Render Entities
Overview
Render Entities available in CRYENGINE give designers quick ways of introducing various effects and visuals.
Cloud
The cloud entity allows you to place clouds in the level. The cloud definition files (.xml) are built with the cloud tool. Unlike with skyboxes, 3D clouds can be moved and players can fly though them.
See Setting Up Weather Effects for more information.
Property | Description |
|---|---|
CloudFile | Defines which cloud object should be displayed. |
Scale | Deprecated |
AutoMove | Defines if the cloud should move or not using the speed property (cloud can also be moved with the Trackview Editor). |
FadeDistance | The distance in meters when the cloud should fade in when moving from one side of the Space Loop Box to the other. |
SpaceLoopBox | Defines the box in which the cloud moves from one end to the outer (looping). |
Speed | Specifies the speed in X, Y, Z direction. |
Flash
The entity flashes the users screen making it white for a few seconds. Very bright explosions can be simulated with the Flash Entity. Trigger strikes through flow graph.
Property | Description |
|---|---|
SkyHighlightAtten | Specifies attenuation amount on the sky highlighting. |
SkyHighlightColor | Specifies in which color the skybox will be lit by the lightning effect. |
SkyHighlightMultiplier | Specifies how bright the skybox will be lit by the lightning effect. |
Sound | Specifies a sound to play when triggered. |
FadeInTime | Sets up the amount of time (in sec.) how long it takes to fade in the effect. |
FadeOutTime | Sets up the amount of time (in sec.) how long it takes to fade out the effect. |
FadeDuration | Sets up the amount of time (in sec.) fade in and out takes the effect. |
Fog
See Fog for more information.
FogVolume
See Fog for more information.
Lightning
Lightning entities simulate Thunder/Lightning effects, with lightning strikes, large scale lights and thunder sounds which can be delayed.
Property | Description |
|---|---|
Active | Activate/Deactivate the lightning entity. |
Distance | Specifies how far away from point where the entity was placed that the lighting effect should happen. |
DistanceVariation | Adds a random value to the distance, for example 20 means +-20% if the Distance is set to 100. |
RelativeToPlayer | Sets the effect relative to the player so always with the same distance from the players current position. |
Effects | |
LightIntensity | Specifies how bright the light should be. |
LightRadius | Within this radius objects will be lit. |
ParticleEffect | Specifies the lightning bolt effect. |
ParticleScale | Specifies the scale of the lightning bolt effect. |
ParticleScaleVariation | Varies the scale of the lightning bolt effect. |
SkyHighlightAtten | Attenuate the SkyHighlight effect. |
SkyHighlightColor | Specifies which color the skybox will be lit by the lightning effect. |
SkyHighlightMultiplier | Specifies how bright the skybox will be lit by the lightning effect. |
SkyHighlightVerticalOffset | Offsets the SkyHighlightColor effect vertically. '50' will raise the effect 50m above the entity position. |
Sound | Sets up a sound effect that should be played when each lightning strike occurs. This would typically be a thunder sound. |
Timing | |
Delay | Frequency of the lightning strikes, measured in seconds. |
DelayVariation | Varies the frequency of the lightning strikes. |
LightningDuration | Defines how long the visual effect of the lightning strike should last, in seconds. |
ThunderDelay | Delay time, in seconds, for the thunder sound to reach the player. This is the sound that is defined just above the Timing section. |
ThunderDelayVariation | Varies the delay time for the ThunderDelay sound. |
ViewDist
The ViewDist entity limits how far the player can see. Using the ViewDistance entity can significantly increase the frame rate in specific areas.
This entity can be used in two ways, by linking it to an area shape or triggered through flow graph.
Property | Description |
|---|---|
FadeTime | Specifies the amount of time it takes to fade from the current level ViewDistance settings to the MaxViewDist setting in the entity. |
MaxViewDist | Sets up the rendering View Distance in meters. |
VolumeObject
Volume objects in CRYENGINE offer the possibility to render volumetric effects of density fields (clouds, smoke, etc) in a realistic way. A volume description is converted into a 3D density field (texture) at load this. This density field is then used to calculate self shadowing, surface extraction, and shading at runtime. Currently the density field cannot be dynamically changed. Unlike 3D clouds volume objects are rendered in a single pass (no imposters needed). The pixel shader computes the final shading result by tracing the density field and density and shadow information at each sample point. Samples are blended using the "Under Operator". Additionally, back lighting and soft intersections with opaque scene geometry is supported.
Volume objects in CryENGINE.
Unlike the Cloud Object, the Volume Object renders 3D Volume objects with correct shading (shadows on the darker parts). The benefit of using a Volume Object is that it can be used to place realistic clouds in the level or for building irregular fog areas with varying heights.
Sandbox Usage
Follow these steps to place volume objects in a new level.
- On the RollupBar, select the Objects tab and click on the Entity button.
- Select the Render folder and drag a VolumeObject entity inside the level.
- The VolumeObject requires the VolumeObject shader in order to render. A basic example material can be found in
materials/clouds/volumeobject.mtlor you can create one with your own settings.
The Entity Properties section provides several options (for the most part these are equivalent to the entity properties for 3D clouds).
Property | Description |
|---|---|
VolumeObjectFile | Specifies the .xml file containing the description of the volume object. It is compatible with the description file for 3D clouds. The description will be used to voxelize a 3D volume that will be used for rendering. |
AutoMove | Defines if the cloud should move or not using the speed property (cloud can also be moved with the Trackview Editor). |
FadeDistance | The distance in meters when the cloud should fade in when moving from one side of the Space Loop Box to the other. |
SpaceLoopBox | Defines the box in which the cloud moves from one end to the outer (looping). |
Speed | Specifies the speed in X, Y, Z direction. |
- To save texture memory and shader cost the resolution of the 3d volume texture is fixed and limited (64x64x64). Therefore you should make sure your volume description doesn't contain too many high frequency details. They would otherwise get lost during voxelization and/or rendering (aliasing)!
- To improve speed on lower spec configs less samples are taken when computing ray tracing results -> higher chance of aliasing.
- To save texture space reuse a given volume description file as much as possible and rotate volume objects when placing them into the scene to create the illusion of variation. Volume descriptions (and their associated textures are shared) so instances only need individual textures to bake shadow information.