Magine: wow, do you think we can cover EVERYTHING ELSE in two more hours, lol? :D
Carre: sure, simple, with your expert visual aids, magine
Likeness: I think we need about six more classes Magine......at least....don't you?  let's have more classes
Purdy1: hehe Yeah!!! You are such a good teach too!
ommm: ditto
Magine: i'm willing to do a 5th session if people want
ommm: yes
Carre: yes
Purdy1: *and it would give me more time to do my homework* (dog ate it)
Likeness: I mean, we are just getting started......yeah, 5th session!
Magine: heheh
Carre: lol, purdy
Magine: virtual dog?
Carre: kitties eat mine
Likeness: hehe
Purdy1: yep :) *gee.. thats a good idea for my homework- a virtual dog*
Magine: five more minutes, then we'll start

...

Magine: well, i guess all are aboard who are coming aboard, so let's start :)
Magine: first, any leftover questions from last week?
ommm: can you do spherical by hand?
ommm: i mean textures on a sphere..
Magine: i'm not sure i understand the question...
ommm: texmap doesn't do sphere, right?
Magine: you can add UV's to a sphere using texmap....it won't be perfect, but
ommm: okay, great
Magine: i need to add spherical mapping, yes...but you can "fake" it by mapping the sphere half from one side, then half from the other
ommm: oh
ommm: in two separate operations?
Magine: right
ommm: ok
Magine: first map from (for instance) front to back, with an action boundary at the midpoint
Magine: and "add new UVs" unchecked for the second action
Magine: then map again from back to front, with "keep existing UVs" and  "mirror" checked
ommm: how do you set an Action Boundary?
Magine: click the "new action" button
ommm: oh i see, "Midpoint"...
Magine: then choose where you want the action to change, from the dialog that pops up
Magine: ...well, my first exhibit for today is this panel with a hole in it :)
Magine: [create animate me brkwall 1 1 0]
Magine: it doesn't really have a hole in it :)
Magine: it just looks that way :)
Magine: actually this panel is just the same one with the face, but i animated it with a texture
Magine: and this texture has a mask...
ommm: neat!
Purdy1: there really isn't a square cut out?
Magine: nope
Magine: it's a simple square panel with "create animate me brkwall 1 1 0"
Purdy1: you animated it covering only part of it?
Magine: nope, the whole panel is textured
Magine: but....
Purdy1: how do we see thru it like a window?
Magine: the brkwall texture has an accompanying mask, brkwall1m
Purdy1: ahhh
Purdy1: cool :o)
ommm: do tell
Magine: brkwall.jpg is actually just the same as the stone texture that you see there, it's a standard aw texture
Magine: but, i also created a file named brkwall1m.bmp
Magine: brkwall1m.bmp is just a 2-color (black & white) bitmap, the same size (!28x128) as brkwall1.jpg
Magine: brkwall1m.bmp is just a white square with a black square inside it
Magine: where ever the mask file is white, the texture shows through
Magine: but whereever it is black, nothing shows
Magine: it's transparent
Magine: even if it's in the center of the object
Magine: make sense?
Likeness: yep
Carre: yes
Magine: suppose i put that same texture on another model, like this boulder
Magine: it also ends up with a visual hole in it
Magine: you've probably all looked at the 2d tree models from alphaworld?
Carre: yes, masks?
Magine: right
Likeness: have made some :)
Magine: all they are really is a single square panel
Magine: which is textured with the tree picture
Magine: and the tree picture has a mask, with the surrounding area black, so it is transparent on the model
Magine: let's look at the examples page (click on the blue sign over there for the url)
Magine: the one other thing that the 2d tree models have, is the "axisalignment" command
Magine: (see page 2 of the examples....)
Magine: "axisalignment zorienty" makes the model always appear to face the viewer
Magine: like this green face here :)
Magine: you could also use the axisalignment command on a 3d model ...altho i guess the uses for that would not be numerous :)
Magine: anyway, getting back to texture masks...
