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May 19, 2003, 6:07pm

Actually, it wasn't a bug... but it did cause one. My understanding of the situation is that something is planned for AW 3.5 to allow people to ride objects.

TechnoZeus

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May 19, 2003, 6:15pm

Actually, it was...
Create light brightness=-1

Create light color=black ...was simply a light that didn't effect anything visually, and that function still behaves the exact same way.

TechnoZeus

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May 19, 2003, 6:17pm

almost black will have almost no effect.

TZ

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May 22, 2003, 6:29am

Light grey "is" dim white, as far as the light command is concerned.

TZ

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Jul 7, 2003, 10:54pm

Actually, no. A new command for the task shouldn't be needed, since negative brightness numbers in the light command currently are completely unused. It might make sense though to implement suce a command as an antonym, and make both commands support both positive and negative brightnesses, but such that the dark command would read the brightness as it's additive inverse.

TechnoZeus

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May 19, 2003, 6:21pm

Yes, that would be nice to have. I wonder what ever happened to that. I recall Calpantera telling me at one point that he liked the idea, and was going to recommend that it be added to AW 3.4. Perhaps it was put off due to time constraints.

TechnoZeus

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May 23, 2003, 5:08pm

Yep... that's why it has no features. :)

TZ

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May 23, 2003, 5:13pm

Wouldn't really need to be a whole sequence for it. If an addition was made to the avatars.dat file format to allow a single pitch-pivot joint to be specified, or better yet one or more of them to distribute the changes evenly amongst, that would allow the default of pivoting the entire avatar to be overriden with a pivot for just the neck, or just the head, or perhaps the head, back, and neck. Each avatar could then handle the situation uniquely, and would simply apply the change in addition to what ever the current avatar animation sequence does to the avatar.

TechnoZeus

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May 23, 2003, 5:19pm

another possible use for it would be to create simple landmark objects at various locations, by making them part of a non-repeating ground. Yes, it would definately be a useful tool to have, for many reasons... including potnttially the ability to convert a small world to a VRML file for the purpose of demonstrating to people who have a VRML viewer just how large a "small" world is to those of us who are used to Active Worlds. :)

TechnoZeus


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May 23, 2003, 5:25pm

It used to be that in stand-alone mode you had no more privileges than what you last had when actually connected to the world... if I'm not mistaken. If this has changed, perhaps it should be changed back... or in any event, perhaps a world option could be added to control it whether or not additional rights would be allowed in standalone mode for each world.

TechnoZeus


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May 23, 2003, 5:34pm

It's an old idea, and a rather nice one... but there are some serious considerations which need to be made. For example, the world server is a rather small and simple program compared to the Active Worlds browser, and part of the reason for this difference is that the world server doesn't have to generate an image of the 3D environment or display such things as chat bubbles, or calculate lighting and such. To add such a feature would mean one of two things. Either that the world server would have to produce not just a single 3D scene like the browser does, but a 3D scene for each camera in use anywhere in the world at any given time, or... that the Active Worlds browser would have to produce not just the single 3D scene that it does now, but also the 3D scene represented by each camera command within the current 3D scene. It should then also be considered whether or not objects with a projected camera image seen through other such objects should have their scenes produced and displayed also. This could quickly bog down even the fastest computers currently in existance.

TechnoZeus

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May 23, 2003, 5:41pm

One possible solution, would be to make the frame rate of such images significantly lower than the framerate of the main viewport, and distribute that lower frame rate amongst the various camera projectsions in the scene, provided that level and type of control is suported by the rendering engine. For example, if one camera frame was allowed to be generated for every 10 main viewwport frames, and there were three such camera projections in the current scene, if you were getting 30 frames per second then each camera projection would generate a new frame once every second, but if your frame rate was 60 frames per second, then each of them would get their image refreshed twice per second, and if you moved so that two of them went out of view, the remaining one would get three times the refresh rate it was getting while the other two were still in view.

TechnoZeus

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May 19, 2003, 3:45pm

On October 6th, 2002, I posted a message entitled "idea -- Default Action" to the beta newsgroup. Here is a quote of that post...

<qoute>

If a simple RWX extension was made to allow an object to have a built in "default Action" then it would be simple for object designers to make doors that open when clicked or bumped, and stuff like that... so that it would be easier for people building to make such things, and also so that we could have stuff like opening doors available even without access to the "Special commands" thereby allowing a world owner to have their worl set up with limited and controlled access to such functionality rather than simply turning it completely off.

