Weather Editor
- 4A Games
- 4A Games (Unlicensed)
The Interface
Overview
The Weather Editor allows you to create weather presets to use within weather volumes. There are several options to use, including the Skybox, Sun, Clouds to Post Process, and Snow/Water Levels.
You can create different types of weather such as Constant, Day/Night Cycles, or Modifiers. Also, with the editor open, you can preview the weather in-editor, without having to set up a weather volume.
Setup
To access the weather list, look for the W (for Weather) in the Library Toolbar.
To create an empty weather list, right click on the Weather List → Add.
UI | Description |
---|---|
Timeline | Allows you to see key values of the properties. Also allows you to manually scroll between points of time. |
Toolbar
Option | Description |
---|---|
Time navigation | Allows you to jump to a specific time in the timeline. From 00:00 to 24:00. The arrows allow you to jump one hour in the timeline. |
<- -> | Jump to the next/previous key or to the next/previous hour. |
Constant Weather | Weather type. Without the ‘time’ component. Managing such weather is much easier when you’re working with a linear level. Set the selected weather to Constant Weather. Constant weather does not have Day/Night Cycles, and has fixed values. Good for indoor environments where day/night is not perceivable and does not affect the scene. |
Modifier Weather | Instead of doing full weather blends and dealing with this complexity, you can modify only the needed values with the Weather Modifier. For example, you have an indoor environment on an outdoor level that normally has dark and dense fog no matter the hour. This way, you can change just the fog while the rest is taken from the base weather. Modifiers can be Constant as well as 24hr looped. |
Always On Top | Set the Weather Editor Window to be always on top of the editor. |
No Preview | Toggles the preview in the editor. |
InGame Preview | Show weather's changes in real time. |
Set Sun Position | Set the sun's position in the viewport. |
Save All | Saves all changes made to the weather. |
Import env | Import parameters of another weather preset. |
Weather List Density
List of available weather presets. You can also create folders for organization. All weathers have corresponding .LUA files under /content/weather/
RMB Utils
Option | Description | Shortcut |
---|---|---|
Add | Adds a new weather preset to the selected folder. | Insert |
Create Folder | Creates a new folder in the Weather List. | |
Copy | Copies the selected weather item. | Ctrl+C |
Paste | Pastes the copied weather item. | Ctrl+V |
Clone | Clones the selected weather item. | Ctrl+D |
Rename | Renames the selected weather item. | Ctrl+R |
Remove | Removes the selected weather item. | Del |
Reload | Reloads the weather item from a disk(this can be used to revert all unsaved changes). | |
Ban |
| |
Reveal In Explorer | Opens an explorer window to reveal the config file that contains the objects. | |
Expand | Expands the current list. | |
Collapse | Collapses the current list. | |
Expand All | Expands all the lists. | |
Collapse All | Collapses all the lists. | |
Filter | Shows/hides the filter toolbar. | |
Plain Mode | Shows all items in alphabetical order without hierarchy. | |
Advanced Filter | Enables display of the advanced filter. This allows you to filter properties by categories. |
Prop List
Adds a new non-editable curve on the graph from the desired property. Used to create similar curves on graphs. A description of all options can be found in the Properties section.
Prop name | ||
---|---|---|
AI | Lum Ambient | |
Lum Scale | ||
Sun Luminosity Coef | ||
Clouds | Color | |
Scale | ||
Speed Mult | ||
Color Cube | Intensity | |
Flares | Sprite Texture | Color |
Radius | ||
Color | ||
Direction X | ||
Direction Y | ||
Fog | Density Curve | |
Fog Color | ||
Fog Color2 | ||
Fog Density | ||
Fog Saturation | ||
Fog Turbulence Scale | ||
Fog Variation +/- | ||
Height Base | ||
Height Based Density | ||
Scattering Phase | ||
Light | LOD | |
Postprocess | Bloom Exposure Offset | |
Color Add | ||
Color Dot | ||
Color Multiply | ||
DOF.Far | ||
DOF.Focus | ||
DOF.Near | ||
DOF.Sky Scale | ||
Scene Exposure Offset | ||
Weight | ||
RnD | AUX X | |
AUX Y | ||
AUX Z | ||
FOG AUX W | ||
FOG AUX X | ||
FOG AUX Y | ||
FOG AUX Z | ||
Sky | Color | |
Rotation | ||
Sun | Color | |
Light Source Offset | ||
Shadow Blur Max | ||
Shadow Blur Min | ||
Shadow Initial Offset | ||
Shadow Range | ||
Wind | Direction | |
Speed | ||
Ambient | ||
AO Color | ||
Snow Level | ||
View Distance | ||
Water Level | ||
Wetness |
Graph Editor
A graph with curves for one or more properties.
