Content Tools Reference Guide

Red circle — updates the Roll field.

Green circle — updates the Pitch field.

Blue circle — updates the Yaw field.

Red cube — updates the V field.

Green cube — updates the U field.

Free

Terrain

Obstacle

Normal — same as the toolbar button.

Chunk borders — same as the toolbar button.

Pole markers — same as the toolbar button.

Wireframe — same as the toolbar button.

World

Local

View

If Terrain Texture Tool^B —— is selected

Recalculates detail objects, such as flora, based on the texture predominant in the terrain.

For more details on flora calculation, see the document Content Creation Manual's lesson Create and Use Flora (the document is accessed by pressing F1 or by selecting the Help → Content Creation menu item — for details, see Menu items).

If at least one object is selected

If Terrain Texture Tool toolbar button^C —— is selected

Activates the texture sampler tool (indicated by the cursor icon), which samples the dominant texture of the chunk under the cursor — the Terrain Texturing panel's Active Texture field^C will be updated accordingly.

If Terrain Texture Height toolbar button^E —— is selected

Activates the height picker tool (indicated by the cursor icon), which samples the height underneath the cursor and assigns it to the Terrain Height panel's Explicit Height field (for details, see Terrain Height panel).

If Terrain Import/Export toolbar button^D —— is selected

Activates the height picker tool (indicated by the cursor icon), which samples the maximum height of the region selected by dragging the mouse and assigns it to the Terrain Import/Export panel's Maximum Height field (for details, see Terrain Import/Export panel).

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

If Terrain Texture Tool toolbar button^C —— is selected

Activates the texture/opacity sampler tool (indicated by the cursor icon), which samples the dominant texture of the chunk under the cursor and its opacity — the Terrain Texturing panel's Active Texture and Opacity fields^C will be updated accordingly.

If Terrain Texture Tool toolbar button^C —— is selected

Activates the texture projection tool (indicated by the cursor icon — a red- and green-sided square indicates the clicked area), which adjusts the Terrain Texturing panel's Projection fields^C to the values of that of the terrain under the cursor.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

If the watcher is in Edit mode, then decreases the watcher's value by 1,000.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

If the watcher is in Edit mode, then increases the watcher's value by 1,000.

If at least one object is selected

While pressed, the key enables the selection of multiple objects (NOTE: the key does not toggle an additive selection mode).

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

If Terrain Height Tool toolbar button^E —— is selected

Note: This is only valid if the left Ctrl key is pressed.

Activates the explicit height brush (indicated by a green square), which immediately sets the terrain height to the value specified in the Explicit Height field (if the Absolute option button is selected), or immediately increases the terrain height by the value specified in the Explicit Height field (if the Relative option button is selected).

For details on absolute and relative explicit height modes, see Terrain Height panel.

If Terrain Import/Export toolbar button^D —— is selected

Activates the height picker tool (indicated by the cursor icon), which samples the minimum height of the region selected by dragging the mouse and assigns it to the Terrain Import/Export panel's Minimum Height field.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

If the watcher is in Edit mode, then decreases the watcher's value by 100.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

If the watcher is in Edit mode, then increases the watcher's value by 100.

If at least one object is selected

While pressed, the key activates the rotation gizmo (NOTE: the key does not toggle a rotation mode).

The rotation gizmo uses the Object panel's Coordinate system and Locking Mode group boxes to determine which axis to rotate around and whether to snap the objects while rotating (for details, see Object panel).

If Terrain Texture Tool toolbar button^C —— is selected

Activates the texture projection/scale gizmo (for details, see Terrain Texturing gizmos). The gizmo can also be activated by clicking the button on top of the Terrain Texturing panel^C.

If Terrain Import/Export toolbar button^D —— is selected

Locks the selected region being dragged to chunk boundaries.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and watcher is in edit mode

Displays the watcher modification history.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

If the watcher is in Edit mode, then decreases the watcher's value by 100.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

If the watcher is in Edit mode, then increases the watcher's value by 100.

If Debug (Watcher) console^C is active

Returns the list to the previous branch of the watcher tree.

ON

Increases the current camera speed. It accelerates the camera movement, which speed is set by keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, Ctrl+3, and Ctrl+4), or by the Camera Speed toolbar buttons (,,, and ).

OFF

Restores camera to the speed set by keyboard shortcuts or by the Camera Speed toolbar buttons^A.

If Object Tool toolbar button^B —— is selected

Places the selected object under the mouse cursor.

If Python console^E

Executes the Python command, or exits the console if no command was specified.

