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Warning! This version of documentation is OUTDATED, as it describes an older SDK version! Please switch to the documentation for the latest SDK version.
Warning! This version of documentation describes an old SDK version which is no longer supported! Please upgrade to the latest SDK version.

Generating Pipelines, Fences, Powerlines

Warning
The functionality described in this article is not available in the Community SDK edition.
You should upgrade to Engineering / Sim SDK edition to use it.

Fences, pipes and other such objects are placed along line segments selected from vector data sources (*.shp files).

The basic workflow is as follows:

1. Preparing a Basic Object#

First, we create a basic object, that will be used as a building block for generation — any *.node file containing a single root-node with any hierarchy.

Notice
The basic object must be located and have a pivot at the origin (0, 0, 0).

2. Adding a Vector Data Source and Specifying Tags#

This step is the same as Adding a Vector Data Source and Specifying Tags for Roads.

3. Specifying Parameters#

Now, we must add basic objects created at the first step and bind them to the tags created at the second step.

  1. On the Sources panel, select the Vector data source type and the following settings will be displayed in the Vector tab of the Parameters panel.

  2. Add a basic object for generation by clicking Add button on the Parameters panel and specify object's name. You can add as many objects as necessary.

  3. For each basic object specify the following parameters:

    Name The object's name, which is displayed in the Objects list in Sandworm and in World Nodes when the terrain is generated.
    Tag The tag for the selected object from the list of created tags.
    Type Type of the vector object to be generated. In this case, we are generating Points.
    Node The path to the basic object's *.node file.
    Enabled When toggled on, the objects of this type will be generated. When toggled off, the objects of this type are not generated and won't exist in the world containing the generated terrain.
    Use as Fence Toggling on this option allows creating a line of identical objects along the selected vector data.
    Auto size Enables or disables autosize mode for node placement. When this mode is enabled, basic objects are placed with zero-spacing so that bounding boxes of the first and the last basic objects are aligned with start and end points of the line segment respectively.

    Step Distance between two adjacent basic objects, in units.
    Start offset Offset of the first basic object's pivot from the start point of the line segment, in units.
    End offset Offset of the last basic object's pivot from the end point of the line segment, in units.
    Fit to size Enables stretching/shrinking of basic objects so that they are placed along line segments without spaces between them.
    Collider Flag indicating if collisions for the generated object are to be detected.
    Notice
    Available only for geometry type.
    Drop to ground Flag indicating if the generated object will be aligned with the terrain surface.
    Height offset Distance from the terrain surface along the Z-axis, in units.
    Notice
    If the generated object is partially under the ground, increase this value to lift it above the terrain surface.
    Bake to cluster Flag indicating if the generated objects will be baked to a Mesh Cluster.
    Notice
    The option is available only when the specified *.node file contains a static mesh.
    Baking to a Mesh Cluster shouldn't be used for large areas because of the coordinates precision limitations.
    Forward axis Axis along which the basic object is to be tiled: X, -X, Y, -Y.

Placing Billboards#

You can also place billboards along the line segments selected from vector data sources.

This option can be used, for example, to simulate lights along the generated roads. The basic workflow is the same as described above with the following additions:

  • At Step 1 use a *.node file containing a single Billboards object as the basic object. The Billboards object should have an emissive material assigned to its surface.
    Notice
    If a *.node file contains several billboards, only the settings of the first one will be used.
  • At Step 2 select the vector data of the road along which the lights are to be placed.
  • At Step 3 when specifying parameters you should do the following:

    1. Disable the Autosize option
    2. Set the value for the Step parameter that determines the distance (in units) between the two adjacent lights (billboards) placed along the road.

    The extra parameter becomes available: Split Billboards length (km). This parameter allows you to control the number of Billboards objects that will be generated due to area splitting:

    • low values will increase the number of generated Billboards objects
    • high values will reduce this number
    Notice
    The maximum number of billboards contained in a single Billboards object is limited to 8000. Thus, the number of generated Billboards objects is also affected by the Step value, that you specify, since a low value produces a large total number of billboards. Although billboards are performance-friendly, generating too many of them may reduce performance.

4. Generating Objects#

Now you need to configure the output settings and generate (or regenerate) the terrain which contains these vector objects by clicking the Generate button.

By default, the generated objects are added to the world hierarchy as NodeReferences. However, they can be baked to a MeshCluster, if the corresponding option is enabled.

Vector Objects as NodeReferences
Vector Objects as MeshCluster
Last update: 2021-04-29
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