Physicallity of objects

I think it would be good if when you turned off parts of the phsycallity of an object, then the library calls that work on the non-physical portions of an object should be allowed to control the part that is turned off. For example, if I set all the stats_rotations to false, then i think that I ought to be able to use the llSetRot() command to controll the rotation of the object.

that sounds like it may be a good idea, although i don't understand what you mean. can you give a simple example(for my simple brain)?

bp

integer i;
default
{
     //In the state entry, we are just going to set all the flags 
     //necessary to illustrate this point, namely the physical and
     //rotational status of the object.

     state_entry()
     {
          llSetStatus(STATUS_PHYSICS, TRUE); 
          //makes object physical.

          llSetStatus(STATUS_ROTATE_X|STATUS_ROTATE_Y|STATUS_ROTATE_Z, FALSE);  
          //makes it so that no force will cause the object to rotate
          //about any axis.
     }
     
     //Ok so if it worked the way i want it to, we could then use the
     //functions we us on non-physical objects to rotate our object
     //(the theory being that we turned off that physical quality of 
     //the object when we set the statuses to false.

     touch_start(integer a)
     {
           i+=1;  //counter so it rotates 45 degrees each time.

           rotation rot = llAxisAngle2Rot(<0,1,0>, i*PI/4);  
           //creates a quaternion from a euclidean axis and angle.

           llSetRot(rot);  
           //Sets the rotation of the object to the ever changing
           //rotation rot.
     }
}

The whole basis of my argument is that by locking some of the properties of a physical object, we are making those properties into non-physical, so I would like to be able to access/change those properties using functions that we use on non-physical objects, like, llSetRot().

you should throw in a MoveToTarget at the same point just to drive the idea home =)

is this making the object half physical and half non-physical? if i drop it will it bounce?

bp

it will bounce cause the only thing that isn't physical is is the rotation parameters, so all other physical properties remain intact.

llSetRot() is an instantaneous rotation, right? that would mean infinite torque. hmm, yes, i want this for my battlebot!

bp

On the other hand, for all we know that might cause the end of this world as we know it.

Infinite torque might be a problem for the physics engine =)

more likely it would zap the item and replace it with a turned one, the way setpos works, It reaches the second state without traveling through any of the intervening ones.