Comments on: X-Plane Water – Now and the Future

By: dan31

dan31 — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 07:34:00 +0000

And what about the reflexion of the atmosphere when “flying” in a Shuttle in space ?

By: Murmur

Murmur — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:28:00 +0000

Hi Ben,

I noticed water in some conditions (night, rough water, etc.) reflect only (or mainly) light sources and nothing else:

http://static.flickr.com/110/296301868_10e33d99a6_o.jpg

http://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/uploaded_images/Crystal-Lake-Main-Beach-House-reflecting-in-water-8-16-7-dusk-736129.jpg

http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2663631/2/istockphoto_2663631_light_reflection_on_water.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/179/364417721_0293f5df4e_o.jpg

http://www.phili-photo.com/images/blog/Seattlewaterfront.jpg

I don’t know if X-Plane already does that, but it would be a good idea? Also for users with low specs , allowing reflections of light sources only would give a nice visual effect at only a fraction of computing cost.

Finally (I’m sure you’re often asked this 🙂 ) what are the plans about reflective wet runways?

Marco

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:33:00 +0000

Good stuff!
I see you have lots of interesting things planned for the sea in x-plane. As mentioned before, the subject is vast can easily become extremely complicated but I would be really happy to see some sort of fetch affecting wave height as this would add a lot to seaplane operation (arguably it's pretty much a key element).
I am glad to see you are looking into it as well as into the 'perfect mirror water syndrome' which has been bugging me in pretty much every computerized representation of water I have seen lately (since we have hardware that can do reflective water anyways...)
One more thing to consider would be the effect of smaller scale ripples that really tone down the reflectivity of water even up close as wind increases (i.e. you really don't see any shapes reflected anymore if there is more than about 10kt of wind, even if you are right next to them).
Bathymetry data would be great to have and would really enhance the overall experience of flying (not just seaplanes) especially in certain parts of the world (thinking about flying in the Bahamas for example...)

Keep up the good work! I'll be following this closely...

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:37:00 +0000

also give some thought to partially submerged items as b15 renders a reflection of an item that is below the water’s surface. Not usually a problem with seaplanes, but it is happening.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:56:00 +0000

Modeling waves seems as if it could become a huge simulation project in its own right, beyond just the issue of 'fetch'! For example, refractions and and reflections based upon islands and bathymetry, and the local small-scale interactions of wind and water.

For example, waves are often one of the most visible elements of micrometeorology (eg. ripple patterns on oceans and lakes based upon wind gusts around other objects such as hills/islands), or due to down-draughts from convective activity. It is easy to see many of these for real when flying over the San Juan islands up here in the Pacific NW.

It would be great to prioritise some of these issues to determine inter-relationships with issues that truly affect flight (eg. local wind variations) and which might also impact visual features (eg. waves, which of course also impact float plan operations). An example might be the down-draughts downwind of a runway that ends in a steep drop (eg. KTEX) which is a real attention getter in a real aeroplane on final approach!

- Robin