How much load does rapidly calling llSetAlpha() cause?

I have an object I want to fade into view. My first thought on how to do this is to make 5 to 10 calls to llSetAlpha() over a few second. Would this cause any undue load, or would this be insignifigant next to all the bling and open listeners around?


I also considered using llSetPrimitiveParams() to switch to a "fade-in" animated texture and back again, but would that be better or worse? I suspect worse, if for no other reason than the additional texture load.

Why not make an framed texture and do it with llSetTextureAnim()? You can do it to ping-pong so it fades in and out and to stop at appropriate times so it fades to gone and stops. You're only loading one texture, albeit possibly quite a big one, and so it should be quite a lot lighter on the load.

Setting alphas must trigger a full prim update I guess, which could well be heavier loading than bling which doesn't necessarily, depending on which bling script you're using, although it would also be a more intermittent thing too.

llSetLinkAlpha is what I use when I have to get a number of things in an object to change their alpha... I have noticed that calling up even a couple of them will be delayed somewhat and I can see each prim undergoing its alpha change on a bad day... if your changes have to be coordinated, then separate scripts invoked by a master script controller may be needed. The lag I have noticed on separate llSetLinkAlpha has been noticeable (visibly) to me at my settings.

If you are looking for a fade-in effect, you might be able to create a file with multiple alpha blocks side by side then set it as a multiframe animation, with timing being set by the script. Coordinating between multiple prims could, again, be a problem, perhaps with a master function call to invoke them simultaneously.

As for server load... I haven't tested that... so can't properly address it. Stuck out in the wilderness of a sim on my lonesome I see enough drop in fps just when the fog rolls in...

Not a lot of server load, but get a lot of those running at once and the client connex coughs up a hairball processing them all. Too many, and the object won't appear at all sometimes -- but we're talking around a hundred going at once.


Anyway, I agree with the suggestion to use llSetTextureAnim to do the effect. That's all handled in the viewer itself and keeps server/client network lag blessedly low.