Over on their forum, Robert Randazzo from PMDG has dropped some jaw-dropping previews featuring PBR (Physically Based Rendering) on their 747-400 QOTS II in Prepar3D v4.4 along with an announcement.
Behind the scenes, Jason from PMDG has been hard at work revamping their models to accommodate Prepar3D v4’s new PBR rendering capability. This process has required a significant amount of work, especially since their 747 product line includes 14 different variants that must each be adjusted accordingly to accommodate P3D’s new capability. Each model takes around two days to get right along with inevitable tweaks and touch-ups along the line seeing a productivity rate of about one aircraft every three days or so.
As you can see from the previews, the scattering of light and the way it plays off of surfaces with different qualities is super convincing when seen dynamically within Prepar3D. PMDG chose a polished aluminium 747-400 as a demonstrator as in the simming world, polished aluminium has always said to have been the holy grail of livery capabilities. From Robert’s perspective, the way the reflections play off makes you almost not notice that it is not real-world but in-sim with the normality of the reflections bringing the shape and surface of the aircraft to life.
PMDG has spent a lot of time playing with these new PBR and effects capabilities to come up with the right balance of things to make the aircraft look the closest to its real-world counterpart and not over pronounced.
PBR updates are planned to be pushed out to the beta team within the next week and a quick turn is anticipated from testing to release. The update will cover the entire 747 product line (including the 747-8) and will be pushed out through the PMDG Operations Center once available. Updated paint kits will also be pushed out so painters can add the new and necessary bits to their liveries as desired.
To close, Robert states that Lockheed Martin is still tuning PBR within the latest release of Prepar3D. PMDG’s primary concern is that PBR does not work the way it should at night but LM is to release a fix soon with no additional updates required for their models.
We’ll endeavour to let you know once this update has been pushed out to the Operations Center. Let us know what you think of these previews in the comments below.
