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    Part 5A. Basic Setup

    Getting Started with VNS 3: Fields & Forest
    Getting Started with VNS 3: Fields & Forest

    Part 5A. Basic Setup

    1. Go File menu, Open a project, and find your way to the Tutorials\YNP folder. Open the YNP5A project. Save the project in your YNP folder as YNP5.

    A screenshot of a software interface showing a 3D modeling environment with various panels for terrain and scene configuration, as well as lists of project materials and settings.

    2. Open the Database Editor and click its Toggle Dock button to undock the editor.

    Cursor hovering over a pushpin icon in a software interface, with a tooltip displayed that reads "Toggle Dock.

    3. Hold the mouse over the corner of the editor until it becomes a diagonal double-ended arrow. Click and drag the corner out until you can see all the table columns.

    A close-up view of a window's upper right corner on a computer screen, showing an arrow cursor pointing at the "X" button to close the window.

    4. The YNP-100m DEM is set to View and Render. As with most projects, we’d like to make realtime views as responsive as possible and rendered terrain as detailed as possible. This is achieved by using lower resolution DEMs for views and higher resolution DEMs for rendering.

    A computer screen displaying a database editor with various terrain layers listed. Some layers are marked as enabled, viewable, and renderable with check marks, and have corresponding properties such as color and style.

    5. Click the YNP-100m Render box to clear it and disable rendering. The low-resolution 100-meter DEM will just be used for realtime views.

    Screenshot of a database editor showing a table with various locations and their properties like Enabled, View, Render, Color, Class, Style, Weight, and Max File. A hand cursor hovers over the Render column.

    6. Now for the high-resolution 10-meter DEMs. Switch to the Terrain Task Mode in the Scene-at-a-Glance.

    7. Expand the Layers category, right-click the 10m Layer, and Select Layer Members.

    A user interface displaying a geographic software tool. A context menu is open showing options like "Select Layer Members," with an arrow pointing to the highlighted text.

    8. In the Database Editor, check one of the Enabled boxes and all selected items will be updated to View and Render.

    A database editor window showing a list of layers with their properties such as name, enabled status, view, render status, color, class, style, weight, and max features.

    9. Check one of the View boxes to disable viewing the DEMs in realtime views. These DEMs will just be used for rendering.

    10. Let’s all start with the same YNP Main Camera view. Go to the Main Camera popup menu and Edit View’s Camera to open the Camera Editor.

    A dropdown menu titled "Main" with various options displayed, including "Edit View's Camera," "Render Options," and "Joystick," against a background depicting a desert scene.

    11. Load Component.

    Screenshot of the Camera Editor window in a software program, featuring tabs for General, Lens, Position & Orientation, Target, Stereo, and Misc, with an option to load a component.

    12. The Component Galley will open to the Cameras section. Double-click the YNP Main thumbnail to load it.

    A software interface displaying various camera component thumbnails, including different lens views and landscape images, with a focus on settings and folder details for a YNPS project.

    13. Don’t scale the camera’s position; we want it just where it was saved.

    A dialog box titled "Load Camera" with the message, "Do you wish the loaded Camera's position to be scaled to current DEM bounds?" A cursor is hovering over the "No" button.
    A dialog box titled "Load Component" with an information icon and the message "Component loaded successfully." An arrow cursor points to the "OK" button.

    14. Render a YNP Main preview.

    A gray-scale computer-generated image showing a barren, uneven terrain with no visible vegetation, under a clear sky. The image is displayed within a software interface with icons at the top.

    15. Now that we all have the same view, go up to the menu and View > View Image > From Disk.

    Screenshot of Visual Nature Studio 3.0 interface with a dropdown menu open. The cursor hovers over "From Disk..." under "View Image." Keyboard shortcuts for menu options are displayed.

    16. Go to the image folder on the VNS 3 DVD and open LandCoverDiagram.jpg.

    17. When VNS renders a scene, it evaluates polygons for coverage starting with Lakes and their associated Beaches. Beaches are built like Ecosystems, with an Overstory Ecotype, Understory Ecotype, and Material Ground Overlay. For those polygons not covered by a Lake Component, the renderer sees which polygons qualify for Ecosystem coverage. Ecosystems have an Overstory Ecotype, Understory Ecotype, and a Ground Overlay for the ground between. For the polygons that remain uncovered, Ground Effect is rendered.

    Diagram showing a cross-section of land cover basics, including labels for snow, ground effect, ecosystem material overstory and understory ecotypes, lake and stream beach materials, and ground overlay.

    18. Close the image. We have default grey Ground Effect rendering on the terrain because there are no other ground coverage Components in the project. Go to the Land Cover Task Mode and open the Ground Editor.

    Screenshot of the Ground Editor window showing general features such as name, priority, profile settings, and vector placement options. "YNP Ground" is the name field, and the "Enabled" box is checked.

    19. Load Component and load the Western Desert.

    Screenshot of a software Component Gallery showing three ground effect options: Talus, Tan Dirt Clods, and Western Desert. A tooltip describes the Western Desert as a barren tan-brown western-style desert.

    20. Save the project and render a preview.

    Computer-generated image of a sandy, rocky terrain under a clear sky. The image mimics a desolate landscape, possibly inspired by a desert or extraterrestrial surface.

    21. Let’s change the Light to early afternoon. Go to the lower Scene-at-a-Glance and expand the Lights category.

    22. Open the Light Editor to the Position & Orientation page.

    A Light Editor window showing latitude set to 14.538378°, longitude to 140.87449°, and elevation to 1 AU. Options to set orientation and elevation presets are also visible.

    23. Set Position by Time to 2 PM and Keep.

    A dialog box titled "Light Position by Time" shows settings for light position including reference longitude, date, time, latitude, and longitude. Buttons for "Reverse Seasons," "Keep," and "Cancel" are at the bottom.
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