If Realtime Profiling console^D is active

Expands or collapses the profiling element currently selected — elements with children are indicated by an ellipsis (…) next to it.

If Debug (Watcher) console^C is active

If the File → Save or File → Process Data menu item has been selected, and is still saving/processing

Cancels the operation (for details, see Menu items).

If any console is active

Exits the console.

NOTE: The different modes and consoles are activated in the following way:

If Debug (Watcher) console^C is active

If Realtime Profiling console^D is active

Scrolls the list to display the first page.

If Debug (Watcher) console^C is active

Returns the list to the root of the watcher tree.

If Realtime Profiling console^D is active

Moves the selection to the next element in the list.

Performs the same function as the ] (square right bracket) keyboard shortcut.

If Debug (Watcher) console^C is active

If Realtime Profiling console^D is active

Moves the selection to the previous element in the list.

Performs the same function as the [ (square left bracket) keyboard shortcut.

If Debug (Watcher) console^C is active

If Realtime Profiling console^A is active

Scrolls the screen one line down.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

Scrolls the watcher list down.

If Terrain Filter Tool toolbar button^C —— is selected

Selects the previous item in the Filters list box.

If Realtime Profiling console^A is active

Scrolls the screen one line up.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

Scrolls the watcher list up.

If Terrain Filter Tool toolbar button^C —— is selected

Selects the next item in the Filters list box.

If Terrain Texture Tool^D ——, Terrain Height Tool^E ——, Terrain Filter Tool^C ——, or Terrain Mesh Tool^F —— toolbar button is selected

Decreases the brush size.^G

If Realtime Profiling console^A is active

Moves the selection to the profiling element in the list.

Performs the same function as the Page Up keyboard shortcut.^I

If Terrain Texture Tool^D ——, Terrain Height Tool^E ——, Terrain Filter Tool^C ——, or Terrain Mesh Tool^F —— toolbar button is selected

Increases the brush size.^G

If Realtime Profiling console^A is active

Moves the selection to the next element in the list.

Performs the same function as the Page Down keyboard shortcut^I.

If Terrain Texture Tool^D ——, Terrain Height Tool^E ——, Terrain Filter Tool^C ——, or Terrain Mesh Tool^F —— toolbar button is selected

Decreases the brush strength.^G

If Terrain Texture Tool^D ——, Terrain Height Tool^E ——, Terrain Filter Tool^C ——, or Terrain Mesh Tool^F —— toolbar button is selected

Increases the brush strength.^G

1

Activates the Object mode — for details, see Object panel. This mode is also activated by the toolbar button^D.

2

Activates the Terrain texture mode — for details, see Terrain Texturing panel. This mode is also activated by the toolbar button^D.

3

Activates the Terrain height mode — for details, see Terrain Height panel. This mode is also activated by the toolbar button^D.

4

Activates the Terrain filter mode — for details, see Terrain Filtering panel. This mode is also activated by the toolbar button^D.

5

Activates the Terrain mesh cut/repair mode — for details, see Terrain Mesh Cut/Repair panel. This mode is also activated by the toolbar button^D.

6

Activates the Terrain import/export mode — for details, see Terrain Import/Export panel. This mode is also activated by the toolbar button^D.

7

Activates the Project mode — for details, see Project panel. This mode is also activated by the toolbar button^D.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active

Depending on the key modifier pressed (if any), selects the following item (n is the pressed key):

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

If Navigation panel is active

If Object panel^C is active

Toggles the snapping of objects to the grid specified in the Object panel.

This value is also set by the Object panel's Object Grid Snaps group box's Enabled check box.

If Realtime Profiling console^B is active

Draws a graph for the profiling element currently selected.

More than one element can be graphed at any one time. Each one will be assigned a different colour, which will be used to display the element's name, and draw the graph itself.

If the Navigation panel^D is active

If a shell is selected

While pressed, causes the mouse middle button click to copy selected shell, and links both by a matching portal.

Note: V must be pressed before and during the middle mouse button click.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and watcher is in edit mode

Decreases the watcher's value by 1,000.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and watcher is in edit mode

Increases the watcher's value by 1,000.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and used alphanumeric keypad

Selects list item 4[0-9].

If Terrain Texture Tool toolbar button^A —— is selected

Activates the texture/opacity sampler tool (indicated by the cursor icon), which samples the dominant texture of the chunk under the cursor and its opacity — the Terrain Texturing panel's Active Texture and Opacity fields^C will be updated accordingly.

