Why lighting looks different from cokcpit view?

Discussion in 'Track Modding' started by kosmo1982, Dec 22, 2012.

  1. kosmo1982

    kosmo1982 Registered

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  2. Kevin Karas

    Kevin Karas Registered

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    I noticed that difference, too. Especially when looking back the colors look more realistic than this yellowish one from cockpit view.
     
  3. Luc Van Camp

    Luc Van Camp Track Team Staff Member

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    HDR is being processed on the screen contents, including the cockpit.
    Perhaps an Auto Exposure scalar in the cockpitinfo.ini would fix it :) ...
     
  4. kosmo1982

    kosmo1982 Registered

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    but its skippy, it has no window or roof so the world outside the car should look the same from cockpit as from nose cam. Check the difference on screenshots i attached.
     
  5. Luc Van Camp

    Luc Van Camp Track Team Staff Member

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    It is still a cockpit nonetheless, i.e. a large portion of the screen being filled by a dark object.
     
  6. kosmo1982

    kosmo1982 Registered

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    Ok, thx for explanation but IMO it shouldnt be that big difference.
     
  7. K Szczech

    K Szczech Registered

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    I have addressed this issue in one of my pdf's I've sent you. I believe it was the third one :)

    Exposure function should focus on bright portion of screen, so the approach would be to ignore let's say 50% of darker pixels on screen when calculating the average.
    Should be pretty trival to implement, since you allready have your HDR implementation based on histogram.

    Our eyes do not adjust to average either :)
     
  8. woochoo

    woochoo Registered

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    I spent an afternoon messing with HDR profiles the other day, and this was exactly what I thought. The auto-exposure does a great job of simulating a camera, but not an eye. Looking up at a tree with the sun behind it, a camera can sample the tree, resulting in a green tree and a white sky. rF2 HDR can do this too. An eye will see a black tree with a blue sky (and the sun, but don't look...) :)

    In the case of the cockpit, I'd expect the outside ought to be (more or less) the same brightness as from an external view, and the auto-exposure should darken the cockpit (the light threshold is high, but it only ever has limited depth). If something is bright, the eye tracks the brightest bits, and dims the darker stuff (assuming it hasn't dark-adjusted - light at the end of a tunnel etc). Cameras feel no pain and don't go blind. We have contracting irises. We are not Borg. Umm, I am not Borg.

    I can't wait to mess with the HDR profiles once the auto-exposure is changed :)
     
  9. Prodigy

    Prodigy Registered

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    Is there any option to adjust cockpit exposure? Somewhere in config files?
     
  10. FONismo

    FONismo Registered

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    I hope this is fixed soon as it stops me from racing during the day with tintops which limits you to dusk or dawn. I like rF2's day lighting aswell in the open wheelers but it look really odd in a tintop.
     
  11. Tosch

    Tosch Registered

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    I made an hdr profile with reduced auto exposure. It should work on all tracks, because it is just a copy of the ISI standard profile (the one you chose by selecting "none" in the profile settings), only the auto exposure set to 1.00 instead of 1.03. Just drop it inside the settings folder of the track and pick it every time you start a race (in case it is already set, go to the next and then back, otherwise the default profile is loaded).

    View attachment NoAutoExposureHDR.zip
     
  12. kosmo1982

    kosmo1982 Registered

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    So there is no way to turn this effect off completely? i unpacked clio mod and searched its files for something related to it but couldnt find anything...
     
  13. K Szczech

    K Szczech Registered

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    It's not an effect - it's a side effect ;)
     
  14. kosmo1982

    kosmo1982 Registered

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    something must influence how intense it is. Its less intense for example with lola than skippy. but i get it, no turning off:)
     
  15. FONismo

    FONismo Registered

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    Thanks for this Tosch, much appreciated, works a treat! :)
     
  16. Tony

    Tony Registered

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    Yep I agree Tig, like most of the current ISi tintops look like from the cockpit view - I'm interested in Fonisimo's vid of the Aura T5, as that has the right tonal range of natural light outside & good dark contrast inside the car - just like the vids of the real cars by PorscheMR6..

    Edit: Fonismo has helpfully pointed me here - & now I'm hoping this gets included in the next build, as I too don't drive the tintops because of this unnatural look :rolleyes:
     
  17. Tosch

    Tosch Registered

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    The downside of this profile is night racing becomes very dark. If I make a track specific profile I use higher values for auto exposure during the night (1.02 or 1.03). It is not possible here because every track has different times of sunset and sunrise.
    You can open the profile in notepad and edit the parameters (Auto exposure = MiddleGray).
    StartET stands for the time of the day in seconds (3600 is 1am, 7200 is 2am, and so on).
     
  18. Tony

    Tony Registered

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    I'm continually impressed by your work/tweaks Tosch :)

    I hope the dev people do act on this, as it's not just "eye candy" but goes beyond that to realism & immersion
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 26, 2013
  19. geg

    geg Registered

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    Could not agree more.... Thank you Tosch
     
  20. FONismo

    FONismo Registered

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    There is also the downside of the cockpit lighting goes to pot basically as in the dashboard. It really helps with the over exposure outside but it's under exposed inside. I really hope ISI can get on top of it and get it nailed. Such a frustrating sim at times graphically. It teases you with brilliance and then rears it's alpha head again to bring you back down to earth. I really wish the shaders for instance worked during the day like they do at dusk and dawn. Car paint and colours seem so flat during the day
     

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