- Average color values for: sky, fog, sunlight, and selected option with timeline.
- Vertical value scale and boxes with colors of curves.
- A graph with selected curves and background curves from the prop list.
- Timeline.
- Name of the texture (skybox, HDR, etc.) for the current weather preset.
Properties
Allows you to edit the weather preset's properties. For Constant Weathers, values are constant and keyed once. All weather properties are keyable.
For Day/Night Cycles, you can manually key values by setting time on the Timeline, and adjust the value in the properties window.
For Modifier Weathers:
- First, select the "main weather" that you are going to add a modifier to (it should appear as a W on the right side of the name, in the Weather List).
- Select the modifier weather (it should appear as an M on the right side from the name, in the Weather List).
- Now you're previewing the modifier weather.
- Weather modifiers allow you to override specific values while maintaining the originals (from the main weather).
Property name | Description | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Sky | Texture | Texture of the skybox. | For Day/Night Cycles, you can also change the skybox in "real-time" if needed. | |
Color | RGBA | Sky hue. A – sky intensity. | Important! In the indoor weather, you need to turn off the sky (RGBA=0) to avoid problems with reflections and leaks. | |
Rotation | Rotation of the skybox. | |||
Fog | Fog Color | RGBA | Main Fog Color. | |
Fog Color 2 | RGBA | Second Fog Color. | ||
Fog Density | Total Fog Density. | |||
For Variation +/- | Fog Unevenness. | Creates areas of greater and lesser fog density. | ||
Fog Turbulence Scale | Size of an uneven area (specified by the previous parameter (For Variation +/-). | |||
Height Base | Sets the height in meters, below which the fog density is uniform and maximum, and above which it begins to decrease. | |||
Height Based Density | Sets the intensity of fog density reduction above the Height Base point. If set to a negative value, the fog will 'turn over' | |||
Scattering Phase | Sets the shape of light scattering by the fog (from soft even dispersion (0), to sharp intense (1)). | |||
Density Curve | The intensity of the increase in fog density in relation to the distance from the player. | Use this to make the air foggy or clear. We recommend avoiding the Near Plane parameter. There must always be a thin layer of visible air (unless we are making a game set in outer space with no atmosphere). | ||
Fog Saturation | Fog saturation. | |||
Snow Level | Controls the height of snow on the level. | Objects that have a special shader will be affected by this. If there is no object, this value won't change anything. | ||
Water Level | Control the height of water on the level. | Objects that have a special shader will be affected by this. If there is no object, this value won't change anything. | ||
Wetness | Controls the overall wetness of the level. | Objects that have a special shader will be affected by this. If there is no object, this value won't change anything. Makes everything wet from 0 to 1, adds windy puddles from 1 to 2. AO is used as Rain Occlusion. This is an experimental feature. | ||
View Distance | Controls the camera's view distance. High values may impact performance. | Use high values for open maps! If you have a level that's entirely indoors, you should adjust this to a lower value. | ||
Wind | Direction | Controls the speed and direction of the wind that moves the fog. | ||
Speed | ||||
Clouds | Texture | Controls the shadow of the clouds in the scene. You can choose a mask, color, scale, or Speed Multiplier. | Even if your scene doesn't have a day/night cycle, it adds atmosphere to give the clouds some small movement. | |
Color | RGBA | |||
Scale | ||||
Scale Mult | ||||
Ambient | RGBA | Controls the Ambient Color. | ||
AO Color | RGBA | Controls the AO Color. | ||
Sun | Color | RGBA | The hue of the Sun. A – is the intensity of the Sun. | Important! With A=0 shadows from the Sun are not considered which greatly increases FPS. In the weather preset for indoors, it is obligatory to set A=0. |