If Terrain Texture Tool toolbar button^A —— is selected

Activates the texture projection tool (indicated by the cursor icon — a red- and green-sided square indicates the clicked area), which adjusts the Terrain Texturing panel's Projection fields^C to that of the terrain under the cursor.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and used alphanumeric keypad

Selects list item 5[0-9].

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and watcher is in edit mode

Decreases the watcher's value by 100.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and watcher is in edit mode

Increases the watcher's value by 100.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and used alphanumeric keypad

Selects item 2[0-9].

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and used alphanumeric keypad

Selects item 3[0-9].

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and watcher is in edit mode

Displays the watcher modification history.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and watcher is in edit mode

Decreases the watcher's value by 1.

If Debug (Watcher) console^B is active and watcher is in edit mode

Increases the watcher's value by 1.

If Terrain Texture Tool toolbar button^D —— is selected

Decreases the brush strength.

If Terrain Texture Tool toolbar button^D —— is selected

Increases the brush strength.

Width, Height

Number of chunks in the space, in the east/west and north/south direction, respectively.

Use simple terrain

Determines whether to use terrain advanced features in the creation of the new space.

If this check box is cleared, then the remaining fields in the group box are disabled and the terrain will have the following characteristics:

Height map resolution

Resolution of the height map per chunk.

Higher values in this field result in a more detailed terrain geometry, but also in higher rendering times.

Recommended value is 128.

Normal map resolution

Resolution of the normal map per chunk — this map contains information about the slope of the terrain, and is used for illumination.

Hole map resolution

Resolution of the holes map per chunk — this map contains information about the holes in the terrain, which are needed to transition between the terrain and an indoor chunk (shell).

Shadow map resolution

Resolution of the terrain shadow map per chunk — this map contains shadow information originated from objects (e.g., a house, which casts a shadow in the terrain) and from the terrain itself (e.g., a hill in the terrain, which casts a shadow onto itself).

Higher values in this field result in a longer time for shadow generation for the terrain.

Recommended value is 32.

Texture blend map resolution

Resolution of the texture layers blend maps per chunk — this map contains a blend information similar to an opacity/alpha channel on how to blend the textures onto the terrain.

Higher values in this fields allow for a more detailed terrain texturing, but also result in higher memory use.

Recommended value is 128.

Wavelength

Length (in metres) of the respective octave.

Weight

Contribution (in percentage) of the respective octave in the noise mask.

Seed

Seed to generate the noise.

Min Saturation

Minimum value that the alpha value must have to be used in the noise mask.

Max Saturation

Maximum value that the alpha value might have to be used in the noise mask.

Min Strength

Minimum value that the output alpha value will have — all alpha values will be recalculated to fit between Min Strength and Max Strength.

Min Strength

Maximum value that the output alpha value will have — all alpha values will be recalculated to fit between Min Strength and Max Strength.

Links the Y, P, and R values to each other, for both Min and Max.

This means that when Min or Max value of a rotation component is changed, the others are automatically changed as well.

Y

Min and Max values for yaw randomisation during object placement.

P

Min and Max values for pitch randomisation during object placement.

R

Min and Max values for roll randomisation during object placement.

Resets Min and Max values of the respective rotation component to its default value.

Apply scale proportionally on all axes

Randomises object's scale by the same amount in all axes, effectively keeping its proportion.

The toggle button is automatically selected when this option is selected, and cannot be cleared.

Links the X, Y and Z values to each other, for both Min and Max.

This means that when Min or Max value of a scale component is changed, the others are automatically changed as well.

X

Min and Max values for scale randomisation along the x-axis.

Y

Min and Max values for scale randomisation along the y-axis.

Z

Min and Max values for scale randomisation along the z-axis.

Resets Min and Max values of the respective scale component to its default value.

World

Uses world coordinate system.

Local

Uses object coordinate system.

View

Uses camera coordinate system.

Free

Unlocks object movement — this is where the red, green, and blue direction axis can be used to drag the object along a single axis.

The height of the last placed object is used when placing new objects.

Terrain

Sets object movement to slide along terrain.

This setting is ignored by the rotation gizmo (activated by pressing Shift — for details, see Keyboard shortcuts).

Obstacle

Sets object movement to slide along obstacles, including terrain.

This setting causes the position gizmo to display a white sphere at its origin, which can be used to move the object along obstacles.

Please note that the snapping is applied only when there is exactly one item selected.

Enabled

Enables the snapping of objects, according to x, y, z, and Angle values.

x

Value (in metres) for snapping items along the x- axis.

y

Value (in metres) for snapping items along the y- axis.

z

Value (in metres) for snapping items along the z- axis.

