Sky and Lighting
The scene view uses Rust's own sky: the sun, the moon, the atmosphere and volumetric clouds, lit the way the game lights them. What you see while you build is close to what players see in the game.
What changes the light
| To change | Use |
|---|---|
| The time of day and the date | The time rows of the Time and Weather panel. The sun and moon move with the time. |
| Clouds, fog and rain | The Weather, Clouds and Atmosphere sections of the Time and Weather panel. |
| The strength of the sunlight, ambient light and reflections | The Lighting section of the Time and Weather panel. |
| Fog in each biome | The Biome Fog section of the Time and Weather panel. |
| Light effects such as bloom, light shafts and shadows | Graphics settings. |
| The look of a tropical map | The tropical button in the scene view's header. See Tropical terrain. |
RustEdit updates the sky on every frame, so a change in the Time and Weather panel shows at once.
The lighting section
The Lighting section of the Time and Weather panel changes the light the way Rust's weather does:
- Ambient Light: the light from the sky that fills shadows.
- Sun Light: the light of the sun, or of the moon at night.
- Reflections: the sky's reflections on shiny surfaces.
- Sun Brightness and Moon Brightness: how bright the sun and the moon look in the sky.
- Cloud Sun Color and Cloud Moon Color: how strongly the sun and the moon color the clouds.
A value you move stays fixed until you click Reset to Defaults. See Time and Weather.
Places change the light
As in the game, the light and the fog change with where the camera is:
- Biomes. Each biome has its own fog and its own screen effect over the picture, which blend as the camera moves between biomes. The Biome Fog graphics setting turns the fog off. The Climate System graphics setting turns the screen effects off: the one of each biome and the one for underground places.
- Caves, tunnels and places with no sunlight. Inside them, the sky light and the fog change the way they do in the game. Turn off Volume Effects in the graphics settings to always light the scene as outdoors.
- Under water. The light and the colors change with the depth. See Water.
The change is smooth: it fades over a moment when the camera moves from one place to another.
The sky's effects
These graphics settings change how the sky and the light look:
| Setting | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Volume Clouds | The quality of the volumetric clouds. 0 turns them off. |
| Light Shafts | Rays of sunlight. |
| Bloom | A glow around bright light. |
| Auto Exposure | The view gets brighter or darker by itself, like an eye that adjusts. |
| Ambient Occlusion | Soft shadows in corners and where objects meet. |
| Contact Shadows | Fine shadows close to objects, from the sun. |
| Biome Fog | The fog of each biome. |
| Climate System | The look of each biome. |
| Volume Effects | The light and fog changes in caves, tunnels and other places. |
Night
At night the moon lights the map. Use the Time slider in the Time and Weather panel to check how your map looks in the dark.
The game lights its nights with an extra effect that RustEdit does not have yet. Nights in RustEdit can look brighter or darker than in the game.
Tips
- To light a screenshot or a product picture, turn off Progress Time so the sun stays where you put it.
- To see the ground with no weather in the way, move Fog and Rain to 0, or pick a preset with clear weather.
- Turn off Auto Exposure when you compare colors between two places. Otherwise the view's brightness changes as you move.