Magine: the specify a mask on the same line as the texture, like "texture brkwall1 mask brkwall1m"
Magine: masks usually have the same name as the texture that they mask, but with an "m" or "!" at the end
Magine: the mask is always a bitmap (.bmp) not a .jpg
Magine: and it's zipped on the server (but not on your hard drive, if you're looking at models with rwxmod)
Magine: just remember, on your hard drive, textures and masks are both .bmp
Magine: but on the server, textures are .jpgs and masks are zipped .bmps
Magine: btw, has everyone found page 2 of the examples? (web page)
Carre: yes
ommm: think so
Likeness: so, you can do a 3D object with a mask?  and have two file names on the texture line?
Magine: yes
Magine: oh another thing to remember...rwxmod removes the "mask" part of "texture blah1 mask blah1m" so you're left with only "texture blah1"
Magine: you have to remember to put the mask part of the command back after running a file thru rwxmod
Carre: buggers, will try to remember, lol
ommm: if you forget, will the file load?
Magine: anyway, this palm [rw-palm3.rwx] shows how you can use texture masks on a 3d object to make it look more complex than it really is :)
Magine: the palm is actually the same object as the green umbrella next to it,
ommm: wow
Magine: it just has the frond texture on top, and a mask that makes the edges transparent
Magine: in fact, the rw book recommends using textures instead of more vertices and polygons, whenever possible...
Magine: because textures render faster than lots of polys
Likeness: cool :)
Magine: another kind of "texturing" involves the use of tags
Purdy1: how do you know what tag is for what part?
Magine: the "tag" command is added on a line after a polygon, quad or triangle command
Carre: we need another prog. to add them to large files, :)
Magine: basically, the tag command in renderware just marks a polygon so that the program (in this case the aw browser) can find that poly to manipulate
Purdy1: do you just give the tag a name or does it correspond to an actual uv?
Magine: tags can also mark whole clumps, as in avatars
Magine: tags are just arbitrary numbers, they aren't related to UVs
Purdy1: ok
Magine: tags actually have no meaning to rw itself, it's up to the program using rw to use the tags however it wants
Magine: in the aw browser, tags have 3 uses (that i know of)
Magine: one is to label clumps in avatars, so that the awb can move (rotate) those clumps around....the clumps in that case are arms, legs, etc
Purdy1: I have seen trees animated to a tag here in aw.. so that just the *leaves* are animated as opposed to the whole tree.. trunk and all..
Magine: yes,(that's 4 uses, heheh)
Purdy1: I think it read create animate me tag 200...
Magine: you can tag polygons (quads,triangles) in an object, and then use "animate tag=7 me stone 1 1 0" or similar action
Purdy1: ok :)
Magine: i'm getting to that ;)
Magine: so, you can put tags on polygons in a model when you make the model, and then in awb a builder can use the animate command with that tag, to animate just that part  of the model
Magine: in that case, the tag numbers are arbitrary
Magine: they can be whatever you want
Purdy1: ok.. but how do we apply a texture to the tag?
Purdy1: so we don't have to animate it?
Magine: for instance, i added some tags to parts of the 3dtree models here, so that the leaves could be animated separately from the trunk
Magine: i'l have to add an example to the web page... :)
Magine: but basically,
Magine: you add "tag 4" (or any number you choose) to the polygon/quad/triangles that you want to be tagged
Magine: like "quad 1 2 3 4 tag 20"
Purdy1: cool!
Magine: then, when the model is here in active worlds, someone can add an action like "animate tag=20 me grass 1 1 0"
Magine: and only the quads with tag 20 on them will take that texture
Emerald Lilac: What does it look like without the animate?
Magine: without the animate it will look like it would without the tag :)    it can have it's own default texture or not, like any other model
Magine: just asec, i'll go grab an example, brb
Carre: or pfrond1 and will the mask pfrond1m load with it, say for 3d trees
Magine: ok, had to check the name :)
Emerald Lilac: Wow! (it just loaded
Magine: this is 3dtree3.rwx (for those of you reading the log)
Purdy1: this is the tree I saw animated with berries
Magine: btw, you can probably tell that it uses texture mask for the leaves :)
Magine: it has tag 200 on the polygons that the leaves are made out of, so you can texture them separately, like this.....

Magine: [create animate tag=200 me flo58. 1 1 0] on 3dtree3.rwx
Carre: so in order to get the texture and mask, have to use the model name?
ommm: whoaaa!
Magine: carre, pardon me? the model name?
