How to Use Environment Tools

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)

The Time of Day is set using Session rules such as Startup Option Rule and Time and Rate Rule

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

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.

Lighting

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

Light and Time

The dial shown in the window is a 24 hour clock that is used to set the lighting conditions at any time of the day and night. 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. You can select a specific time by dragging the clock pointer arm to the corresponding position on the dial.

Setting the Light Conditions

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

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

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.

Notes: Each reference 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.

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

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

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

Setting the right colours can be more of an art than a science. To get 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 and, when combined, that produces over 16 million different possible colours - but many monitors and most eyeballs will not be able to tell the differences between many of those colours.