Documentation by TAPgiles

# Light

Emanates light. This affects objects within the scene. Also lights up fog. There is a very mild fog across every scene by default. So if the light has sufficient brightness, you’ll see a slight fog around the light itself.

Spotlights can cast shadows when hitting sculpts that have cast shadows enabled.

Wired power affects: multiplies the Brightness of the light.

# Gizmo: Has a location marker for the source of the light.

When in Spotlight mode, the gizmo displays as a cone. Shortcuts: Drag the sides of the cone with R2 to adjust its Beam Angle. Hold shift while dragging to adjust its Fade Angle.

Drag the end circle to adjust the Beam Range.

Drag the dot in the centre of the circle to adjust the angle the light is pointing in and range of the beam at the same time.

When in Point Light mode, The gizmo becomes a simple sphere. Shortcuts: Drag its sides with R2 to affect the Brightness.

Memory: Costs 0.0061% of the things limit per gadget.

While on a Timeline: has fader handles.

Tweak Menu

# Type

What kind of light is emitted by the gadget.

# Brightness

When in spotlight mode, the brightness of the light within the cone.

When in diffuse mode, affects the light’s range of effect instead. (Tg)

# Colour

The colour of the light emitted by the gadget. A darker colour will create less intense light. (Tg)

# Hue Cycle

Cycles the hue of the Colour.

# Beam Range

The range of the spotlight.

# Beam Angle

The angle of the spotlight beam.

# Fade Angle

The percentage of the full beam angle that fades out. If set to 0, the edge of the beam will be crisp. If set to 100%, the strength of the light will be strongest in the centre of the beam and fall off towards the edges.

# Cast Shadows

When on, sculptures that cast shadows will block the light when hit by it. (Tg)

A limited number of spotlights can cast shadows at any given time.

# Use Image

A slider with 15 different associated images that will be used as masks over the light source as if blocking it. This is a very easy way to add some atmosphere to a scene and give the light some texture.

When set to 0, no image will be used and the light will be emitted as normal.

To make a custom mask, turn on “cast shadows” for both the light and a sculpt can be made to block some of the light. (Tg) To cast translucent shadows (not completely blocking the light), a Fog gadget can be used.

# Image Blur

When using an image, dictates the percentage the image will be blurred before blocking the light. Setting to 0% leaves the image crisp.

# Fog

Adds light-absorbing particles within a specified zone. (Tg) (Tg)

While the view is within the fog, it’s easier to see that the particles take the form of tiny translucent flecks. These flecks are the same type used for the sky. These particles linger in the scene for a short time when the fog is moved or turned off.

While the fog gadget is selected or its tweak menu is open, a zone is shown for where the fog is placed within the scene. While hovering over the tweak menu however, the zone is hidden to see the fog itself better.

Gizmo: The zone of the area fog will be renderred in. Works the same as the Trigger Zone gadget’s gizmo. (Tg)

Wired power affects: The Density is multiplied by the power received.

Memory: Costs 0.0061% of the Things limit per gadget.

Noise

Random patches of the fog are reduced in density by the noise effect. This follows a perlin noise pattern.

The perlin noise is generated based on how long it has been since the scene started, multiplied by the Noise Speed.

# Properties Tab

# Tint

The colour of the fog.

# Hue Shift

Shifts the hue of the colour of the fog.

# Density

How much light the fog absorbs and blocks from getting through the fog. (Tg) Also how visible it is, and how intensely it can glow.

# Noise Strength

This sets how much the density is reduced by. (Tg)

# Noise Scale

How much the noise pattern is scaled up from the centre of the fog area. (Tg)

# Noise Speed

How quickly the noise pattern changes over time. (Tg)

If the speed is changed during play, it will not simply speed up or slow down from the pattern it currently has; it will snap to a whole new pattern recalculated as if it was always set to that speed since the start of the scene.

# Glow

How much the fog glows. If the fog looks a bit dingy because it is not catching enough light to appear the true colour you have set, increase the fog density a little.

# Zone Size Tab

# Sun & Sky

Controls the appearance of the sun and sky, as well as the angle and brightness of the sunlight.

Settings are blended between all Sun & Sky gadgets.
The sky is reflected by metallic finishes.

The sun casts light and affects areas of objects this light hits. The sky light affects areas unaffected by sunlight, such as shadows.

Note that the “rays” of light cast by the sun are parallel as if emitted from infinitely far away.

Sky Rendering

The sky itself is made up of flecks. New flecks are added over time in the rough direction the player is face, using the underlying colours. If the underlying colours change because the sky image or sun moves, it can take time for the flecks to catch up.

# Solid Sky

If you want to hide those flecks you can turn the tint amount all the way up so that all the sky’s flecks are the same colour. (Tg) Or you can use the camera’s aperture settings to blur out the sky.

