Main Content

Simulation 3D Scene Configuration

Scene configuration for 3D simulation environment

Since R2021b

expand all in page
  • Simulation 3D Scene Configuration block

Libraries:
Vehicle Dynamics Blockset / Vehicle Scenarios / Sim3D / Sim3D Core
Aerospace Blockset / Animation / Simulation 3D
Automated Driving Toolbox / Simulation 3D
UAV Toolbox / Simulation 3D
Simulink 3D Animation / Simulation 3D

Description

The Simulation 3D Scene Configuration block implements a 3D simulation environment that is rendered by using the Unreal Engine® from Epic Games®. Aerospace Blockset™ Interface for Unreal Engine Projects integrates the 3D simulation environment with Simulink® so that you can query the world around the vehicle and virtually test perception, control, and planning algorithms. Using this block, you can also control the position of the sun and the weather conditions of a scene. For more details, see Sun Position and Weather.

You can simulate from a set of prebuilt scenes or from your own custom scenes. Scene customization requires the Aerospace Blockset Interface for Unreal Engine Projects support package. For more details, see Customize 3D Scenes for Aerospace Blockset Simulations.

Note

The Simulation 3D Scene Configuration block must execute after blocks that send data to the 3D environment and before blocks that receive data from the 3D environment. To verify the execution order of such blocks, right-click the blocks and select Properties. Then, on the General tab, confirm these Priority settings:

  • For blocks that send data to the 3D environment, such as Simulation 3D Vehicle with Ground Following blocks, Priority must be set to -1. That way, these blocks prepare their data before the 3D environment receives it.

  • For the Simulation 3D Scene Configuration block in your model, Priority must be set to 0.

  • For blocks that receive data from the 3D environment, such as blocks, Priority must be set to 1. That way, the 3D environment can prepare the data before these blocks receive it.

For more information about execution order, see Control and Display Execution Order.

Examples

Using Unreal Engine Visualization for Airplane Flight

Using Unreal Engine Visualization for Airplane Flight

Use Unreal Engine to visualize a lightweight airplane flying over an airport.

Open Live Script

Parameters

expand all

Scene

Scene Selection

Source of the scene in which to simulate, specified as one of the options in the table.

OptionDescription
Default Scenes

Simulate in one of the default, prebuilt scenes specified in the Scene name parameter.

Unreal Executable

Simulate in a scene that is part of an Unreal Engine executable file. Specify the executable file in the Project name parameter. Specify the scene in the Scene parameter.

Select this option to simulate in custom scenes that have been packaged into an executable for faster simulation.

Unreal Editor

Simulate in a scene that is part of an Unreal Engine project (.uproject) file and is open in the Unreal® Editor. Specify the project file in the Project parameter.

Select this option when developing custom scenes. By clicking Open Unreal Editor, you can co-simulate within Simulink and the Unreal Editor and modify your scenes based on the simulation results.

Name of the prebuilt 3D scene in which to simulate, specified as one of these options.

The Aerospace Blockset Interface for Unreal Engine Projects contains customizable versions of these scenes. For details about customizing scenes, see Customize Scenes Using Simulink and Unreal Editor.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, set Scene source to Default Scenes.

Name of the Unreal Engine executable file, specified as a valid executable project file name. You can either browse for the file or specify the full path to the project file, using backslashes. To specify a scene from this file to simulate in, use the Scene parameter.

By default, Project name is set to VehicleSimulation.exe, which is on the MATLAB® search path.

Example: C:\Local\WindowsNoEditor\AutoVrtlEnv.exe

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, set Scene source to Unreal Executable.

Name of a scene from the executable file specified by the Project name parameter, specified as a path to a valid scene name.

When you package scenes from an Unreal Engine project into an executable file, the Unreal Editor saves the scenes to an internal folder within the executable file. This folder is located at the path /Game/Maps. Therefore, you must prepend /Game/Maps to the scene name. You must specify this path using forward slashes. For the file name, do not specify the .umap extension. For example, if the scene from the executable in which you want to simulate is named myScene.umap, specify Scene as /Game/Maps/myScene.

Alternatively, you can browse for the scene in the corresponding Unreal Engine project. These scenes are typically saved to the Content/Maps subfolder of the project. This subfolder contains all the scenes in your project. The scenes have the extension .umap. Select one of the scenes that you packaged into the executable file specified by the Project name parameter. Use backward slashes and specify the .umap extension for the scene.

