›–» Picture, Sign Objects and Facers
Sign and
Picture Objects
To make an object a sign in trueSpace, simply rename it: aw_sign and to make it a picture, name it aw_picture. If you want more than one sign or picture in one object, name the second sign aw_sign_1 and the third aw_sign_2 and so on, and the same for pictures.
When you name objects like this and use them in Active Worlds, the browser (upon loading the object) indentifies these names and gives that specific object or part of the object the desired properties.
Remember though, if for example your making a TV object, you woulnt union all the pieces together and call it all 'aw_picture' because then every face of the object would be the picture. The best approach in that situation would be to slot a flat plane into the front of the tv as the screen and name that 'aw_picture'. To find out how to name an object in trueSpace, read the Articulating Avatars section.
Also, picture and sign objects take on the UV projection settings of the object. So make sure you set the correct UV projection for the object in trueSpace (test by applying any texture to the flat plane and amke sure it's the right way up and not back to front), otherwise the picture or sign applied may be distorted in AW or might not even work at all.
Facer Objects
A facer object (aka. a sprite) is an object that always faces you. No matter where you are, the object is looking at you straight on.
To create a facer object, name the object aw_facer, the same goes for multiple ones using aw_facer_1, aw_facer_2, etc..
• Flat Sprites
The most common proceedure is to create a flat plane, rotate it 90 degrees (on the X axis) to create a vertical panel, then apply a masked texture to it and make it a facer. The masked image will then always face the viewer, examples in Active Worlds of this would include the Alphaworld trees and fire, and all those cheesey snowglobes and teddybears people put all over their builds at christmas.
For the visual leaners...
• 3D Sprites
You can make 3d objects into facers too, this feature isn't used much in Active Worlds. The only use I've come across is security cameras that are always looking at you! (AWTeen)