How to Use Environment Tools

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<td>This sets some very basic weather conditions</td>
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<td>This sets some very basic weather conditions. The set conditions will be constant throughout the running of a Session.</td>
 
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<td><font size="3">'''Notes:'''</font><br>
 
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There are Session rules that also control the weather. Check the Trainz Wiki Session Rules list at [[file:WikiLink.PNG]] '''[[Session_Rules_By_Categories_With_Properties#Weather_Rules|Weather Rules]]'''</td>
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There are Session rules that also control the weather, including changeable weather conditions. Check the Trainz Wiki Session Rules list at [[file:WikiLink.PNG]] '''[[Session_Rules_By_Categories_With_Properties#Weather_Rules|Session Rules - Weather Rules]]'''</td>
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Revision as of 20:39, 22 July 2018

Contents


NotePad.PNG Notes:

The Environment Tools are used to set:-

  • the skybox - to configure the cloud cover
  • the weather - from rain to snow to clear. Weather can also be set from the Main Menu - Settings options and by using Session rules
  • the wind speed - which will affect the swaying motion of Speedtrees
  • the snowline - the altitude for assets that have a snow covered appearance option
  • the date - for assets that have different seasonal options
  • the lighting - the light levels and colours through a 24 hour period
  • the water colour and water surface effects (smooth, rough, etc)
  • the road traffic - enabled/disabled
  • the world origin (geographic coordinates and altitude)
PencilTips.PNG The Time of Day is set using Session rules such as WikiLink.PNG Startup Option Rule and WikiLink.PNG Time and Rate Rule


DotPoint.JPG The World Origin and Date settings are used to set the current season e.g. January = Summer in the Southern Hemisphere and Winter in the Northern Hemisphere

The Environment Tool

EnvironmentLaunch.PNG Open the Environment Tools Editor from the Surveyor Main Menu as shown on the left.

This will open the Environment Properties Window as shown below.

EnvironmentControls.PNG


Lighting

The Lighting Tools control the ambient, sun and water colours. This tool tab is opened by default whenever the Environmental Editor is opened.

Light and Time

DotPoint.JPG The dial shown is a 24 hour clock that sets the lighting conditions at selected times of the day and night
EnvironmentLighting.PNG
EnvironmentCycle.PNG
Steps.PNG Steps:
  • Click the Diurnal Cycle button to set the clock running through the full 24 hour cycle in just 30 seconds
  • Click it again to stop the cycle

The scene shown in Surveyor will display the lighting conditions that correspond to the time on the clock as the hand sweeps around.

DotPoint.JPG You can select a specific time by dragging the clock pointer arm to the corresponding position on the dial.
EnvironmentSetDial.PNG The scene shown in Surveyor will display the lighting conditions that correspond to the time shown on the clock

Setting the Lighting Conditions

The ring around the dial contains a number of green dots. Each dot is a lighting control point. It sets the specific Red Green and Blue colour values for the light at that particular time.

EnvironmentSelectPoint.PNG
Steps.PNG Steps:
  • Select, by clicking, one of the green points around the ring
  • The clock dial will immediately point to the selected dot and time

The control point will be highlighted and the RGB Wheels will display the Red Green and Blue values that have been set at that point

EnvironmentShowRGB.PNG


DotPoint.JPG Each colour value can be altered by dragging its needle point to a new position around the dial. Each new position will change the balance between the 3 colours and will alter the lighting displayed in the scene at that particular time.


NotePad.PNG Notes:

Each control point stores the RGB values for three different types of lighting in the scene.

  • The Ambient Colour which is the directional lighting and mostly affects the hue of buildings and other scenery objects
  • The Sun Colour which affects the colour of the sunlight and mostly affects the hue of the terrain
  • The Water Colour which affects the colours reflected by water surfaces

The 3 boxes below the colour wheels and next to the Sky box show the colour effects created for each type of lighting at the selected time.

