Changes between Version 8 and Version 9 of Atlas_User%27s_Guide
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- 2010-04-04 17:31:08 (3 years ago)
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Atlas_User%27s_Guide
v8 v9 2 2 3 3 = Atlas tutorial = 4 5 6 == Starting Atlas == 7 4 == Starting Atlas (scenario editor) == 8 5 First, assuming that you're on Windows, go to the \binaries\system\ folder in your 0A.D. folder and check for the file called "Atlas.bat". Double click that and you'll see a command window, don't worry though, you don't have to write commands to edit 0 A.D. maps (The 3D world in which the game takes place is known as a map, and both words will be used in this tutorial), it's just loading the program in the correct way. In some seconds you'll see the actual Scenario Editor itself. 9 6 7 If you're on Linux you can run Atlas by running: 8 9 {{{ 10 '/path/to/0ad/system/pyrogenesis_dbg' -editor 11 }}} 12 in a terminal window (replace "/path/to/0ad/" with the actual path to the folder where 0 A.D. is installed). The rest should be the same for all operating systems. 13 10 14 [[Image(start.jpg)]] 11 15 … … 13 17 14 18 It may seem overwhelming when you first take a look at the different tabs, but don't worry, most things are fairly straight-forward and you'll learn a lot just by playing. In this document you'll however find descriptions for how things are done to guide you on your way into Atlas and map making. 15 16 19 17 20 == The Main Tools == … … 23 26 24 27 From the left to right they are: 28 25 29 === The Default tool === 26 27 30 [[Image(default_tool.png)]] 28 31 … … 32 35 33 36 ==== Navigating in the 3D world ==== 34 35 37 Using the arrow keys on your keyboard you can move forwards/backwards/sideways, with the use of the Shift and Ctrl keys you can affect the speed of that movement: 36 38 37 * Shift+arrow keys - move faster 38 * Ctrl+arrow keys - move slower 39 * Shift+arrow keys - move faster 40 * Ctrl+arrow keys - move slower 39 41 * Ctrl+Shift+arrow keys - move much slower 40 41 42 42 43 The scroll-wheel on your mouse is used to zoom inwards/outwards and the same keys affect the zoom as the moving i.e.: … … 49 50 50 51 And finally there are two ways to rotate the map: 52 51 53 1. Right mouse button + middle mouse button click-and-drag (i.e. pressing the right mouse button while clicking-and-dragging with the middle mouse button) 52 2. Ctrl + middle mouse button click-and-drag54 1. Ctrl + middle mouse button click-and-drag 53 55 54 56 Both do the same thing i.e. rotate the map. The map is rotated around the point where you click, but in case you find that confusing just rotate until the map is rotated in the way you were aiming for. 55 57 56 58 === The Move/Rotate tool === 57 58 59 [[Image(tools_move_rotate.png)]] 59 60 60 ''The Move/Rotate Tool''61 ''The Move/Rotate Tool'' 61 62 62 63 The Move/Rotate Tool is what you use when you want to either move or rotate objects (everything in the 3D world/map except the terrain are objects). To move/rotate, first select the object you want to manipulate by left-clicking on it. After selecting the object you can use the left mouse button to move the object and the right mouse button to rotate it. If you right click after selecting an object it rotates to face in the direction you clicked and if you press and hold the right mouse button while moving the mouse around the object rotates with it. … … 69 70 70 71 === The Alter terrain tool === 71 72 72 [[Image(tools_alter_terrain.png)]] 73 73 … … 77 77 78 78 ==== The Area of Influence ==== 79 80 79 [[Image(tools_alter_terrain_area_of_influence.png)]] 81 80 … … 91 90 92 91 === The Flatten elevation tool === 93 94 92 [[Image(tools_flatten.png)]] 95 93 … … 104 102 The result in the image to the right above has been obtained by repeatedly clicking with the flatten elevation tool and as you can see the terrain is much smoother now. What level the terrain gets averaged at is depending on where the center of the grid is (see The Area of Influence above for an image of the grid) and thus you can get different results if you put the center of the tool on a higher area versus a lower area. 105 103 106 107 108 104 === The Paint Terrain Texture tool === 109 110 105 [[Image(tools_paint_terrain.png)]] 111 106 … … 115 110 116 111 == The Tabs == 117 118 112 [[Image(tabs_map.png)]] 119 113 … … 121 115 122 116 === Map Tab === 123 124 117 The buttons on the Map Tab are few, but they're powerful. Especially the first two, as they erase everything you've got on the map and replace that with, in the first case an empty map (no difference in height, only the same green texture all over it, no objects), and in the second case a complete random map (different heights, different textures, objects). 