A completely custom sky can be created by making a sculpt that encompasses the entire scene. (Tg) Or using textboxes for a perfectly “flat” colour. (Tg)

Gizmo: A sphere with the sky projected onto it. Adjust the orientation of the Sky Image - shortcuts: drag with R2 or rotate with L2. (Tg)

A stalk comes out from the centre of the sky gizmo with a sphere attached representing the sun. Adjust the sun’s position in the sky - shortcuts: drag the stalk with R2 to rotate it.

Drag the sphere to adjust the sun’s position in the sky. Its proximity to the sky sphere also represents its brightness. When its brightness is lower, it is darker in colour. Part of the stalk nearer the sky gizmo is red; putting the sun in this area will push the brightness beyond 100%.

Scale to adjust the visual size of the sun in the sky - shortcuts: Up d-pad button to increase size, Down d-pad button to decrease size.

Wired power affects: The received power is used to weight the blend (averaging) with other sky gadgets. If fully powered, it will average evenly. If powered very little, it will not affect the sun & sky settings very much.

If there is only 1 sky gadget in the scene, any position > 0 power will allow it to completely control the sun & sky of the scene.

Memory: Costs 0.0061% of the Things limit per gadget.

While on a Timeline: has fader handles.

# Sun Properties Tab

# Sun Colour

Sets the colour of the sun and of the light the sun emits across the scene. (Tg)

# Sun Brightness

The intensity of the light emitted by the sun across the scene.

# Sun Size

The size of the sun in the sky, in degrees of the view taken up by it. (Tg)

# Sun Visible

When on, the sun is visible in the sky.

When off, the sun is not visible in the sky. Note, however, that the sun’s light is unaffected.

# Cast Shadows

When on, any Sculpts that cast shadows will create shadows when hit by the sun’s light.

# Sun Shadow Scale vs Detail

When Cast Shadows is on, a “shadow map” is generated in a cube around the player’s view. This setting scales the area that will be shadow mapped around the player’s view.

Note that the shadow map is always the same size, but can cover different size areas of the scene. When scaled up to cover a larger size, it's using less data to track shadows in a given area and so has less definition but will reach father into the distance. At very high settings, the shadows are so low-detail we cannot see them. When scaled down to cover a smaller size, it's using more data to track shadows in that same area and so has more definition, but won't reach as far into the distance.

When looking at far away objects, those objects may not cast shadows correctly or at all—even if zoomed in to those objects such that they fill the screen. Adjusting this setting can aid with this, or adding invisible blocks to create larger shadows for the map to pick up on. (Tg)

# Sun Position

Sets the direction of the sun in the sky. (Tg) Outputs the current sun direction.

# Sky Properties Tab

# Sky Image

When set to 0, a default sky image is used with a smooth blue gradient from one side of the globe to the other.

When set to a particular sky image, that image will be used as a guide for the colours across the sky—though these colours are affected by the other settings below. (Tg)

# Sky Fleck Type

The fleck used to render the sky, distance fog, Fog.

# Sky Brightness

Affects the intensity of the sky light within the scene.

Also affects the brightness of the sky image itself. For example, a lower brightness will make the sky image darker.

# Sky Saturation

Affects the saturation of the sky image. Lower means the colours of the sky image itself move towards grey.

# Sky Hue Cycle

Adjusts the colours of the sky image as a whole. (Tg)

# Sky Tint Colour

The tint colour to be applied to the sky image. (Tg)

# Sky Tint Intensity

How strongly the tint is applied. Equivalent to a sculpt’s tint amount. (Tg)

# Horizon Definition

How dark the lower half of the sky appears. Lower values affect the rendered sky less. (Tg)

More horizon definition tends to make Metal finish look better.

# Fleck Shade Randomness

When a fleck is added to the sky, its shade is randomised by this amount.

# Fog Range

The distance from the camera that “fog” begins to appear, and reaching towards the player’s view. (Tg)

Beyond this distance objects are not rendered. Objects close enough to the distance will show the sky through them, imitating Atmospheric Perspective.

Higher ranges of fog lessens how dense the fog is nearer the player. Setting it to maximum will eliminate the fog almost entirely. (Tg)

Distance fog can also can be lit up by Light gadgets and Glow, just as the fog from a Fog gadget would be.

Through testing, the following are rough guides:
Fog RangeFully VisibleBarely Visible
1000m50m500m
10000m120m5000m
50000m450m*m
* At 50000 meters fog range I could not find the “barely visible distance,” as objects cannot exist far away from the origin.

# Time Properties Tab

Set the position of the sun based on a time.

# Set Time

Uses the time from the input along with the Sun Pitch an Sun Yaw to set the sun’s position. (Ml)

When wired, overrides the Sun Position setting.

Note, only hour and minute is used.

# Sun Pitch

How high in the sky the sun can get.

# Sun Yaw

Rotates the the sun’s path in the sky.

For example, the sun will set in the west, but this setting can push the setting position more north or south.