Gaps Between Prims

I have looked at a lot of things covering this but still I cannot seem to get rid of some gaps that tend to show up between prims. I have tried every trick of the trade to rid my builds of this annoying factor from prim docker to a HUD that allows me to move prims .00001m at a time. This is only present in SL this dose not seem to happen on any other system I have been on including my offline server, So whats the deal?

I'm assuming the gaps you're talking about are lines that show up as seams between prims. Here are some tips that help me...

* Invest in Skidz Primz, which is a tool that allows you to bring your prims together flush, which makes more seamless builds. It can also increase your build speed if you use it correctly.

* There are some tricks to get rid of reflection, which can happen even if your prims are as tight as they can be without going into each other. One trick is to set a taper on your adjoining prim which causes light to reflect at a 45 degree angle and thus not show seams. This can't be done everywhere, but it can minimize seam reflection.

* Use colors on the non-visible faces (within the seams) to minimize reflection. You may be able to use shiny to minimize this effect as well.

* Use grid snapping (CTRL-3 edit window, Use Grid checkbox and Options button) to ensure your prims are perfectly aligned to each other. Of course, this is dependent on the grid resolution (as set in the Edit window) and whether the size of your prims matches the grid resolution. If not your prims will not snap perfectly and be seamless.

* Old fashioned math. Use consistent numbers in your builds that allow for easy calculation of where one prim has to be in relation to another to be seamless. If you start working with numbers based on position and size of prims, you'll find your builds will be much more seamless and have fewer gaps.

* Use the COPY SELECTION/CENTER COPY feature in CTRL-4 (create window), which allows you to create a copy of a prim that is made flush with the face of the existing prim. This can speed up your build time tremendously and creates perfectly flush builds.

All of the above has been tried or done, any idea on what this would be happening?

Turn on anti-aliasing. Without it, you'll almost always see dotted lines, where prims meet. It's a graphical problem, not a physical one, so it requires a graphical solution.

Here's what happens. Without AA, the edges of objects appear jagged, or "stair-stepped". The size of each "step" is determined by the object's angle relative to the camera. No two objects can ever be precisely angled the same way, unless they're in exactly the same spot. And needless to say, adjacent objects are NOT in the same location as each other; they're next to each other, obviously. So Object A will always have slightly different sized "steps" along its edges than Object B. Put two different sized "staircases" together, and you'll always have open gaps at the corners of the "steps".

Anti-aliasing smooths out the jags, effectively transforming the "staircase" into a ramp. No more gaps.



Oh, and on a side note, since scripted docking tools were mentioned, let me take a moment to state that there's no need to waste your money on that kind of stuff. Learn to use the onscreen rulers. This kind of thing is precisely what they're for. They work perfectly, and they're infinitely faster to use than any of those scripted tools. SL, for all its many flaws, has a few really wonderful gems in it, and the on-screen rulers are at the top of the list. For what it's worth, I really wish Maya and other 3D modeling programs would incorporate the idea.

No offense intended to the exceeding clever and well-intentioned residents who created the docking tools, of course. But in the words of the great Jeff Goldbloom (Jurassic Park), "You were so preoccupied with whether or not you COULD, you never fully considered whether or not you SHOULD." An unnecessary tool, no matter how well crafted, is no less unnecessary.

There's really no way for us to diagnose a problem like this when we can't see it

If I may interject with a question and observation of my own, I have found that megaprims do not always align perfectly.

I use math and build on absolutes, which works perfectly for non-megaprim builds. However, I have found some curious behaviour with megaprims where alignment is visually "off" by an infinitesimal amount.

I could never decide whether this symptom is due to my graphics card, my need for stronger prescription glasses or if the megaprim is somehow not precise.

Any further thoughts on this?

PS: Chosen, I have never explored the rulers before and am now eager to do so with your endorsement. Thank you.

First of all, I do agree with the previous poster that said tools are unnecessary. They are. Again, I'd like to point out about the ruler system--to get the most out of it you have to set its scale correctly and use properly sized prims (according to the scale of the grid).

As for megaprims, I think the center point on some of them are not correct. I've run into this problem too. What you could do is try to find a different set made by someone else and see if you have the same problem. I've found megaprims act strange in various situations and I can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure there's a logical explanation.

I never use tools, just the math based way.

But yeah mega prims the math is 100% perfect and they sometimes don't align.

The only scripted tool I ever needed was where I could not achieve what I wanted with the clients' inbuilt tools, namely Mirroring, so I had scripted my own simple drag&drop script for mirroring objects as fast and easily as possible, no silly crazy setting up needed unlike the other scripts like "Skidz".

Thanks Chosen for that excellent write-up explaining very clearly about what is going on there, that has to be the best explanation I have seen in a while.

I've never used Skidz but everything I've seen thats been built with it had really poor alignment...

