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  m_Name: Environment Transitions
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  m_displayName: Environment Transitions
  m_hierarchyName: Environment Transitions
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  m_overrideMarkdownText: "# Implementing Environment Transitions\n\n## Overview\n\nScenes
    often need environment transitions to show changes in time, like moving from
    midnight to late morning. Each transition uses a new Environment Profile and
    can be either quick (0.01 seconds) or extended (5\u201350 seconds).\n\nMost transitions
    happen during teleport warps, limiting the number of transitions per scene. We
    manage these transitions carefully to ensure smooth shifts between different
    weather and time profiles.\n\n## Managing Transitions\n\nSometimes, we need duplicate
    Environment Profiles with slight variations, such as different cloud textures
    or ocean wind speeds, to ensure natural-looking transitions. This prevents clouds
    and oceans from appearing like an unnatural timelapse.\n\n**Example Scenes:**\n\n-
    Beat6 \u2013 Rapid time-of-day shifts within 5 teleport warps.\n- Beat3and4 \u2013
    Transitioning from a clear day to a stormy night.\n\n## Environment Profile\n\nEnvironment
    Profiles are data assets with several parameters that allow us to create various
    environmental, ocean, and weather changes throughout a scene. See below for a
    screenshot of the data asset.\n\n![](./Images/EnvImplementation/Fig4.png)\n\n##
    Beat6 Scene: Example of Environment Profile Transitions\n\nTransitions in the
    Beat6 scene were challenging due to rapid time-of-day changes, which are difficult
    to convey in a few minutes and within 5 teleport warps. Beat6 required transitioning
    from the stormy dark weather of Beat5 to a late morning profile by the end of
    Beat6.\n\nBeat6 uses 6 Environment Profiles, starting with one nearly identical
    to the stormy night profile that ends Beat5. Key changes were crucial for seamless
    transitions from the dark storm profile to late morning profiles in Beat6.\n\n-
    The Skybox\n\n  - To ensure seamless transitions, the skybox was updated so that
    cloud values matched the rest of the scene transitions. These include:\n\n   
    - Cloud Offset\n    - Cloud Scale\n    - Cloud Speed\n    - Cloud Direction\n\n 
    - Drastic differences in these values can cause clouds to appear to lower or
    move unnaturally across the sky.\n\n    - Different cloud textures can be used,
    but matching these values reduces unintended effects. Using the same cloud texture
    is preferable to minimize issues during longer transitions.\n\n![](./Images/EnvImplementation/Fig6.gif)\n\n-
    The Ocean\n\n  - At the end of Beat5, the ocean is choppy with a large patch
    size and high wind speed. By the end of Beat6, the weather needs to be calmer
    and sunnier. The following were adjusted for seamless transitions:\n\n    - Environment
    Profile Parameters:\n\n      - Wind Speed\n      - Directionality\n      - Patch
    Size\n\n        - Large changes in patch size were hidden behind instant transitions.\n\n     
    - Ocean Material\n\n        - Ocean Normal Map texture\n        - Normals parameters\n       
    - Smoothness\n        - Displacement noise\n\nAdjusting these parameters ensures
    consistency between Beat4 and Beat5's stormy weather while setting up Beat6 transitions
    smoothly as players teleport across the boat.\n\nFor nighttime and stormy profiles,
    we set the Sun Disk Material to the Moon material, so water reflections come
    from the moon instead of the sun.\n\n- This requires instant transitions to swap
    the moon and sun.\n\n  - A long transition would make the moon's position change
    rapidly like a timelapse.\n\n  - We hide this in Beat6 between the second and
    third transitions, and this technique is also used in Beat3 and Beat4 scenes
    transitioning from a clear day to a stormy night.\n\nTo check transition flow,
    we can drag different environment profiles onto the **\u2018Target Profile\u2019**
    on the Environment prefab in a scene, like Beat6, and adjust the Transition Time
    to determine which transitions need to be instant or long-form and their duration.\n\n![](./Images/EnvImplementation/Fig5.gif)\n\nWe
    set up transitions using Unity Event Receivers on the Environment Profile prefab
    and assign them to Event Broadcasters on the Teleport Warps in the scene. Once
    Receivers are set up, we add the Environment Profile for the transition, its
    duration, and skybox updaters to ensure smooth transitions. See below for an
    example of Beat6 transitions on the Environment Prefab.\n\n**Starting Environment
    Profile in Beat6:**\n\n![](./Images/EnvImplementation/Fig2.png)\n\n**Final Environment
    Profile in Beat6:**\n\n![](./Images/EnvImplementation/Fig1.png)\n\n**Example
    of the Beat6 Environment Transitions Setup in Scene**\n\n![](./Images/EnvImplementation/Fig0.png)\n\n![](./Images/EnvImplementation/Fig3.png)\n\n#
    Summary of Things to Look Out For\n\n### Sun and Moon Positions\n\n- Higher or
    lower in the sky\n\n  - Small position changes can be instant or long (5 - 30
    seconds).\n\n  - Large position changes can be instant or long (20 - 50 seconds).\n\n   
    - NOTE: Large changes need significant time; otherwise, the sun/moon will move
    quickly and look unnatural.\n\n- Swapping Moon and Sun\n\n  - Must be done via
    an instant transition.\n\n- Keep sun and moon changes on the X-axis only, moving
    up or down, not horizontally (Y-axis changes between scenes are acceptable if
    necessary).\n\n### Ocean Patch Sizes\n\n- Longer transitions require the same
    patch size, as it limits max wave size. Different patch sizes can cause visual
    inconsistencies during transitions, like noticeable shifting/scrolling as the
    ocean patch size changes.\n\n### Same Skybox Cloud Values for Longer Transitions\n\n-
    Cloud Offset should be consistent to avoid clouds moving up and down.\n\n- Cloud
    Speed should be consistent to prevent noticeable scrolling as clouds shift.\n\n-
    Cloud Scaling, like Cloud Speed, can cause noticeable scrolling if different
    between profiles.\n\n  - NOTE: Consistent cloud values are necessary for extended
    transitions.\n\n### Colours\n\n- Managing colour changes between profiles can
    be challenging, especially with rapid time-of-day changes.\n\n- Smaller changes
    in instant or short transitions (3 - 5 seconds) can help achieve smoother colour
    transitions over longer periods.\n\n- In a Beat6 profile, when the moon was in
    the \u2018sun\u2019 position, I edited the Skybox \u2018Cloud Back Color\u2019
    to appear more orange, typically a darker version of the \u2018Cloud Sun Color\u2019,
    to simulate the sun about to crest the ocean.\n\n  - Tricks like this can help
    create transitions between very different profile setups.\n\n- Experimenting
    with Post Processing profiles can also aid in smooth colour transitions between
    profiles.\n\n### Relevant Files\n- [EnvironmentSystem.cs](https://github.com/meta-quest/Unity-UtilityPackages/tree/main/com.meta.utilities.environment/Runtime/Scripts/Environment/EnvironmentSystem.cs)\n-
    [EnvironmentProfile.cs](https://github.com/meta-quest/Unity-UtilityPackages/tree/main/com.meta.utilities.environment/Runtime/Scripts/Water/EnvironmentProfile.cs)\n"
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