DOWNLOAD v.0.5:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/fd5h24mzgpz7aa1/Updating this thread on 2022-11-09. I have been absent from IL-2 modding for a long time, but here's a small update on this mod. Earlier versions have a small error that causes a very slight "jolt" in the wave animation, due to the images being shifted by a couple of pixels. This version fixes that and the animation should be smoother.
However I am not up to date on how 1946 modding has progressed, what mod packs are in use and what kind of file structure they use. So be advised, depending on the mod pack you use - this may or may not work directly from JSGME. Probably does, but you probably want to test it to make sure (i.e. disable older versions of my ocean wave mod, then activate this and check how the waves look like).
OLD VERSION description below. I have also streamlined the process to just one version, since A, B, C, and D versions below were never very different from each other.
Now JSGME compatible!
B version is the same as A, but with stronger normal map.
D version is the same as C, but with stronger normal maps.
The main difference between A and C is how the wave animation is looped. I would appreciate opinions on whether anyone has any preferences, or if anyone can see any difference between the versions, even.
I included Avala's high resolution foam texture in this package.
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I tried to search for water mods but the latest/best I could find was Carsmaster's water mod, which is great but I found myself requiring a bit more realism in the water surfaces. If someone else has already done this work for me, all the better...
So, I embarked on a path to figure out how the ocean simulator works in Blender. Turns out it works great, and although you need to use some rather unorthodox means to get meaningful output from it, it does look absolutely gorgeous. With the help of someone on another modding community, I was able to harness the power of wave simulator and output it into a tileable height map. The big problem is, of course, making a looping animation out of that data - easier said than done, I found.
Currently, I have a set of textures build in Blender (and processed in GIMP) that looks quite great in still screenshots; however, there is a supremely annoying "tick" in the animation that I need to take a look into, but I am fairly confident that I can build an animation that runs smoothly and provides quite a bit more realistic - I probably made a mistake at some point of assembling the frames together and there was a "gap" of sorts left between some frames, or something equally silly.
That said, even though the live action quality is not yet satisfactory, this thing is producing some quite impressive bullshots:
Good weather waves are like lazy, rolling swells that glint in the sunlight.
When the weather fouls up, the waves pick it up, with a good amount of foamy crests. I think the rough weather looks even better at this point than the good weather waves.
And, finally, the ultimate "cover image" style screenshot...
To-Do:
1. Fix animation choppyness. Rather work-intensive.
2. Test different normal map intensities to see how they affect reflectivity.
3. Get input about the scale of the waves.
Third one requires the help of anyone interested in giving me some feedback. Are the waves too big or too small? Both in wavelength and amplitude (wave height)? Do they glint too much or too little? Am I doing it right or wrong? Any feedback you can give will be valuable (especially in keeping up my interest to finish this thing). If there's enough interest, then I might even hand out current version for testing, although I'd rather wait until I've fixed the animation.
Cheers.
Obsolete links preserved for the record:
v0.3:
https://www.mediafire.com/?l40y12pspdnqzi6v0.2: derp upload
https://www.mediafire.com/?6zlxctrgan9p8zuv0.1:
https://www.mediafire.com/?hozooaqn2agn7p2
Author
Topic: Blender Ocean simulator powered wave textures (Read 58740 times)
