During our time with REX at Flight Sim Expo 2018, a lot of time was spent talking about Sky Force 3D and its future. A large part of that future is the introduction of a new product: Environment Force. Although it’s been spoken about before by the team, we’re pleased to be the first flight sim news outlet to provide you with in-depth details about the forthcoming product. We’re awaiting on some video footage to really highlight this technology, REX were keen to give the community a written description of Environment Force to set the scene before showing it off fully.
I’m not usually one to just publish a press release, but I know how much time has gone into creating the write up by the team at REX, so on this occasion, I’ll be copying it below word for word. This isn’t due to laziness, but I want to ensure that I don’t miss any details or word something that doesn’t match the vision the team had. Of course, if you have feedback regarding this, please just tell us below.
To give you a summary of the product, Environment Force aims to be a complete dynamic weather system featuring weather morphing (clouds building up in real time for example), dynamic cloud colouring, recompile shaders on the fly and more.
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REX Environment Force
The Universal Real-Time Environment Shader Enhancer, Dynamic Weather & Texture Controller
The first living environment in flight simulation.
With it’s living environment, there is nothing like Environment Force on the market.
Environment Force breaks the paradigm as no other weather, texture, environment or shader enhancer on the market is able to accomplish full living environment control in real-time, on-the-fly (in-sim) while giving you instant visual feedback! In the past all these elements had to be modified outside of the simulator. Environment Force allows a new and different approach to the environmental factors that cannot be accomplished any other way, providing full immersion.
THE TECHNOLOGY IN ENVIRONMENT FORCE ALLOWS FULL CONTROL AND VARIETY OVER KEY ELEMENTS OF YOUR FLIGHT ENVIRONMENT WHILE THE FLIGHT SIMULATOR IS RUNNING! IN REAL-TIME AND ON-THE-FLY, VIA A USER-CONTROLLED INTERFACE OR THE FULLY AUTOMATIC REAL-TIME DYNAMICS ENGINE.
No need to quit and restart the simulator!
With Environment Force, you can now control the entire weather and environment in real-time (user-controlled) or completely automated (real-time dynamics), such as: Cloud morphing (formation/dissipation), sky and cloud coloring, sky and cloud texture swapping, visibility, water coloring and shader control, terrain and object coloring, and cloud/water/terrain/object/scene lighting. Or you can simply set it and forget it, with the WX-influenced smoothing controls for all weather parameters.
PTA users will LOVE this:
To all those who fly with shader enhancers! With Environment Force, we have given you a powerful feature: Recompile shaders on-the-fly without the need to close and re-open the simulator! This is a great feature for users of PTA and similar shader product.
A game changer… Full Automation (Real-Time Dynamics)
We’re not just talking about automating textures, but automating full weather systems… from cloud growth/dissipation (weather morphing) and scene lighting variables to how the environment behaves in certain weather conditions… oh and yes, texture swapping!
For a no-hassle automated experience, Environment Force can automatically and dynamically control and adjust weather and environment visuals based upon real-world weather conditions, giving you and experience never before seen in flight simulator. Environment Force will also dynamically control and adjust shaders on-the-fly with real-time visual feedback of these enhancements!
Environmental “Life” Technology
As of now, even with past attempts from ‘other’ products, the simulator weather remains static and boring – lacking life, depth and breath and otherwise boring…
… not anymore!
We use the term “Life” because it now gives life to an ever stagnant flight simulator experience. For the first time, clouds now transition over time and are always changing in density. With our Cloud Life Component we are able to transition clouds on the fly, which gives more variety and depth to the atmosphere. Currently on the market there are no methods within flight simulator to allow for true cloud life cycles. With our new Cloud Life Component, cloud life cycles can truly be experienced. Now you can experience an ongoing and changing atmosphere while clouds grow and dissipate over time. Literally, one can experience storms grow or die.
Forgotten in the current simulation market is the fact that clouds of different types and depth have different colors. Clouds are not always white, their color/shades are affected by volume. Our new CLC analyzes the weather conditions and dynamically changes the shading of the clouds in REAL-TIME while the simulator is running.
For example, if weather conditions report thunderstorms based upon precipitations rates, the CLC recolors cloud structures to reflect a more representative color or shade, ensuring what you see is more true to life. Fair clouds will look friendlier; whereas, stormy clouds will truly look menacing. Couple this technology with REX Sky Force and one has the ultimate environment.
Smooth Weather System Transitions
With Environment Force you will be able to experience smooth weather system transitions with ALL weather engines on the market. With the Environment Force component, clouds and weather will smoothly transition in and out over time.
