An introduction to the Environment Settings in Windlight for Opensim photography and video

1. Windlight
Settings
Environment Settings
for
Photography or Video

2. Windlight (WL) Settings
WL settings are the environmental atmospheric lighting
and rendering system used in virtual worlds for sky and
water settings.
The settings primarily work to adjust how your
environment looks on your local computer.
It should be noted that “your graphics card needs to
support atmospheric shaders in order to have access
to all of the settings.”
Also note that the features of the Environmental Editor
vary depending upon the viewer used.

3. Changing Region WL Settings
• Log onto the grid
• From the top menu bar on the viewer select:
o World
o Environment Settings
o Environment Editor
o Advanced Sky Editor or Advanced Water Editor
• Note: Here you can customize the time of day, water color,
amount of cloud coverage, and the amount of water fog
displayed.

4. Advanced Sky Editor:
Sky Presets
• The SKY PRESETS are the first set of options displayed in the
Advanced Sky Editor for greater detail.
• Here you can choose from a selection of predetermined presets
from the drop-down box.
• You can also create new presets and save them, or you have the
ability to delete a preset.

5. Advanced Sky Editor:
Day Cycle Editor
The DAY CYCLE EDITOR provides the ability to control the grid’s
day/night cycles.
• This includes options to select from preset skies, or to create or
delete sky presets.

6. Day Cycle Editor cont.
• It should be noted that the DAY CYCLE EDITOR works by setting
keyframes or nodes.
o Here you will find a slider to adjust the time of day preset.
o The KEY FRAME SETINGS provide a preferred time of day and the
option to select a KEY PRESET which is a drop-down box similar to
the WL sky presets. After adjusting the settings you have the option to
preview, create a new preset, and save or delete it.
o There is in addition, a PRESET button near the bottom right that
allows you to return to the default setting.

7. Advanced Sky Editor:
Atmosphere Tab
Below the Sky Presets, the first tab labeled
‘Atmosphere’ offers several options.
The first column of settings shown on the far left includes:
• BLUE HORIZON
o These sliders allow you to adjust the color of the sky using the
Red/Green/Blue (RGB) sliders. The Intensity option (I), the last
slider in this group, allows the user to adjust all three RGB sliders in
unison.
• HAZE HORIZON
o This slider is used to adjust the overall light exposure in the scene.
This is effective for use in many various settings, for example:
white-outs from the sun or closed-iris settings.

8. Atmosphere Tab cont.
The second set of options shown in the center of the
Atmosphere Tab include:
• BLUE DENSITY
o These sliders adjust the overall color saturation of the sky and fog.
Using the RGB sliders will allow fine tuning of individual elements of
saturation, and the sky’s over-all color balance.
o When moving the Intensity slider to the right, colors will become
brighter. Moving the slider to the left will cause the colors to
become duller, which will eventually fade to black and white.
• HAZE DENSITY
o This slider will adjust the atmosphere to a gray haze which is often
used for simulating mist, fog, smoke and man-made pollutants.

9. Atmosphere Tab cont.
The third and final set of options on the Atmosphere Tab to
the far right includes:
• DENSITY MULTIPLIER
o This slider affects “the overall atmospheric density”. Using a lower setting
creates a thin air effect; while using higher settings creates a heavy, smog-
like effect.
• DISTANCE MULTIPLIER
o This slider adjusts the perceived distance of the WL settings. In effect, a
zero value will turn off the WL influence on terrain and objects.
o Any value greater than one will create atmospheric effects that simulate a
greater distance or that make the atmosphere appear thicker.
• MAX ALTITUDE
o This slider adjusts the altitude settings WL establishes when determining
the atmospheric lighting.
• An example use would be for adjusting how distant the sunset appears.

10. Advanced Sky Editor:
Lighting Tab
Below the Sky Presets, the second tab labeled
‘Lighting’ offers several options.
The first column of settings shown on the far left include:
• SUN/MOON COLOR
o These sliders allow for adjusting the color of the direct light in the
scene.
• SUN/MOON POSITION
o This slider controls where the sun is located in the sky.