Shadow Range | The distance over which the shadows from the Sun begin to be considered. | Important! It also has a big impact on FPS. But with Shadow Range=0, some shadow cascades are still considered, so it's better to turn the Sun off completely through A=0. | ||
Shadow Initial Offset | Control the Shadow Initial Offset, min and max shadow blur, and the offset for a Light Source. | |||
Shadow Blur Min | ||||
Shadow Blur Max | ||||
Light Source Offset | ||||
Flares | Color | RGBA | Color of the Sun. | |
Direction X | The Sun's X position. | |||
Direction Y | The Sun's Y position. | |||
Sprite Texture | Color | The Sprite's color. | ||
Radius | The Sprite's radius. | |||
RnD | AUX X | Research and Development, temporary props for controlling the air density. | ||
AUX Y | ||||
AUX Z | ||||
FOF AUX X | ||||
FOG AUX Y | ||||
FOG AUX Z | ||||
FOG AUX W | ||||
Color Cube | Intensity | Add a color cube that will multiply with the main skybox. You can also control the intensity. | ||
PostProcess | Weight | Control different Post Process, like DOF, Scene Exposure Offset, and others. | If you need the true color of the scene, keep Multiply at White (255), add Black (0), and Dot at Grey (85). | |
DOF.Near | ||||
DOF.Focus | ||||
DOF.Far | ||||
DOF. Sky Scale | ||||
Scene Exposure Offset | ||||
Bloor Exposure Offset | ||||
Color Multiply | RGBA | |||
Color Add | Adds constant RGB values to the frame, allows you to remove dips in the shadows. | You need to work carefully with this parameter – it works differently on different monitors. | ||
Color Dot | Adjusts the picture's saturation. | |||
Light | LOD | Sets a LOD for all lights of the current weather. | Without a key in this property, each light has its own log (if it is specially configured, by default). If there is a key, the weather preset puts its own light LODs. | |
AI | Lum Scale | Controls the luminosity cam. Check AI for more information. | This directly affects how NPCs see the player. | |
Lum Ambient | ||||
Sun Luminosity Cof |
RMB Utils For The Properties' Window
Util Name | Description |
---|---|
Reset to Default | Resets the property to default. |
Add Key | Adds a new key on the curve with selected time. |
Edit Hint | Edits a hint for the selected property. Hints are stored here: tools/editor/meta/props_metadata.lua |
Show Description | Displays a hint for the selected property on a separate panel. |
Add to Highlight List | Adds the selected property to the highlight list. |
Show Highlighted Only | If enabled, this will show only highlighted properties. |
Edit Custom Caption | Allows you to rename a property. |
Clear Custom Caption | Resets the name of the property to default. |
Disable Custom Caption | Disables the display of custom captions. |
Expand All | Expand all the lists. |
Collapse All | Collapse all the lists. |
Show Advanced Filter | Enables display of the advanced filter. This is where all properties are sorted into categories. |
Key Properties
Key Name | Description | ||
---|---|---|---|
Sky/Fog | Color | RGBA | Color of the skybox or fog for the current time. |
Time | Time for set for the current key. | ||
Shape | Shape of the key's curve. |
Status Bar
Icon\Option | Description |
---|---|
Allows you to preview the day/night cycle. You can set how long the day is and the weather cycle duration you'd like to preview. Note: this is just a preview. To set up a real Day Duration, check Setup for the Weather Volume above. | |
Day Duration | Duration of the day. |
From | Time of the start of the day. |
To | Time of the end of the day. |
Option | Shortcut |
---|---|
Move the graph field | Hold MMB |
Graph zoom | Mouse wheel |
Scale graphs on the vertical axis | Hold Shift + mouse wheel |
Scale graphs on the horizontal axis | Hold Ctrl + mouse wheel |
Zoom to fit | A |
Zoom to selected | Shift + A |
Move by Y-axis | Hold LMB on selected keys |
Move by X-axis | Hold Ctrl + LMB |
Add key in the selected frame | Insert |
Remove the selected keys | Delete |
Add one minute to the timeline | Arrow right |
Take one minute off the timeline | Arrow left |
Run/pause the timeline | Space |
Undo the operation | Ctrl + Z |
Redo the operation | Ctrl + Y |
Save all changes made | Ctrl + S |
Increase the TimeLine Grid by 2 times | [ |
Decrease the TimeLine Grid by 2 times | ] |
Copy All | Ctrl + C |
Paste All | Ctrl + V |
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