Simulation 3D Scene Configuration

Scene configuration for 3D simulation environment

Since R2020b

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

You can simulate from a set of prebuilt scene or from your own custom scenes. Scene customization requires the UAV Toolbox Interface for Unreal Engine Projects support package. For more details, see Customize Unreal Engine Scenes for UAVs.

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 Block Execution Order.

Examples

Simulate Simple Flight Scenario and Sensor in Unreal Engine Environment

Visualize sensors in a simulation environment that uses Unreal Engine® from Epic Games®.

Open Live Script

Depth and Semantic Segmentation Visualization Using Unreal Engine Simulation

Visualize depth and semantic segmentation data captured from a camera sensor in a simulation environment. This environment is rendered using the Unreal Engine® from Epic Games®.

Open Live Script

Parameters

Scene Selection

Scene source — Source of scene

Default Scene (default) | Unreal Executable | Unreal Editor

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

Option	Description
Default Scene	Simulate in the default, prebuilt scene 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 File 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.

Scene name — Name of prebuilt 3D scene

US city block (default)

Name of the prebuilt 3D scene in which to simulate, specified as one of these options. For details about a scene, see its listed corresponding reference page.

• US city block — US City Block

The UAV Toolbox Interface for Unreal Engine Projects contains customizable versions of these scenes. For details about customizing scenes, see Customize Unreal Engine Scenes for UAVs.

Dependencies

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

File name — Name of Unreal Engine executable file

VehicleSimulation.exe (default) | valid executable file name

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

By default, File 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.

Scene — Name of scene from executable file

/Game/Maps/USCityBlock (default) | path to valid scene name

Name of a scene from the executable file specified by the File 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 File name parameter. Use backward slashes and specify the .umap extension for the scene.

By default, Scene is set to /Game/Maps/USCityBlock, which is a scene from the default VehicleSimulation.exe executable file specified by the File 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.

Project — Name of Unreal Engine project file

valid project file name

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

Scene view — Configure placement of virtual camera that displays scene

Scene Origin (default) | vehicle name

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

• If your model contains no Simulation 3D UAV Vehicle 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.

Key	Camera View
1	Back left
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.

Key	Camera Control
Tab	Cycle the view between all vehicles in the scene.
Mouse scroll wheel	Control the camera distance from the vehicle.
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.
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.

Sample time — Sample time of visualization engine

(default) | scalar greater than or equal to 0.01

Sample time, T_s, 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 Simulation 3D Camera blocks, inherit this sample rate.

Display 3D simulation window — Unreal Engine visualization

on (default) | off

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 Scene or Unreal Executable.

Display 3D simulation window in a web browser — Web browser visualization

off (default) | on

Select whether to run simulations in web browsers on local or remote devices, including:

• Local desktops

• Remote desktops

• Mobile phones

To display the simulation in a web browser:

1. If you do not have it installed, install Node.js^® on the system that runs the simulation.

2. Select Display 3D simulation window in a web browser. Apply the change.

3. In Simulink, select Run.

4. Follow the steps provided in the Diagnostic Viewer.

   Web Browser Display	Steps
   Current device	Open a web browser on your current device. Navigate to the first IP address link provided in the Diagnostic Viewer.
   Remote device	Open a web browser on a remote device that is on the same network. Navigate to the second IP address link provided in the Diagnostic Viewer.

   Note

   To establish the connections, the system server uses two ports:

   • 7070 – http: connection to web browser

   • 8888– Streamer connection from Unreal Engine application

Dependencies

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

Weather

Override scene weather — Control the scene weather and sun position

off (default) | on

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 Day	Settings	Unreal Editor Environment
Midnight	Sun altitude: -90 Sun azimuth: 180
Sunrise in the north	Sun altitude: 0 Sun azimuth: 180
Noon	Sun altitude: 90 Sun azimuth: 180

This table summarizes settings for specific cloud conditions.

Cloud Condition	Settings	Unreal Editor Environment
Clear	Cloud opacity: 0
Heavy	Cloud opacity: 85

This table summarizes settings for specific fog conditions.

Fog Condition	Settings	Unreal Editor Environment
None	Fog density: 0
Heavy	Fog density: 100

This table summarizes settings for specific rain conditions.

Rain Condition	Settings	Unreal Editor Environment
Light	Cloud opacity: 10 Rain density: 25
Heavy	Cloud opacity: 10 Rain density: 80

Sun altitude — Altitude angle between sun and horizon

40 (default) | any value between -90 and 90

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

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.

Sun azimuth — Azimuth angle from south to horizontal projection of the sun ray

90 (default) | any value between 0 and 360

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

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.

Cloud opacity — Unreal Editor Cloud Opacity global actor target value

10 (default) | any value between 0 and 100

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

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

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Override scene weather.

Cloud speed — Unreal Editor Cloud Speed global actor target value

1 (default) | any value between -100 and 100

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.

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

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Override scene weather.

Fog density — Unreal Editor Set Fog Density and Set Start Distance target values

0 (default) | any value between 0 and 100

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

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Override scene weather.

Rain density — Unreal Editor local actor controlling rain density, wetness, rain puddles, and ripples

0 (default) | any value between 0 and 100

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

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

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select Override scene weather.

Geospatial

Enable geospatial configuration — Option to enable geospatial parameters and variant subsystem

off (default) | on

Select this parameter to enable geospatial parameters and a variant subsystem.

