Skyboxes

I've heard sky boxes mentioned but can't find out how to place them. Do you have to buy a 'skybox' or can you use any building/box? If so how do you set it at x metres?

I tried placing an object up high, or setting co-ordinates high and neither worked.

Place the skybox on your land, then edit it. Under position (metres) change the X box to however high you want it to be.

Thanx, tried it again and it worked this time, must have been one of today's glitches made it fail before. Thanx.

It is the blue z-axis that sets the height, not the x-axis.

Rock

For all practical purposes the hieght you can build or place an object is limited to 758 meters (+/-).

I have seen two builds placed much higher, 4,000 meters or so, but have not yet learned the special trick involved in doing that.

My understanding is that any build placed above 768 Meters is inherently unstable, and can fall apart if bumped or moved by means other than edit commands. Builds that exist above 768 are built lower, and then the whole thing is selected and the Z-axis position value is edited to move them, en-masse, to the higher altitude. As it is not recommended to build above the 768 Meter mark, I haven't experimented with it yet to get my own data on what happens when you break that rule.

Any structure can be used as a skybox. "Skybox" is just the term we use for a build that isn't sitting on the surface, though by implication, such builds are usually high in the air, and intended as private places for their owners and invited guests. Skyboxes are typically placed between 400 and 768 meters altitude, which puts them above the clouds and above unassisted flight levels, but below the altitude where building becomes unstable.

Skyboxes are not just for intimate playtime, incidentally. Lag is lower in the sky, and a lot of builders work on sky platforms, to reduce lag and interruptions, rather than on the ground where they get interrupted every few seconds by curious onlookers.

I suffer from lag problems a lot (computer issues, mostly) and the ONLY way I can get detail work done is to go up to my skybox up at 500m. Note that you'll need to get a flight feather or some such to fly that high (I think New Citizens International has them in a freebie box somewhere.

I do have a question though--I have been unable to rig a Teleport Disk to take me up there. I end up in mid-air, nowhere close to the Skyplat. I am using the same script that works for the TPs that I use to go to different floors of my shop. Any tricks that I might be missing?

IF your platform is at 500M you'd need to set 2 TP's with a platform around 250M as SL limits teleports to 300M

Why bother with a teleport disk? Just make a landmark while you're up in your skybox. Landmarks record height too, not just XY position.

Use the Cubey Terra MkIII teleporter, It's free, funky and makes cool Star Trek sounds.

While you can't fly up that high without feathers/jetpack/etc help, you can certainly get up there pretty easily:
- Create/edit a plain wooden box
- Sit on the box
- Change the Z value to the height you want

First time I bought land, I decided I wanted my home to be waaaay up in the sky like a friend's place was. I was told it was more private and less lag, etc. Only, I didn't know how to do this.

The house that I bought had pillars that were supposed to be used to prop up the front of the house. So I used those four pillars and stacked them up on top of each other. Then jumped to the bottom to remove the first three pillars and stacked those on top, and repeated this process til I was nearly 300 meters in the air.

So my friend comes along and asks me, "What are you doing?" I told him quite simply I wanted a skyhouse too. (I didn't know at the time it was termed skybox.) That's when he decides to tell me that I can buy positioners off of the SLboutique or exchange or whatever, and use those to place the house up in the sky instead.

Yep. Total newb. But I got the job done! Of course, three hours later, I would up selling my land to another newbie, but still. lol

Now that's determination!

Thanks for the advice on the TPs, folks. I suppose I could just do that landmark thing, but it just didn't have the elegance of the marble pyramid I wanted in my "downstairs" shop that would take me to my Secret Laboratory. Two platforms might do the trick, I could pretty up the intermediary one with flowers or some such.

Cubey Terra's free Mark IV teleporter has a range of 768 meters, and can generally get you anywhere in the same sim, in a single teleport. Go to his aerodrome store, (Look up Cubey Terra in Search > People, and check the Picks in his profile for the store location), and you'll find his free stuff on shelves on the second floor, at one end of the building. I believe it's the end to your left as you enter the store.

This is what I've always done; I have a series of landmarks for different areas of our land, it's much more reliable than using teleporters.

I guess I have a "skybox". It's a box to build in, and it's up in the air. I just sat on it, moved my POV way back, selected it all, and used the position arrows to move it to a (at least for now) "clean" area.

I just set my home to there. Then anytime I need to go there, I just hit Ctrl-Shift-H. No huhu!

I would assume you owned the land you put your skybox on, so I think this is the easiest solution. Unless I'm missing something.