By default, Scene is set to /Game/Maps/HwStrght, which is a scene from the default VehicleSimulation.exe executable file specified by the Project name parameter. This scene corresponds to the prebuilt Straight Road scene.

Example: /Game/Maps/scene1

Example: C:\Local\myProject\Content\Maps\scene1.umap

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, set Scene source to Unreal Executable.

Name of the Unreal Engine project file, specified as a valid project file name. You can either browse for the file or specify the full path to the file, using backslashes. The file must contain no spaces. To simulate scenes from this project in the Unreal Editor, click Open Unreal Editor. If you have an Unreal Editor session open already, then this button is disabled.

To run the simulation, in Simulink, click Run. Before you click Play in the Unreal Editor, wait until the Diagnostic Viewer window displays this confirmation message:

In the Simulation 3D Scene Configuration block, you set the scene source to 'Unreal Editor'.
In Unreal Editor, select 'Play' to view the scene.
This message confirms that Simulink has instantiated the scene actors, including the vehicles and cameras, in the Unreal Engine 3D environment. If you click Play before the Diagnostic Viewer window displays this confirmation message, Simulink might not instantiate the actors in the Unreal Editor.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, set Scene source to Unreal Editor.

Scene Parameters

Configure the placement of the virtual camera that displays the scene during simulation.

  • If your model contains no blocks, then during simulation, you view the scene from a camera positioned at the scene origin.

  • If your model contains at least one vehicle block, then by default, you view the scene from behind the first vehicle that was placed in your model. To change the view to a different vehicle, set Scene view to the name of that vehicle. The Scene view parameter list is populated with all the Name parameter values of the vehicle blocks contained in your model.

If you add a Simulation 3D Scene Configuration block to your model before adding any vehicle blocks, the virtual camera remains positioned at the scene. To reposition the camera to follow a vehicle, update this parameter.

When Scene view is set to a vehicle name, during simulation, you can change the location of the camera around the vehicle.

To smoothly change the camera views, use these key commands.

KeyCamera View

1

Back left

Image showing key commands and corresponding camera view

 View Animated GIF

2

Back

3

Back right

4

Left

5

Internal

6

Right

7

Front left

8

Front

9

Front right

0

Overhead

For additional camera controls, use these key commands.

KeyCamera Control
Tab

Cycle the view between all vehicles in the scene.

 View Animated GIF

Mouse scroll wheel

Control the camera distance from the vehicle.

 View Animated GIF

L

Toggle a camera lag effect on or off. When you enable the lag effect, the camera view includes:

  • Position lag, based on the vehicle translational acceleration

  • Rotation lag, based on the vehicle rotational velocity

This lag enables improved visualization of overall vehicle acceleration and rotation.

 View Animated GIF

F

Toggle the free camera mode on or off. When you enable the free camera mode, you can use the mouse to change the pitch and yaw of the camera. This mode enables you to orbit the camera around the vehicle.

 View Animated GIF

Sample time, Ts, of the visualization engine, specified as a scalar greater than or equal to 0.01. Units are in seconds.

The graphics frame rate of the visualization engine is the inverse of the sample time. For example, if Sample time is 1/60, then the visualization engine solver tries to achieve a frame rate of 60 frames per second. However, the real-time graphics frame rate is often lower due to factors such as graphics card performance and model complexity.

By default, blocks that receive data from the visualization engine, such as blocks, inherit this sample rate.

Select whether to run simulations in the 3D visualization environment without visualizing the results, that is, in headless mode.

Consider running in headless mode in these cases:

  • You want to run multiple 3D simulations in parallel to test models in different Unreal Engine scenarios.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, set Scene source to Default Scenes or Unreal Executable.

Weather

Select whether to control the scene weather and sun position during simulation. Use the enabled parameters to change the sun position, clouds, fog, and rain.

This table summarizes sun position settings for specific times of day.

Time of DaySettingsUnreal Editor Environment

Midnight

Sun altitude: -90

Sun azimuth: 180

Road at midnight

Sunrise in the north

Sun altitude: 0

Sun azimuth: 180

Road at sunrise

Noon

Sun altitude: 90

Sun azimuth: 180

Road at noon

This table summarizes settings for specific cloud conditions.

