Flexi Paths

HI all,

Does anyone have or know roughly what the equations are that are used to calculate a flexi path ?

What I have is a curtain of chimes all <0.1,0.1,3> with flexi params (x,y,z) applied to them ( x,y,z ) are constantly changing.

What I want to do is calculate when the chimes intersect so that I can trigger a sound based on which chimes are intersecting.

As the flexi is client side I obviously cant use collision - so I figured I would have to work it out manually - only trying to work out the equations based on observation is proving irksome.

Do you mean a curtain of chimes as in 'music' chimes as might be seen as hanging organ chimes? Since they are constantly changing, have you tried using llGerPrimitiveParam to see what the dimensions of the prim are and the flexible settings?

I think I understand what you might be trying to do, and it's on the tip of my tongue but I am not sure. LOL Hopefully one of the scripters here who is good with calculations isn't at SLCC and will reply to help you.

Cheers!

Yes I know the parameters as I already mentioned I supply them.

And I posted in scripting tips to ask a scripter who is good with equations surprisingly.

I good with calculations, but my "Math Teacher" friend is great with them! LOL. I just didn't understand your question and thought to ask for further clarification so I might help you LOL

Considering what is going on between us that i am not allowed to mention I find that EXTREMELY unlikely.

"Between 'us'"? I saw a question that was up my alley and thought I would try to help. Sorry if you have a problem with that...or with me for that matter.

I think this will be impossible. As you mentioned, flexible prims are client side, and because of this different people will see them differently depending on their computer, SL settings, when they had the chimes rez, etc. Another thing, even if all the above matched, when you zoom in/out SL adjusts the LOD (level of detail) for the prim, at which point they reset to default position for a split second.

IMO, your best bet would be to just play a looping chime sound. :/

Thanks Kayla, I think I will probably end up doing it like that.

But everyone sees them differently ?

I know that is the case with particles - everyone sees them sorta flat on their screen, but I thought flexis were somewhat different.

For example I place a flexi on a pole and it is set to blow north, then regardless of where I am ( or someone standing next to me ) is - the flexi is always going north, so there must be some sort of path expression being sent to the client saying "this is where it would be if it existed - do the best you can with it".

LOD I hadn't thought of that..

Oh well I will do what I can with it - its just peeked my interest now.

Yes, it will always blow north, but if you have it adjust the flexi settings to look more like it's blowing in the wind, then people will see it move slightly differently. Not sure how far off it'd be between different people, but anything client side, such as particles, llTargetOmega(), etc, work a bit different for everyone. One person could see a small ripple, another could see larger ripples, etc.

Most likely the sim will send the standard prim data (size, shape, etc) and the flexi options, then let the computer handle everything, so any calculations would be client side and thus different due to client FPS, CPU speed, etc. Lag (both server and internet) would also play a part in when the update got to the clients. It'd probably be closer for flexiprims than particles, but you also have to look at the how much work the sim would have to do to calculate when and what prims are touching.

Of course I could be totally mistaken, and flexiprims are consistant across all clients and there is a simple way to calculate if two flexiprims are touching

Best guess is, they base on 'gel-like' material geometry calculation, which is basically 3-dimensional version of cloth simulation... which in turn bases on combination of springs connecting vertices of the object mesh.

You can see a glimpse of math behind it here (cloth) and here (strings, the 1-dimensional "version" of the cloth)

You might be able to use string math to get approximation of your chimes, but tbh i doubt it'll be fast enough with LSL. May as well just play the sounds randomly, if there's enough chimes there it's not like anyone is really going to pay enough attention to notice the difference ;s

Thanks, I actually googled a similar paper on cloth equations, and ran away

Decided to cheat - several different sounds played at random depending on how turbulent the wind changes are over time.

Some have seen my new FlexiFan which Blows Flexi Compatible Hair in whatever direction you specify. It's a new product I have just launched a couple days ago. So it is possible to do:
http://www.never30.com/Marketing/FlexiFan/AD-FlexiFan.jpg

It seems so coincidental that you'd be asking a question which relates to this product (althogh indirect) right after I launched it. Are you attempting to make a copy of this product too?

If not, I apologize and can't wait to see your new "wind chimes" sir.

Hold the phone - she remembered what the problem was.

Looks like flexi prims are Zagnuts now as well.

[edit]
If you check my product line you will see I already make a flexi flag - making wind chimes out of scripted flexi prims is something I was playing with.

As I said before - and I'll say it yet again...
"If not, I apologize and can't wait to see your new "wind chimes" sir."

Since when couldn't scripter copy each other? If so I missed that bulletin. It happens all the time.

I would also like to know what the different parameters for flexible prims actually do, to my knowledge that information has not been made public, and reverse engineering it looks like more trouble than it would be worth.