11. Lighting Tab cont.
Below the Sky Presets, the second tab labeled
‘Lighting’ offers additional options.
The second column of settings shown in the center
includes:
• AMBIENT
o These sliders allow you to adjust the ambient lighting in the
scene.
• EAST ANGLE
o This slider controls where the sun is located in the sky.

12. Lighting Tab cont.
Below the Sky Presets, the second tab labeled
‘Lighting’ offers additional options.
The third column of settings shown to the far right includes:
• SUN GLOW
o These sliders allow for adjusting the size and focus of the sun.
• SCENE GAMMA
o This slider adjusts the screen’s overall distribution of light and
dark.
• STAR BRIGHTNESS
o This slider adjusts the brightness of the stars.

13. Advanced Sky Editor:
Clouds Tab
Below the Sky Presets, the third tab labeled
‘Clouds’ offers additional options.
The first column of settings shown to the far left includes:
• CLOUD COLOR
o These sliders allow you to edit the color of the clouds using the
RGB and I settings.
• CLOUDXY/DENSITY
o These sliders control the position of the clouds and how dense
you would like them to be on the x y and d scales.

14. Clouds Tab cont.
The second set of options shown in the center of
the Clouds Tab includes:
• CLOUD COVERAGE
o This slider controls how many clouds there are in the sky.
• CLOUD SCALE
o This slider allows for controlling the scaling of the cloud image.
• CLOUD DETAIL
o These sliders control the detail of the clouds above the main
cloud image and their densities.

15. Clouds Tab cont.
The third set of options shown to the far right of the
Clouds Tab includes:
• CLOUD SCROLL X
o This slider controls the speed of the clouds as they move across
the sky in the X direction *Note: there is a lock option to the
right of this slider.
• CLOUD SCROLL Y
o This option controls the speed of the clouds as they move across
the sky in the Y direction *Note: there is a lock option to the
right of this slider.
• DRAW CLASSIC CLOUDS
o This check box option enables the rendering of classic clouds in
addition to the WL setting clouds.

16. Advanced Water Editor:
Water Presets
The WATER PRESETS are very similar to the Sky Presents which
provide ready-made options to select from the drop-down box.
• This includes options to select from preset water or, to create or
delete water presets.

17. Advanced Water Editor:
Settings Tab
Below the Water Presets, the first tab labeled ‘Settings’
offers several options for additional customizing.
The first column of settings shown on the far left include:
• WATER FOG COLOR
o This option allows for changing the color of the water.
• FOG DENSITY EXPONENT
o This slider controls how dense the water fog is, and how far you can
see underwater.
• UNDERWATER FOG MODIFIER
o This slider adjusts the effect for how far you can see when your
avatar is underwater.

18. Advanced Water Editor:
Settings Tab cont.
The second set of options shown in the center of the
Settings Tab includes:
• REFLECTION WAVELET SCALE
o These sliders allow for scaling of the three wavelets that make up
the water.
• FRESNEL SCALE
o This slider controls how much light is reflected at different angles.
• FRESNEL OFFSET
o This slider controls how much light intensity is reflected on the
water.

19. Settings Tab cont.
The third set of options shown to the far right of the
Settings Tab includes:
• REFRACT SCALE ABOVE
o This slider controls how much light is refracted from looking
above the surface of the water.
• REFRACT SCALE BELOW
o This slider controls how much light is refracted from looking from
below the surface of the water.
• BLUR MULTIPLIER
o This slider controls how waves and reflections are mixed.

