Region Environment Settings

The Windlight Region Settings Project Viewer enables you to get an early look at the new region environment controls. These controls provide region managers the ability to specify special environment settings for their region that override the user's default settings. So, for example, a gothic castle might have a dark and gloomy environment or a tropical island might be always bright and sunny.

You must use the Windlight Region Settings Project Viewer to see a region-specific environment. In the future, this feature will be part of the official released Second Life Viewer.

What changed

Previously, you had to use either default environment settings OR customized personal environment settings, which did not affect anyone else. Thus, there was no easy way to share distinctive environment settings.

Now, Windlight region settings enable you to define visual environments to match and enhance regions you control.

Windlight Region Settings Project Viewer

First Look test viewer to evaluate the new Windlight Settings workflow. This is not yet feature-complete; please read the documentation below, paying special attention to the notes on current limitations and bugs.

Installers: Windows | Macintosh | Linux

What are environment settings

Environment settings control how you see the water and the sky (including the air around you) in Second Life. If you are using the Windlight Region Settings Project Viewer, when you enter a region you see the environment configured for that region (if no region-specific settings have been configured, you see the default Second Life environment that you know and love).

The environment controls provide some pre-defined settings as examples of what is possible, but each user can create their own settings and either use them as personal settings or apply them to any region for which they have estate manager privileges.

Creating Custom Settings

There are three kinds of environment settings:

• Water Settings: the color of the water, how transparent it is, and how turbulent it is.
• Sky Settings: the color of the sky, the color of the light, the color and behavior of clouds, and how hazy the atmosphere is.
• Day Cycles: a sequence of sky settings that control how things look at different times in the Second Life "day".

You can edit each of these settings and save them as named presets that are saved locally on your computer along with other account preferences. If you access Second Life from multiple systems or multiple accounts, each combination of system and account will have its own collection of presets.

Creating a custom water preset

Note: in the current version of this Project Viewer, the editing function for water presets are not yet complete. You can display any existing preset, but can not modify them or create new ones. This limitation will be removed as soon as possible.

Choose World > Environment Editor > Water presets... and choose:

New preset

to create a new water setting.

1. Enter a name for the preset at the top of the dialog
2. Adjust settings until you have the effect you want
3. Press the Save button to store the new preset

Edit preset

to modify one of the existing water presets.

1. Choose the preset you wish to modify from the menu at the top of the dialog
2. Adjust settings until you have the effect you want
3. Press the Save button to store the new preset

This does not modify any regions in which you have previously used this water preset; to do that, you must return to the region and re-apply the modified preset.

Delete preset

to delete one of the existing water presets.

1. Choose the preset you wish to delete from the menu
2. Press the Delete button to erase the preset (there is no undo for this)

This does not modify any regions in which you have previously used this water preset.

Creating a Custom Sky Preset

Note: in the current version of this Project Viewer, the editing function for Sky presets are not yet complete. You can display any existing preset, but can not modify them or create new ones. This limitation will be removed as soon as possible, and a new version published.

Select the menu World→Environment Editor→Sky presets... and choose:

New preset

to create a new sky setting.

1. Enter a name for the preset at the top of the dialog
2. Adjust settings until you have the effect you want
3. Press the Save button to store the new preset

Edit preset

to modify one of the existing sky presets.

1. Choose the preset you wish to modify from the menu at the top of the dialog
2. Adjust settings until you have the effect you want
3. Press the Save button to store the new preset

This does not modify any regions in which you have previously used this sky preset either as a fixed sky or as part of a day cycle preset; to do that, you must return to the region and re-apply the modified preset.

Delete preset

to delete one of the existing sky presets.

1. Choose the preset you wish to delete from the menu
2. Press the Delete button to erase the preset (there is no undo for this)

This does not modify any regions in which you have previously used this sky preset either as a fixed sky or as part of a day cycle.

Creating a Custom Day Cycle Preset

A day cycle consists of a sequence of up to 20 Sky presets, each assigned to be displayed at a selected key time in the Second Life "day" (water settings cannot be varied in a day cycle; they are fixed throughout the day, but at most graphics levels the appearance of the water will, like real water, change depending on how the sky above it is reflected on its surface). Between the "key" times, the environment settings are gradually modified in a smooth transition between the settings for the two times (so, for example, if the sun is on the eastern horizon in one frame and overhead in the next, it will gradually rise between them). To create time periods during which the environment does not change, create key times at each end of the desired stable period and select the same sky preset for both key times.

