Using Terrain Editor Preview

From Multiverse

Contents 1 Getting Started 1.1 Download 1.2 Prerequisites 1.3 Caveats 1.4 Key features 1.5 Feedback 2 Opening a world file 3 Overview of the user interface 4 Start menu 5 Quickbar 5.1 Quick Access Toolbar 6 Toolbar ribbon 6.1 Terrain tab 6.2 Options tab 6.3 Help tab 7 Scene View 7.1 Navigation and camera control 7.2 Scene View toolbar 8 Project View 8.1 Project View Icons 8.2 Project View toolbar 9 Properties view 10 Elevations view 11 Customizing the UI

Getting Started

Thanks for checking out our Terrain Editor preview release! Once you've had a chance to play with it, we hope you will be as excited as we are about our new tool system.

See also: Terrain Editor Preview Release Notes for more information on hardware and software requirements, known issues and workarounds, and other important information.

Download

See the forum announcement for download URL and other important information.

Prerequisites

The Tools Preview Release provides an early preview release of the Multiverse Terrain Editor, that you can use to modify world terrain files and move objects in the world. This release of the tool will not create new terrain files, or do many of the other things that the final release will be able to do. So:

• Do not uninstall your current Multiverse tools. You will still need them for certain tasks, for example creating new terrain files.
• You must [Download an Asset Repository|download and install one of the new asset repositories] and designate it as one of your default tools asset repositories. Terrain Editor requires some new assets provided in these repositories.

Caveats

Please remember: this is a preview release. We strongly advise you to:

• Back up your data, because at this early stage its possible that the tool may corrupt data.
• Save and backup your files often, because the tool may be unstable and cause you to lose work.

The tool is not currently suitable for use with production worlds. The final Toolbox release will have greatly improved stability and reliability.

Key features

The Terrain Editor in this preview release enables you to:

• Dynamically "terraform" terrain while viewing the position of buildings and other world objects. NOTE: The tool cannot yet create entirely new terrain maps; you must use other tools to do that (for now).
• Texture terrain by "painting" it.
• Automatically convert fractal-based terrain to heightmap terrain.

Feedback

After using the Terrain Editor, please let us know:

• What you liked; what worked well.
• What didn't work as you expected it.
• What repetitive actions did you perform that could be made easier to deal with.

If you run into a problem or usability issue, please let us know on the Multiverse Developer Forums (Bugs and Issues forum).

NOTE: Terrain Editor saves log files to <My Documents>\Multiverse Terrain Editor\Logs\TerrainEditor.log. When reporting bugs, please check the log file for errors, and include the pertinent lines in your post.

Opening a world file

Start the Terrain Editor by double-clicking on the desktop icon. Once Terrain Editor has opened, click the Start Menu button in the upper left corner of the window, shown at left. From the menu, choose "Open World...". Choose a Multiverse world (.mvw) file that you created with World Editor, and click OK.

If your world currently uses fractal terrain, you will see a progress dialog appear as the Terrain Editor converts it to height map terrain:

Once the Terrain Editor finishes conversion, save the new terrain file. Terrain Editor will save he height field in a new "Textures" subdirectory of the directory containing your World file. So, for example, if your world file is C:\multiverse\config\sampleworld\sampleworld.mvw, the height field file and associated textures will be in C:\multiverse\config\sampleworld\Textures.

Overview of the user interface

Once you have loaded a world file, you will see the project view on the left side of the window, with the properties view immediately below it, and the scene view of the world on the right.

Start menu

Click on the Start Menu button at the upper left of the window to display the start menu, containing the following commands:

• Open World - displays a file selection dialog box where you can pick a world file to open. In addition, recently opened files are shown to the right.
• Save World - save the current world file.
• Designate Asset Repositories - select one or more local asset repositories to use.
• Close Model - close the currently open world file.
• Exit - exit Terrain Editor.

Quickbar

The Quickbar at the very top of the window provides quick access to basic functions:

• Save World - saves the currently open world file.
• Undo - Undo the last command.
• Redo - Repeat the last command.
• Quick Access Toolbar

Quick Access Toolbar

Click on the Quick Access Toolbar button (a small, black, downward-pointing triangle) to display the Quick Access Toolbar, that you can customize to contain commands that you commonly use.

