Advanced Water Settings

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This article is part of the Extended Second Life Knowledge Base that includes advanced and specialized information. This information was originally provided by Linden Lab, but is not actively maintained nor guaranteed to be accurate. Linden Lab does not certify nor assume any responsibility for this information.

See the official Second Life Knowledge Base for the most current information.


The Advanced Water Settings window contains detailed controls for modifying water effects. Here you can modify water fog, reflection properties, refraction, and reflection normal maps.


Opening Advanced Water Settings

Advanced Water Settings is located in the Environment Editor:


  1. Go to World > Environment Settings > Environment EditorKbsd Kb sky menu open 2.jpg
  2. In the Environment Editor, click the Advanced Water buttonKbsd Kb sky menu basic 2.jpg



Overview of Advanced Water Settings

The Settings Tab

Kbsd Advanced water settings settings.jpg


The Settings tab allows you to change several properties of your current Region's water:


Water Fog Color: This changes the color of the particulate matter in your water, essentially defining the color of the water itself. If your water has no fog, it will appear crystal clear and colorless.


Fog Density Exponent: Controls the density of your water fog; this setting defines how far you are able to see into the water.


Underwater Fog Modifier: Controls how the fog density changes when you are underwater. Useful for for creating far-seeing views when underwater while keeping the surface fairly opaque. For example, at a setting of 0.25, the water fog is 1/4 as dense while underwater as it appears from above the surface.


Reflection Wavelet Scale: Controls the scale of the three wavelets that make up the surface of the water.


Fresnel Scale: Determines how much light is reflected at different angles; increasing this slider reduces visual reflection effects on the water's surface.


Fresnel Offset: Determines how much total light is reflected; increasing this slider increases the amount of light reflected by the water's surface.


Refract Scale Above: Controls the amount of visual refraction you can see from above the water's surface; this is the "wobbly" effect you can see when you look at an object that is underwater.


Refract Scale Below: Controls the amount of visual refraction you can see from below the water's surface. This is the "wobbly" effect you can see when you look at an object that is above the water.


Blur Multiplier: Controls how waves and reflections are mixed. Increasing this setting increases the amount of distortion you see in reflections as a result of wave activity.



The Image Tab

Kbsd Advanced water settings image.jpg


The Image tab allows you to alter the normal map used for determining wave and reflection behaviors; Second Life's wave effects are generated by superimposing a large normal map image over a smaller version of itself:


Big Wave Direction: Controls the X and Y direction and speed of the large wave image.


Little Wave Direction: Controls the X and Y direction and speed of the small wave image.


Normal Map: Controls the normal map used for determining reflections and refractions. Any texture may be used for this setting- but true normal maps work best. Try snake skin, tiles, or any other normal map for some wacky effects!