Access token ID — ID of stored token

string representing ID of stored token

Specify your Cesium access token ID. To create this token, create a Cesium^® ion™ account, then generate the token through this account. For more information, see https://cesium.com/ion.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration parameter.

Origin height (m) — Height of origin at georeference point on globe

200 (default) | real scalar

Specify the height of the origin, in meters, above the 1984 World Geodetic System (WGS84) ellipsoid model of the Earth at the latitude and longitude specified in Origin latitude and Origin longitude.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration parameter.

Origin latitude — Latitude of origin

40.744652 (default) | real scalar

Specify the latitude of the origin in decimal degrees.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration parameter.

Origin longitude — Longitude of origin

-73.988864 (default) | real scalar

Specify the longitude of the origin in decimal degrees.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration parameter.

Map style — Raster overlay type

Aerial (default) | Aerial with labels | Road

Specify the raster overlay type of the map as Aerial, Aerial with labels, or Road.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration parameter.

Additional asset IDs — Local data set IDs

[] (default) | array | vector

Specify the local data set IDs.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration parameter.

Use advanced Sun sky — Georeferenced, location-accurate Sun Sky actor

off (default) | on

Select this parameter to add a georeferenced, location-accurate Sun Sky actor to the simulation.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration parameter.

Solar time — Current solar time

11 (default) | real scalar

Specify the current solar time in hours from midnight.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration and Use advanced Sun sky parameters.

Time zone — Time zone

-5 (default) | real scalar

Specify the current time zone in hours offset from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). To specify time zones earlier than GMT, use a negative value.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration and Use advanced Sun sky parameters.

Day — Day

21 (default) | integer in range [1, 31]

Specify the day of the month, from 1 to 31.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration and Use advanced Sun sky parameters.

Month — Month

9 (default) | integer in range [1, 12]

Specify the month, from 1 to 12.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration and Use advanced Sun sky parameters.

Year — Year

2022 (default) | real scalar

Specify the year.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration and Use advanced Sun sky parameters.

Use daylight saving time (DST) — Daylight saving time

on (default) | off

Select this parameter to enable daylight saving time.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration, Use advanced Sun sky, and Use daylight saving time (DST) parameters.

DST start day — Start day of daylight saving time

10 (default) | integer scalar in the range [1, 31]

Specify the start day of daylight saving time, specified as a scalar from 1 to 31.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration, Use advanced Sun sky, and Use daylight saving time (DST) parameters.

DST start month — Start month of daylight saving time

3 (default) | integer in the range [1, 12]

Specify the start month of daylight saving time, from 1 to 12.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration, Use advanced Sun sky, and Use daylight saving time (DST) parameters.

DST end day — End day of daylight saving time

3 (default) | integer in range [1, 31]

Specify the end day of daylight saving time, from 1 to 31.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration, Use advanced Sun sky, and Use daylight saving time (DST) parameters.

DST end month — End month of daylight saving time

11 (default) | integer in range [1, 12]

Specify the end month of daylight saving time, from 1 to 12.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration, Use advanced Sun sky, and Use daylight saving time (DST) parameters.

DST switch hour — Hour when daylight saving time switches

2 (default) | integer in range [1, 24]

Hour when daylight saving time switches, from 1 to 24.

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration, Use advanced Sun sky, and Use daylight saving time (DST) parameters.

Authentication manager — Management of access tokens

button

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

Dependencies

To enable this parameter, select the Enable geospatial configuration parameter.

More About

Sun Position and Weather

To control the scene weather and sun position, on the Weather tab, select Override scene weather. Use the enabled parameters to change the sun position, clouds, fog, and rain during the simulation.

Sun Position

Use Sun altitude and Sun azimuth to control the sun position.

• Sun altitude — Altitude angle in a vertical plane between the sun rays and the horizontal projection of the rays.

• Sun azimuth — Azimuth angle in the horizontal plane measured from the south to the horizontal projection of the sun rays.

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

Time of Day	Settings	Unreal Editor Environment
Midnight	Sun altitude: -90 Sun azimuth: 180
Sunrise in the north	Sun altitude: 0 Sun azimuth: 180
Noon	Sun altitude: 90 Sun azimuth: 180

Clouds

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

• Cloud opacity — Unreal Editor Cloud Opacity global actor target value. Zero is a cloudless scene.

• Cloud speed — 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.

This table summarizes settings for specific cloud conditions.

Cloud Condition	Settings	Unreal Editor Environment
Clear	Cloud opacity: 0
Heavy	Cloud opacity: 85

Fog

Use Fog density to control fog in the scene. Fog density corresponds to the Unreal Editor Set Fog Density.

This table summarizes settings for specific fog conditions.

Fog Condition	Settings	Unreal Editor Environment
None	Fog density: 0
Heavy	Fog density: 100

Rain

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

• Cloud opacity — Unreal Editor Cloud Opacity global actor target value.

• Rain density — Unreal Editor local actor that controls rain density, wetness, rain puddles, and ripples.

This table summarizes settings for specific rain conditions.

Rain Condition	Settings	Unreal Editor Environment
Light	Cloud opacity: 10 Rain density: 25
Heavy	Cloud opacity: 10 Rain density: 80

Version History

Introduced in R2020b

R2023a: Cesium support for specifying geospatial coordinates

You can select the Enable geospatial configuration parameter to enable the parameters of the Geospatial tab, such as Access token ID and Georeference parameters. You can use the parameters on the Geospatial tab to specify geospatial origin coordinates using a Cesium access token ID.