Click on the Customize UI button (a white downward-pointing triangle) just to the right of it to display a menu that offers commands to:

• Customize Quick Access toolbar
• Place Quick Access toolbar below ribbon
• Minimize the Ribbon

Choose Customize Quick Access Toolbar to display a dialog box where you can choose the commands to display in the Quick Acess Toolbar:

Toolbar ribbon

Near the top of the Terrain Editor window is the Toolbar ribbon, that contains three tabs:

• Terrain
• Options
• Help

Each tab contains a group of related toolbars.

Terrain tab

The Terrain tab provides the following toolbars:

• View - Actions to add additional viewing windows into the application.
  • Add Scene View: Adds a scene view with perspective.
  • Show Elevations - Opens the elevations view/editor.
• Interaction - Choose how you want to interact with the scene. By default the interaction is "Terraform".
  • Select Mode - Used for selecting objects in the scene with the mouse. This is currently non-functional, but objects can be selected via the Project view by double clicking on them.
  • Terraform Mode - Used for modifying the terrain in the scene with the mouse.
  • Paint Mode - Used for painting textures on the terrain with mouse. This is currently not supported.
• Terraform - This contains all of the types of terraforming that can be performed while in terraform mode.
  • Raise/Lower - Use the left mouse button to raise terrain under the brush. Use shift+left mouse button to lower terrain. Opacity and speed of the brush determine how quickly this effect is applied.
  • Erode - Use the left mouse button to erode the terrain under the brush. Opacity and speed of the brush determine how quickly this effect is applied.
  • Perlin Noise - Use the left mouse button to add random noise to the terrain under the brush. Opacity and speed of the brush determine how quickly this effect is applied.
• Texture - Choose the texture you would like to paint with in Paint Mode.
• Brush - Used to define the brush' size, shape, and other attributes. From left to right, the items are on the toolbar are:
  • Sample rendering of the brush
  • Pre-defined brush chooser. You may choose from one of many pre-defined brushes. Most of these are used for internal testing. We would love to get feedback on brush settings you end up commonly using so that we can incorporate them. We intend to offer the ability to save settings in the future.
  • Shape chooser. You may choose square or circle as the basic shape of the brush.
  • Size. Choose the size of the brush in meters.
  • Rotation. Choose the rotation of the brush in degrees.
  • Hardness. Choose the Gaussian dissipation of the brush as a percentage from 1-100 where 1 is nearly invisible and 100 is completely hardened.
  • Thickness. Choose the width of the brush as a percentage. 100% means the brush is at full width, while 1% means the brush is squished into being a line whose length is equal to the size of the brush.
  • Opacity. Choose how strong the will be applied. This is similar to Hardness except opacity is applied evenly across the entire brush.
  • Noise. Choose how much noise to add to the modification of terrain as a percentage. 0% indicates no noise should be added. This can be useful while modifying terrain to make the modification look a little more natural & irregular.
  • Speed. Choose how fast you want the brush effect to be applied.

Options tab

The Options tab provides commands that control what is rendered in the scene. These are similar to the options provided in the World Editor. Currently, Terrain Editor does not save these settings after you exit. Future releases will persist the settings between sessions.

• Terrain
  • Show Terrain - Toggles the display of terrain. Defaults to display terrain.
  • Show Ocean - Toggles the display of ocean. Defaults to display ocean.
  • Show Terrain Decals - Toggles the display of Terrain Decals. Defaults to true.
  • Show Vegetation - Toggles the display of all types of trees and plants.
• Effects
  • Show Fog - Toggles the display of fog. Defaults to display fog.
  • Show Light Effects - Toggles the display of light effects. Defaults to display light effects.
  • Show Point Light Markers - Toggles the display of point light markers. Defaults to display point markers.
• Guides
  • Show Point Light Attenutation Circles - Toggles the display of point light attenuation distances. Defaults to not display point light attenutation distances.
  • Show Region Markers - Toggles the display of region markers. Defaults to display region markers.
  • Show Road Markers - Toggles the display of road markers. Defaults to display road markers.
  • Show Marker Points - Toggles the display of marker points. Defaults to display marker points.
  • Enable all markers - Toggles the display of of the markers. Defaults to display all markers.

Help tab

The Help toolbar provides the following commands:

• Launch Online Help - Display this document in a web browser.
• Release Notes - Display the Release Notes in a web browser.
• Submit Feedback or a Bug - Display the Bugs and Issues forum where you can report bugs.
• About - Display dialog box showing version number and other general information.

