Example scripting objects - what are people interested in?

I like to make mod copy items and put them out in my home area for L$1, so that people can learn a bit about basic scripting principles. I've had some good feedback from this and a lot of people have said it's useful, which is great - that was how I learnt, by example from free objects, and if I can put together what I've learnt to save other people time that's even better.

Recently I've decided to take out some of the existing items and put in a series which are really heavily commented and also address specific topics, rather than just a series of random things (though there is a place for just random things, since one can never tell when somebody will see something you've made and think "feature X is precisely what I've been looking for, how does that work?" without you ever thinking that anyone would be interested).

What I'm trying to work out is what scripters are actually most interested in. The most popular items that seem to get bought are the simple vehicles, the guns, and some of the avatar scan devices, but I suspect that quite a lot of people are buying these because they want to use them rather than because they want to look at the script, which is perfectly fine of course but not quite what I'm aiming at.

I'd been thinking of some basic principles:

1. rezzing objects; the guns work here, and they're also popular
2. using llSensor(Repeat) - this is essential stuff, and comes with the av scanners
3. vehicle and movement functions. I have a skeleton vehicle script that you can drop into anything and it turns it into a simple flyer, at which point you can start changing the parameters and seeing how that affects it. Perhaps a flight assist thing with llApplyImpulse as well?
4. Link messages and communication between scripts. This is pretty essential as well if you're going to move beyond basic stuff. I'm not sure about an example here, there are so many potential applications. I do have a machine pistol script which uses link messages, which combines some of the above, which might be useful.
5. Particles... actually, I'm not that big on particles, and there are some great "learn llParticleSystem" scripts out there already.
6. Taking control. Lots of the above items take control, but it's not just for vehicles and guns, there are other uses as well.
7. Listens, and how to use them properly for interobject communication.

...and so on, could sit here all day.

Anyway, two things here. Firstly, what other things do scripters here think are vital for people to learn? And secondly, and more importantly - if you're a beginner, what sort of things would you like to see? If you're not, what helped you?

Not sure about everyone else, but I'd love to see some example of building up objects in script. I've seen houses and things that assemble themselves via script, but I have not seen a working example of that yet.

Thanks for your great contributions!

The things I get pinged for most with "how do I..." type questions are one prim doors and one prim in a linked set doors.

Because there are variety of ways of scripting the door and opening system even within the same build tactics I actually use this (or a light + switch) as part of my classes.

You get states v flags (true/false) v flags (strings) plus choices around touch, listen, sensor, collision, volume detect to open the door...

and you get some nice movement in debugging too, which is good for my classes at least!

You also get to talk about why some are better than others in terms of impact on the sim.

Feel free to run with those - I don't have a set of nicely commented up scripts I'm afraid since it is the first bit of script writing I get the learners to do.

Cheers for the replies!

Michael: Hmm, I've actually never made one of those myself (I don't make houses) but I can think of a few ways of doing it, and it would be a more interesting example of rezzing objects than guns.

Eloise: Yeah, someone was asking about that not an hour ago, come to think of it. I know my preferred way of doing these things, but maybe it would be a good idea to have one of those up and then link to other people who do it in different ways. Actually, I don't use doors at all in my own builds so it's a good area of research for me too.

Another script i would love to disect would be one explaining/showing me the potential of the new camera controls.

Pleeeease

I built my own Rez-Foo (I call it RezBar *grin*) and it is both extremely useful and amazingly beautiful to watch. My code is not up to release standards though; there are a few more things to work out. And documentation to write.

For the tutorial site shapemaker is a good open source (or at least free, I didn't read the license) example of an object that rezzes and then moves other objects; it would be good to include, if perhaps too complicated for most people. The mirror scripts in the script library on these forums are a good exampe of reaidng primative parameters, changing them, and applying the changes.


I build and script, so I think nothing of the many simple scripts I throw together as needed... but a fellow builder was amazed when she saw my swinging double doors (they open and close in synch.) I'll comment and donate the scripts if they will go to a tutorial; they demonstrate states, link messages, rotation that works even if the object is rotated, and the cut-box door trick. Ordinal, IM me in-game or I'll forget to send the scripts to you. *smiles*

Ordinal, I have not been by your place to see what is available (will do so on my next login), but thanks for providing these learning tools

One thing I've been struggling with is basic movement of both physical and non-physical objects that are not attachements and not vehicles. I've found most of the movement methods difficult to use.

A few examples;

When using llMoveToTarget() I don't always get the at_target event, but somehow the object stops moving and continues to fire the not_at_target event.

I can't seem to get an object to consistently rotate toward, and move to a target. Non-Physical is a bit easier with llSetPos, but this isn't not a smooth movement.

And I have not found any good examples of the xxApplyImpulsexx methods - besides the incomplete create a flying pet script in the library. I've managed to tweak this script with limited results, but I still lack an understanding. - something more examples (or a math degree) would help alleviate (and I won't be getting a Math degree any time soon)


Thanks!