Angle

Number of degrees by which to rotate the selected item using the mouse wheel (for details, see Mouse controls).

If only one item is selected, then it will be rotated around itself. If more than one item is selected, then they will be rotated around their common centre.

If the Enabled check box is cleared, then this value will be ignored, and selected object(s) will be rotated by 15˚.

Shell snaps

Sets x, y, z and Angle to the optimal values for placing shells.

1 x 1 x 1

Sets x, y, z and Angle to the optimal values for placing outdoor modular items.

.1 x .1 x .1

Sets x, y, z and Angle to the optimal values for placing indoor modular items.

Setting

Specifies how to place new objects in the world.

You can determine that objects should be placed as they are, or apply random rotation and/or scale. The latter is useful to give a natural look to the finished world, as each instance of the object will have orientation and size different from others.

The drop-down list box has the following options:

Opens the Placement Controls dialog box (for details, see Placement Controls dialog box), where you can specify ranges within which rotation and scale will be randomised during object placement.

Active texture's information

Displays a thumbnails of the active texture, alongside its filename, size, and memory footprint.

Projection

Group of fields configuring the projection that should be applied to the Active Texture when painting or replacing the texture in the terrain.

All fields in this group can be automatically updated by the texture projection tool (indicated by the cursor icon — a red- and green-sided square indicates the clicked area), which adjusts the Projection fields to that of the terrain under the cursor.

Scaling

Group of fields configuring the scaling to be applied to the Active Texture when painting or replacing the texture in the terrain.

Reset

Resets the Project and Scaling groups of fields to the Active Texture's original values.

Activates the edit projection mode, in which the texture projection/scale gizmo (for details, see Terrain Texturing gizmos) is displayed for the last-edited area.

Show overlay

Determines whether non-paintable areas of the terrain (as determined by the import mask) should be rendered with a red tint.

Height

Slope

Texture

Noise

Imported

Paint entire space using selected mask

Applies the current brush/mask combination to the entire space.

This is a quick way to paint, for example, snow peaks or rock faces.

To a certain height:

To immediately set the height of an area:

By a certain amount:

To gradually increase the height of an area:

Size

Sets the size of the brush (in metres) used to apply the specified height onto the terrain.

The brush size is used both for incremental height changes (when the area affected is indicated by a round brush icon), and absolute height changes (when the area affected is indicated by a square brush icon).

The [ (square left bracket) and ] (square right bracket) keys^A decrease and increase the size of the brush, respectively.

Strength

Sets the strength of the brush when incrementally applying the specified height to the terrain area underneath the brush icon.

As you hold the left mouse button, the height is gradually incremented to the area indicated by the round brush icon. Small Strength values cause the height to be incremented slowly, while the opposite happens for big Strength values.

Alt+[ (square left bracket) and Alt+] (square right bracket) keys^A decrease and increase the strength of the brush, respectively.

Brush mode

How affected terrain should change its shape.

Explicit height

Number of metres by which to change affected terrain.

Mode

Determines whether terrain height should be set to Explicit Height, or incremented by it.

Cut

Removes the terrain under the brush.

Repair

Restores the terrain under the brush.

Greyscale heightmaps — .r16, .raw, .bmp

Terragen files — .ter

DTED2 files — .dt2

Bitmap files (.bmp)

Raw files (.r16, .raw)

Terragen files (.ter)

Min, Max

Height of lowest and highest points in imported terrain map.

If the Absolute heights check box is selected, then all points in the imported map will have their heights adjusted to correspond to the Min and Max values.

When Current File is specified via the Import button, then Min is automatically set to 0.

Replace

Replaces the current terrain with the one being imported.

Additive

For each point in terrain, height is added to the one in map being imported.

Subtractive

For each point in terrain, height is subtracted from the one in map being imported.

Overlay

Finds the median height in map being imported. Then, considering this median height as being 0 metres high, applies the Additive mode.

Minimum

For each point in terrain, height is set to the one in map being imported, if it is lower than the one in current map.

Maximum

For each point in terrain, height is set to the one in map being imported, if it is higher than the one in current map.

Rotates map 90° counter-clockwise.

Rotates map 90° clockwise.

Flips map horizontally.

Flips map vertically.

Inverts colours in map.

Renormalises colours in map, to reflect changes to Height.

If minimum and maximum heights are changed via the Height field, the colours of map being imported will be out-of-date, until this button is clicked.

Render Target: Contains the name of the output render target for the Phase. This render target can be filled in by copy & paste from another Phase's Render Target field, or can be dragged from the Asset Browser's Post-Processing Render Targets folder. Render Targets are defined in script by the game programmers beforehand. A special render target identified as "backBuffer" represents the screen's back buffer.