The tool aligns prims with each other quite well, without aligning them to a preset grid. All of my builds with Skidz Primz have been tight and seamless. I suppose if you don't use the tool correctly you can misalign prims, but I can't see how it's possible since alignment is a no brainer.

Just to add my 10 cents, how do you know the maths is perfect?

Can you give an example perhaps and where they don't align.

I work with mega prims all the time and there are some you need to avoid. There were some that in order to get the correct sizes the creator used cut path. These should be avoided and are difficult to align if you are not experienced. You have to align the prims' according to the bounding box when doing the maths.

Tray,

the prims in question have they been tortured or rotated?

His math probably is correct, some mega prims are created by using the tiny prim techniques but on the huger mega prims to create in between prims, but some have done it in a way where the center is no longer in the center of a prim. This cretes alignment problems whern usiong math. If you know how toiny prims are made you can probably solve the problem by redoing the tiny prim trick on the megaprim.

So his math isn't wrong he just lacks the data.

No you cant.

Prim A

x 50.0
y 50.0
z 50.0

Prim B

Same size, Exact same coordinates set it's y coordinate to +50 putting it next to each other, Now the x axis does not align even tho there the same coordinates and same size.

Mega prims are often bugged in this way.

Nyx,

I am assuming that in your edit menu you have the movement co-ords like this for example;
X:50.250
Y:100.775
Z:20.125

So placing your 2 mega prims with prim a using the above co-ords and prim b;
X50.250
Y150.775
Z:20.125

and they do not align and you have aa tiny gap between the 2 prims?

The reason for this is most probably this as an example;

Prim A
X:50.2501259
Y:100.7751259
Z:20.1257523

Prim B
X:50.2501259
Y:150.7758751
Z: 20.1257523

The Y: Co-ords are not exact if you do the calculation.
One of the reasons you are seeing gaps between them.

The difference is: 50.0007492 enough for them not to align perfectly.

Just my 10 cents again

I've found soem weird things myself that have been cured in a weird way.

I had a long section of wall 32x2x0.25 which I TOOK from another build and put onto a fresh platorm somewhere else (another sim)

It would not align at all. It was rotated slighty when put against the base, I tried tristing it back and forth, with the mouse drag and enter the numbers in method.

So I went and go the same prim (but a fresh one) and this time, bang on.

It was as though my old one had some built in error and the fresh one was straight to begin with.

Re the 000.0000000

didn't I see that there was a tool/hack to apply to the SL viewer to increas the number of digits for our adjustment purposes?

I'm, guessing (in my case) the rotation ming have been somehtind like 90.000231 degrees, but I could not see it, or put it right.

No your missing the point completely


Prim A
X:50.2501259
Y:100.7751259
Z:20.1257523

Prim B
X:50.2501259
Y:150.7751259
Z:20.1257523

X does not align.

one thing that has not been mentioned is texture, if you are using the same texture on two adjoining prims, and the texture offset is even slightly off this can cause the problem.

It does not matter what the co-ords are the same example happens on all 3 so I could retype it and make the example x if I am missing the point.

My point was unless you can see the full 7 digits how do you know what you type was correct as the default menu only shows 3 digits and the other 4 are hidden and its those 4 numbers that very rarely will ever be the same because that is the way unfortunately SL works.

Alternatively, send me the 2 prims inworld aligned as you would normally and I'll test to see of its the prims or not becaue I have yet to come across any prim that has not been tortured or rotated that I cannot align.

Your missing the point.

The prims that don't align are an exact copy of each other, on the EXACT same coordinate X does not align when X was NEVER moved.

If your up for it, I'm more than happy to show you in world.

Do you (or anyone else) know where the patch/hack is that you apply to the SL Client software that allows you to see those extra digits?

I'm sure I saw it talked about months ago on here (together with a screenshot) but I can't find it now.

Would be handy when something just won't line up and an extra (default precision) 1 either way is too much.

Thanks

This.

Prims that have been twisted, path cut, sometimes holed out or mangled in some other was, (Dimpled prims i believe is the overall term ?) Begin to act weird. You can have them perfectly aligned - and I am talking about the grid numbers and the ruler, not eyesight - and you will still get a gap or bad seam. Its a visual issue and not a numbers issue I guess. You just gotta go in there and move the prim until it vusally fits, even if that means that its position will then be 200.001 and not a flat 200.

It's something that annoyes the hell outta me every time but sometimes you just can't aboid it.

Yes thankyou.

Here's the link with the screenshot, post 11
/8/ae/288249/1.html

Contact me inworld for some info, I won't post it here in cases some newby no nothing knows all goes and messes their PC up and blames me cause SL won't run anymore.

There are some issues with it but as this is not official I don't suppose raising a Jira would be of any use.