STISIM Drive - Set Simulation Colors Option

Although STISIM Drive uses mostly 3D models that have colors and textures associated with them, there are some objects that appear in the roadway display scene that need to have a color associated with them. All of the 3D models such as vehicles, pedestrians, road signs, and barrels have defined colors that you cannot change using STISIM Drive. The colors for these models can only be changed using a modeling program but that is a completely different area that we will not delve into. A list of global (meaning they will remain this color for the entire simulation run) simulator objects that can have colors associated with them is discussed in the "Assign Simulation Colors" section. This section simply discusses what colors are available and how you can create your own custom colors. When you choose the Set Simulation Colors option from the Options menu, a dialog window similar to the following will be displayed:

This dialog window can be broken into 4 different groups, the basic colors, custom colors, setting colors, and control buttons. The majority of the dialog box is used for displaying the various colors. There are a total of 64 colors that the simulation allows, 16 base colors and 48 custom colors and each of these colors is displayed in its own box. The basic colors are simply 16 base colors that you cannot change but that can be used by themselves or as a starting point for a custom color. The custom colors include up to 48 colors that you specifically set. The basic colors are numbered 1-16 while the custom colors are numbered 17-64. This is important because any event in the SDL (for example the BLCK and POLY events) that requires a simulation color will have a parameter that is the color's number. To determine a color's number, simply put the cursor on the color's box and wait a second and the program will display the number.

As was mentioned above, you cannot change the basic colors, but you can create your own custom colors using the "Set color" option. Each color is comprised of a red, green and blue attribute that are combined to form the final color. The intensity of the individual color attributes determines how much of them will appear in the final color. There are 256 intensities that can be assigned with a minimum intensity of 0 and maximum intensity of 255. To create a custom color you do the following:

1. Choose a color number by clicking on one of the custom color boxes (the box will expand so that you know which one was chosen). When you choose a box, the color intensities will automatically be transferred to the Set color frame.
2. Using either the text box or the up and down arrow buttons, enter an intensity for each of the color attributes until the desired color appears in the box at the top of the set color frame. The up/down buttons on the left will increment the intensity by 10 while the ones on the right will increment by 1. To help you set a particular color, you can start with an existing color by right clicking on the color box for the existing color. If you do this, the program will transfer the intensity values for the color into the Set color text boxes. You can then make adjustments to the different intensities until you have the desired colors.
3. If the color is one that you would like to use, click on the Apply button otherwise the changes will not be accepted.

For example, lets say you want to create a custom color that is a darker yellow than the one provided as color 15. First choose a new custom color number by clicking on one of the available custom color boxes. We will use color 25, so we click on this box (left most box in the second row of the custom color boxes) and watch as the program highlights it. Next, since we want the color to be yellow, but darker than that shown in color 15, then we should use the intensities for color 15 as our starting point. Right clicking on the color 15 color box (second from the right on the second row of basic colors) places the current intensities for color 15 into the Set colors interface. Now, simply adjust the intensities until the desired color is displayed, then click on the Apply button and the new color will be assigned as color 25.

Finally, once all your colors have been specified you can then setup the simulator to use these colors by clicking on the Ok button. If you have a change of heart and decide that you don't like the changes that you have made, clicking on the Cancel button will return you to the STISIM Drive main window without putting your changes into effect. If you decide the colors that you created should be saved for future use then you must save them by using the Save Configuration option in the Files menu.

That leaves the final two buttons, Test and Help. Clicking on the Help button simply brings up this help screen, whereas the Test button allows you to display the currently specified color on the roadway display screen. Since there are differences between your computer's VGA and roadway display graphics boards, it is possible that the color you choose on the VGA display will differ from the color displayed during the simulation run. For this reason, the Test option has been provided so that you can see the color on the roadway display without having to run a simulation. When the Test option is chosen, the program will display the currently specified color for X seconds (plus  the current monitor startup delay). The display duration can be set using the text box labeled "Test Time:" that is located just to the right of the buttons. If you click on the Test button and nothing happens on the roadway monitor, try increasing the Test Time parameter until the color appears. Additionally, if a color appears but does not remain long enough for you to get a good view of it, increasing the Test Time will display the color for a longer period of time. This approach may seem strange to some, but there are users who only have a single monitor for both the VGA and roadway displays. Therefore, the color is displayed for a short time and then the screen is returned to normal.