Hi All,
I have a swag of Rex cloud enhancing add-ons, and now received an offer to buy Active Sky 2016.
Any opinions on whether AS replaces or improves Rex, or whatever would be appreciated.
Sky and clouds are what we fly in, so whichever looks best, gets my vote.
Active Sky vs Rex Soft Clouds, Rex this, Rex that etc
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DaveB
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Re: Active Sky vs Rex Soft Clouds, Rex this, Rex that etc
Hi Mike 
Much depends on what version of Rex you use and to some degree, which version of Active Sky. The later versions of AS have been pure weather engines and from what I've seen of AS16, it is too. So.. for many (like me) who have RexE+OD which has it's own weather engine.. the choice is to go for Rex for cloud textures and AS to make it all work (ASN in my case). I didn't like the Rex weather engine much though it is fully functional. AS16 has a new partner.. ASCA.. Active Sky Cloud Art, which you have to buy as a separate entity. As the name suggests.. ASCA is a full set of replacement cloud textures and when mated to AS16.. you can actually change them 'on the fly'.. or dynamic as they call it. While ASCA will work out of the box with any weather engine.. it has to be mated with AS16 to get the advantage (if it is one) of dynamic cloud texture changing.
I know little of what came after RexE+OD other than it was called Rex Texture Direct. It also (as far as I could tell) had a built-in weather engine but how good it was/is.. I've no idea. I'm sure REX released a stand-alone weather engine after RexTD which had more bells and whistles. Of course.. there are Rex Soft Clouds too which I also have. These give a better volumetric appearance than either the default clouds or those included in other Rex products. Put simply.. Soft Clouds will sit 'in' valleys as they never did before making low cloud and fog look a great deal more realistic. I think Soft Clouds are now integrated into RexTD should you buy that product now but they can also be bought separately.
RexE+OD and RexTD cover a lot more than clouds.. they're full replacement textures for many of the defaults including ground, lights and sea. ASCA will just be clouds.
Unless there are significant performance improvements with AS16 and ASCA.. I'll continue to use RexE+OD for my textures and ASN to hustle it all along.
ATB
DaveB
Much depends on what version of Rex you use and to some degree, which version of Active Sky. The later versions of AS have been pure weather engines and from what I've seen of AS16, it is too. So.. for many (like me) who have RexE+OD which has it's own weather engine.. the choice is to go for Rex for cloud textures and AS to make it all work (ASN in my case). I didn't like the Rex weather engine much though it is fully functional. AS16 has a new partner.. ASCA.. Active Sky Cloud Art, which you have to buy as a separate entity. As the name suggests.. ASCA is a full set of replacement cloud textures and when mated to AS16.. you can actually change them 'on the fly'.. or dynamic as they call it. While ASCA will work out of the box with any weather engine.. it has to be mated with AS16 to get the advantage (if it is one) of dynamic cloud texture changing.
I know little of what came after RexE+OD other than it was called Rex Texture Direct. It also (as far as I could tell) had a built-in weather engine but how good it was/is.. I've no idea. I'm sure REX released a stand-alone weather engine after RexTD which had more bells and whistles. Of course.. there are Rex Soft Clouds too which I also have. These give a better volumetric appearance than either the default clouds or those included in other Rex products. Put simply.. Soft Clouds will sit 'in' valleys as they never did before making low cloud and fog look a great deal more realistic. I think Soft Clouds are now integrated into RexTD should you buy that product now but they can also be bought separately.
RexE+OD and RexTD cover a lot more than clouds.. they're full replacement textures for many of the defaults including ground, lights and sea. ASCA will just be clouds.
Unless there are significant performance improvements with AS16 and ASCA.. I'll continue to use RexE+OD for my textures and ASN to hustle it all along.
ATB
DaveB
Old sailors never die.. they just smell that way!
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Airspeed
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Re: Active Sky vs Rex Soft Clouds, Rex this, Rex that etc
Thanks Dave 
Think I'll stick with Overdrive and Soft Clouds.
Think I'll stick with Overdrive and Soft Clouds.