Reflection Probes

Skye PBR Water Help & Tips

Note: You must be using one of the latest viewers to see PBR.

Quick Guide

Rez any water panel by dragging it from your inventory to the ground. Each water panel has a control panel.

Control Panel

The controller has the following funtions:

WAVE TYPE - Click a wave image to select. This loads a new texture so you may have to wait a moment while it downloads

COLOUR TINT - Adds a subtle colour overlay to the base colour of the water. A typical use may be to make pond water more green.

SPEED - The speed that the wave moves at. This may be useful if you scale a small water panel up to a lrage size.

CLARITY - The transparency of the water panel. Maximum clarity is totally opaque.

SKY REFLECT - This alters the surface of the water and darkens/lightens the reflection style.

WATER BASE - Gives a suggestion of the bed under the water. The fourth grey option is neutral.

REFLECTION PROBE - If you have objects near the water reflection probes can deliver a richer, more detailed look. Rez a reflection probe and look for the control / handle abover it.

You'll find more information on reflection probes below.

HIDE CONTROL - Click to hide the controller. To show the controls again just click and hold your mouse where the control panel was for at least 3 seconds and then let go of the mouse button (use Ctr Alt T if you can't find it).

ACCESS SETTINGS - Set who can use your controller to Owner, Group, Anyone.

TIP! You can link any water panel to a single control (using SL Edit tools) to form a group of water panels that respond to one controller)

TIP! After set up, you can delete the control panel to save Land Impact. Controllers can be relinked to the panel at a later time.

Water Panels

A range of water panel shapes are included in the pack.

These are very flexible - small water shapes (1x1) can be scaled up to very large to give you more wave effects.

Square panels can be aligned together.

Panels are named with a XxY number. This refers to repeats of the water texture rather than size. eg 1x1 is a single face panel.

I encourage you to play around with scaling of the panels for creative effect.

Rez the water panel by dragging it from your inventory to the ground and use SL edit tools to position.
For more complex schemes (eg river and lake) you can use different sizes together. When used at original size, water panels will merge seamlessly.

TIP! For joining multiple panels seamlessly
1. Use SL edit tool and in General Tab check the SNAP button
2. Click the arrow to the right of WORLD and set the UNITS to 5.000 (10.0 would be better but 5 is the max allowed!)
3. Use the RED/Green (X/Y) handles to move the panels - these will snap to position. OPEN DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS

TIP! If you see a very obvious seam after following this method, the animations on adjacent water panels may have started and different times. Link your panels to one same controller to sync animation.

Water Sounds

The pack contains a water sound rock. Place these around the water (not too many or the sound will clash) and click to operate.

FAQs

Hey Alex, I've got a question, mind if I ask?

Not at all, please do! IM Alex Bader inworld and I'll get back to you muy pronto.

Hey Alex, What graphic settings work best with the water?

The water will work at even the lowest graphics settings but the higher can set quality and speed, the better the result will be. Ideally you will turn on Screen Space Reflections but Mirrors are not essential. Here are my ideal settings:

Hey Alex, what is PBR?

PBR stands for Physically Based Rendering. It is a modern method of shading used in many video games which more accurately represent how light interacts with materials.

The aim is to make environments and objects in a 3D environment appear more realistic. Here's a link to an excellent article on the subject.

Hey Alex! Should I use a reflection probe?

You do not need to use a reflection probe every time. Regions have a built in automatic reflection probe so for large areas of water, the region probe is usually sufficient. For small ponds or pools with objects nearby, you may get a better result with a munually placed probe. Experiment... if you don't think it looks better, don't use a probe!

Hey Alex! The water went blurry!

That's likely a bit of PBR viewer teething trouble - a texture did not load. Try quickly relogging!

Hey Alex, I've got your Animated Water set. Is this set a free upgrade?

Sorry dude but no, not this time. This is a completely new product which took months to develop and shares zero connections to my older water set (other than the word 'water'). Products like Enchanted Woods or Sandy Beach have been upgraded for free as there's a direct lineage between versions and while there's a lot of work in that type of upgrade, I don't mind doing those for free as I feel it's a reward to loyal customers.

Hey Alex, what's that odd line I can see on the water panels when I zoom in?

If you look closely at any panel other than a 1x1 you might see a subtle seam where repeat faces meet. Due to technical restraints of rendering animations on adjoining faces in SL these are unavoidable (a source of deep frustration to me). I've used every trick in the book to minimise these so in most cases they won't be particularly noticable. If these do become a problem for you, try using a 1x1 panel scaled to the size you want.

Hey Alex, I'm using Firestorm and when I select a water panel the waves go flat like they've lost their texture!

It's likely the texture did not loaIn the edit window, go to the TEXTURE tab and click the PBR sub tab (not Blinn-Phong which is beside it).

Reflection Probes

A reflection probe takes an image of its surroundings and uses it as the basis for reflections. This helps build a detailed scene with realistic reflections.

You will not always need to use a reflection probe with Skye PBR Water as “Automatic” reflection probes are located within regions but if you have objects like trees surrounding your water, you might find using a reflection probe give you a more appealing result.

Use as few reflection probes as you can as they can be resource intensive.

Click the "Rez a Probe" button on any Skye PBR Water controller. This will rez a custom probe with a Skye handle/sub controller (look above the water panel).

The sub controller has the following functions:

ENABLE PROBE - Clicking the ON/OFF buttons enables/disables the probe. Disabling the probe reveals a guideline texture to make it easier to scale and move.

Right Click the sub controller and use SL edit tools to move it into your preferred position left right, up and down can all make a difference. Use SL edit tool to resize the probe. You should aim for just a little bigger than your water panel.

PROBE SHAPE - Reflection probes can either be spherical or box - choose the shape that suits you best.

HIDE THIS CONTROLLER - Simply hides the controller without deleting. To unhide the reflection probe controller later go to local chat and type "/1 rpshow"

TIP! When you have set up your reflection probe, you can unlink and delete the controller to save a prim and script use! Enable probe first!

NOTE: Reflection probes can't be selected on their own by default. If you have deleted the RP controller and want to select a probe you should do the following:

1. Go to main viewer menu at the top of your viewer window and choose Build -> Options -> Select Reflection Probes.

2. Click Ctrl Alt T to all show transparent objects (including reflection probes).