EnvironmentAmbientColour.PNG
Steps.PNG Steps:
  • Click on the top box of the three. This is the Ambient Colour
  • The dials will show the RGB values for the Ambient Colour at the selected time
  • The Ambient color preview box will show the colour produced by the RGB settings
  • You can then change the RGB settings for the Ambient Colour
EnvironmentSunColour.PNG
Steps.PNG Steps:
  • Click on the middle box of the three. This is the Sun Colour
  • The dials will show the RGB values for the Sun Colour at the selected time
  • The Sun color preview box will show the colour produced by the RGB settings
  • You can then change the RGB settings for the Sun Colour
EnvironmentWaterColour.PNG
Steps.PNG Steps:
  • Click on the bottom box of the three. This is the Water Colour
  • The dials will show the RGB values for the Water Colour at the selected time
  • The Water color preview box will show the colour produced by the RGB settings
  • You can then change the RGB settings for the Water Colour


NotePad.PNG Notes:
Getting the "right colours" can be more of an art than a science. To set the exact colour you want means mixing the correct quantities of Red, Green and Blue. Each of these colours has 256 different values from 0 to 255 that, when combined, produce over 16 million different possible colours - but many monitors and most eyeballs will not be able to tell the differences between many of those 16 million colours.


PencilTips.PNG Setting all three colours to the same values will produce monotones from Black to White with 254 different shades of gray between those two tones. Note that in the examples below, the "tyre" around each wheel shows the exact quantity of colour that is being added.
R = 0; G = 0; B = 0 R = 128; G = 128; B = 128 R = 255; G = 255; B = 255
EnvironmentAmbientColour01.PNG EnvironmentAmbientColour02.PNG EnvironmentAmbientColour03.PNG
Black 50% Gray White
All other colours are made by mixing different quantities of the three colours.


Resetting the Lighting Conditions

DotPoint.JPG All the lighting colour settings can be reset back to the TANE default colours.


EnvironmentReset.PNG
Steps.PNG Steps:
  • Click the Color Reset button, then either:-
    • Click the Tick.PNG icon to accept the reset, or
    • Click the Cross.PNG icon to reject the reset


Adding a New Control Point

DotPoint.JPG New control points can be added to the clock dial
EnvironmentAddControlPoint.PNG
Steps.PNG Steps:
  1. Click the Add button EnvironmentAddPointButton.PNG
  2. Click on the ring at the place where the new control point is to be located


NotePad.PNG Notes:

During the running of a Session the lighting will "morph" or "transform" at a steady rate from the set of colour values at one control point to the set of colour values at the next control point. Click the Diurnal Cycle button for a demonstration.

  • If the control points are far apart then the transition will be gradual
  • If the control points are close together then the transition will be faster
  • If there are several control points grouped closely together then the transitions can be more dramatic

The places where you would need faster dramatic transitions would be at dawn (around 06:00) and dusk (around 18:00)


Deleting a Control point

DotPoint.JPG Existing control points can be deleted
EnvironmentDeletePoint.PNG
Steps.PNG Steps:
  1. Click the Delete button EnvironmentDeletePointButton.PNG
  2. Click on the control point to be deleted


Moving a Control point

DotPoint.JPG Existing control points can be moved
EnvironmentMoveControlPoint.PNG
Steps.PNG Steps:
  1. Click the Move button EnvironmentMovePointButton.PNG
  2. Click on the control point to be moved and hold the mouse button down
  3. Drag the point to its new position around the ring


The Skybox

DotPoint.JPG The Skybox sets the sky colours in three different regions of the sky at the selected time of day, as shown in the extreme example below
EnvironmentSkyColours.PNG
NotePad.PNG Notes:
Each control point also stores the Skybox settings for that particular time.


Steps.PNG Steps:
  1. Select a control point for a specific time of day
  2. Click in a region of the Skybox (top, middle, bottom) - a while line or bar will appear across the selected region
  3. Set the RGB color wheels for the selected region
  4. Repeat for the other two regions and for other times of the day/night as needed


In the areas between the three regions the colours will be blended to create a smooth transition.


Fog Control

DotPoint.JPG This controls the level of "fog" in the scene
Gears.PNG Settings:

EnvironmentFogSlider.PNG

  1. Select a control point for a specific time of day
  2. Move the slider to the required position
  3. Repeat for other times of the day/night as needed
NotePad.PNG Notes:
Each control point also stores the Fog settings for that particular time.


Location

DotPoint.JPG The Location Tools control the geographic and date (season) data for the Route and Session
EnvironmentLocation.PNG

Set Date

The top section is a standard calendar selection tool that allows you to set the month and the day of the month. The only effect this has in TANE is to set, with the geographic coordinates, the season of the year.

