Rotating a thingy.

Hiya folks, I'm a newbie at scripting and I'm abuse company values using the pc to post onto a forum... ach well.

I want to make a prim rotate in 180 degrees in 2 steps.
So first step is rotate say to the left 90 degrees, stay in that position for a few seconds, then rotate to the left again in 90 degrees, stay there for a a few econds, then rotate to the right 90 degrees, stay there for a few seconds, then back to the original position, stay for a few seconds, then to the left...etc etc etc.

I've been ripping scripts apart trying to learn, on the wiki, getting headahces, pregnant gf telling me I should be spending more time doing...er.. other stuff. But all I want is this prim to shimmy!

Any help, kicks, punches, pokes in the eye, or a humane 'consumer' use of tranquilisers that won't harm an unbon child would be most appreciated!

Many thanks

Rutager

Try looking up llSetRot in the wiki.

The fun thing to remember about rotations is that if you multiply, it rotates one way, and if you divide it rotates the other way. Something to do with the math of it.

The script could look something like this:

float rotBy = 180.0; // Rotate 180degrees
integer steps = 2; // Number of steps to take
float wait = 1.0; // How long to wait before undoing the rotation
default {
    state_entry() {
        rotBy *= DEG_TO_RAD; // Convert rotBy to radians
    }
    touch_start(integer x) {
        // Euler form is three values, rotation for some reason is four
        // so need conversion. We rotate by the rotation we want, divided
        // by the number of steps we intend to take
        rotation rot = llEuler2Rot(<0.0, 0.0, rotBy> / steps);

        integer i; // counter
        for (i = 0; i < steps; ++i) { // Loop to do the 'forward' steps
            llSetLocalRot(llGetLocalRot() * rot); // Rotate 'forward'
        }
        llSleep(wait); // wait for a bit
        for (i = 0; i < steps; ++i) { // Loop to do the 'reverse' steps
            llSetLocalRot(llGetLocalRot() / rot); // Rotate 'backward' around
        }
    }
}

This ought to do what you want and shouldn't be too complex to modify. Note that this will cope with any number of steps for any rotation.
You should note though that the llSetLocalRot() and llSetRot() commands both have a built-in delay of 0.2 seconds, so the transition won't be especially smooth. If you need a longer delay after rotating, simply put an llSleep() command into both of the loops to slow it down further.

Thanks very much for the script, I'll try it out when I get home. I'm sure it'll do what I need, although a smooth transition will be more ideal, I'm more than happy to accept what you've given and learn the rest myself.

I have been messing with the llTargetOmega scripts I have to get a smoother transition for what I want, but with disasterous results, I would post the code up but I'm currently at work, and I'm sure using forums breaches company internet usage, playing SL prolly won;t be a good idea.. hehe. Once again thanks

Hmm, this may depend on what your intended use is? Can you give us more detail about it, for example, is it a swinging salloon door?
llTargetOmega isn't really intended for fixed rotation from one point to another, and it will very often look wrong as it's handled client-side and can be VERY hard to keep synchronised with how you want it to appear. It also sometimes doesn't switch off as expect (e.g you'll called llSetTargetOmega(ZERO_VECTOR, 0.0, 0.0); and it won't stop).

Hiya, the script is going to be used on a swinging light kinda thing, a moving spotlight, from left to right. Like the 'movie spotlights' but for the front of my store. lol. Possibly disco/club lights on voice command too if and when I get the time to do it.

The llTargetOmega scripts I was using were what I initially thought made the rotation work. So was a good place, in my eyes, to start and learn about the different configurations, obviously none of it was working so I dived into the wiki (which is down for upgrades or something) and hundreds of posts before resorting to my own post.

I

For a really, smooth swing like that you might be better looking at llRotLookAt and just maybe llLookAt. High damping will give you a slow swing and it should be smooth.