Example...
#----
ModelBegin
Action activate rotate -5 time=3 wait=9 reset
ClumpBegin
Texturemodes Foreshorten Lit
Surface .5 .3 .1
Color 1 1 1
Vertex 0 .2 0 UV 0 0
Vertex 0 0 0 UV 0 1
Vertex .1 0 0 UV 1 1
Vertex .1 .2 0 UV 1 0
Texture wood4
Quad 1 2 3 4 Tag 200
Texture metal1
Quad 4 3 2 1 Tag 200
ClumpEnd
ModelEnd
#----

Of course, any action explicitly placed in the Action field would simply replace the default action, leaving all objects' actions as customizable as ever.

TechnoZeus

</quote>

More recently, the old idea of having a way to attach a light to an avatar has come up again, so I'm re-posting the Default Action idea because it could be used to facilitate that old idea as well.

Do show what I mean, here is the same object I used in my previous example, but changed so that it would display shine a light in a version of Active Worlds where Default Actions are supported...

Revised example...
#----
ModelBegin
#! Action light brightness=3
ClumpBegin
Texturemodes Foreshorten Lit
Surface .5 .3 .1
Color 1 1 1
Vertex 0 .2 0 UV 0 0
Vertex 0 0 0 UV 0 1
Vertex .1 0 0 UV 1 1
Vertex .1 .2 0 UV 1 0
Texture wood4
Quad 1 2 3 4 Tag 200
Texture metal1
Quad 4 3 2 1 Tag 200
ClumpEnd
ModelEnd
#----

Notice that it would be easy to set up the light as a pulsating point source, or a rotating spot source, or as a spot light shining toward the ground just in front of the object or avatar, simply by using the same command format that Active Worlds already recognizes.

TechnoZeus

May 23, 2003, 5:46pm

Yes, I've thought for some time that such an ability would be very welcome also. While raising ot lowering a terrain node, by default it could effect just that one node as it does now, but the option would then exist to have nearby nodes effected to a lesser extent along with it, for easy formation of smooth hills or mountains. This would also be very useful, if water elevation data gets added some time, so that there would be a way to swell huge areas of water to make inland lakes above sea level and such.

TechnoZeus

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May 23, 2003, 5:50pm

There are other rendering engines out there, with different licensing arrangements. I think it may be of some benefit to look into attempting to adapt one of the ones which allow a development team to work on it for free before their first public release. I do recall seeing wording to that effect in one of the ones I looked at. Of course, there is no easy solution, and much of Active Worlds is built around the way RenderWare works, so... it's not like they can just rip out one rendering engine and drop another in. (Someone in the development team, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this.)

TechnoZeus

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May 22, 2003, 10:33pm

Actually, that lighthouse, and all of the trees that I know of which can be climbed, are not completely vertical surfaces... so no special tricks are needed. Just a little patience.

TZ

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May 23, 2003, 5:04pm

Ah, okay. Haha... I wouldn't be a bit surprised. :)

TZ

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May 27, 2003, 3:15pm

I think that sums it up pretty well.

If it were dropped, there would be no real gain, and lots of people who like having it would complain rather loudly, not to mention the work that would be involved in removing it... so it's easier to just leave it alone.

TechnoZeus

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May 27, 2003, 8:10pm

I tend to agree with Ryan, but yes there are ways that something of the intended nature could be implemented without being such a pain... such as perhaps allowing a new mode of communitation which would save the last so many lines of text in a local buffer, and send it to anyone who requests it by right clicking in their contact list and choosing that option. Of course, that would mean it would only be available to people while you're still on-line, and there should probably be some indicator by your name to let people know it's there if they want it, but that's better than storing it on the uniserver or sending it out indiscriminately, I think.

TechnoZeus

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May 25, 2003, 1:39pm

I just found out that I have had join requests blocked, probably for a long time now, since I'm pretty sure it must have happened while I was working on that part of the help files. (I like to test things to verify them, rather than just hope they're accurate.) Anyway, since this may effect other beta testers, and was most likely caused by a mistake I made by testing a setting and then forgetting to change it back, I'm posting this to the beta newsgroup so people will know I wasn't trying to be antisocial, and I haven't been "that busy" for all that time... and since I wish to clear up any misunderstandings it may potentially have caused by having "everybody" blocked from joining me for so long, I'm also posting it to the wishlist newsgroup. If any of the moderators of either group feel it's not appropraite, they can feel free to delete it, and I'll understand. I just didn't know what else to do. I usually only turn off join requests when I have been asked to do so by someone who wishes privacy or wishes to keep the location of a build from becomming public knowledge. Otherwise I just leave it on verify join requests, so if I'm there at the time, I can accept the request (although if someone has a question, it's usually best to just telegram it to me, whether I'm there at the time or not.) Thanks for being understanding about it, and I hope I haven't offended anyone.