Purdy1: I just see a brownish color.. no detail
Magine: it should load in a moment, purdy....green banana tree leaves :)
Purdy1: thanks :)
Magine: carre, what was your question again?
Carre: model name for flo58 to get both texture and mask? can't just use texture name
Magine: flo58 is a texture, just happens to also be the name of an object, i guess :)
Carre: like pfrond1, mask won't load?
Carre: or will it
Magine: you could put pfrond1 on that tree, sure
Purdy1: is it like a default thing?
Magine: there :) [create animate tag=200 me pfrond 1 1 0] on 3dtree3.rwx
ommm: wow
Likeness: ahhh, there ya go!
Carre: yeah, mask loads
Magine: now it's "create animate tag=200 me pfrond 1 1 0"
Magine: if you left the "tag=200" part out, then the whole tree would be green and leafy, including the trunk :)
Magine: like this
Purdy1: the object has a mask not the texture...  is that what you meant Carre?
Magine: there, i put tag=200 back
Magine: when you animate something, aw automatically looks to see if the texture has a mask (same name but "m" or "!" on the end)
Purdy1: cool!
Carre: neat
ommm: essential!
Magine: now, there are two special tags that awb also looks for....
Magine: tag 100 and tag 200
Purdy1: on all objects?
Magine: you can add those tags to any object you make
Magine: tag 100 is for signs :)
Purdy1: okay.. the diff between them?
Purdy1: oh!!!
Purdy1: like create sign?
Magine: if you put tag 100 on a quad, then it will appear as a sign object here in aw
Magine: yep
Purdy1: :o)
Magine: you can have sign quads (triangles and other polygons don't work so well) on parts of objects too
Magine: for instance, our guestbook object in atuin has a sign tag on the binding
Magine: so "create sign" displays the text on the binding
Purdy1: great!!
Magine: the other tag, 200, is for pictures :)
Purdy1: so you can texture it in the rwx file and then add text with the tag!
Magine: yes, purdy :)
Magine: polygons with tag 200 on them will allow the "create picture" command
Magine: even this tree, for instance....
Purdy1: so you can texture the pic frame and then create picture with tag 200
Purdy1: the gray frames are so yucky :)
Magine: the tag it uses could have been any, tag 20 or tag 617 or whatever, and the "animate tag=" stuff would have worked the same
Magine: but since it's tag 200, the leaves can also be textured with "create picture"
Magine: any jpg on the net :)
Magine: brb
Likeness: huh.....well whatayaknow :))
Likeness: oh no!
Magine: had to find an url [jpg of marilyn monroe, from likeness]
Carre: lol
Magine: lol
Carre: lol
Purdy1: is that Marilyn?
Magine: yep
Purdy1: hehe
Likeness: haha
Magine: (that's the jpg from likeness' sailboat in atuin, btw)
Carre: picture tree
Likeness: hehe
Purdy1: what a great idea for a gallery!
Magine: hey yeah :>
Likeness: cool!
Carre: a forest of picture tress gallery
Purdy1: hehe
Purdy1: how does the animate tag affect the  frame rate?
Magine: same an any other animation, i think
Magine: i don't think it slows things down any, just having the tags in the model
Purdy1: so a gallery full of trees would be like a room full of pics.. no real diff..
Magine: right
Likeness: it affects the download rate of the world tho
Magine: like create picture on pict1.rwx, etc
Purdy1: use a low vertice count object for better dl time..
Magine: true...the tree here for instance is putting that picture all over itself, not just once
Purdy1: thats what makes it better :)
Magine: for those reading the log....do "Create picture" on 3dtree3...whatever url you like :)
Magine: it's not slowing me down any, how about anyone else?
Purdy1: nope :)
Likeness: nope
ommm: how about initial loading of world?
Carre: you couold just put the tag 200 on a few of the tree quads, then leave default texture on rest of tree
Magine: sure ommm, every texture or picture will take some time to DL
Magine: yes
Magine: you can you can also strip all the leaves off, by animating it with a texture whose mask is all black
Purdy1: again, how do you know what quads = what tag?
Purdy1: trial and error?