I haven't tried it in a long time, but it used to be impossible to put anything higher than 768 using the edit tools. If you put in a value greater than that, it would just pop back to 768. Similarly, if you had an object that was higher than that and tried to edit it, it would automatically pop back down to 768.

The only way to place something higher than 768 was to use a physical script to move it there (e.g., using llMoveToTarget() in LSL).

Thanks so much I found it, and it works great!

expand a prim for more people (if needed), sit on it, set the Z value to 1m above the hight of the box and TADA, instant transport ...

... and it's FREE

SR Puff (can't remember store name) sells "Long Distance Teleporters" where you can go way up to 750 and probably beyond. Will rez a chair when clicked, sit on chair - TADA. Get another for the trip down or get the copy system. Can have multi-note locations and even set it up for selected location privacy options (can have more then 1 place on the main location notecard, but can place privacy on the ones you wish). Uses drop down menu features so you just click the location you want. LOW LAG. Been using this for a year or so now.

and no ... this is not a paid endorsement

How to place a Skybox Precisely:

I Love Even round Numbers when doing my Builds, you will rarely find a Prim in my Builds situated at an altutude of 347.628 meters.
I find the round numbers faster, and Easier when building, or adding on.
First, It helps to Know the Dimensions of your Skybox. Rez the Skybox on the ground in a Sandbox, and record the Following;

~Hight, Width, and Length. (Always good to know if your Skybox Fits onto your property)
~Number of Prims. (Will your land support it, AND allow you sufficient prims lefy over to Furnish?)
~Is the Skybox All Linked? (If it isn't, you will need to open Edit Mode BEFORE placing your Skybox so you can adjust it's Position.)
~(If linked) What is the exact location within the structure of the Parent Prim? (Remember all the coordinates for a Linked object are based upon the Parent Prim.)
~Thickness of the Floor at the point where you choose to TP into the Skybox. (If you Know this you can Place the Floor level Pecisely at the Level you Choose Faster, and Easier.)

Once you have all these Numbers, you can Take the Skybox back into your Inventory and procede to your Property.

For Ease of explanation, I'm going to work with a 30 by 30 meter Skybox, .5 meter thick Floors. the Floor hight will be 5 meters Meaning Floor Level to Floor Level is 5.5 meters, and the Parent Prim is the Centre floor prim in the Lower Floor. and the whole structure is Linked.

This is the Easiest to place as all you need to is Orient the Skybox On the ground in the X, and Y positions you wish it to Occupy on your Land. Now, if you want the First Floor level to be at 500 meters, Just enter 499.750 in the Z box for Position. The Linked Box will shoot up in the air as a Unit, and the Floor Level of the first floor will be at exactly 500 meters.
To get back, and forth from it before you Install your TP point, Just Rex a Cube directly under it, Sit on the cube, and enter 500.25 into the Z Position Box for the Cube, you will now be sitting on the cube, on the Floor of your Skybox.


For an Unlinked Skybox of the same Dimensions:

Rez a Disc, make it Five meters by Five Meters and Half a Meter thick. Rez a .5X.5X.5 Box and Link it to the Middle of the Disc. Place the whole unit on the ground 20 meters from the Centre point of the Location you wish to Place the Skybox. Sit on the Box on the Missle of the Disc, and open the edit Window, Enter 498.75 in the Z window for Position of the Platform you are sitting on. Now you have a Handy work Platform from which to Place your Skybox. Rez a Cylinder on the Platform, Make it Blank in the texture Window, and make it's X, and Y dimensions .005 meters. Now, It's Z position will be 499.250 meters (.5 meters higher than your Platform.) In the X, and Y, position Windows, Enter in your preferred X, and Y coordinates for your Skybox. The thin little stick is now Floating 20 meters from you at the centre point of your Skybox. Keep the edit Window Openand Zoom your POV in as close to the top of that stick as you can get., Open Inventory, and Select your Skybox. Drag it out of Inventory, and place it as close to the Centre of that Stick Prim as you can get. (If being within .005 meters of Centre isn't precise enough for you Taper the top of the stick by 90% you can't get more precise than that). Your Skybox Will Rez with the Bottom of it's Lower Floor Sitting centred on the tapered stick, If the Floor is .5 meters thick, it's Centre point will be at 499.75 meters, and it's Upper surface at exactly 500 meters.
Since you are in edit Mode, the whole structure is Highlighted, If it is Still out of Position, you can Drag it along the X, and Y axis' to precisely where you want it.
Now all you need do is delete the Little stick, and Enter the Skybox the same way as before.

You can Vary these steps Based upon the Actual Dimensions of your Skybox, but the General Principle remains the same, Just a Bit of Basic Math involved.

Hope this helps.
Angel.