In past tips, we've referred to and used the Prop Browser without discussing any of its features or windows. So this week, we thought we might show it off and outline some features that will hopefully help streamline your workflow in CityScape.

Prop Browser

The Prop Browser is located in the bottom left-hand corner of the main CityScape window, outlined in the image below.

Because we want to concentrate on the Prop Browser, the first thing we'll do is hide the other panel to the right: the Output Window. Click on the pin button in the upper right corner of the Output Window to minimize it. You will be able to restore the Output Window later by clicking on its tab in the bar that now shows up below the Prop Browser.

The Prop Browser is split into three subpanels (from left to right): the Library Browser (which includes a directory tree view on the left and an item view on the right), the Style widget panel, and the Viewer.

The Library Browser is designed for organizing and browsing your assets which is a bigger topic we'll save for another tip. Thus, we will be focusing on the Style widget panel and the Viewer.

Style Widget Panel

The contents of the Style widget panel look a lot like the contents of widget panel to the right of the main Render Window. However, they are separated for good reason:

The widgets in the Style widget panel pertain to parameters shared by all of the props of a given type (selected in the Library Browser), while the other widgets control attributes for an individual prop that has already been placed in the world.

This is a very important point because you can save a lot of time by adjusting the parameters in the style of a prop rather than selecting each individual prop and changing them one-by-one. In fact, this is one of the core ideas upon which the road system is built (we saw some details on using and modifying road-specific styles in previous tip: Park Path Synthesis).

Prop Viewer

The prop viewing window is actually just like the main Render Window, except it simply shows you a 3D view of the currently selected prop. This window also displays the name of the prop in the lower left-hand corner.

You can adjust the camera by holding down ALT and using the mouse just like in the main Render Window. This allows you to get a better idea of what a prop will look like in the world.

The buttons along the top of the Prop Viewer allow you to change the camera and the viewing mode.

• Shadows: Toggle shadows on and off.
• Ground: Toggle the ground plane on and off.
• Wireframe: Toggle between a wireframe and solid view.
• Autofocus: If enabled, when a new prop is selected in the Library Browser, the camera will be adjusted to frame the entire prop (as best it can); otherwise, the camera will not be adjusted each time a new prop is selected.
• Reset: Button to reset the current camera view.

Also, we've added a special hotkey 'F' for manually focusing the camera on the current prop.

In Practice

The Prop Browser is your primary interface to populating your world, whether it be a buzzing metropolis or a simple track based on your favorite MarioKart raceway.