Building Step4: Advanced
From CyberOne Wiki
Particle Effects are achieved by attaching simple scripts to prims, enabling them to emit light, achieve motion, and other interesting actions. Plan to spend time learning how to write scripts by navigating thru the colorful tutorials in the Particle Lab on Teal (80, 74, 21). The Lab is only accessible via a hot air balloon, which rises and descends with less than smooth acceleration. I wonder if that jerky motion is due to particle effect scripts or…
Sculpted Prims can be used to create complex, organic shapes which cannot be created using Second Life prim editing tools. A Sculpted prim is created by mapping an RGB Sculpt Texture to an XYZ coordinate space, allowing you to create a complex object using only a single prim. The objects can first be created and modeled in a third-party modeling tool such as Maya (Autodesk) or Blender (Open Source), then exported as a Texture Map. Second Life will import the map and convert the RGB plot into a 3-D XYZ object. Texture maps can also be created using Polygon Models as well as programmed with mathematic calculations. To polish off the “sculptie”, wrap it with an appropriate texture. The following Texture Map represents an apple sculptie:
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Taken from the Second Life wiki.
Linden Scipting Language scripts, otherwise known as LSL scripts, can be used to expedite common building processes. If you plan to embark on a serious building project, take the time to seek out useful building scripts. Just like building in First Life, having the right tools makes all the difference. For instance, starting with a base prim script that instruments a prim with particle effects could save you from having to write them yourself. Check out the LSL scripting library for more information. Scripting classes are available in the Second Life colleges described on Building Step2: Tutorials. You can also use the Search tool to find relevant training Events.
Additional Resources
Webzine Articles:
Introduction to Building in Second Life from Depo
Forums: Ivory Tower Forum
Groups: search on Builder in Second Life
