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 customize the environment settings for their region that are automatically shared by users in the region (unless those users have chosen personal overrides). 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; for residents not running this viewer, regions will appear as they always have. 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 manage.
This Project Viewer is provided to evaluate the new Windlight region settings workflow. This feature is not yet complete: see below, paying special attention to the notes on current limitations and bugs.
We are especially interested in feedback on ease of use and whether or not you find the new workflow to be intuitive.
Please join the Windlight Region Testers SL group if you are testing this feature. If you are an Estate Manager and have customized settings on a region, send a Notice to the group to let other members know so that they can come and experience what you've done.
Feedback is welcome on the opensource-dev mailing list, group chat in the above group, the discussion tab for this wiki page, or in private email to Oz Linden.
Please do not create Jira issues on this without first discussing it with the developers first through one of the means above, since there are many things we already know are not working and would like to prevent duplication. If, after you've discussed it with us, we ask you to create an issue, please create it in the VWR project and Link the issue to STORM-1126 Windlight Region Settings.
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 example pre-defined settings, but you can create your own settings and either use them as personal settings or apply them to any region for which you are an estate manager.
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".
Presets
For each of the three environment settings you can define a specific configuration as a named preset, saved locally on your computer along with other 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.
Choosing the settings you see
With the Windlight Region Settings Project Viewer, by default you will see the region's environment settings. This provides a more immersive experience, but if you want to change the default:
- Choose World > Enviroment Editor > Environment Settings.
- Click either:
- Use region settings to see the shared region settings (the default).
- Use my settings to see personal settings that affect only you:
- Choose a Water Setting preset.
- Choose a Sky/Day Cycle preset; either:
- Fixed Sky, displayed regardless of the time of day.
- Day Cycle to display an environment that changes continuously according to time of day
- Click OK.
Sun settings
Instead of using the environment editor, you can choose from a set of four predefined "shortcut" fixed sky settings that affect only you. These are the same fixed presets available in the release viewer.
Choose World > Sun; then choose:
- Sunrise
- Midday
- Sunset
- Midnight
This selection does not affect anyone else and overrides any previous environment selection.
Working with presets
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Note: in the current version (2.7.2.231798) of this Project Viewer, you can display an existing sky or water preset, but cannot edit or create new ones. This limitation will be removed as soon as possible. You can create and edit day cycle presets using the existing example sky and water presets. |
To create, edit, or delete a preset:
- Choose World > Environment Editor
- Choose either
- Water Presets
- Sky Presets
- Day Presets
- Follow the steps below.
To create a new preset
- Choose New Preset...
- Enter a name for the preset in the Preset Name field.
- Adjust settings until you have the effect you want.
- Click Save to create the new preset
To edit an existing preset
- Choose Edit Preset...
- The Create a New Water Preset, Create a New Sky Preset or Create a New Day Cycle window opens.
- Select the preset to modify from the Preset Name dropdown.
- Adjust settings until you have the effect you want
- Click Save to store the new preset.
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Important: Editing a preset does not affect regions that are already set to use it; to do that, you must go to the region and re-apply the modified preset as described in Choosing environment settings for a region. |
To delete a preset
- Choose Delete Preset...
- Select the preset to delete from the dropdown.
- Click Delete and confirm the action when prompted.
There is no way to undo deleting a preset.
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Important: Deleting a preset does not modify any regions that already use it; You must go to the region and choose another setting as described in Choosing environment settings for a region. |
Working with day cycles
A day cycle consists of a sequence of up to twenty sky presets, each assigned to be displayed at a selected key time in the Second Life "day." Between the key times, the environment settings are gradually modified in a smooth transition between the settings for the two times. For example, if the sun is on the eastern horizon at one key 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; 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 four real hours long (a full day cycle repeats every four hours).
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Note: You cannot vary water settings 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 the light and how the sky above it is reflected on its surface. |
Key times
Key times are displayed on the yellow timeline as round markers.
To create a new key time, click Add Key. The new key is created at the current time in the day and is automatically selected.
To select an existing key time, click the marker. The time and sky setting for the selected marker are displayed below the timeline.
To move a key time, click on it and drag, or change the value in the Time box by typing a new time or clicking the up arrow or down arrow buttons.
To delete a key time, select it, then click Delete Key.
Choosing environment settings for a region
If you are an estate manager of a region, you can choose the region's environment settings:
- Choose World > Place Profile > Region/Estate.
- Click the Environment tab.
- To use the default Second Life environment and day cycle, click Use Second Life default.
- To use custom settings, click Use my settings, then:
- In the Water Setting list, choose a water preset . This will update what you see, but the change is not yet permanent or visible to others.
- For Sky/Day Cycle, chose either:
- Fixed Sky and choose a sky preset to be displayed regardless of the Second Life time.
- Day cycle and choose a day cycle preset.
- This will also update what you see, but the change is not yet permanent or visible to others.
- Click Apply to make your selections permanent; they will then affect anyone in the region.
Click Cancel or close the window before clicking Apply to return the region environment to its previous settings.
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.
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Warning: Two server issues affect this feature:
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Region Boundaries
The environment you see depends on the region you are in at the time. If adjacent regions have different environment settings, any parts of the adjacent region you can see will still appear with the environment of the region you are looking from. When you cross a boundary into a region with different settings, the environment transitions smoothly over a few seconds to the new local settings.
Teleports
When you teleport into a region, there may be a brief period during which you see your previous environment or the default environment before the local environment settings are established.
Test Regions
The Hippotropolis and Hippo Hollow regions are adjacent and have different settings. The developers are using these regions heavily for testing so these settings may change at any time. They are a good place to see what region crossings look like.