125 118 … … 131 124 132 125 The buttons are fairly self-explanatory, but for completeness sake here is a list of the buttons and what they do: 126 133 127 * The Play button – starts the simulation 134 128 * The Fast button – makes the simulation run fast … … 137 131 * The Reset button – resets the units to the position they were in before the simulation started 138 132 139 140 133 === Terrain Tab === 141 142 134 [[Image(tabs_terrain.png)]] 143 135 … … 147 139 148 140 ==== The terrains ==== 149 150 141 [[Image(tabs_terrain_terrains.png)]] 151 142 … … 155 146 156 147 ==== Texture priority ==== 157 158 148 When painting terrain you can get different results by either clicking and dragging with the left or the right mouse button. The left mouse button allows you to paint in a more “dominant” style, while the right allows you to paint in a more submissive style. That might be hard to grasp when explained with words, but the picture below will allow you to understand it more easily, and you'll quickly get a grasp of it when playing around in Atlas yourself. 159 149 … … 169 159 170 160 ==== Brush options: Shape ==== 171 172 161 To give the user more flexibility in using these tools there is a choice between either a circle or square shaped brush. Both are displayed as square grids, but while the circle brush gives a smoother outline the square brush is sharper. Even at large sizes the circle brush gives a somewhat squarey look due to the fact that the terrain is based on square tiles and thus every tool that is applied has to affect these tiles and nothing else. 173 162 174 175 163 ==== Brush options: Size ==== 176 177 164 The size is pretty straight forward, increase the number and the size of the displayed grid, and the resulting effect of the brush, increases, and vice versa. Here the Paint terrain tool is a bit different though, as the area below the grid doesn't exactly equal the area affected, the end result is dependent on other things too, as the shape and texture priority settings also affect the final size of what gets painted. You can change the sixe both by writing directly into the text field or by clicking the up/down arrows on the right side of the text field. 178 165 179 166 ==== Brush options: Strength ==== 180 181 167 The strength option is a bit different in that it doesn't affect the Paint terrain tool at all. 182 168 … … 184 170 185 171 === Object Tab === 186 187 172 [[Image(tabs_object.png)]] 188 173 … … 192 177 193 178 ==== Variations ==== 194 195 179 Some objects have variations you can choose from. You can do that after placing the object by selecting it using the Move/Rotate tool and then choosing between the different options in the dropdown button. 196 180 197 181 ==== Entities/Actors ==== 198 199 182 Above the object list there is a dropdown button which allows you to choose between entities and actors. Actors are a subset of Entities. An actor is a simple visual object in the game and have no effect at all in the play of the game on the map. Entities, on the other hand, are objects in the game that possess parameters and statistics that do play a role in the game. The actor when part of an entity is the visual part of it, it defines the way the entity looks. 200 183 201 184 === Environment Tab === 202 203 185 The different buttons and sliders etc you can find on the Environment tab are really best learned when playing with them, as they affect things as the lighting (for example the location of the “sun” of the 3D world) and how the water reacts to light etc. Below will follow a short list with the different buttons etc and a short explanation on what they do. First a little recommendation though, to be able to see any difference when using most of the buttons you'll need to enable “fancy water”. As the name implies it's for the looks more than anything else and will require a decent graphics card (which supports the shaders that the fancy waters requires), it will also decrease performance as the power will be used for yet another thing. You enable it by navigating to the \binaries\data\config\ folder and there open the system.cfg using a text editor, in that file find the line: 186 204 187 {{{ 205 188 fancywater=false 206 189 }}} 207 208 190 Change the false to “true” to get the line: 191 209 192 {{{ 210 193 fancywater=true … … 230 213 231 214 === Cinematics tab === 232 233 215 Originally this tab wasn't going to be in this guide, and most of it won't, there is however one useful button which can be a life saver at times. 234 216 235 217 ==== The Reset Camera button ==== 236 237 218 [[Image(tabs_cinematic_reset_camera.png)]] 238 219
