Small things go invisible when I'm not there???

I have 3 elevator buttons with script.
They are 0.01 x 0.15 x 0.34 in size.
The script has no alpha or size or location code in it, just touch, sensor and shout.
Two are within 10 meters of each other, the third is about 40 meters higher.
They all appear OK if my avatar is in the vicinity.
But if I go to the high one just with the camera it is not visible and not detectable using the script beacon or surround to select. It is just NOT there.
If I TP to the location it magically appears again.
If I then take the camera down to the lower ones, they are gone but re-appear when I arrive.

Any suggestions as to why.

I think I've found a work-around by attaching them to a much larger lump of wood. That seems to make them stay visible so far.

I guess if they are visible to all Avatars when in viewing range, but not remote cameras, that would not be a problem (even an advantage) but I would have to generate a second avatar to test it.

This has to do something with the way the client shows you objects only in proportion to your distance to them. If the client determines that the (small) object is too far away from you to be drawn, you don't see it.

I made the same experience with a particle fountain in the garden pond (which was sprouting out of an invisible .5x.5x.5 cube. When I was up on the roof of my house and zoomed the camera through the garden, the fountain was gone. When I myself came back to the garden, there it was again. I resized the cube to 2x2x2 and now I can see it from farther away. This was due to the "feature" that particles are only drawn if the emanating object is drawn itself.

PS: Not sure that this thread should stay in "Scripting Tips".

Yes, small objects are culled/not drawn if your avatar moves a certain distance from them - making them bigger or attaching them to a larger object is the easiest workaround I know of. They should be visible to all avatars in viewing range.

OK that verifies what I surmized. And by linking them to larger objects they seem to stay put so I can test them by visiting with the remote camera to click on them (except for the sensor tests).