Current state of wing vapor

[Torso]

First, I preface this as I am very well aware that this is all WIP. I know things are subject to change and work will advance. But the trailer left me with some concerns as to how this effect is being achieved in game and what we will end up with. Wing vapor has been a want/desire of many for a long time. It is a standout visual effect that once announced was coming finally had me very excited. With VR use rising and the amazing immersion the idea of seeing this effect from in-cockpit has me really pumped.

 

Then I saw the effect in Wags last stream and it looked like it had potential but needed ton of tweaking. I was disappointed to be honest. I know it was just a stream, it is wip but it looked way too clumpy/chunky and cloud like.

Now with the trailer we were able to see the effect from outside the plane and it has me concerned the way ED is going about it. Again, not trying to rain on a great news day but I figure why not try to get some notice on it and other opinions.

 

The two screenshots attached show two of my other concerns besides the above mentioned 'texture density'.

 

1)The location of the particle emitter. The vapor/smoke appears to be exiting the plane fuselage itself and not forming and emanating from the leading edges themselves. As the pic below shows. Can't particle emitters be places over the wing surfaces themselves?

 

 

2)The in-cockpit view shows the clumpy issue as they almost blend in with the clouds other than slight color variation to differentiate the two. From almost every vid I have seen there is a smoother quality to the vapor texture. It just seems off currently. Also, the big one that screamed out at me, the jaggies along the bottom of the vapor stream. As it stands now I see a ton of saw-tooth jaggies with cockpit shadows that almost causes a distracting shimmer/noise quality to them in other planes and unless a change is made I assume to see it in the Hornet as well. Add these in and together it will be pretty distracting I think. This is concerning. Can this be fixed? Is it on the radar? I mean the pic below shows it is pretty noticeable currently.

 

 

I again know it is a wip but my concerns are that where it is starting from could be worth being reviewed. I have seen the effect done very recently elsewhere and I know that ED could/should be able to surpass that effort but this right now is not there in my opinion. Is this very early in the effects production what we are seeing now is in a sense a placeholder? I again am not looking to be negative, just instead hopeful that this, at least to me and maybe others, very important, almost iconic visual effect is done well now that it is being undertaken finally. I just want it to be the best it can be and hope this is taken as such.

 

Anyone have thoughts on this?

[donkeyrider]

I'm pretty sure they will get this right eventually. More a question of what they prioritise first.

[Revelation]

ED also has to look at performance versus graphics. I'm sure they could code a dynamic fluid simulation for the vapor effects to make them very life-like. The follow up question would then be, do you want 1 FPS or 2?

 

As Donkey said, they will work on it over time.

[StandingCow]

I would chalk it up to being still early WIP... since just a week or so ago Wags said it was.

[BIGNEWY]

yep, still W.I.P

 

ED will share the refinements when it is ready no doubt :)