20. Parcel WL Settings
• The Parcel WL Settings:
A feature land owner’s can use to specify a ‘preset’ used while on
the owner’s land.
• Note: All permissions are reset when logging onto the site again.
• Settings apply if any of the following are true:
o You own the land
o The land is owned by a friend
o The land is deeded to the group of which you are a member
o You have been formerly granted permission to change the
settings to what the land owner originally designated

21. Using WL Parcel Settings
The land owner needs to add a text string at the end
of the parcel description in the ‘About Land floater’,
General tab.
Example:
/*Windlight Sky: “[name of preset]”*/
Windlight water presets are supported in a similar
manner.
/*Windlight Water: “[name of preset]” Water: “[name of
the WL water preset]”
Note: These settings can be used independently

22. Zoned Settings
Parcel WL settings also support ‘zoned settings’
based on altitude. This option is not supported in
all viewers.
• Zones should be at least 10 meters apart.
• An overlap of the desired areas should be at
least 5 meters to allow for the 5 second delay
in detecting changes.
• Changing the zone setting should be added to
the ‘About Land’ description.
Example:
• /*Sky@10m-100m:"[TOR] SCI-FI - Arrakissed
1"*/

23. Clearing Parcel Settings
Clearing parcel settings after they have been applied is
done if you:
• Reset to the default settings.
• Permissions are revoked.
*Note: Original parcel WL settings will only
reapply after leaving and entering the parcel
again.

24. Override Region WL Settings
Force Parcel WL Settings
Region settings always override the parcel settings
unless the Region Override Flag is set.
• Changing the Forced Parcel setting should be
added to the ‘About Land’ description.
Example:
• /*Windlight Sky: “[preset name]” Water: “[preset
water name]”*/

25. Sample Preset WL Skies
The list of WL preset skies is fairly extensive. To give an
example of a few of the default sky presets there are:
A-12AM
A-12PM
A-3AM
A-3PM
A-6AM
A-6PM
A-9AM
A-9PM
Alchemy Immortalis - Dark Misty Night
Alchemy Immortalis - Fog Lifting
Alchemy Immortalis - Foggy Morning

26. Outdoor City Night_001

27. Build 005 light_001

28. Dusk Patriox_001

29. Foggy Morning_001

30. Outdoor Night-001

31. Dusk Smolder _001

32. Installing WL settings from the web
Be sure the viewer is not open.
After unzipping your new WL settings, apply the
following text in the ‘About Land’ description.
Example:
c:UsersUsernameAppDataRoaming’viewer
name’user_settingswindlightskies
Note: these instructions are for Windows 7

33. WL Setting Links for Downloading
• Luna Jubilee’s Windlight Settings
• Harlow Heslop’s Windlight Settings
• Gogo’s Windlight Settings
• Strawberry Singh’s Windlight Settings
• Strawberry Singh’s Mirror Windlight Setting
• Torley Linden’s Windlight Settings
• Paulina Oceanlane’s Windlight Settings
• Chic Aeon’s Windlight Settings
• Katya Valeska’s Windlight Settings
• Cajsa Lilliehook’s Windlight Settings
• Isabelli Anatine’s Windlight Settings
• Annan Adored’s Windlight Settings
• Annan Adored’s Windlight Settings Take Two
• Annan Adored’s Windlight Settings Take Three
• Annan Adored’s Windlight Settings Take Four
• Jay Tedder’s Windlight Settings
• Geanna Lanley’s Windlight Settings
• Kismet Faith’s Windlight Settings – HERE & HERE
• Trinetty Skytower’s Windlight Settings
• Xantheanne’s Windlight Settings
• Tsurine’s Windlight Settings

34. Changing Post Processing Effects
• Log onto the grid.
• From the top menu bar on the viewer select:
o World
o Environment Settings
o Post Processing Effects

35. Photography
Post-Processing Effects
Post-Processing Effects are
included in the Environmental
Settings.
Settings include:
o Color Filter
o Gauss Blur
o Night Vision
o Posterize
o Motion Blur
o Vignette
o Extras

36. Color Filter Enabled

37. Gauss Blur Enabled

38. Night Vision Enabled

39. Posterize Enabled

40. Author’s Comment
I want to note that I’ve only shown a basic introduction of
what can be done with the Environmental Editor for WL
settings. Although my tests were primarily conducted using
the Singularity viewer, I did find that many of the other
viewers may, and many do, in fact, have additional options
available.
Karen Zastudil 2015 40