Default metallic skins a bit too reflective?

I hadn't noticed before as I usually fly Mustangs with camouflage but maybe this is a bit over the top?

Default Skins in general for the mustang are sorely in need of an update. The Fuselage looks ok for the most part IMO but the wings are strange and totally unreflective. And the flaps shine blue in some angles. They need to be updated for PBR compatibility.

At the moment if you want decent looking mustang skins use some of the ones from Reflected or from the Pacific mustangs pack in the user files section. Hopefully ED will do some work on the default ones as part of their revamp of the mustang......

Thanks for the tip - I just downloaded Reflected's skins and they're gorgeous.

Are they going to be adopted as the new Default skins?

Polished/waxed bare metal is shiney, yes, what do you expect? I believe the wings are painted in that image, thus the lack of reflectivity. The only remarkable aspect is that the plane seems very clean to be so shiney, as if at an airshow, but it's not particularly bizarre otherwise.

Not that I know of. Wouldnt be the first time that ED incorporates user skins. Reflected is making campaigns for them now so maybe its not entirely a stretch. Youd have to ask them though.

I have a sneaking suspicion someone forgot to add PBR wing textures to the current release build. All the bare metal skins ingame have wing textures that aren't reflective at all.

Has been that way since PBR was implemented. No change to the standard skins in this patch.

The one place there should be very little reflection is on the anti-glare stripe on the top of the nose.

From my understanding PBR defines how "shiny" a metal surface is to be through the specular definition in the alpha-channel. So applying a color layer above such a surface defines the color of the object by modifying the color of its reflection.

However, in reality, paint should have more affect than that. After all, when looking at a painted object, you are not actually looking at the surface of the object, but at the surface of the paint. So if you paint an object with a paint which leaves a mat finish, it should completely override, or at least modify the specualar affect of the alpha-channel.

How this might actually be done, short of modifying the actual alpha-channel, I don't know.

Yeah, generally speaking, you don't want glossy camouflage paint as it defeats the purpose.

Reflected's skins are spot on IMO,he has captured the perfect reflected glare of the original P-51's.

Default Skins in general for the mustang are sorely in need of an update. The Fuselage looks ok for the most part IMO but the wings are strange and totally unreflective. And the flaps shine blue in some angles. They need to be updated for PBR compatibility.

S!

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm flying that skin RIGHT now. The wings are painted. Only PART of the plane is bare metal. It looks more or less exactly as it should.

Also, it's not 'camoflauge'. Look at some old photos. They routinely had these planes bare metal, polished, and yes, SHINEY. It does need a little touch up, I agree. The anti reflective coating, and it looks like the trailing edges are shinier than the body, when they should probably be the same. But I don't know, I can see how it might be, as MoW mentions. Some parts of it may not be metal, or may be painted in more reflective tint. It's not supposed to be 'stealthy' or 'hard to see' particularly.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I'm flying that skin RIGHT now. The wings are painted. Only PART of the plane is bare metal. It looks more or less exactly as it should.

 

Also, it's not 'camoflauge'. Look at some old photos. They routinely had these planes bare metal, polished, and yes, SHINEY. It does need a little touch up, I agree. The anti reflective coating, and it looks like the trailing edges are shinier than the body, when they should probably be the same. But I don't know, I can see how it might be, as MoW mentions. Some parts of it may not be metal, or may be painted in more reflective tint. It's not supposed to be 'stealthy' or 'hard to see' particularly.

The wings aren't painted. If you take a look at the files, the wing textures are the same kind of gray as the fuselage. The only difference is that one actually has metallic reflections implemented and the other does not, for whatever reason. What's more, that stock bare metal skin? Its wings aren't reflective, either.

Regarding your camouflage comment, I said 'generally' - as in, not specifically referring to the P-51 and the fact it was generally flown without the added weight and drag of a paintjob.

Well, I won't argue that, I haven't look at the files. It is really strange that the textures wouldn't match

The wings are not painted, its a matt finish to the metal, on the fuselage its a shiny finish. At least on the Mustang I went for a fly in it was. I spent a bit of time cleaning it before we went up in it and that is the case (NZ2415).

Yeah, that makes more sense than them 'messing up' the texture. It looks too 'intentional'. The texture probably needs some tweaking, but 90% of the complaints here are probably about stuff that's supposed to be that way.

Well, it turns out the wings were indeed coated.

First with filler for increased aerodynamic performance, then with aluminum paint as to equalize the look between the wing and fuselage skin.

https://forum.keypublishing.com/forum/historic-aviation/141825-p51-mustang-wings-painted-or-not

So the wing color is and should certainly be less shiny than the fuselage, but I still think the ingame representation is off, judging by the picture of the flying P-51D in the thread I linked.

I think it's like the overall 'specular map' something is slightly off, rather than specific parts. Kinda like on the Su-25A it has a slight odd glossiness that's not quite right. I think the Mustang has that same effect over the top of more or less 'proper' effects that results in the whole thing having a slightly 'off' appearance

Pretty obvious that there are several different textures at work on a Mustang:

(My Photo)

Fantastic photo, Emmy! :thumbup: Really shows the bare metal vs silver-painted areas well.

Did I read correctly that you took the picture?

Fantastic photo, Emmy! :thumbup: Really shows the bare metal vs silver-painted areas well.

 

Did I read correctly that you took the picture?

Yup. My Photo. A rare left turn out at Oshkosh during an afternoon Warbird Showcase.

Pretty obvious that there are several different textures at work on a Mustang:

(My Photo)

Very nice photo!

I actually dug through the skins folder again and looked at various skin files - some use the exact same color for wing and control surfaces, while others look like this:

Converted from dds.

The wing surfaces are lighter in color when your pic shows that if anything, the opposite is the case. Plus, there seems to be no reflection going on at all. Something is definitely off about the wing texture and degree of gloss.

I have no clue why it happens or what causes it, but from time to time, random things get the “wet look” when they should be matte. I recall that AI Hornets (not the new one) went through a period where their tires looked as if they’d been freshly Armor All’d but then one day, they went back to flat black.

Such oddities are not unique to just one module. I suppose that things can randomly go matte when they should be glossy?

It's specular gloss. Something is screwed up on the gray scale alpha channel. They can be easy to create with a gray scale conversion, but then you have to know the thresholds in play. I suspect this one was off or not matched between texture files. Like fuselage versus wings.

here is a pic, we see that the upper surfaces of the wings are painted. For information it was painted first "zinc chromate" and then "silver"

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mohjb5fdqvihaif/p51factory1.jpg?dl=0

extracted from walk around of "squadron signal"