The University of Nottingham Second Life Building Tutorial

Transcription

1 s Web Campus Sandbox is open to the public for anyone to practise their building and scripting skills. A personal building tutorial is available in the sandbox (simply click the crate beneath the sign and follow setup instructions). A copy of the in-world guide is provided here for your reference. Use this guide to help you in your first steps to starting your own building projects. 1

2 Creating a basic prim Right click the ground. Click Create to open the Tools window. In the Tools window you will see a variety of shapes. Select the basic shape you want to create, e.g. cube, sphere, pyramid. The cursor will appear as a magic wand. Click the ground to rez a prim of the selected type. Have a go creating several prims of different types. It s a good idea to give any prims you want to keep a unique name before saving them. Right click a prim and select Edit. Expand the Tools window by clicking More. Select the General tab in the Tools window. Type a name in the Name field. Step 5 Right click your prim and select More and then Take Copy. A copy of the prim will be saved in your inventory. Note that changes you now make to the prim won t also be changed in the saved version. You should replace your saved copy after every major change. 2

3 Positioning If the Tools window is not open, right click a prim or object and select Edit. With your prim selected, choose the Position option at the top of the Tools window. Three lines will appear on the prim showing the X (red), Y (green) and Z (blue) axes. Hover over an arrow on an axis until it becomes highlighted. Click and drag to move the prim along the selected axis. Have a go at moving your prim in all directions: X (red) axis goes from west to east, Y (green) axis goes from south to east, Z (blue) axis goes up and down. Now try positioning your prim numerically. In the expanded Tools window select the Object tab. Here you can see the numerical values for the position, size and rotation of the prim. Click the arrows next to the X, Y and Z position values to move the prim by small, precise measurements. You can also type over the numerical values. Move your prim half a metre north by adding 0.5 to the Y value. Have a go at numerically moving your prim around in all directions. This way of moving prims allows more precise positioning than moving by hand. 3

4 Rotating If the Tools window is not open, right click a prim or object and select Edit. With your prim selected, choose the Rotate option at the top of the Tools window. Three rings will appear on the prim showing the X (red), Y (green) and Z (blue) rotation axes. Flip your prim over by adding 90 to the X value. Hover over a ring until it becomes highlighted. Click, hold and move your mouse from side to side to rotate the prim along the selected axis. While rotating, a white ring with compass points on it appears around the prim. Move your mouse over this to jump your prim to that precise rotation. Try rotating your prim 45 using the compass lines. Now try rotating your prim numerically. In the expanded Tools window select the Object tab. Here you can see the numerical values for the position, size and rotation of the prim. Click the arrows next to the X, Y and Z rotation values to rotate the prim gradually. You can also type over the numerical values. Have a go at numerically rotating your prim in all directions. This way of rotating prims allows more precise positioning than moving by hand. 4

5 Resizing If the Tools window is not open, right click a prim or object and select Edit. With your prim selected, choose the Stretch option and un-tick the Stretch Both Sides checkbox from the top of the Tools window. Several coloured cubes will appear on the prim. Hover over a red, green or blue cube until it becomes highlighted. Click and drag to resize the prim along the selected axis. Have a go at resizing your prim along all axes. Notice that the prim resizes only in the direction of the cube you click on. The opposite side remains in place. Tick the Stretch Both Sides checkbox at the top of the Tools window. Have another go at resizing your prim along all axes. Notice that it now resizes in both directions of the axis. Step 5 Click and drag one of the grey cubes on the corners of the prim. Notice how the whole of the prim changes size, along all three axes, and its proportions are constrained. 5

6 Step 6 Now try resizing your prim numerically. In the expanded Tools window select the Object tab. Here you can see the numerical values for the position, size and rotation of the prim. Click the arrows next to the X, Y and Z size values to alter the prim s size gradually. You can also type over the numerical values. Resize your prim to 3 x 3 x 3 metres by changing the xyz values. Have a go at numerically resizing your prim along all axes. The maximum size of any side of a prim is 10m and the minimum is 0.01m. This way of resizing prims allows more precise editing than moving by hand. 6

7 Reshaping If the Tools window is not open, right click a prim or object and select Edit. With your prim selected (use a simple cube), open the Object tab in the expanded Tools window. On the right of this tab there are several properties you can edit to customise the basic prim shape. Click the arrows next to the Path Cut Begin and End values. A slice is cut out of the prim. Change the Path Cut values back to 0 and 1. Click the arrows next to the Hollow value. Change the Hollow Shape to see the effect on the prim. Step 5 Change the Hollow value back to 0. Click the arrows next to the Twist Begin and End values. Step 6 Change the Twist values back to 0. Click the arrows next to the Taper values. Change the Taper values to 1 to create a pyramid. Step 7 Change the Taper values back to 0. Click the arrows next to the Top Shear values. Step 8 Have a go at combining these prim options to see the variety of shapes you can create. 7

8 Colour If the Tools window is not open, right click a prim or object and select Edit. With your prim selected, expand the Tools window by clicking More and select the Texture tab. Here you can see the information about the current texture and colour of your prim. Click the Color thumbnail. The Color Picker window will open. Select a colour for your prim and click Select. The whole of your prim will have changed colour but you will probably still be able to see the default wood grain texture on it too. Click the Texture thumbnail in the Tools window. The Texture window will open. In the Texture window select Blank and close the window. Step 5 Choose the Select Texture option from the top of the Tools window. Click on one of the faces of your shape. A white target will appear on it to confirm selection. 8

9 Step 6 Click the Color thumbnail in the Tools window. Select a colour from the Color Picker window and click Select. The face of the prim that you selected will change colour but the rest will stay the same. Now have a go at changing every face of the prim to a different colour. Remember that if you haven t chosen Select Texture the whole prim will change colour. 9

10 Texture If the Tools window is not open, right click a prim or object and select Edit. With your prim selected, expand the Tools window by clicking More and select the Texture tab. Here you can see the information about the current texture and colour of your prim. If you have previously changed the colour of your prim, change it back to white. Click Color, select white from the Color Picker window and click Select. Click Select to apply it to your prim. Click the Texture thumbnail to open the Texture window. Select a texture from your Library/Textures folder. A preview of it will appear on the left. There is a range of textures in your library folder for you to use. Try out several more of these on your prim. Step 5 Choose the Select Texture option from the top of the Tools window. Click on one of the faces of your shape. A white target will appear on it to confirm selection. 10

11 Step 6 Click the Texture thumbnail in the Tools window. Select a texture in the Texture window and click Select. The face of the prim that you selected will change texture but the rest will stay the same. Have a go at changing every face of the prim to a different texture. Remember that if you haven t chosen Select Texture the whole prim will change. Click Blank and then Select in the Texture window. Step 7 Now try combining textures and colours. Notice that if you change the colour of a prim with a texture it will be tinted rather than have a flat colour. To remove a texture, select either the whole prim or an individual face. Click the Texture thumbnail in the Tools window. 11

12 Linking prims Prims can be linked to form more complex objects. Right click a prim and select Edit. Hold down shift and click the next prim. Continue until all the prims you want to link are selected. Click Ctrl-L or select Tools > Link. The object will now be linked together and will appear outlined in blue when selected. An error message will appear if you don t have edit permission on all prims you are linking. To edit a prim within an object, right click it and select Edit. The Tools window will open. Tick the Edit linked parts checkbox at the top of the Tools window. Click to select an individual prim. You can now edit it as normal. Make sure you un-tick the Edit linked parts checkbox when you are finished. To unlink an object, right click it and select Edit. Then click Ctrl-Shift-L or select Tools > Unlink. 12