Second Life Forums Archive - New Prim Type: Grid

Olmy Seraph

Valued Member

Join date: 1 Nov 2004

Posts: 502

03-29-2005 12:10

Here's an idea for an alternative to having a big mess of prims to display a bunch of different textures as part of an object's UI.

Prim type: GRID

A grid would basically be a box prim with a special ability to segment the top side into multiple faces. Each face would be addressable with a unique face number. This would let you create a complex interface that where you could change small pieces independently, without having to create a prim for each piece.

If a 2D grid is too complex to implement, even a 1D segmenting would be good. In that case, I'd call it a SEGMENT prim.

You can create a small example of this right now by cutting a box to 0.375 and 0.875 - faces 5 and 6 are adjacent and perfectly flat. I'm asking for the ability to do this with an arbitrary number of faces (ok, perhaps max 256 faces per prim).

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Some people are like Slinkies... not really good for anything, but they sure bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

Cross Lament

Loose-brained Vixen

Join date: 20 Mar 2004

Posts: 1,115

03-29-2005 12:44

That is such a good idea, it scares me.

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- Making everyone's day just a little more surreal -

Teeple Linden: "OK, where did the tentacled thing go while I was playing with my face?"

Olmy Seraph

Valued Member

Join date: 1 Nov 2004

Posts: 502

03-29-2005 13:45

Oh yeah, combined with being able to detect which face was touched (/13/9a/38153/1.html), a grid prim could be used to create some seriously cool UIs!

_____________________

Some people are like Slinkies... not really good for anything, but they sure bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

Jeffrey Gomez

Cubed™

Join date: 11 Jun 2004

Posts: 3,522

03-29-2005 14:14

I've been considering scripting something like this using prims, as a tool... but I doubt that does much for you, considering it'd be more than one prim.

Anyway, I would love to see this or something similar. Really, I would. However, I seriously doubt the prim database is built to handle prim data that varies to this level of severity. Case in point, I know from scripting that it's very difficult for me to store a large body of texture parameters in one script buffer... and that's 16k (though, to be fair, it's in string form).

Honestly, I keep seeing things like this that, IMO, would just be solved if we had point editing by prims or more advanced NURBs support. Given I still see that as far off, I'm going to have to say that this is... probably not feasible in the short term.

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New Prim Type: Grid
Olmy Seraph Valued Member Join date: 1 Nov 2004 Posts: 502	03-29-2005 12:10 Here's an idea for an alternative to having a big mess of prims to display a bunch of different textures as part of an object's UI. Prim type: GRID A grid would basically be a box prim with a special ability to segment the top side into multiple faces. Each face would be addressable with a unique face number. This would let you create a complex interface that where you could change small pieces independently, without having to create a prim for each piece. If a 2D grid is too complex to implement, even a 1D segmenting would be good. In that case, I'd call it a SEGMENT prim. You can create a small example of this right now by cutting a box to 0.375 and 0.875 - faces 5 and 6 are adjacent and perfectly flat. I'm asking for the ability to do this with an arbitrary number of faces (ok, perhaps max 256 faces per prim). _____________________ Some people are like Slinkies... not really good for anything, but they sure bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
Cross Lament Loose-brained Vixen Join date: 20 Mar 2004 Posts: 1,115	03-29-2005 12:44 That is such a good idea, it scares me. _____________________ - Making everyone's day just a little more surreal - Teeple Linden: "OK, where did the tentacled thing go while I was playing with my face?"
Olmy Seraph Valued Member Join date: 1 Nov 2004 Posts: 502	03-29-2005 13:45 Oh yeah, combined with being able to detect which face was touched (/13/9a/38153/1.html), a grid prim could be used to create some seriously cool UIs! _____________________ Some people are like Slinkies... not really good for anything, but they sure bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
Jeffrey Gomez Cubed™ Join date: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 3,522	03-29-2005 14:14 I've been considering scripting something like this using prims, as a tool... but I doubt that does much for you, considering it'd be more than one prim. Anyway, I would love to see this or something similar. Really, I would. However, I seriously doubt the prim database is built to handle prim data that varies to this level of severity. Case in point, I know from scripting that it's very difficult for me to store a large body of texture parameters in one script buffer... and that's 16k (though, to be fair, it's in string form). Honestly, I keep seeing things like this that, IMO, would just be solved if we had point editing by prims or more advanced NURBs support. Given I still see that as far off, I'm going to have to say that this is... probably not feasible in the short term. _____________________ ---

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New Prim Type: Grid