Scene View

The Scene View displays a view of the virtual world. You can open more than one scene view at once, if needed for positioning objects and terrain.

Navigation and camera control

This section describes how to get around in your world. For the most part, navigation is similar to the default client key bindings, but there are subtle differences.

First, if you need to find a particular static object in your scene, browse through the project view and then double-click on the object. This will zoom the camera in the scene view to the object. If you have Follow Selection mode turned on in your scene view, then you need only single-click.

Within the Scene View, navigate using the mouse or keyboard as follows:

Action	Keyboard	Mouse
Move Foward	W or Up	Middle+Drag
Move Back	S or Down	Middle+Drag
Move Left	A or Left	Middle+Drag
Move Right	D or Right	Middle+Drag
Move Up	Space or PageUp or NumPad9
Move Down	X or PageDown or NumPad3
Rotate Left	Q or NumPad4	Right+Drag
Rotate Right	E or NumPad6	Right+Drag
Rotate Up	R or NumPad8	Right+Drag
Rotate Down	F or NumPad2	Right+Drag
Zoom In	NumPad +	Scroll wheel
Zoom Out	NumPad -	Scroll wheel
Increase Scale	Shift+W or Shift+Up or Shift+NumPad +	Shift+Scroll wheel
Decrease Scale	Shift+S or Shift+Down or Shift+NumPad -	Shift+Scroll wheel

If you have trouble using a particular keystroke, make sure the Scene View is active. You can tell if it is active if the title bar of the view is highlighted. If it is not active, then use the mouse to click the title bar of the view.

Scene View toolbar

The Scene View toolbar is show above each scene view. It provides the following commands:

• Follow Selection - Sets if the camera in the view should move to the object selected either in the scene view or the Tree View. Defaults to follow selection.
• Zoom In - Moves the camera forward.
• Zoom Out - Moves the camera backward.
• Wire Frame - Toggles the display of terrain and world objects as wire frames. Defaults to not showing wire frame.
• Camera Follows Terrain - Keeps the camera 2m above the terrain at all times. Defaults to not keeping the camera at 2m above the terrain.
• Camera Stays Above Terrain - Keeps the camera at least 2m above the terrain at all times. Defaults to keeping the camera at least 2m above the terrain.
• Near - Sets the distance in meters at which objects become visible. Defaults to 1m.
• Far - Sets the furthest distance at which objects will be visible. Defaults to 10000m.

Project View

The Project View displays all a hierarchical "tree" showing all the collections, regions, and objects in your virtual world, similar to the current World Editor. Global properties are displayed under an "Environment" object.

Click on an object in the project view to select it in the world view and display its properties in the properties view.

Project View Icons

The following tables list the icons used in the Project View.

Object Type	Icon
Ambient Light
Directional Light
Environment
Fog
Forest
Marker Point
Object Collection
Object
Ocean

Object Type	Icon
Particle Effect
Plant Type
Point Light
Region
Road
Saved Camera
Skybox
Sound

Object Type	Icon
Spawn Generator
Terrain
Terrain Decal
Terrain Display
Tree
Vegetation
Water
World

Project View toolbar

Use the Project View toolbar to set properties of the project view.

• Flatten Containers - Collapses all project view items except the root item.
• Sort Alphabetically - Sorts the project view items in alphabetical order. Defaults to off.
• Follow Selection - Allows the tree view to select the object that is selected in the world view. Also populates the property view with the properties of the object.
• Collapse All - Collapses all project view items.

Properties view

Elevations view

The Elevations View shows the different textures and settings used with auto-splatting terrain. For more information on auto-splat terriain, see About Terrain.

Customizing the UI

The layout of the UI is completely customizable. You can freely drag views around the application window and dock them into various locations throughout the UI. You drag views by clicking on their title area and dragging the mouse while holding down the left button. When you release the button, the view will be dropped in an appropriate place. Visual clues are provided to indicate docking locations for the views. You may also drag views into the title bars of other views to create a tabbed set a views. You may even drag a view outside of the application! This can allow you to easily use multiple monitors if desired.

Note: Views layouts are not yet saved, so you may want to avoid spending too much time on them. Also, some of the default locations for views, such as the Help/Output/Errors do not dock in the right location by default but can be manually moved into better locations.