HOW TO: Make Tiny Prims

we all know the smallest you can make a prim in SL is 0.01 x 0.01 x 0.01 meters. or is it? that's just what The Man wants you to think. i found some ways to get even smaller and when i show my friends they say "wow i didn't know that" so hopefully this will help other people too. alot of what i work on wouldn't even be possible without these tricks.

i don't have any web space for images so when i say such as example #1, click on the link at the bottom of the post.

one other thing, these mostly work for cubes and cylinders and the shapes made from them. there are a few ways to get crazy with the other prims but that's up to you. all i'ma talk about are cubes and cylinders.

technique # 1: dimpling
this is the most important trick for making small prims. i'm guessing most everyone has dimpled a sphere before. if you haven't, go do it before you read any more.

on the edit window object tab there's a pulldown menu where you can select different prim shapes. if you have a prim selected when you do that it will change to the new shape. make a cube and set it to 0.01 x 0.01 x 0.01 meters. use that pulldown menu to change it into a sphere. dimple the sphere to 0.25 and 0.75. quick lil note, if you dimple the top and bottom the same amount you keep the leftover shape centered. if you dimple the top but not the bottom or the other way round you make the leftover top or bottom heavy. ok, now that you have your sphere dimpled, use the pulldown to change back to a cube (example #1). hey, where'd the top and bottom go? they're still dimpled. notice how it still says it's 0.01 x 0.01 x 0.01 meters? doesn't look like it though does it? looks are all that matter. i learned that in school.

and here's what i was talking about with centering your dimple or leaving the leftover top and bottom heavy (example 2).

same dimpling technique works with cylinders too so give that a try.

technique #2: cutting
ok if you don't know how to cut prims just stop reading now. for everybody else we're about to make a cube that's half as big as the smallest official size. yeah i said half. that's the smallest cube i know how to make but of course we can go alot smaller with rectangles. cubes first....

cutting a cube starts in the corner for some reason so it doesn't naturally want to make a straight cut through one side and out the other. you can get one manually though by using the numbers 0.375 and 0.875. bingo, we just cut that cube in half. it's a rectangle though and we want a cube so keep cutting til you get to 0.625 and 0.875. those numbers are prolly familiar to you if you divide 0.5 meter cubes or move them around and align them much. ok, we just cut our cube into 1/4 but it's too tall. dimple it to 0.25 and 0.75 (half its height) and there you go. a 0.005 x 0.005 x 0.005 meter cube (example #3). perfect.

i bet you're thinking this won't work for cylinders. you're right cause cutting a cylinder like this will only give you a pie wedge. all is not lost cause we can fudge it to get a decent cylinder smaller than 0.01 x 0.01 x 0.01 meters. here's how...

make the usual 0.01 x 0.01 x 0.01 meter cylinder and dimple it all the way down to 0.49 and 0.51 which is the smallest possible dimple. change back to a cylinder and you'll notice it's pretty thin but still too wide. well, reduce the top sizes down to 0.0 on both X and Y. it just got narrower but it's so short. stretch that thing vertically to 0.5 meters and you got a thin cylinder that's almost perfect (example #4). the sides go in just a lil bit but who's going to look that close anyway? the longer you stretch it the less noticable the taper is.

here's an example of changing the center with dimpling on cylinders (example #5). this gets interesting when you start reducing the top size. we just did that with the dimple in the center but you can dimple all the way up from the bottom and leave the point. that's a good way to get some crazy shapes (example #6). you can get pretty nutty with cubes too if that's your thing (example #7).

and just so you know this is for real, here's every example from my screenshots the way they were when i made them, all those lil dots (example #8). hehe. enjoy.

edit: lil bit more info... this is all about making tiny prims but they don't have to be tiny all round. if you want a 10 x 0.005 x 10 meter box, go for it. need a 2 x 2 x 0.0002 meter cylinder? you got it. think big and small.

rest of the examples.....

Cool, a "primcule"!

Great work. I had no idea this was possible.

(edited to remove inappropriate comment)




- Ace


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Awesome tips hehe This will certainly help in the jewelry making department
Thanks!

great thread! Nice work! aaah Jewlers' secrets revealed!!!

Arti

WOW! This is Great Info! TYSM!

Awesome tutorilal. Thanks so much for posting this. You rock!

Thank you Zuzi tho share that with us. I never worked with this kind of prims and I'll keep this tutorial as a reference. Good work!

Zuzi,
making this kind of tutorial is demanding time and effort, to avoid losing your work I suggest to add your tutorial to the Bedazzle website under your name. Of course all the credit will be yours, the advantage will be to have a permanent home for this great ressource. If interested, plz drop a line inworld.

My objective is to encourage this kind of initiave and dont lose the work you made.

Thanks Zuzi. As a dedicated pratitioner of, as you put it, "stupid fun stuff", I'm always looking for new ways to mangle and manipulate prims. I can't wait to get back in world to try 'em out. Way cool!

I love the idea of llSetText and screenshots for making tutorials. Why didn't I think of that.
Makes my life a lot easier

you did Eggy. i'm your alt remember?

Thanks Zuzi! I'm printing this one.

To get the closest approximation to a cylinder out of a sphere, the best dimple settings are 0.49-0.51. This will get rid of the majority of the depression in the center on either side.

One thing to watch out for with spheres this small is the texturing and lighting, especially when used as an attachment. Because of how attachments are lit (badly) it will appear as a weird gradient effect on the dimpled area in some cases, running from the center where it is properly colored, to white on the edges.

I just tried some of this out, and it was incredibly helpful -- thanks, Zuzi!

BTW, is there any way to make really small spheres that are still, you know, sphere-shaped? I couldn't figure out a way using the techniques here, but I thought there might be some other trick.

my secrets revealed... well only some of them xD.... *sigh* well, I still hold SL's smallest prim alphabet in my pocket xD

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

wonderful tutorial, Zuzi. You're the best.

i give my judos and thanks as well

Thanks Zuzi, extremely cool

Yes- thanks. Amazing.
Is this what is meant when people speak of "prim torture" ?
I always thought maybe they you could make things smaller with scripts, though I've never tried.
So scripts are no advantage at all ?

As long as this thread is at the top again; the dimple technique works for more than just making tiny prims. It's also how I make 1 prim doors.

If you use B=0.5 for the dimple, it'll set the center of the prim at the edge of the visible door. So, of course, it rotates from what looks for all the world like the edge.

Of course, I did have to tweak the Door Script a little bit, so it wouldn't "open" by rotating lengthwise around the middle...

(I can post the modified script when I get back in town on Monday, if anyone is interested.)

But it's the best way I could find for making a 1 prim door that's absolutely rectangular.

There's also a really neat render bug with cubes for doors:

Scale: ? x ? x 0.01 (X and Y can be whatever size you want)
Twist: -360 to 360
Hollow: 95% (though you can vary this too)

I believe that's the one. I use this for a few doors myself - creates a cheap "iris" effect when the renderer gets near it.

One has to wonder if it'll ever get "fixed" though.

Now that's thinking "outside" the box ...er prim... sphere...cube...