In a recent thread, Chompy referred to dithering he used in his two recent releases. Got me to thinking a little bit along these lines. I suggested that if he needed to use dithering to get the effect he needed than do so.

Here is why.

EAW is a medium distance sim. The technology and limitations dictate that fact until and unless further tech breakouts occur. There is no way that we can zoom in up to a rivet and have true photo like results. It may look like a nice model, but it doesnt look like a rivet

This is not neccessarily a shortcoming. It compels folks who strive to reach not only the eyes, but the heart of our friends here in this community. We are forced to paint our shadows and shadings, reflections, glare, implied transperancy and diffusion of color by hand, and not relegate it to the whims of the exe file.

Well, if you can follow my rationale here. Heck, I'm having a hard time myself. Anyway.

I think true Artistry is illusion, impression and representation. It is light, shadow, hue, saturation, but to a great extent, it suggests rather than dictates. In reality a fine painting is a piece of canvas and some chemicals that when applied change the colors on and above the canvas.
In reality it can be broken down into chemical formulae, and molecular structure that can be reproduced in a high school chemistry set.

Obviously it is more than that. But to what extent does technology define what we appreciate?

The eye, the mind, and the heart work together for the viewer. PCX file Dithering in the color reduction process in this very small example of EAW is part of the illusion. We have dozens as opposed to millions of fixed hues with which to work.

Using the nearest color approach when striving for replication of our warbirds will really give us something that rivals 16million 24bit color when crafted by so many of the fine skinners in this community.

In certain cases this works out really well in skilled hands when the actual plane is close to what EAW devlopers gave us with the stock color palletes. We are all flying a lot of those works right now, especially with the HRZ models.

But if you are striving to reach a certain "look and feel" there are those occassions when nearest color will not work, than you must resort to dithering as a way of compromise; not often, but often enough when reaching outside the norm of colors.


I know it is frustrating and can be literally depressing to see a carefully pixel by pixel detailed skin splattered about by dithering when converting to the neccessary pallette. Nearest color reduction simply is not feasible because we may only have a total of 5 unmixable hues of red to work with for example. It is enough to want to break your monitor sometimes.

But once in action, sun coming up over the horizon through wisps of altocirrus clouds, in flight, manuevering into formation or rallying after takeoff, the detail is satisfactory and more than offset by the overall "canvas" that is constantly being repainted at 24-50 frames per second.

With the proper combo of terrains, ground objects, skys, weather etc, the atmosphere can almost be intoxicating if one is predisposed to this era of the human condition.

Dithering, Up close, it looks horrible. But EAW is not flown, rendered, with one's eye glued to a single piece of a/c skin. Technical constraints render this an impossible task. Yet, for those newer technologies, and I will point to FB simply because I am familiar with its look and feel and impressions and immersion factor as a user just because I was curious.

They look fantastically accurate up close. Raindrops look real. Clouds and Lightning look real. The runways are accurate and detailed. The nacelles are round, not octagon. The pilots have discernible features, etc.

Nevertheless it is so mindful of every playstation, x game, flight or any other sim in that the graphics are incredible. There is no heart though. It is homogenized. Great technical skill overshadows true artistry and emotional input it seems. The air war was very emotional, very violent, very vivid, and everchanging in ways that sometimes defy automation.

I do not mean to be harsh, but those games, simes, etc, appear to be very cold, impersonal, though graphically vivid, yet accurately realistic renderings. For me, almost without exception, I get the sense that I am indoors on a studio set.

You may get different impressions of EAW, but being indoors is not one them.

If one were to look at paintings by aviation artists Robert Taylor, Stan Stokes, Nicholas Trudgian, William Phillips, Gil Cohan and so many others whose works decorate the walls of musuems, and other places of high regard, they will draw you into them and before long you can see the story they are trying to tell. One does does not need a detailed description, moving control surfaces or a running narrative to appreciate, enjoy and immerse themself into the artists painting.

What do we think the media were of the Rembrandts, DaVinnci's, Dante, Brueghals. Hand mixed fruits, nuts, dye, egg white, and any other thing they could get their hands on. Nobody denigrates their work based on the limitations of the technology available to them.

It is this kind of artistic suggesting that makes movies different from "live at 5" video feeds on a newscast.

Watch some of the flying sequences in the movie "Memphis Belle" and then contrast it with a typical videotape broadcasts of a B-17.

There is no atmosphere in straight video, It does not draw you in the way 35mm film or technicolor film can, even though the video may be more "detailed.

My basic point is this. If dithering is the last resort to achieve what you need to achieve, then by all means commit yourself to it and don't apologize.

To give you a small example. I sent Chompy some bare sheet metal (figuratively speaking) that I use for some of my skins. I spent weeks making it a nearest color image pallete (pcx file) as opposed to a dithered color image pallete. Why? because I could and within 50 feet I could tell a subtle difference. In flight in normal use the differences were not apparent (running at 1280x1024 the highest resolution my monitor will allow. Now at lower resolutions, such as 640 or 800 your margin for painting flaws is lower because your field of vision is so much smaller.

But at the higher resolutions you get to see the whole world much more closely as you would with normal peripheral vision. Not to mention the higher screen definition.

Now when you combine this with some of the excellent flight modeling that tends to get overlooked, and 16 bit directional sound options, you have a wonderful combination and more importantly balanced combination of aural, visual and touch experiences that work in concert.

In closing (yes you can wake up now) perhaps its akin to a beautiful model. On the screen and on the slicks she is absolutely breathtaking. If you get within a few feet, perhaps you notice a little bit crows feet around the eyes, or a couple of offcolor freckles and a blemish or two left over from adolescence. Its okay, it only means she is human, and therefore flawed by definition.

And if you got this far, you have as little to do in your spare time as I, and should be flying EAW rather than reading my stuff. So go fly something!

+mia

Nice words +mia..and it does all make sense i can look at EAW and love the pics it generates ...other games may look ok but as you said the planes may look awesome but as a whole it just doesnt have it ... EAW does

cheers

Very eloquent words, +mia. I think I'm going to go skin something!

Spoken like a gentleman +mia, and I agree with most of your points. Out limited palettes are the biggest compromise that separates EAW from just about every other sim, so we have to fudge our way through things, and others get the benefits of working on more 'up to date' sims. It does keep the mind active, continually trying to find ways around our limitations!

However, the 'feeling' that the real pro's put into the sims of other skins can be quite realistic. A few of the Elite FB skinners stand head and shoulders above the rest, and their work is always to a standard where it looks REAL. They look awesome in the air, and almost as good on the .bmp's , while most FB skins look great in game, although on their .BMP's they can look pretty ordinary! This is mainly due to all the lighting FX the the graphics engine provides.

In EAw, and ordinary looking .pcx will always be ordinary in game, and that is another challenge that greets us every time we pick up our paintbrush. I do think that it's rewarding when you don't take the easy road and still get to your destination, but perhaps I'm just a glutton for punishment?

Chompy.

OKAY!!!OKAY!!!! I'm off,I'm off :p

Is this what you speak of?

Precisely. It implies a sense of anticipation, and raises questions and thoughts when given any more than a cursory glance.

Where are they going? Where did they come from Why is the trailer crossing over? Is it in prepartion for a descending pass on a ground target or an enemy they have espied below, or merely manuevering into an empty formation slot.

I enjoy immensley your screen captures, Sky as they always seem carefully prepared and try to convey the vastness of the aerial battleground.

To wit the far off bogie above them, in the distance....friend?...or foe? All these things implied.

+mia

EAW is just like a moving oil painting this is why we like it so mutch !