Here’s what we want: A door that swings open in steps, from 0 to 90 degrees. Using the RavenPrim, it’s easy to do, but not as simple as it looks.

Rotate It!

The first and most obvious thing we might try is rotating the prim 90 degrees.

TouchedState = Rotate;<0,0,90>

Rotation happens around the center of the prim, so rather than the door swinging back on it’s hinge, as we might hope, it rotates in place.

Move It!

In order to get the hinging affect, we need to move the center back and to the side as well.

TouchedState = Rotate;<0,0,90>|Move;<-0.625,0.625,0>

One thing worth noting is how far to move the RavenPrim. This depends on the size and thickness of the door. The move sideways and back should be half the width of the door, minus half it’s thickness.

moveDistance = (width/2) – (thickness/2)

The prim is 1.5m wide and .25m thick, so the amount to move is: .75 – .125, thus .625

Go Phantom

Ever try to walk through an open door and bump into it? Ow. Let’s not do that. Set the prim phantom and the klutzy and lagged can walk right through while it’s open.

TouchedState = Rotate;<0,0,90>|Move;<-0.625,0.625,0>|Phantom;True

Transition Gradually!

In order to get the door to swing open, rather than snap open, specify how many intermediate steps you want it to take.

TransitionSlices = 5

Hope that helps you out with your adventures in doorland. We’ll cover further enhancements to doors shortly.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cohen/49/43/42

I get a lot of questions about the logo. It’s a crop and slight tweak of a “Raven” ink by Haida artist Bill Reid. Beyond being too cool for words, I’ve been a lifelong fan of his, and wanted to pay him homage.

The Store

I was struck by the fact that I was building a script store in a virtual world. You don’t get more virtual than that. SL mimics reality, then bends the rules. The store should reflect that.

A lot of architecture IRL is defined by the laws of physics and figuring out how to actually hold the roof up. In SL, I didn’t have physical reality to contend with, so there was no need for weight bearing walls or protection from the elements. So it is I have towering spires of glass with huge gaps in them… and Hey! where’s the roof?

As a scripter, I don’t worry about libraries of textures and sculpts. The beauty is in the code, so I kept it simple in physical appearance. Our clients are builders, and the constant reality of a builder, starting a new build, is a plywood prim, so I used plywood extensively as a tribute to our builder clients.

Being free of physics doesn’t mean there aren’t things to deal with. Using all those semi-transparent megaprims for the walls caused that good ol’ transparency effect weirdness. In order to cope with it, I added interior panels, but I decided to sculpt a stylized Raven wing.

Opening day approached, and a place to party was required, so a multi-level dance floor and DJ booth went up on the front lawn. It’s being kept handy.

Finally, SL is all about fun. That’s why there’s a Maze. It’s not an easy maze. It’s a hard maze, ’cause it’s built with the RavenPrim and it changes on you and tries to trap you and stuff.

But it has a prize, and it sure is fun. Hope to see you sometime at the store. Say hi.

I prefer to write power software with a broad range of capabilities and tons of user flexibility. So while I was delivering early versions to my lead users, I started to think much more broadly about a system of builder’s scripts that would take most things builders want to do to a whole new level.

The Joy of Isle Scanner

My first significant script was a scanner made to spec for Isle. Isle has limited bandwidth, so she wanted a scanner that could run as a prim, not as a radar hud. Pretty simple requirements – report on who is in a specific area, when they leave. Throw up a list. It was called “The Joy of Isle” because the first script was installed in a picture with that title.

RavenPort

The first system I wrote and delivered as a product was RavenPort (currently in beta) which provides for a set of teleporters and destinations to auto-discover each other. Destinations could be permissions restricted. It was handy, and set the tone for power and flexibility. Product release coming sooner than later.

RavenPrim

I had started hitting memory limits in RavenPort, and realized I needed to re-architect my scripts. The next request for scripts was from a builder who needed a number of functions (sliding and swing doors, secret walls, windows, lights), and I began to think – why many scripts? Why not one configuration driven script? This gave birth to the RavenPrim. I began to see that builders didn’t want a piecemeal approach to their scripted behavior, they just lived with that because SL scripters were only building pieces.

The RavenScript Vision
Out of all this, a vision emerged which was a single, unified and expandable system of scripts that all worked together to meet a builder’s needs. RavenPrim is the start, but only the start. The Scanner will integrate with the prim’s communication protocol, so things can happen (Pictures go PG, stuff can hide, doors unlock, lights turn on) when certain people are nearby, or certain people are absent. A control system will enable time of day changes. A single unified permissions system would underlie all of these interacting elements.

While builders might be shipping designs using these scripts, users could buy add-ons from them, or other designers, and they would just fit in. Or get the scripts and extend the system themselves.

It’s a bit fuzzy still, this vision, but the basic thought is simple. Flexiblity, power and integration.

Welcome to RavenScript.