sunlight reflectivity strength

[RejectedSpike]

Hello,

Since my return to Trainz, starting with TRS22, I have been building PBR models. Installing the models, I turn them around to see how they look on my route. I've noticed that at a particular angle the sunlight reflection is so strong that it turns the surface white. I've tried to overcome that effect in my PBR texture processing but to no avail. I've even set out items from the DLS and I find the same effect. That is not natural. Sunlight never reflects pure white off a surface, unless the surface is white. Even in a mirror, the solar orb is blazing white but not the whole mirror. Has anyone else noticed this? Or is it my computer?

Best regards,
RejectedSpike

 

[jjeff1955]

Absolutely I have noticed that issue also.
I have updated a lot of Dave Snow's assets to the DLS with a kind of fix for this.
Trainz 2019, and 2022 oversaturates the 12:00 noon Sun Light.
I went into the .im file and dropped the 3 colors - Ambient color, Diffuse color, Specular color down from 255 to 165 as low as 127, and that very much helped bring the day color to a normal look. Even the Details of the Textures such as walls, and building Roofs will show more details due to not getting washed out by the Day Sun. Doing this fix also makes the assets look more photo real.

The only thing that worries me, is if the Dev's fix this issue, then all of the assets that I adjusted may become to dark.
Kind Regards.

 

[boleyd]

Can you do this in the Environment Menu?

 

[jjeff1955]

I have tried the Environment Menu, but to no avail to get the over saturated brightness details to look good without affecting the ambient lighting in the Map.
I have tested the assets that I uploaded from Dave Snow at Version 3.5, & 3.7 in Trainz 2012, AND TO MY SURPRISE! They were ok and not to dark from the .im editing. I was very worried that the TRS-2012 That the assets would be of poor graphics. But seems to be all good.

 

[JCitron]

There has been a big change in the color values between TS12 and T: ANE and up and the results we have are not satisfactory with the older assets.

When T: ANE first appeared, the colors changed on assets, such as those with text-labels, content-creators and users alike went through the process of updating the assets so the colors were correct. Then shortly after the repairs were made, a service pack was released and that undid all the repairs the users made and the assets had to be updated again.

With that said, I would be very leery of modifying those values even if the current outcome is what you want because there's always a chance that this kind of issue will be rectified at some point and undo all the work done to fix it at this point.

 

[boleyd]

I just spent about 30 minutes ridding my route through the forests and towns of Maine, USA at 8AM. The train was the Blue Comet. My opinion of the ambient lighting is Very Good. I saw no specific problems. Although I have been on the route many times, this is the first where I took a serious ride. Two hints: Use a top quality passenger train such as the Blue Comet and slightly tint the sky with the "red of morning".
Ride inside one of the excellent passenger cars as well to get the feel from a customer viewpoint. The cars/coaches are among the best available and are all I use.
Remember tint the morning sky with a small amount of red.

 

[Paulsw2]

Does this relate to the discussion we had (last year?) about the post-processing settings in TRS19 and the issue of over-saturation? I recall we asked if this could be permanently toned-down rather than us having to manually do it for each session. I can't remember if there was any movement on that from N3V.

Paul

 

[ZecMurphy]

Hello,

Since my return to Trainz, starting with TRS22, I have been building PBR models. Installing the models, I turn them around to see how they look on my route. I've noticed that at a particular angle the sunlight reflection is so strong that it turns the surface white. I've tried to overcome that effect in my PBR texture processing but to no avail. I've even set out items from the DLS and I find the same effect. That is not natural. Sunlight never reflects pure white off a surface, unless the surface is white. Even in a mirror, the solar orb is blazing white but not the whole mirror. Has anyone else noticed this? Or is it my computer?

Best regards,
RejectedSpike

Hi RejectedSpike
The first thing to look at is your roughness value in the parameters map, and the metallic value. You definitely need to get these right for them to work correctly in Trainz; making a non metallic surface (keeping in mind that paint is generally not metal) a 'metal' will cause unexpected results.

The roughness map controls how 'shiny' the object is (or more specifically, a range between 'matte', and 'gloss'); if you make the roughness map too low (ie too gloss) then you will get bright reflections off it under direct light; as you would on a real high gloss object. It's worth remembering that most objects are not 'maximum gloss' but are likely somewhat less glossy, and hence lightening the roughness value on glossy parts can help tone down the reflectivity of it.

The bloom effect itself is itself a combination of the roughness/metallic values, and then the contrast of the sun and ambient light effects on that surface. If you have a very bright sun colour, and a very dark ambient colour, you will get very bright bloom. This is done for an Australian summer (And a bit either side!), but for the most part it's definitely going to be worthwhile tweaking the environment settings on your route to suit the environment you are looking for (for the route itself, I recommend you start by picking the sky texture you want, then match to that - particularly if you choose a cloudy/overcast sky you will want to aim for a fairly flat/low contrast environment colour set).

You mention using a mirror, this will absolutely make a blazing white 'spot' of light from the sun. See here as an example: https://c8.alamy.com/comp/DJ7XMX/sun-and-sky-reflection-in-the-mirror-DJ7XMX.jpg

Note that the starburst effect is caused by the aperture (and potentially a starburst filter) of the camera; this can vary an aweful lot in the real world. Even so, the bloom from the sun is still evident here.

Regards