was never about relocating the visual effects from a cameras point of view. The pictures are not that great because they are screen shots from the video linked in my OP. I understand you have photography experience, but I can't get out there and shoot off a SAM or sonething to prove my point, I can only provide what I can that most closely represents what its like to see in person (not perfectly)which I seen more than 25 times, I also met a group of IDF Iron Dome battery Soldiers at a working live battery which you can go to if you ever go to Isreal. I just want a better more immersive Sim for all of us.

 

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Yes, supposedly, I don’t see any mention of real life experience in this thread, we are all consumers here and no one here is a proclaimed SME. The picture doesn’t even look like it’s focused!

I mentioned a few times about my self seeing surface to Air launches in Isreal which is what he was referring to. And the pictures were not meant to be the main focus because they are screen shots from the video linked in the OP which is what I was wanting to be more referenced since this is a very close look at how they look when seeing them launch in person at night.

 

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