After a highly anticipated announcement at this year’s Flight Sim Expo, the largest flight simulation conference in North America, the team from Laminar Research has further detailed what will X-Plane 12, a next-generation flight simulator, offer.
photometric lighting
One of the main features that are expected to come with the new simulator is a whole new photometric lighting. Ben Supnik, responsible for this part of the new simulator, has detailed that while X-Plane 11 uses pre-made images drawn by artists, X-Plane 12 will automatically generate various colors accurately to the real world.
For example, there will not be only one color of blue sky, but many slightly different variants with all influencing aspects taken in mind.
We not only get a blue sky, but we get the correct “blue-ish” tint when looking at the ground from the air, and this matches the sky without the artists trying to hand-paint two effects to match.
Ben Supnik – Laminar Research
New default aircraft
In late October, the team from Laminar Research has posted a preview of a yet unseen aircraft in X-Plane 12. It, later on, was confirmed by the team, that it is the ALIA-250 aircraft that will be available free of charge as a default aircraft in the new simulator.
This specific aircraft was not previewed or announced before.
Puddles!
As the subtitle may suggest, only two days ago, a new preview was shared showcasing the new water effects in X-Plane 12. These puddles are generated automatically and accurately by the simulator. They are also further dynamic and will not just be static textures placed on the ground.
As of right now, there is no information available about the expected release timeframe.