The small downward-pointing triangle above the timeline indicates the time in the Second Life day that is currently displayed; you can drag it left and right to see how things will look at different times during the day. While the timeline is shown with a familiar 24 hour day, the actual Second Life "day" is 4 real hours long (a full day cycle repeats every 4 hours).

Key times are displayed on the yellow timeline as rounded markers, and are created by pressing the Add Key button. The new key is created at the current time in the day. The time and sky setting for the selected marker (either the most recently added key, or the one most recently chosen by clicking on the marker) are displayed below the timeline. Key times can be moved by dragging the marker, or by modifying the time value in the box below the timeline.

Select the menu World→Environment Editor→Day presets... and choose:

New preset

to create a new day cycle.

1. Enter a name for the day cycle at the top of the dialog
2. Adjust settings until you have the sequence you want
3. Press the Save button to store the new day cycle

Edit preset

to modify one of the existing day cycles.

1. Choose the day cycle you wish to modify from the menu at the top of the dialog
2. Adjust the sequence until you have the effect you want
3. Press the Save button to store the day cycle

This does not modify any regions in which you have previously used this day cycle; to do that, you must return to the region and re-apply it.

Delete preset

to delete one of the existing day presets.

1. Choose the preset you wish to delete from the menu
2. Press the Delete button to erase the preset (there is no undo for this)

This does not modify any regions in which you have previously used this day cycle.

Choosing Which Settings You See

To select whether you see personal unshared environment or the shared environment:

1. Select the menu World→Environment Editor→Environment Settings...
2. Choose:

   Use Region Settings

   to see the shared settings from any region you are in (this is the default, and recommended unless you have a particular need to control the environment).

   Use Personal Settings

   to see unshared settings you choose yourself:

   1. Choose a Water setting preset
   2. Choose a Sky/Day Cycle:

      Fixed Sky

      and select a single Sky preset to be displayed regardless of the time in the Second Life day

      Day Cycle

      and select a Day preset to display an environment that changes continuously according to the time of the Second Life day

3. Push the Ok button to confirm your choice, or Cancel to return your environment to what it was before.

In addition to the Environment Settings dialog above, the World→Environment Editor menu also has four shortcut selections that establish the original Second Life default settings: Sunrise, Midday, Sunset, and Midnight. These are each equivalent to a Fixed Sky at different times during the default Second Life day; they are not shared.

Establishing Settings For a Region

Modifying the environment settings for a region gives you great control over the ambiance experienced by visitors. To set the shared environment:

1. Select the menu World→Place Profile→Region/Estate
2. Select the Environment tab
3. Choose:

   Use Second Life Defaults

   to set the region environment to the familiar default Second Life day cycle

   Use the following settings

   to establish settings you choose:

   1. Choose a Water setting preset

      this will update what you see, but the change is not yet permanent or visible to others

   2. Choose a Sky/Day Cycle, either:

      Fixed Sky

      and select a single Sky preset to be displayed regardless of the time in the Second Life day

      Day Cycle

      and select a Day preset to display an environment that changes continuously according to the time of the Second Life day

      this will also update what you see, but the change is not yet permanent or visible to others

4. Push the Apply button

   this makes the selections above permanent and begins displaying the new settings to anyone in the region, #: Pushing Cancel or closing the dialog without pressing Apply returns the region environment to what it was before.

Note: at present, there are two server side issues that affect these choices: If you choose Use Second Life default, you will get an error message and no change will be made to the region. Instead, you must choose to apply a custom day cycle and select the "Default" day cycle. For Use the following settings, shortly after you Apply the settings, the names of the presets may change to the name of your region; your settings have been properly applied, but the copy saved in the region has been renamed. There are fixes for both issues that will be deployed in due course; how soon may vary from region to region.

Modifying an Existing Region Setting

1. Select the menu World→Environment Editor→Day Presets→Edit preset...
2. On the menu of presets, select the top choice (above the line); these are the settings as read from the region.
3. Make your changes to those settings
4. Press Save. You will be prompted to confirm that you wish to modify the existing saved setting.

   Doing the save above modifies your local saved copy, but has not yet actually changed the region settings.

5. Select the menu World→Place Profile→Region/Estate
6. Select the Environment tab
7. Choose:

   Use Custom Region Settings

   Day Cycle

   select the saved day cycle that you saved above from the menu

8. Press Apply

To apply the same settings to more than one region, just go to the Region/Estate Environment tab for each region and apply the same saved setting.