Arbitrary effects volumes

I propose that we be given the ability to create a volume of any size, or at least significantly larger than 10 cubic meters, as long as it remains within the boundaries of the parcel it is on, and to set options on this volume such as:

1. No Clouds, so that people who build at altitude (or in snow sims) don't have huge cloud banks rolling through their living rooms.
   
2. Water (on/off), so that we can create "pressurized" rooms within sim water (i.e. no aggressive light/sound damping), or large pools that act like sim water for above-ground pools. This will be doubly cool if LL ever decides to make water act like water, i.e. swimming/buoyancy.
3. Light. Surfaces within the volume would only be lit by lights also within the volume, and lights within the volume would only illuminate surfaces within the volume. Could have a slider or spin control to allow people to let a little light in from outside, and out from inside.
4. Sound already has something along these lines: llTriggerSoundLimited().
   
5. No Outside Rendering. The only objects the viewer is aware of are those within the volume. This would enable VERY high FPS inside buildings that don't require transparent windows. This alone could make SL a much more viable platform for FPS-genre games. We used to have a Draw Distance option on parcels, and that was removed (to my joy - it made flying across the world very strange at times). This would be much more precise. Eventually it would be nice if SL did some kind of BSP-based occlusion on large linked objects, but this is probably a lot easier to implement.

Volumes of this kind could be linked with each other to, for example, create a space approximating the inside of a house for purposes of disabling clouds, or create "air" in an underwater complex.

I like these ideas, if I recall correctly Catherine Omega has made simular suggestions at past Town Halls since... well.. almost beta(if not from beta itself)... the response was generaly "that'd be cool, but alot of work to do" from Lindens as I recall.

Maybe now they could actualy do all this, would be awsome to see.

An interisting question though, you say that the draw distance per parcel made flying odd sometimes, what if someone were to say, make a phantomed invisible box that suddenly made everything black and cut the draw distance down above their land? Presumably it would present some of the same problems, although I doubt this would be a major concern (it wouldn't stop me from implementing it), just thought I'd bring up that question, would you have it only apply to non-phantomed objects, or to any object have this ability?

How high would objects be able to be stretched also? The current build height?

Personaly I'd go with the effects being able to be applied to any type, phantomed or not. And for objects to be able to be stretched to the build height, and property lines as you mentioned.

Objects stretched to property lines would not be able to be turned physical correct? I would say yes myself, since then they would more than likely bring havok.

Those would be awsome features to have though. Philip talked about lighting some in his most recent Town Hall, how they were working on improving it in a big way. So maybe the bounded lighting could be implemented then also.

If it didn't serve a purpose other than to screw with people, I'd say file an abuse report, like with any other stupid crap people do to harass passersby.

These volumes would by definition be phantom.

I think that would be determined by technology more than anything else. It might be feasible to have an effects volume 100 meters in one dimension, but not 500.

An effects volume by itself wouldn't really need to be physical, but I suppose you could link it to something else that could be physical, like an airplane or an elevator, where you don't want clouds inside. That would mean you'd have to wait for phantom linking ability before doing such a thing. This feature would be primarily of interest for people wanting to create stationary effects.

I see, good points.

I think having it be able to be used in vehicle objects (among other physical things), would be nice to a degree. As you said planes without clouds inside, or even a sub without water inside would be really neat to see. I didn't think of that, but I see how it could be really usefull now.

And primarily yeah, mostly used for buildings, but still, vehicles with it would be neat.