From: Suzee Janus
First how do you create curve widows to fit a half circle and second, is scripting widows to shade from open to close difficult?
This can vary from builder to builder, some builders may use prims, so perhaps 1-4 prims for the frame and 1 prim for the window or just 1 prim with a window design.Depending on amount of prims the actual window is then or would be textured with a Transparent texture to make it see through.
Other Builders may design a texture outside of SL already with a frame and window and wall etc to cover just the 1 prim, therefore saving on prim count.
To script a window for different shades, or open and close I use 2 options, 1 is a script with a control switch that changes the texture that is included in the prims content folder and when the switch is touched it changes from texture to texture and can be applied to the whole prim or to certain sides of the prim. That operates by a notecard that contains the information for the script to operate.
The other option is from the Archer House from Help Island (I think it was the Archer House), as a new user you could take copy of this on HI and use the window script from that, that works a little differently and perhaps is easier to use for self builds that you are not going to sell. I cannot remember exactly how that works though as it is something I do not use anymore but for the begginer its pretty easy.
From: Suzee Janus
So if someone can point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated. As to scripting widows, any first hand experience dos' and don'ts would be helpful.
It really depends on what you are going to build and if you are going to sell and design your own textures. There are many places in world that sell textures but if you go the route of designing them yourself then I suggest you goto the Texture Forum and thoroughly read the sticky by "Chosen Few" on Alpha channels and Transparency as this is a must for any deisgner who designs windows or anything that requires transparency.
Also, as previously mentioned, Ivory Towers in world is in my opinion the 2nd place to visit after Help Island for tutorials on all building and texturing techniques.
From: Suzee Janus
For curve widows, how's that done here in SL? Tried to do it last night but no luck.
To answer your question on Curved windows it is much the same as building square windows, the difference is the prim woud of possibly been curved,cut,hollowed and even tapered and you will likely need to use the rotation axis to move and position it. When applying a texture you can compensate the offsets to centre it etc by using the Horizontal and Vertical offsets in the texture edit menu.
If you have a texture with windows on it, rez a cylinder and apply the texture, then rez a cube and apply the texture and study the difference between the 2 and remember the cylinder started as a cube as with all prims.
