Euphotica Deluxe is a more advanced version of Euphotica Classic. Have a look at that page to read a description of the euphotic zone, which Euphotica is named after. The main difference to Euphotica Classic is that Euphotica Deluxe also models the attenuation of individual colour components. In water, each part of the light spectrum attenuates at a different rate, for example red light is attenuated very rapidly, green light is attenuated a slower rate, and blue light is attenuated least of all, which is more or less why the sea is blue. As each colour is attenuated away, the colour of the water changes slightly. An excellent example of this is a tropical white sand beach, where the water goes from clear to turquoise to deep blue. Euphotica Classic can't do this hue change but, through deft tweaking of the attenuation parameters, Euphotica Deluxe can. It's a shame TG's water isn't truly transparent, because I think this could potentially look awesome.

Euphotica Deluxe is really aimed at the more advanced user who likes playing with this kind of stuff ( like me ). I think that anyone could have some fun just messing with the attenuation parameters though. My aim is to try and build up a set of parameter values which look good for certain settings, although there is measured data which is a good starting point, it's hard to get something which looks good across a wide variety of situations. That is part of my motivation for exposing the attenuation settings. To this end, I'd like to start a library of parameter settings, where people could submit a file saved from Euphotica Deluxe and a small image showing the effect. If you would be interested in contributing, you can get in touch with me at jomeder@xtra.co.nz.

As with the other plugins in the Euphotica family, Euphotica Deluxe is also able to fix, or at least improve, the "climbing quads" problem you sometimes see around the edge of the water, where you get solid blocks of the water colour going up onto the land. It will replace the block of water colour with the base colour you've specified. If the base colour is similar to the colour you have along the shoreline, then it should be much less noticeable. This can markedly improve TG images. However, if you use a plugin which changes the colouration of the water, such as Ice Shelf, Lava or Sorta Surf, then the problem can come back. To rectify this, you can use the Shore Snipper plugin.

The Interface

Mac version	Windows version

Euphotica Deluxe is easy to use. Here's a guide to it's settings :

• File Menu
  The File menu allows you to open and save your plugin settings. The settings are saved in files with a .wwk extension. All of the different plugins save their settings in files with a .wwk extension, but each has it's own format. If you try and open a .wwk file that was saved by a different plugin, then you will be notified about it.
  

  All of the commands in the File menu should work pretty much as you expect them to, however there is a File Menu page here if you would like it explained.
  

  WaterWorks settings files are cross platform, and can be exchanged between the Mac and Windows versions.
  

• Base Colour
  Click the colour button to choose the colour that Euphotica Deluxe blends with the water to give the transparent effect. The default colour is the same as the default colour of Terragen's base surface layer.

• Attenuation Coefficients
  These settings control the rate at which each colour component ( red, green and blue respectively ) is attenuated. Larger numbers giver quicker attenuation, 0 will give no attenuation.
  

• Absorption / Opacity
  This controls how quickly the light is attenuated or, to put it another way, how murky the water is. Smaller numbers give clearer water. At present, the attenuation calculations are based on one Terragen unit being equal to one metre. I am considering adding a Scale setting to allow for situations where this isn't the case.
  

• Cancel button
  This button closes the plugin window without recording the changes you've made to the settings.
  

• OK button
  This button closes the plugin window and records the changes you've made to the settings.

Tips for using Euphotica Deluxe

Here are some hints and tips to help you get the most out of Euphotica Deluxe :

• Make a note of the colour of the surface layer you would like to represent the underwater terrain and use that for the base colour. Of course, you can set the base colour to anything you like, depending on the effect you want. It's possible to make some truly vile combinations...
  

  If you are using the Mac version, then there's an easy way to transfer the colour of the surface layer. Open the surface map editor for the layer which has the colour you want to use as the base colour. Click on the Colour button, and then click the Pick Up button in the colour picker. Now open the Euphotica window again, and click on the Colour button. When the colour picker opens, click the Drop button. This will copy the colour settings from the surface layer into Euphotica. The Pick Up and Drop buttons are like Copy and Paste for colours. Unfortunately this isn't possible with the Windows version yet, but hopefully will be at some stage.
  

• Results are often better with higher settings for the waves ( Roughness and Wave Size in the Water window ), to break up the surface of the water a bit. Euphotica Deluxe is really faking the transparency of the water, although in a pretty accurate way for the given situation, and if the water is too smooth it can look as if the blended water / terrain colour is almost painted on the surface of the water. The rougher water surface can help alleviate this.

Requirements

WaterWorks needs the TGPGuiLib to run. This file provides cross platform interface functionality. To find out more about the TGPGuiLib and download the latest version, visit it's website.

© Jo Meder 2000, all rights reserved