Magine: you put the tags on the quads when you make the model
Magine: like "quad 1 3 5 2 tag 200"
Purdy1: :o) right
Magine: did that answer the question or did i misunderstand what you were asking ? :)
Edward: You could make all the leaves first, put the tags on], then add the wood afterwords.
Magine: either way, edward
Purdy1: no, that makes sense.. its just hard to figure out which quad is for what part of the object
Magine: you can have different numbered tags on different parts of the model too....more than one tag that is
Magine: unfortunately awb only lets you animate one tag at a time though
Purdy1: wouls be cool for an autumn tree whith leaves turning color
Magine: great idea :)
Magine: you could make a filmstrip jpg for that
Purdy1: cool!
Carre: kwel idea
Magine: you all know about filmstrips?
Likeness: no
Edward: For a real seasons effect you could dynamically change the texture each day and eatch the colors change.
Magine: you can create an animated texture 2 ways
Purdy1: change the size of the jpg? or is that just for an animated jpg?
Purdy1: 2256x128?
Magine: in aw, you can use the animate command with a series of pictures, as i'm sure you know
Magine: like the well-known fw series :) [create animate tag=200 me fw 13 13 0] on 3dtree3.rwx
Likeness: oh yeah :)
Magine: you can't specify a series of textures in the file when you make the model, unfortunately
Likeness: and like the avatar's eyes that blink
Magine: however, you can make a single jpg that is animated itself
Magine: you just create a jpg that is 128 wide,
Magine: and 128 times the number of frames, in length
Purdy1: # of fraMES>
Purdy1: ?
Magine: hm, well for instance the fireworks animation is 13 frames, 13 different pictures
Purdy1: ohhh
Magine: if you wanted to have a moving texture like that  built-in to a model,
Magine: you would have to combine those 13 frames into a single jpg
Magine: you would make a jpg that was 128 wide, and 13 x 128 long
Purdy1: one below another... cut and paste? each one slightly diff?
Magine: with a different picture in each 128x128 frame
Magine: one below another, yes
Magine: exactly, purdy :)
Purdy1: what about seams?
Magine: something i should have made a visual aid for :)
Purdy1: would they show?
Magine: not if the jpg is made right
Magine: look at the [standard aw texture] flame1.jpg for an example....
Purdy1: sounds like a major challenging kinda thing :)
Magine: it is tedious to do, purdy, but not too bad in paint shop
Magine: what i do is, first create the frames individually
Purdy1: I have made masks of fairies.. arrghhh! and done a backdrop.. tedious :)
Magine: then i create a jpg of the right size, and cut and paste them into it, using select, copy, and paste as new selection
Purdy1: cool :) do you save after each paste?
Magine: yes, and you have to make sure that they line up perfectly, or else the animation will wiggle
Purdy1: as a new jpg name?
Purdy1: ok
Magine: i save the combined file under a dif name, yes
Purdy1: so the more intricate, the more frames?
Magine: mmm, yes...and the number of frames would affect the timing too
Purdy1: like on the clock pendulum
Magine: since you can't slow the filmstrip animation down the way you can with a multiple-file animation
Magine: clock pendulum?
Purdy1: the clock jpg.. with the moving ticker thing
Magine: gee, i guess i haven't seen or noticed that one :/
Purdy1: the moving part.. wonder how many frames that is..the grandfather clock..
Magine: does that move? :P
Magine: i'll have to check that out :)
Purdy1: hehe I think its an animated jpg.. with frames..
Magine: you know the model name off hand?
Purdy1: gfc
Purdy1: hmm.. can't remember
Purdy1: the texture may be clock1
Magine: ???
Magine: i don't see it moving.... [gfc01.rwx]
Purdy1: there was another clock in Atlantis with a moving pendulum
Magine: ah, ok
Purdy1: it is fairly common in aw.. try animate clock1
Magine: anyway, the filmstrip animations just run at constant speed....unlike the  multiple frame ones like fw,  that you can time
Purdy1: not sure if its on awuniv server :(
Magine: it's probably a custom clock, purdy :)
Purdy1: :)
Purdy1: you control the timing with the variations of the jpg right?
Magine: you can control the filmstrip timing by having more frames
Purdy1: K, got it :)
Magine: so, everyone can make it back next week then?
ommm: yup
Likeness: yep
Purdy1: yep
Magine: ok, great, cuz i see there is a lot i didn't get to today :)
Purdy1: well, the tags are really interesting!