Clear Render Target: If set to true, the output render target is cleared before applying the Phase's result. If set to false, the results are accumulated.

FX File: Some Phases have an associated DirectX .fx file which contains the shader code to perform the desired processing. The user can type it in, browse for it using a standard file open dialog, or can drag it from the Asset Browser's Post-Processing FX Files folder.

Source Blend and Destination Blend: Allows choosing the desired blending modes for the Phase.

inputTexture: Some phases contain one or more fields for textures and/or render targets to be used as inputs by the Phase's shader. In most cases, the user will want to use the previous Phase's Render Target output as the input texture for the Phase, but in general this field can be set to any Render Target or texture. For example, a clever post-processing chain will have a down sampling Effect which outputs to an internal render target, and this render target can then be used one or more times as input in Phases of other Effects (such as the Bloom in the default chain).

alpha, additionalAlpha: These field control how much of the Phase's processing is actually blended into the output render target. In some cases an Effect won't have any visible impact on the screen, even when the Bypass button is on, because the alpha value is 0.

Animation

List of animations specified for the model in the .model file (for details on this file's grammar, see the document File Grammar Guide's section .model).

Value is set to the animation currently being played.

Animation speed

Speed of the animation being currently played.

Chunk

Chunk where the item is located.

Client only

Determines that the entity will not exist on the server, and will not have cell nor base scripts.

For details, see the document Client Programming Guide's section Entities → Entity scripts.

Colour

RGB colour of the selected item, in hexadecimal format.

Cone angle

Sets the angle of the cone of light generated by spot light.

The angle at which the light is placed in relation the ground or model affects its intensity.

Available only for spot lights.

Dynamic

Specifies that light should be applied to dynamic, i.e., moving objects.

Available only for directional lights, omni lights, and spot lights.

Direction pitch, Direction yaw, Direction roll

Pitch, yaw, and roll of direction of the light.

Available only for directional lights and spot lights.

Inner radius

Sets the area over which the light will be at full intensity.

Available only for omni lights and spot lights.

Model name

Model file (for details on this file's grammar, see the document File Grammar Guide's section .model).

Multiplier

Sets the multiplier for the RGB value of the colour.

The RGB values will be multiplied by the value set for this field, effectively making the item brighter.

Available only for lights.

Outer radius

Sets the total area influenced by light.

The area starting at Inner Radius will have light at full intensity, which will be faded away until it is completely off when it reaches Outer Radius.

Available only for omni lights and spot lights.

Outside only

Specifies whether the object can only be placed on outside chunks.

If an object placed in an inside chunk has this property set to true, then World Editor will move it to a suitable outside chunk.

This property is used in cases when a model is to be rendered from outdoors, and acts as a facade for an indoor shell. This prevents the model from being recognised as belonging to the indoor shell, and hence being lit as such.

The exterior of a house that surrounds an indoor shell is a good example of when this property would be used.

Position.x, Position.y, Position.z

Position of the item along the respective axis.

Rotation pitch, Rotation yaw, Rotation roll

Pitch, yaw, and roll of the item in its currently placement in the world.

Scale.x, Scale.y, Scale.z

Scale in which to draw the item along the respective axis.

Specular

Specifies that light should be applied to materials with a specular map specified.

Available only for directional lights, omni lights, and spot lights.

Static

Specifies that light should be applied to static, i.e., scene objects.

Available only for directional lights, omni lights, and spot lights.

Colour adjust

It contains the following fields:

/

Determines if World Editor should automatically display texture information from the chunk under the cursor.

/

Determines if World Editor should outline the chunk under the cursor.

Maximum textures per chunk warning

Number of textures per chunk above which a warning message should be displayed in the offending chunks.

The warning will be displayed in the chunk as illustrated in the image below.

Example of a chunk displaying the "maximum textures per chunk" warning

Use Texture

Select the texture as the Active Texture on the Terrain Texturing panel.

Edit Projection and Scale

Activates the edit projection mode of the Terrain Texturing panel with the selected texture being the edited texture layer. See .Terrain Texturing mouse controls

Set as Texture Mask

Selects the texture as the texture mask on the Terrain Texturing panel.

Remove Texture(s)

Deletes the selected textures. They are replaced by the texture that was not selected and contributes the most to the chunk. This is the same as pressing the Delete key.

Merge Textures

Merges the selected textures into the last texture selected. The last texture selected has a slightly thicker red rectangle around it. This is the same as pressing the Space key.