Create Realistic Flight Simulator X Screenshots

Ever wanted a screen from Flight Simulator X to look even more real? So real that people even think it's real?? Well look no Further.

Steps

1. Start up Flight Simulator X. In order to make the shot as realistic as possible, you need to yank the graphics up the highest.
2. Make the screenshot by making the clouds look realistic and that nothing looks pixelated. Don't reveal the top right hand corner and that you haven't pressed Template:Key + Template:Key to show coordinates .
3. Hit Template:Key to take a screenshot.
4. Exit the Simulator. Go to the directory of the shot, which is in "Pictures" > "Flight Simulator Files".
5. Open the picture in Photoshop.
6. Press Template:Key + Template:Key to duplicate the layer.
7. Change the layer mode to 'Screen', via the small window on the bottom right hand corner. If you can't find it, look for 'Normal', which is a drop down menu.
8. Hit "Layer" > "Layer Mask" > "Reveal All".
9. Move the image to the mask. Click on "Image" > "Apply Image".
10. Go to the Layer section and change "Merged" to background in the drop down menu and hit "Ok".
11. Hold down "Alt" and click the layer mask, which is black and white, beside the colour Layer. The image should now be black.
12. Hit "Image" > "Adjustments" > "Threshold". A window should have popped up, headed "Threshold".
13. Notice that everything in the photo that is white will have bloom and everything in black won't have bloom. Move it to the right to decrease the amount of bloom, and to the left, to increase the amount.
14. Hit "Ok" when you are done. Remember, too much bloom is a bad thing and will ruin the quality of the image.
15. Click on the original layer (not the layer mask or background layer). Go to "Filter" > "Blur" > "Gaussian Blur".
16. Use the slider to increase the hardness of the bloom, or decrease the hardness. As you move the slider, you'll see in the preview.
17. Click on the background layer and duplicate it by pressing Template:Key + J.
18. Change the layer mode to either "Hard Light" or "Soft Light". Hard light generally looks best, but it can screw up some images by making them too dark and too light, so turn it to Soft Light.

Tips

• Hard light really adds in contrast, and puts more depth into the color.
• Remember with the bloom, don't add too much.
• As already noted, make sure the clouds look real. In some circumstances they can look really bad, and people will easily tell it's fake.
• The hard light effect plays a very important part in the realism. Especially water. I suggest that you take a screenshot of water, and add in the Hard light -you'll see the power of it.
• When changing the amount of Gaussian Blur when adding bloom, the higher it is, the smoother the effect is to the image. The lower the slider is, the harder it is. Go as low as you possibly can, but If you go too low, and you'll see it, you'll find out that it looks like it has really bad graphics, thus you should turn it back up.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft Flight Simulator X
• Adobe Photoshop
• High end computer able to run Flight Simulator X on high settings

Related Articles

• Create Clouds in Photoshop
• Take off in Microsoft Flight Simulator in a Boeing 737
• Model an Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Take off in a Tricycle Geared Plane and a Taildragger in Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Create and Upload Addon Scenery for Flight Simulator
• Beat the Jet Truck in Flight Simulator X

See also

• Fly a Glider in Flight Simulator X
• Land in Microsoft Flight Simulator Automatically
• Add Airplanes to Flight Simulator X