6. Oceans, Rivers and Lakes

Note

The features described in this section are in preview and may evolve in future versions.

6.1. Oceans

By default Crest generates an infinite body of water at a fixed sea level, suitable for oceans and very large lakes.

6.2. Lakes

Crest can be configured to efficiently generate smaller bodies of water, using the following mechanisms.

  • The waves can be generated in a limited area - see the Wave Splines (preview) section.

  • The WaterBody component, if present, marks areas of the scene where water should be present. It can be created by attaching this component to a GameObject and setting the X/Z scale to set the size of the water body. If gizmos are enabled an outline showing the size will be drawn in the Scene View.

  • The WaterBody component turns off tiles that do not overlap the desired area. The Clip Surface feature can be used to precisely remove any remaining water outside the intended area. Additionally, the clipping system can be configured to clip everything by default, and then areas can be defined where water should be included. See the Clip Surface section.

  • If the lake altitude differs from the global sea level, create a spline that covers the area of the lake and attach the RegisterHeightInput component which will set the water level to match the spline (or click the Set Height button in the Spline inspector). It is recommended to cover a larger area than the lake itself, to give a protective margin against LOD effects in the distance.

Another advantage of the WaterBody component is it allows an optional override material to be provided, to change the appearance of the water. This currently only changes the appearance of the water surface, it does not currently affect the underwater effect.

6.3. Rivers

Splines can also be used to create rivers, by creating a spline at the water surface of the river, and attaching the following components:

  • RegisterHeightInput can be used to set the water level to match the spline.

  • RegisterFlowInput can be used to make the water move along the spline.

  • ShapeFFT can be used to generate waves that propagate along the river.

The Add Feature section of the Spline inspector has helper buttons to quickly add these components.