Likeness: we want to know everything you know Magine :))  and I mean EVERYTHING
Purdy1: LOL yeah!
Wolverine: me to!!!!!!
ommm: give it to us!
Magine: we still have to talk about prototypes and multiple clumps, among other things.........
Purdy1: Hi Wolverine!
Magine: likeness, lol :D
ommm: yeah, yeah
Likeness: hiya Wolverine :))
Wolverine: hello
Magine: hi wolverine
Carre: Magine, will you cover the magic of animation in the models, like gears in awgate
Likeness: ok, so just keep on teaching.....hehe
Mondo: doggone, Wolvie, we late to class again
Magine: i can do that, carre....
Wolverine: I am here to learn all I can learn :o), teach me, teach me :o)
Likeness: hiya Mondo :))
Mondo: Hi Likeness
Purdy1: Hi Mondo!!you guys just made the end of class..
Mondo: well, we not too bright, some days,,,,,,
Purdy1: next Saturday 12pm pacific
Mondo: ok
Wolverine: *sniff*, can we stay after school to get notes from someone
Mondo: har
Purdy1: hehe Ask Magine to email you the class log :o)
Magine: what are your email addresses, i'll send you the log
Mondo: mondo_aw@yahoo.com
ommm: i really need that log too -- desparately....
Wolverine: ok, mine is smile_forme@hotmail.com
Magine: also i'm working on a summary web page, someday i may even finish it too :)
ommm: can we also get a copy of the bitmaps?
Magine: ok, i'll add you to the list, mondo & wolverine...you want the back issues too? :>
Magine: which ones, ommm?
Wolverine: yes, if it isn't a pain to send :o)
ommm: like the one flashing in the tree a minute ago..
Mondo: hmmm. ok, maybe I'll unlearn some of my bad habits.........
Purdy1: it may already be in your cache ommm
ommm: oh good!
Magine: the fireworks? those are standard bitmaps from aw...you get them all from cof's web page
Likeness: she is an excellent teacher Mondo
ommm: really?
Mondo: good
ommm: ok
Purdy1: there is also a sign in the building behind us with a link to all the objects and textures here in awuniv, omm
Wolverine: hmmmm.....since I am late, is it to late to give Magine an apple for being nice enough to send notes to our email?
ommm: i really need to study the log, my reboots confuse me...
Magine: while you wait for next week, you can look at the examples on www.pipeline.com/~magine/rwx_examples.htm ....i show how to make the glass tube over there :) [rw-tube6.rwx]
ommm: thx, Purd
Purdy1: the tube is similar to what you were talking about for your stairs Wolverine :o)
Wolverine: really? where?
Magine: here
Purdy1: over here.. I am facing it
Wolverine: cool, this looks like something I made a while back, and thought it would not work for well
Magine: that was to show how you can derive shapes from discs and such...
Wolverine: can I walk in it?
Likeness: yep
Magine: sure, run thru it
Purdy1: you can! and up
Wolverine: weeeeeeeeeeeeeee, heeehe
Magine: don't hit the spiky ball though, it;s pointy, heheh
Wolverine: this is good
Wolverine: ok I won't
Purdy1: just add a twist to the top and voila!
Mondo: hmm
Wolverine: cool
ommm: very kewl
Wolverine: this is like kindergarden class, playing with legos and what not, hehe
Carre: makes a good ride, lol
Likeness: haha
Purdy1: you could rotate it and have the joining part Wolverine
Magine: been meaning to complete our set of transit tubes in atuin....finally got to it
ommm: is it all GPs?
Carre: wheeee
Wolverine: cool
Magine: ommm, i used discs to calculate the vertices :)
Magine: the examples page explains it all....page [5]
Wolverine: can't wait for them notes *sniff*....I will have to come back next week on time, with two apples
Magine: :)
ommm: will read it...
Purdy1: hehe
Magine: caramel apples
Purdy1: whats the url again Magine?
Wolverine: hmmmmm....yeah, I will make sure they are cooked well done too :o)
Magine: www.pipeline.com/~magine/rwx_examples.htm is page 1
Magine: i haven't finished page 3, skip past the sloppy part, lol

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