Cloud ConditionSettingsUnreal Editor Environment

Clear

Cloud opacity: 0

Road with clear skies

Heavy

Cloud opacity: 85

Road with cloudy skies

This table summarizes settings for specific fog conditions.

Fog ConditionSettingsUnreal Editor Environment

None

Fog density: 0

Road with no fog

Heavy

Fog density: 100

Road with heavy fog

This table summarizes settings for specific rain conditions.

Rain ConditionSettingsUnreal Editor Environment

Light

Cloud opacity: 10

Rain density: 25

City scene with light rain

Heavy

Cloud opacity: 10

Rain density: 80

City scene with heavy rain

Altitude angle in a vertical plane between the sun's rays and the horizontal projection of the rays, in deg.

Diagram of sun altitude angle (vertical arrow) and sun azimuth angle (horizontal arrow)

Use the Sun altitude and Sun azimuth parameters to control the time of day in the scene. For example, to specify sunrise in the north, set Sun altitude to 0 deg and Sun azimuth to 180 deg.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Override scene weather.

Azimuth angle in the horizontal plane measured from the south to the horizontal projection of the sun rays, in deg.

Diagram of sun altitude angle (vertical arrow) and sun azimuth angle (horizontal arrow

Use the Sun altitude and Sun azimuth parameters to control the time of day in the scene. For example, to specify sunrise in the north, set Sun altitude to 0 deg and Sun azimuth to 180 deg.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Override scene weather.

Parameter that corresponds to the Unreal Editor Cloud Opacity global actor target value, in percent. Zero is a cloudless scene.

Cloud Opacity and Cloud Speed settings in Unreal Editor

Use the Cloud opacity and Cloud speed parameters to control clouds in the scene.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Override scene weather.

Parameter that corresponds to the Unreal Editor Cloud Speed global actor target value. The clouds move from west to east for positive values and east to west for negative values.

Cloud Opacity and Cloud Speed settings in Unreal Editor

Use the Cloud opacity and Cloud speed parameters to control clouds in the scene.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Override scene weather.

Parameter that corresponds to the Unreal Editor Set Fog Density and Set Start Distance target values, in percent.

Set Fog Density setting in Unreal Editor

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Override scene weather.

Parameter corresponding to the Unreal Editor local actor that controls rain density, wetness, rain puddles, and ripples, in percent.

Unreal Editor settings to control rain density. The Get Components by Class on the left activates or deactivates the rain density settings. The rain effects on the right control settings such as wetness, rain puddles, and ripples.

Use the Cloud opacity and Rain density parameters to control rain in the scene.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Override scene weather.

Geospatial

Select this check box to enable geospatial parameters and a variant subsystem.

ID of stored token, specified as a string. To create this token, create a Cesium® ion™ account, then generate the token through this account. For more information, see https://cesium.com/ion.

Height at georeference point on the globe, specified as a real scalar. This parameter represents the height above the 1984 World Geodetic System (WGS84) ellipsoid model of the Earth at the latitude and longitude specified in Origin latitude and Origin longitude.

Latitude, specified as a real scalar in decimal degrees.

Longitude, specified as a real scalar in decimal degrees.

Raster overlay type, specified as Aerial, Aerial with labels, or Road.

Local dataset IDs, specified as an array or vector.

Select this check box to add a georeferenced, location-accurate Sun Sky actor in simulation.

Current solar time, specified as scalar hours from midnight.

Time zone, specified as hours offset from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). To specify hours before GMT, use a minus sign (-).

Day, specified as a scalar from 1 to 31.

Month, specified as a scalar from 1 to 12.

Year, specified as a scalar real.

Select this check box to enable daylight saving time.

Start day of daylight saving time, specified as a scalar from 1 to 31.

Start month of daylight saving time, specified as a scalar from 1 to 12.

Last day of daylight saving time, specified as a scalar from 1 to 31.

Last month of daylight saving time, specified as a scalar from 1 to 12.

Hour when daylight saving time switches, specified as a scalar from 1 to 24.

Click to manage access tokens, such as create, update, and delete tokens.

More About

expand all

Version History

Introduced in R2021b

See Also

Topics