TechnoZeus

May 27, 2003, 3:11pm

Actually, there used to be a program called HearMe which worked seamlessly with Active Worlds by opening in the built in web frame (which you could then close, and still use the program through the keyboard) and although it felt in many ways like a part of Active Worlds, those of us who were using it still did most of our talking through text. It was nice though, to have the option of setting aside the keyboard for a while when we felt like it.

TechnoZeus

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May 28, 2003, 6:11am

Ah, okay. I wondered what ever became of it. The old web site stopped working a long time ago, and for years I found dead ends every time I attempted to track down where it had gone to. Thanks for that info. :)

Unfortunately, the key what was used by Hearme (at least when I used it) as a push-to-talk button, is now used by Active Worlds also... so ther would be a conflict if that key hasn't changed in HearMe, and if no way has been added to remap that function.

TechnoZeus

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May 30, 2003, 5:28am

Yep.. as a matter of fact, I have it installed on this computer... although the installation is so old I'm not sure it will still work with the latest version... also, PalTalk doesn't work seemlessly with AW the way HearMe used to... or at least, didn't the last time I checked. What I'm talking about, is being able to use it without changing programs. No need to use Alt-Tab or to click on an icon or anything like that.. you just set it up and then you can turn off show web and simply hold a key when you want to talk, and release it when you're done. It litterally felt as if it were a part of Active Worlds. I had links up at some of my builds so a person could just click a sign and they would be able to talk with my in Active Worlds using the push-to-talk key. (I'm pretty sure it was F9, which now toggles Show Tabs).

TZ

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Jun 5, 2003, 10:34am

Nope... that's not a re-mappable function in AW 3.4 ... at least, not yet.

TechnoZeus

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May 27, 2003, 2:18pm

lots of variations on this have also been suggested over the years, such as commands to set local gravity levels or the ability to reverse gravity within a certain area or add a command to give an object it's own gravity which would attract avatars toward it either vertically only or in all directions when it's in view range. I like some of them (such as the variations on gravity commands) but unless an indicator is added let us know at any given moment whether or not we caan fly, it wouldn't do much good to be able to turn on fly privs in select cells... and by the way, lots of ideas have been introduced as "the best idea ever" over the years too. :) Still, good that people speak up and tell what their ideas are, even if they're not unique or well researched... because it keeps the brain storming going.

TechnoZeus

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May 29, 2003, 2:39am

....and the potential of running into limitations on how many people can be assigned that right at the same time.

TZ

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May 27, 2003, 3:03pm

Yes, that would be great to have. :)

TechnoZeus

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May 27, 2003, 8:48pm

Yes, it is possible to combine the animate, texture, and picture commands on one object, provided the object has been designed to allow that combination, but it would still be nice to be able to apply separate texture commands to separate tagged surfaces on the same object, or to specific surfaces designated in some other way, such as a range of underlying base colors or what texture they started with. Right now, it is complicated, and very limited. It doesn't need to stay that way.

TechnoZeus

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May 27, 2003, 3:27pm

I was just thinking, that since there is still the ability to specify citizen number 0 as a tourist even in a world which is not "tourist enabled" perhaps a nice feature to consider would be the ability for a citizen to "invite" a tourist into a world thaat they otherwise couldn't get into. This would mean having to right click on the tourist (either their avatar, or their chat text) and select or type in which world to invite them to... and the invitation would then be stored on the universe server and would contain information such as the tourist's name and IP address to identify them by, so that if they log out another tourist by the same name couldn't "borrow" that invitation. Each citizen could invite up to a dozen or so tourists at any given time, and the invitations would be automatically revoked if the tourist gets ejected from the world and would expire in a day otherwise.

TechnoZeus

Jun 3, 2003, 7:36am

I don't know whether this will help, or only complicate the issue but here it is anyway...

http://host.activeworlds.com/TechnoZeus/aw34/color_conversion.html

I hope it helps.

TechnoZeus

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