====Environment Construction====

This is an advanced guide to constructing ARDI environments by directly editing the text-files involved in producing the environment information.

===Warning===
Incorrectly altering these files may cause significant issues for the server and clients, so please be extremely careful in making modifications.

===Folder===

Environment data is stored in //<site folder>///**media/layouts/**//<environment asset id>//

Here you will find all of the media files (ie. PNG images, SVG files, FBX 3D models), as well as **details.inc**, which is the master file that describes your environment layers.

The file is in PHP format. A sample file showing the layers of a building appears below...

===A Sample File===

<code>
<?php
$envinfo = array();
$envinfo["bounds"]["x"]=0;
$envinfo["bounds"]["y"]=0;
$envinfo["bounds"]["width"]=25;
$envinfo["bounds"]["height"]=25;
$envinfo["yaxis"] = "down";
$levels = array();


$lev = array();
$lev["name"] = "Ground";
$lev["path"] = "1.png";
$lev["options"] = "photo";
$lev["id"] = 1;
$lev["z"] = -1;
$levels[] = $lev;

$lev = array();
$lev["name"] = "Level 2";
$lev["path"] = "2.png";
$lev["options"] = "photo";
$lev["id"] = 2;
$lev["z"] = 1;
$levels[] = $lev;

$lev = array();
$lev["name"] = "Level 3";
$lev["path"] = "3.png";
$lev["options"] = "photo";
$lev["id"] = 3;
$lev["z"] = 3;
$levels[] = $lev;

$lev = array();
$lev["name"] = "Rooftop";
$lev["path"] = "4.png";
$lev["options"] = "photo";
$lev["id"] = 4;
$lev["z"] = 7;
$levels[] = $lev;

$lev = array();
$lev["name"] = "Basement";
$lev["path"] = "5.png";
$lev["options"] = "photo";
$lev["id"] = 5;
$lev["z"] = -3;
$levels[] = $lev;
?></code>

===Notes===

You **must** retain the leading "<?php " tag, or you may cause significant issues for mapping in your site.

===Layer Definitions===

Each layer looks something like this...

<code>
$lev = array();
$lev["name"] = "Basement";
$lev["path"] = "5.png";
$lev["options"] = "photo";
$lev["id"] = 5;
$lev["z"] = -3;
$levels[] = $lev;
</code>

The first line creates a new level.

The next set the options for the level. It's critical to at least have....
 * Name
 * Path
 * Options
 * ID
 * Z (depth)

The last line adds the layer to the list of layers.

The **Options** section contains what //type// of layer you are working with. These can include...

^Option^Meaning^
|photo|A raster image or photograph (PNG or JPG)|
|map|A 3D OBJ file with optional colour information|
|svgmap|A 2D SVG vector image|
|ply|A 3D PLY model containing additional data|