Building practice

I am new to building and the one thing I seem to run into alot is getting prims perfectly connected. I mean making sure they are are 100% level with each other, and connected perfectly. Is there some pointers on this or tools I could use to make life a little better on this?

Thanks!

I like a tool called PrimDocker.

If you're lining up two of the same prim, try using the "copy selected" checkbox. Edit the first prim and then click the "create" button in the edit window. Check "copy selected" and then click on a side of the prim; a new, identical one will be created flush with that side.

If you're not lining up two of the same things, try setting the ruler to "local" or "reference" instead of "world." "Local" lets you move or resize something in increments equal to its own size (making it easy to scale by half, etc.). "Reference" lets you move and resize in increments equal to some other object's size. (Select the other object first and shift-g to make it the reference. You can also do it from a dropdown menu, but I can't find that at the moment.)

Anyway, you can always snap a prim to the grid by mousing over the ruler while moving the prim. With one of those ruler settings, depending on what you're doing, you might be able to snap two things right next to each other without too much trouble. It takes a little creativity, but hey, so does building. :)

(If this is helpful, by the way, don't thank me--thank NCI's building teachers. I'm more or less rephrasing what I've been learning in classes this past week.)

Anyone else noticed this isn't always perfect? A few times now I've done it and seen a hairsplit between the two objects and ended up just using the numbers after all.

So yeah, my method of choice is still doing the maths, I suppose. I keep windows calculator open and let it tell me where a prim needs to be to line up

Thanks for the pointers! I will put some of this to use this week and see how it goes.

I live and die by the numbers.

Also, sometimes you can still see seams between two perfectly jointed prims if the textures on the butted ends are too dissimilar. Sometimes its worth the extra time to cheat with small (32x32 or 64x64 mostly-solid textures to serve as "transitional" textures.

Numbers are your friend. The grid is nowhere near precise enough to make accurate measurements that will eliminate seams without overlap.

numbers, the grid and the copy selected trick do work. but some prim types, non-cubes like cylinders mostly, will show some gaps at a distance. this is due to sl not rendering these shapes as accurately from a distance. but cubes should line up pretty well under all cases.

for example, if you cut a cylinder to a quarter-pie wedge shape so it has a flat end and place it next to a cube accurately, it looks great up close but looks off when you get some distance back. i haven't found a workaround for this.

I know I read somewhere that the more textures of different sizes that you use, the greater the sim load and potential for lag. So I've tried to avoid using anything other than the standard 512 and 256 sizes for my builds.

Can any more experienced builders address this issue?

I picked up one of these in a freebie box of building tools, but there doesn't appear to be any how to use documentation.

Does anyone have the instructions they can drop to me in-world? I would really appreciate it!

Speaking as a programmer rather than a builder, the only affect more textures will have on sim lag is requiring more files to be sent to clients, which is pretty minimal. The simulators themselves don't have to render the textures in the first place.

That said, it's still _number_ of textures rather than sizes. I'd use the smallest textures suitable for a particular use - using larger ones is going to increase download time and use up more graphics memory, reducing performance for everyone. If you're really concerned about space and you don't intend to repeat a particular set of textures, you can always combine them into a single texture and use the texture mapping settings to only display the right part of it on each face.

Regan, I think you are thinking of Chosen Few's excellent post re: video memory in the Design forum. It's stickied there. Basically, the point is that you should use the lowest detail possible so as to reduce the amount of lag. No need to use 512x512 for a typical text sign, for example, bc it will take longer to load.