Water

Environmental reference

FXMaster+Filter effectAPI type: water

Preview

Preview shows Water enabled for a Region with Flowing Water and Follow Region Path enabled

Map maker

Map:Angela's Maps

Water refraction, caustics, flowing currents, waves, vortices, and Region-path steering.

Environmental filters change the Scene surface or atmosphere. They can cover the full Scene, be limited to Regions, and be moved within the effect stack.

Reference	Value
Package	FXMaster+
Effect kind	Filter effect
Category	Environmental
Runtime type	water
Exposed parameters	34

Major systems

Water is built from several independent systems. They can be combined, but each can also be tuned or disabled without changing the others.

Base surface

Water Tint, Opacity, Scale, Turbulence, and Still Water Speed define the underlying surface before directional movement is added.

Flow and Region paths

Enable Flowing Water for a directional current. Flow Speed, Flow Direction, and Flow Strength control that movement. In a Region Water effect, Follow Region Path allows a river or channel drawn as a Region to bend the current, while Path Influence controls how strongly the Region path overrides the base direction. These two controls are not shown on Scene Water effects.

Waves and vortex

Waves adds a second directional layer with its own speed, direction, and strength. The wave direction can differ from the flow direction, which can work well for wind-driven surface movement over a current.

Vortex Water adds circular movement. Vortex Center Size controls the affected center, while Vortex Speed, Vortex Strength, and Clockwise Rotation control the spin.

Caustics and refraction

Caustics adds moving light patterns with separate strength and tint. Refraction controls how strongly the underlying Scene is displaced. Raise them separately because both can affect map, grid, and text readability.

Water module settings

Some Water controls are hidden when their world-level feature is disabled. Enable the required group in Water Module Settings before configuring it on an effect row.

Important controls

• Flowing Water: Enables continuous directional water flow. This moves the surface pattern without enabling waves or a vortex.
• Follow Region Path: Uses the Region path as the local flow direction so rivers and channels can bend through the Region instead of moving in one global direction. Tweak the Flow Strength and Path Influence parameters to achieve natural bending motion for the water based on your specific region path.
• Path Influence: Available only in a Region Water effect while Follow Region Path is enabled. Controls how strongly the Region path overrides the base Flow Direction. Higher values follow the path more closely.
• Flow Strength: Controls how strongly the directional flow displaces and stretches the water surface.
• Waves: Enables a separate directional wave layer over the water surface.
• Vortex Water: Enables rotating water around a central vortex area.
• Caustics: Controls how visible the animated light patterns are on the water surface. Set it to 0 to remove caustics.
• Refraction: Controls how strongly the Water filter bends and distorts the map beneath it.

Setup notes

• Flow, Waves, Vortex, Turbulence, Caustics, and Refraction are independent systems.
• Follow Region Path and Path Influence are useful for rivers or channels drawn as Regions.

Bundled preset usage

No bundled preset currently uses this effect directly. Add it through Filter Effects or the Direct Effect API.

Parameters

The table combines the settings available for this effect in Scene and Region contexts. Scene-only and Region-only badges identify controls limited to one context. Hover or focus an info button to see what the parameter changes on the canvas. Select it to keep the card open. Each card also includes the default, range or choices, context, availability, API key, and control type.

34 exposed parameters1 Scene-only3 Region-onlywater API type

iHover or focus an info button to see what the parameter changes on the canvas. Select it to keep the card open. Context badges identify Scene-only and Region-only controls; unbadged parameters are available in both. Hover or focus an availability condition to highlight the parameter that controls it.

Parameter	Control	Default	Range or choices	Availability
Below Tokensi belowTokens	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Below Tilesi belowTiles	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Below Foregroundi belowForeground	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Levelsi levelsScene only	scene-levels	All Levels	—	Always
Water Tinti tint	color	#3ba7ff (enabled)	—	Always
Sound FXi soundFxEnabled	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Sound FX Soundsi soundFxManualSoundIds	multi-select	Rule default	—	Shown when Sound FX = On and the matching enabled SoundFX rule uses Multi-Sound Mode = Manual with at least two configured sounds
Flowing Wateri flow	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Flow Speedi flowSpeed	range	0.28	0–1 · step 0.01	Shown when Flowing Water = On
Flow Directioni flowDirection	range	0	0–360 · step 5	Shown when Flowing Water = On
Flow Strengthi flowStrength	range	0.65	0.5–1 · step 0.05	Shown when Flowing Water = On
Follow Region Pathi followRegionPathRegion only	checkbox	Off	—	Shown when Flowing Water = On and the Follow Region Path feature is enabled in Water Module Settings
Path Influencei pathInfluenceRegion only	range	0.4	0–1 · step 0.01	Shown when Flowing Water = On and Follow Region Path = On and the Follow Region Path feature is enabled in Water Module Settings
Wavesi waves	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Wave Speedi waveSpeed	range	0.28	0–1 · step 0.01	Shown when Waves = On
Wave Directioni waveDirection	range	0	0–360 · step 5	Shown when Waves = On
Wave Strengthi waveStrength	range	0.45	0–1 · step 0.05	Shown when Waves = On
Vortex Wateri vortex	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Vortex Center Sizei vortexSize	range	0.25	0–1 · step 0.05	Shown when Vortex Water = On
Vortex Speedi vortexSpeed	range	0.33	0–1 · step 0.01	Shown when Vortex Water = On
Clockwise Rotationi vortexClockwise	checkbox	On	—	Shown when Vortex Water = On
Vortex Strengthi vortexStrength	range	0.65	0–1 · step 0.05	Shown when Vortex Water = On
Opacityi strength	range	0.8	0–1 · step 0.05	Always
Synchronized Directioni synchronizedDirection	checkbox	Off	—	Shown when Flowing Water = On or Waves = On
Scalei scale	range	1	0–1 · step 0.05	Always
Turbulencei turbulence	range	0	0–1 · step 0.05	Shown when Flowing Water = On or Waves = On
Causticsi caustics	range	0.7	0–1 · step 0.05	Always
Caustic Strengthi causticStrength	range	0.85	0–1 · step 0.05	Shown when Caustics > 0
Caustics Tinti causticsTint	color	#ffffff (enabled)	—	Shown when Caustics > 0
Refractioni refraction	range	1	0–1 · step 0.05	Always
Still Water Speedi stillSpeed	range	0.5	0–1 · step 0.01	Shown when Flowing Water = Off and Waves = Off and Vortex Water = Off
Darkness Activationi darknessActivationEnabled	checkbox	Off	—	Always
Darkness Activation Rangei darknessActivationRange	range-dual	{"min":0,"max":1}	0–1 · step 0.01	Shown when Darkness Activation = On
Edge Fade %i fadePercentRegion only	range	0	0–1 · step 0.01	Always

Direct-effect API example

The Direct Effect API creates a separate row shown through Manage API Effects. Add a stable apiMacro_…_p or apiMacro_…_f ID when later macro calls need to update or stop the same row.

const created = await FXMASTER.api.effects.play({
  filters: [{
    "id": "apiMacro_wikiwater_f",
    "type": "water",
    "options": {
      "tint": {
        "apply": true,
        "value": "#3276c4"
      },
      "flow": true,
      "flowDirection": 180,
      "flowStrength": 0.4,
      "waves": true,
      "caustics": true
    }
  }],
});

await FXMASTER.api.effects.filters.stop(created.filters);

For complete API behavior, scene targeting, stack ordering, and toggle groups, see the Direct Effect API guide.