Environment and Weather Synchronization
It’s one thing to have weather changes, but now with the power of the two components of the Environment Force API, the surrounding environment will transition and respond to the weather conditions while in you are in the sim. If the conditions become stormy, clouds change in structure as well as terrain coloring, sky colors, and water functions change in unison. If winds increase or decrease, waves will change in unison. In short, the flight simulator experience is no longer static… it lives!
Simconnect Independence and the Future
One of the major benefits of our new Environment Force API is that it’s COMPLETELY independent of the often flawed Simconnect platform. Simconnect, though robust, was never completed. Our new Environment Force API not only offers great performance, it also allows us to continually advance and broaden the API for future features!
Graphics Tool API
Integrate with your favorite texture graphics programs (payware or freeware) to allow Environment Force to utilize textures swapping on the fly.
Tight Integration with Sky Force
The Environment Force API integrates fully with Sky Force. If you have Sky Force, Environment Force will utilize its weather features for the ultimate in smooth weather and visuals.
Local & Shared Community Integration
Environment Force continues to expand on the REX tradition of providing a connected shared community within the application. You will be able to share your environment creations with fellow users within the application.
Cloud-Based Theme Center
Save, install, delete or share these environment themes with fellow REX users around the world, all within the application! Themes are stored within banks and may be accessed by simply navigating or filtering database results, as well as using search utility functions, providing you direct access to creating that ‘look’ you are after.
All of the below can be customized manually in real-time while the sim is running (on-the-fly) or you can allow Environment Force to fully control the weather and visual scene in its full automatic/dynamic mode:
- Cloud Growth/Dissipation/Morphing
- Cirrus Cloud Growth/Dissipation/Morphing
- Cirrus Full Overcast Control
- Cloud Coloring
- Cloud Texture Swap
- Cirrus Cloud Texture Swap
- Sky Texture Swap
- Visibility and Fog Control
- Water/Terrain/Object Coloring
- Cloud Lighting
- Water/Terrain/Object Ligthing
- Scene Lighting
- Precipitation Control
- Water Control such as saturation, blend, view, reflection, refraction, granularity and color!
Smooth weather fading/loading for ALL weather engines, even default weather!
- Auto fade Clouds
- Auto fade Fog
- Auto fade Weather variables such as winds, temperatures, pressure
If you would like to control all the features manually, we include and in-sim UI for easy parameter tweaking!
Cloud Coloring
Dynamically change the color/hues, brightness and contrast of the cloud tops and bases in real-time, while in flight! Alter the clouds for a more realistic appearance in regards to the weather situation. In more severe weather, can change the cloud colors to make them more dark and menacing.
Cloud Transparency
Change the transparency of clouds in real-time while in flight! This helps give a more volumetric appearance of vapor forming a cloud. In addition to this feature, it can give certain effects to the sky, such as ground fog and hazy skies.
Cloud Swapping
Swap cloud textures in real-time while in flight! You will no longer be required to first select and load clouds before the simulator starts. This process is now automatic and you are able to select clouds within the simulator to match the weather conditions.
Cloud Structuring
Complete control of the size, volume and mass of cloud structures in real-time while in flight! If the weather conditions call for overcast, you are able to now change the structure of the clouds, causing the clouds to fill in the gaps. Change the structure of the thunderstorms to make them more ominous with no degradation of FPS or VAS usage.
Water Coloring
Adjust the coloring, lighting, reflection and many of the water environment variables in real-time while in flight!
Wave Height Modifications
Adjust wave heights and speed in real-time while in flight! If the weather scenario calls for stormy conditions, you can now adjust these parameters to give the feel of flying over stormy seas.
Terrain Tuning
Change the hue and brightness/darkness of the terrain in real-time while in flight! For example: if the weather is overcast, a user can adjust the hue of the terrain properly to make it look dark so that it reflects the current conditions.
Community Preset Sharing
Share environmental creations with fellow Environment Force users via the REX Edge Servers! This is extremely useful for multiplayer environments.
Compatibility
Environment Force is a universal product that works dynamically with all weather engines (payware or freeware), texture/graphics add-ons (payware or freeware) or shader add-ons (payware or freeware), giving you the ultimate in flexibility!
No Compromise for the FPS-Conscious
We have developed Environment Force to reduce its overall footprint on the host processor, allowing for full functionality while maintaining FPS. All processes inherent within Environment Force are performed within a different thread than the simulator, so performance is exceptional! Once the sim is closed, the file directories are left untouched!
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