Effect Layer Data Binding

Revision as of 15:06, 30 July 2018

Each Effect Layer may have zero or more Effect Layer Data Bindings. Each data binding is a Surveyor-configurable value which affects how the effect layer appears to the user. Data bindings may be set to a constant value across the entire route, or may be painted using the appropriate Surveyor tools such that they vary at different locations on the route.

When configured to a constant value, the data binding consume only a small, fixed amount of data in the route asset. There is minimal data cost from creating many effect layers each using constant values. It should be noted that the data cost here has minimal effect on performance; it is simply a question of how large the route asset will grow as new baseboards are added. It is important to keep the data size under control, but this is not a performance optimization. Constant values tend to be more appropriate for data bindings relating to colors, directions, etc. rather than for density bindings (as it is almost always the case that you will want to vary the density or presence of an effect across a route).

The data binding can alternatively be configured as a "per-grid" attribute. When you configure the data binding in the Effect Layer editing dialog, you may specify both the resolution of the grid and the precision of the value stored for each grid element. The higher the resolution or precision, the more space that is required to store the values. The Effect Layer editing dialog may impose an upper limit on the amount of storage space available for layer bindings- once you reach the limit, you'll need to remove or reduce some bindings before you can add any more. Configuring variable data bindings then becomes an optimization problem- where should you spend your limited amount of storage space in order to gain the best visual results? It is important to again keep in mind that storage optimization has minimal effect on performance; it is purely a visual tradeoff between the various possible uses of the available storage space.

Grid resolution controls how finely the data binding can be editing in Surveyor. For some effect layers, it may be adequate to only vary the effect over larger distances (eg. 40x40m squares) in which case a very low resolution is acceptable. This may be too limiting for certain effect types, especially if the effect is to be used in areas where the user is likely to get up close to the effect. For example, if a foliage effect is placed near the mainline with that kind of resolution, it may be difficult to prevent the foliage from overlapping the track, which might look inappropriate. Your options here might include keeping the foliage well away from the track (suitable for some types of foliage) or increasing the resolution available (eg. to 5x5m squares) such that you have finer control and can bring the foliage much closer to the track without inducing any overlap.

The data binding precision controls how many bits of data are used to store the binding's value at each grid location. In many cases, very low bit rates are acceptable. For example, one bit of precision for a density value is sufficient to switch on and off the effect, which may be appropriate for many types of foliage - you either want the effect present, or you don't. In other cases, you might want a bit more control- for example to allow multiple levels of density, or to gradually adjust the size or color of a particular effect, etc. The "softer" that you need transitions to occur, the more likely that you'll need to increase the precision of the data. Using the higher precision options is frequently unnecessary, and can be very expensive when used with high-resolution data. However, it may be an acceptable trade-off to increase the precision and simultaneously decrease the resolution of the data.