Wind, Dust, Motes & Light Shapes

A Diorama map can have the screen effects of RPG Maker U2U: wind that bends the objects you flag, dust drifting across the screen, twinkling light motes, heat haze, a vignette and bloom. Each placed Light can be a point, a spot, a god ray or a bonfire, and can be lit only at night.

Where to author it#

• Map Properties → Atmosphere (the map editor's Map Properties window, Atmosphere tab): the sections Wind, Dust, Light motes, Heat haze and Vignette and bloom, after Focus.
• Map editor → a placed Light → its Light form: Shape and When it is lit.
• Objects that sway, show only at night or glow carry those switches on the map (RPG Maker U2U imports set them); see Gotchas.

Set it up#

1. Turn on Diorama for the project (World → Rendering). Without it these sections are greyed out.
2. Open the map, then Map Properties → Atmosphere.
3. In Wind, set Wind on this map to On, then its Strength, Speed, the way it Blows and its gusts.
4. In Dust or Light motes, set the effect to On and pick its colours and amount. While the window is open, the map canvas shows the specks, the vignette and a line for each effect that only shows in play.
5. Set Vignette and Bloom above 0 if you want them; 0 is off.
6. Click a Light on the map, choose its Shape and, for a street lamp, When it is lit → Only at night.
7. Save, then play the map at night to see the night-only lights.

Wind#

Dust#

Light motes#

Heat haze#

Vignette and bloom#

Light shapes#

Copilot#

zone-atmosphere-set takes ambient with wind, dust, motes and heat (each a whole effect with all of its fields; null removes it) and grade with vignette, vignetteSoftness, bloom, bloomThreshold. Its dry run lists what phones and lower graphics draw of each effect. zone-light-set takes shape, nightOnly, angleDeg, rotationDeg, lengthTiles, widthTiles and embers.

Gotchas#

• Diorama only. These effects need Diorama; a request to set them in a project without it is refused. Taking one away always works.
• An effect that is Off is not stored. There is no default wind: a map without Wind has none, and flagged objects stand still.
• Swaying needs the map's wind. An object switched to sway does nothing on a map whose Wind is Off.
• Phones and Low graphics draw less. No sway, no light motes, no heat haze, no bloom, no spot lights (their light pass is off); fewer dust specks; a fixed corner darkening instead of the soft vignette. Medium graphics draws no heat haze and bloom without the blur. The Atmosphere sections say this under each effect.
• Reduced motion stops the sway, the twinkle, the drifting dust and the heat haze for players who turn it on.
• Bloom glows lights and glowing objects, not every bright pixel.
• Only at night follows the map's time of day, or the time it is always drawn at (Map Properties → Atmosphere → Time of day).
• The map canvas previews only while Map Properties is open, and draws the specks as High graphics would. Sway, heat haze and bloom show in play.
• Imported RPG Maker U2U maps: Wind, Heat Haze, Dust, Light Motes and the colour grade's vignette and bloom import; exposure, contrast, saturation and temperature do not, and a wind area becomes wind over the whole map (the import notes say so). Spot, God Ray and Bonfire parts import as lights of that shape; their angle, direction and size are read as best known, so check them. A picture's Wind Sway, Night Only and Emissive come with it. A Wall Block flagged Wind Sway imports still.