Set World Origin

The middle section is the World Origin Tool and sets the geographic location, including the altitude, of the route using a World Origin marker that is only visible in Surveyor.

DotPoint.JPG Setting the World Origin does NOT set regional features such as which side of the road the cars drive on. Use the Route Editor - Region setting for that
DotPoint.JPG The World Origin is always part of a Route, not part of a Session


EnvironmentOriginAdd.PNG
Steps.PNG Steps:
  1. Move the Surveyor view to the location where you want the marker to be placed
  2. Click on the Add world origin button
  3. Click the selected location in the layout to place the marker

Clicking a second time will simply move the marker

EnvironmentWorldOrigin.PNG
The World Origin marker
Once it has been placed, the marker can be moved by dragging or clicking with the mouse. After adding the marker it should be edited to add geographic data.


EnvironmentOriginGo.PNG Click the Go to world origin icon to move the Surveyor screen so that it is centred on the World Origin marker.
EnvironmentOriginEdit.PNG Click the Edit world origin icon to set or edit the World Origin data. See Editing the World Origin below.


Editing the World Origin

EnvironmentOriginEditData.PNG Enter the geographic data for the world origin.
  • Latitude and Longitude in degrees and minutes (with seconds added as the decimal fraction of the minutes - 10'30" would be entered as 10.50)
  • Hemispheres - North/South and East/West
  • Altitude in metres


DotPoint.JPG Setting a high latitude value North or South will NOT change the times of sunrise or sunset. They are fixed at 06:00 and 18:00.


The Reset button sets all values to their defaults.
Click the Tick.PNG icon to accept the entered data
Click the Cross.PNG icon to reject the entered data


Deleting the World Origin

DotPoint.JPG There is no delete button for the World Origin marker, but you can still delete it
Steps.PNG Steps:
  1. Open the Objects Tool in the Surveyor screen
  2. Select the Delete tool
  3. Click on the World Origin marker


NotePad.PNG Notes:
All routes MUST have a World Origin. If you delete the marker then the World Origin will be hidden and will take the default coordinates of latitude 52.45 N, longitude 13.3 E, altitude 0 metres - which places it in Berlin(??).


Traffic Control

DotPoint.JPG This tool simply turns the road traffic ON and OFF
NotePad.PNG Notes:

This road traffic tool:-

  • only works on roads that have been designed to use road traffic (not all roads support traffic)
  • does not set the road traffic characteristics - number and types of vehicles, which side of the road is used. These features are set in the Route Editor - Region setting


EnvironmentTrafficOn.PNG

EnvironmentTrafficOff.PNG
Gears.PNG Settings:
  • Click the car icon to enable and disable traffic


Weather and Water

To set the water colour, refer to the PageLink.PNG Setting the Lighting Conditions section above.

EnvironmentEnvironment.PNG

Set the Sky

DotPoint.JPG This sets the basic sky and cloud characteristics
EnvironmentSkyType.PNG
Gears.PNG Settings:
  • Click the Sky Title to select from a drop down list of sky types, or
  • Scroll through the list by using the Scroll icons

The box below the sky title will give a preview of the selected sky.

Set the Weather

DotPoint.JPG This sets some very basic weather conditions. The set conditions will be constant throughout the running of a Session.


Gears.PNG Settings:

EnvironmentWeatherType.PNG

Move the slider to set the weather between Rain and Snow


NotePad.PNG Notes:
There are Session rules that also control the weather, including changeable weather conditions. Check the Trainz Wiki Session Rules list at WikiLink.PNG Session Rules - Weather Rules

Wind Strength

DotPoint.JPG This setting only effects SpeedTrees
Gears.PNG Settings:

EnvironmentWindType.PNG
Move the slider to set the wind strength between zero (left) and maximum (right)


Set the Water Surface

DotPoint.JPG This sets the water surface effects
EnvironmentWaterType.PNG
Gears.PNG Settings:
  • Click the Water Surface to select from a drop down list of surface effects, or
  • Scroll through the list by using the Scroll icons


Set the Snow Altitude

DotPoint.JPG This sets the altitude at which objects with snow effects will display those effects. It has no effect on objects created without this feature
Gears.PNG Settings:

EnvironmentSnowAltitude.PNG

Enter the altitude, in metres, at which snow can appear.



Trainz Wiki

TrainzWiki.png

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