Use the Environment tab in Enscape Envision to control your project's lighting and weather. Save environment variations to use in animations.
Overview
The Environment tab is in the right-hand panel. Its two main subtabs, Sun and HDRI (Sky), control environment lighting. Other subtabs control weather effects.
Use Cloud to add and control clouds. |
Use Cloud to add and control clouds. | |
Use Wind to add wind animation, including movement for Cosmos animated assets in your project. | |
Use Haze to add fog. | |
Use Sun to control Sunlight in your project. | |
Use HDRI to add an environment texture. |
Save different environment setups as variations in the Environment tab in the left-hand panel. You can then use these variations in animations.
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Actions with environment variations
The Environment tab has the following actions.
Use Duplicate environment variation to duplicate the selected environment variation. |
Use Duplicate environment variation to duplicate the selected environment variation. | |
Use Copy environment preferences to copy all settings from the selected environment variation. | |
Use Paste environment preferences to paste copied settings into the selected environment variation. |
Cloud
Clouds turns on the cloud system. It is on by default.
Density controls the density of cumulus and stratus clouds. A value of 100% fills the sky with clouds. This setting is available only when Clouds is enabled. See the Cloud Density example below.
Variety controls the variety of cumulus and stratus clouds. This setting is available only when Clouds is enabled. See the Cloud Variety example below.
Cirrus amount controls the amount of cirrus clouds. The maximum value of 1 fills the sky with cirrus clouds. A value of 0 removes them. This setting is available only when Clouds is enabled. See the Cirrus Amount example below.
Longitude offset moves the cloud system along the longitude.
Latitude offset moves the cloud system along the latitude.
Altitude sets the height of the clouds. This setting is available only when Clouds is enabled.
Thickness controls how full cumulus and stratus clouds appear. Lower values make them thin and translucent. Higher values make them full and heavy. This setting is available only when Clouds is enabled. See the Cloud Thickness example below.
Cast shadows on the ground allows clouds to cast shadows on the ground.
Wind
Wind makes compatible assets, such as animated trees, sway with the wind. See the Wind Weather Effect example below.
Direction sets where the wind blows from. A north wind blows from north (0°) to south (180°). It pushes animated vegetation, clouds and water waves south. See the Wind Intensity & Direction example below.
Intensity sets the wind strength. At 0, vegetation appears static. See the Wind Intensity & Direction example below.
Haze
Visibility range sets the distance in km at which fog absorbs 90% of the light from objects behind it. Lower values make the fog appear denser. Higher values reduce the effect.
Height sets the height of the fog layer in metres.
Start distance sets how far from the camera the fog starts.
Opacity sets the maximum opacity of the fog. At 1, the fog is completely opaque. At 0, it is invisible.
Haze colour sets the colour of the fog layer.
Sun
Sunlight turns sunlight on or off.
General properties
Sunlight intensity controls the sun's intensity. Use it to reduce the default brightness. See the Sunlight Intensity example below.
Colour changes the colour of the sun.
Sun disk size controls the visible size of the sun disk and the softness of shadows cast by objects. Lower values produce sharp shadows. Higher values produce softer shadows. See the Sun Disk Size example below.
Sun positioning
Positioning mode sets how you control the sun's position in the sky.
Altitude/Azimuth uses Altitude and Azimuth values to control the sun's position.
Geolocation uses location coordinates, date and time of day to control the sun's position.
The following settings are available when Azimuth/Altitude is enabled.
Altitude sets the sun's altitude in the sky, in degrees.
Azimuth sets the sun's azimuth in the sky, in degrees.
The following settings are available when Geolocation is enabled.
Latitude sets the scene's latitude on Earth.
Longitude sets the scene's longitude on Earth.
Day / Month / Year sets the date used to calculate the sun's position.
Time sets the hours and minutes used to calculate the sun's position.
Time zone sets the scene's current time zone. The Time Zone is not set automatically from Latitude/Longitude values.
Daylight saving time adjusts for Daylight Saving Time (DST) when enabled.
Ground and horizon
Ground colour sets the colour of the ground.
Blend angle sets the angle in degrees over which the horizon line blends into the sky. Values close to 0.0 produce a sharper horizon line. Higher values produce a softer horizon line.
Horizon offset lets you lower the horizon line manually.
Azimuth/Altitude is selected.
Geolocation is selected.
HDRI
HDRI uses an environment texture for lighting. Load a custom texture or choose a ready-made HDRI texture from the Chaos Cosmos library. Both .exr and .hdr files are supported. When HDRI is disabled, clouds are generated automatically in the sky.
Use as light source.
Select Environment Map loads an image for Environment. Use an .exr or .hdr file.
Open Cosmos browser opens the Cosmos Asset Library in the left-hand panel. Select and load an environment map there.
Open file opens a file browser where you can load a custom environment map.
Flip the HRDI horizontally flips the loaded texture horizontally.
Preview Exposure controls the brightness of the HDRI preview. It does not affect camera exposure.
Intensity sets the intensity of the Environment lighting.
Rotation sets the rotation angle of the Environment texture in degrees.
Examples
These examples show how individual Environment settings affect the scene. Click an image to view it at a higher resolution.
Example: cloud density
Increasing Density makes clouds denser and more numerous.
Density = 0
Density = 0.5
Density = 0.8
Example: cloud variety
These images show how Variety changes the distribution and appearance of clouds. Density is set to 0.4 in all images.
Variety = 0
Variety = 0.5
Variety = 1
Example: cirrus amount
Increasing Cirrus amount adds more high-altitude, wispy cirrus clouds to the render.
Cirrus amount = 0
Cirrus amount = 0.5
Cirrus amount = 1
Example: cloud thickness
Thickness controls how full clouds appear. Lower values make them thin and translucent. Higher values make them look heavy.
Thickness = 200
Thickness = 500
Thickness = 1000
Example: wind weather effect
This example shows how enabling Wind animates vegetation.
Example: wind intensity and direction
This example shows the effects of Wind Intensity and Direction. Higher Intensity values make movement more noticeable.
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Example: sunlight intensity
This example shows the effect of Sunlight intensity. Auto Exposure is disabled in all three images.
Sunlight intensity = 0.05
Sunlight intensity = 0.5
Sunlight intensity = 1
Example: sun disk size
This example shows the effect of Sun disk size.
Sun disk size = 1
Sun disk size = 5
Sun disk size = 10
See also: