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)

TRS19 has an additional control that adjusts the lighting level, as shown below

The Diurnal Cycle 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.

The Time of Day

You can select a specific time by dragging the clock pointer arm to the corresponding position on the clock dial.

The scene shown in Surveyor will display the lighting conditions that correspond to the time shown on the clock

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

Ambient

Sun

128

192

224

255

128

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)

Notes: Each control point also stores the Skybox settings for that particular time.

	Steps: Select a control point for a specific time of day Click in a region of the Skybox (top, middle, bottom) - a while line or bar will appear across the selected region Set the RGB color wheels for the selected region 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.

Do you need an Overcast Sky for your scene? For each daylight control point set each Skybox region (top, middle, bottom) to shades of gray (see Mixing Colours above). In the Environment Tab (see below), set the Sky Type to No Cloud 01

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 Trainz 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.

	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
	The World Origin is always part of a Route, not part of a Session

Steps: Move the Surveyor view to the location where you want the marker to be placed Click on the Add world origin button Click the selected location in the layout to place the marker Clicking a second time will simply move the marker

The World Origin marker

• 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

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 icon to accept the entered data
Click the icon to reject the entered data

1. Open the Objects Tool in the Surveyor screen
2. Select the Delete tool
3. Click on the World Origin marker

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

Set the Sky

This sets the basic sky and cloud characteristics

Settings: Click the Sky Title (Cloud Cover) 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

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

	Settings: Move the slider to set the weather between Rain and Snow

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

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

More Tutorials and Guides to Using Trainz

• How to Guides
• Driver Commands List
• Session Rules List (Alphabetical) with Parameters
• Session Rules List (Categories) With Parameters