Scripting and Moddeling thingies to look at~

Just thought id voiice some features in the scripting language and the modeller id really love to see =)

SCRIPTING:

>Animated positional transforms.
Having to use loops to make the appearance of object Y going form position X1 to X2 is inelegant at best, and seems like it would be a strain on the server. Having functions like llTransposeVector(StartVector, EndVector, Velocity/Time) and llTransposeRotation (StartRotation, EndRotation, Velocity/Time) would make a world of difference. (these woudl be performed with physics Off id hope, ive been trying to repeat this with physics on and its nothign short of hard-as-hell)

>Instance Based Scripts
It may just be my style, but i am tending to end up with lots of copies of scripts i am building, with no way of accuratly versioning them, as there are no accesable timestamps to even go off of. What would be nice is to be able to set a script as an instance, and any object(s) that use that script will all go off of the main copy. This could also provide a way to being able to upgrade the scripts on sold items, either thru a confermation dialog or some such.

>Scriptable UI elements:
Actually, what id realllly like is to be able to make a dialog box for input or some such. Anything else would just be gravy.

>Constraints:
For those grand times when I am feeling like a machoist and wanting to do some complcated stuff with physics on, it owuld be nice to have XYZ locks/constraints as there appear to be on rotational axis'.

>A little bug?
I was testing out some functions erlier and came across something interesting. i have an object, rotation set to 0,0,0... this yealids a rotation vectory matrixy thingy of <0,0,0,1>, and if i do a if llGetRot() == <0,0,0,1> it properly executes the code thereafter, which in this case rotates the object 36deg on the Z axis to somethign like <0,0,0.3503, 0.9703>. Now, when i do if llGetRot() == <0,0,0.3503, 0.9703> it refuses to execute the code in the if/then. Ive even echod out the Rot and its all kosher. I dont know if it was the mt.dew playing tricks with my head again, but ill try tomorrow and see if i have much the same results.


MODDELING:

>I think this might have been fixed, but sometimes, when doing a numeric transform on a linked group, or just a multiple selection, only one of the objects will transform.

>Triangle based primitive with inputs for the angles (would get much <3). The Square witht he forshortened top (i think it is at this point) does not seem to offer very much granular control.

>Default object preferences
Just a small thing, but a major help after you realize youve laid down 30 primitives all with the wrong permissions.

>I dont know a solution for this offhand, but working in enclosed areas on medium to large obects = really hard with current camera pathing....

>Any form of object snapping (if any kind, a face lock with movement in t he other 2 vectors would seem most usefull) The engine seems to freak out when objects overlap in certain ways =(

>Negative booleans >_<

>dx9/gl2/cg whatever kind programmable shaders (i know this is long term but those *$#&$ animated gifs drive me up the wall)



OK, last can of Dew is finished, and its 4am.... If any devs read this and have some feedback im all ears =)


Till then adieu, and grats on a great game...err..sim c... its its own thing



Bombastic Fats

Visit 'The Bombastic Casino and Brothel' in Clyde (curently under construction, but soon to potentiialy offer blackjack, roulette, and slots)

i would just like to second nearly everything that bombastic brought up about scripts. We have been asking for the abiltiy to lock the movement of objects for awhile now. And I asked for the two types of scripts, in alpha. One, just like we have now, were it is a one shot deal, and another that has a master copy that gets refered back to(old boards are gone, and although i thought that one had been moved, i couldn't find it). Also in alpha, there were commands for making a gui(this was mentioned in a recent thread as well, again, couldn't find it), but they were removed from the language when we moved over to beta, hopefully they will get put back in, especially when we get modify control over our scripts. And finally, somewhat out of order, i think you should be able to write a function that does what you want, both with linear and rotational movement, with a couple physics equations. I will work on it tonight, and see what i can come up with.

Also, just so you know, the references aren't there to say hey, you should go look before you post, heh that would be rude. I just put them in to emphasize the fact that we want these features! if i get a working function up and running, i will send it to peter to post in the scripting only forum.

only thing i have to say about the modeling is that you know you can change all the objects permissions by selecting them all and ticking the boxes you want?

Good ideas.
I really would like to see smooth movement in non-physics objects (preferably when linked to another it will move relative to root).
Also for eleavtors and such it would be really nice to have this smooth movement without physics BUT you avatar standing on it will be moved with it. The moving part should not stop at any time, so if your avatar gets stuck between the moving parts he will have to die or something like that.

well you will probably just tunnel through the object if you some how manage to wedge yourself between the moving objects, which makes non scripted falling rocks nearly useless. only time i have ever seen a non damage dealing object kill someone was when i was making an elevator, and i applied a huge force along the z axis of a tiny object i was standing on. insta-death.

edit-whoever heard of a hug force, geeze, at least my spelling is better than that canadian nexus

i think this smooth movement could be implemented very well, and possibly conserve network bandwidth as well...

if you set it up so the script dictated a single motion... "move from point A to point B at X speed"... only three vectors would need to be transferred: A<x,y,z> B<x,y,z> and X<x,y,z>. the client would then render the rest, and the animation would be as smooth as the client's framerate . this would save a good deal of data transfer on objects like the sliding doors of my pagoda. each door moves through like 15 steps to open, and then 15 more to close. both doors open when you click either one, so (if i'm understanding how llSetPos works with respect to network traffic) each time someone opens the doors, that's 60 different object positions ((15 open + 15 close) * 2 objects) that have to be transmitted to any clients in the area. with the "smooth" movements, the server would only need to transmit 12 vectors total: ((original closed pos, open pos, velocity) + (original open pos, closed pos, velocity) * 2 doors)

that's 1/5 of the network traffic generated, and it accomplishes the same goal, with better visual results.

now i'm speaking primarily ex rectum about all this, so if i'm way off base as to how llSetPos works with respect to the network, and how much network traffic the method i've proposed would generate, feel free to clue me in

Hmm if you let the client do all the moving math, what about avatora standing on it???

Well, it would be a linear velocity calculated from distance between verctor1 and vector2 (or rotation1 and 2) and the amount of time you want the action to take. The benifit to using time as an input versus velocity for the user should be obvius: you dont have to do a whole bunch of intermediate calculations to get your objects moving right.



The same as rotation scripts id imagine >_<. Who knows if this would *actually* be lighter on the server.

Bombastic Fats, of Bombastic Fats Casino and Brothel, Clyde

>Animated positional transforms
This is a good idea and we'll probably implement it eventually but I can't hazzard a timeline at the moment. This feature would be especially cool when we support heirarchies (which is definitely post Havok 2.0).

>Instance Based Scripts
This has been requested at least once before. We've talked about how hard it would be to implement and there are some significant changes that would be required to make it happen.

>Scriptable UI elements
Yes, these would be very useful.

>Constraints
This is already in the works but not sure if it will get in by next release. The plan is to provide a method that will slide between a stiff constraint (a train on a rail) and a soft directional preference (a boat through water or rocket with fins).

>A little bug?
Remember that 0.253 is not the same as 0.253127986. That is, I believe you are seeing only some of the significant digits of the floating point number.

Ack! Out of time to discuss the rest. I'll try again tomorrow. Time to move the servers to the new colo.

Sounds like a lot of good stuff in the pipeline >_< VERY glad to here it ~