New AW Commands
To start off the new year, we will introduce some new commands. The latest versions of the AW browser (5.1) have introduced a number of new commands that allow builders to do some interesting things with objects. We will look at three of these here: shear, color tint, and opacity.
The shear command allows you to change the angles of an object. The first screenshot below shows an object that has been sheared along the X axis, and the yellow boundary box shows the object's original state. Using this command, you could adjust any of the coordinates of an object to make them fit into different angles. You can change any or all of the three coordinates. The second shot shows the shear command to set an angle for a ramp's railings. You can put in the 'global' command to make sure that everyone can see the sheared object. The AW Wiki explains the syntax of using this command and may be found at http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Shear.
Shearing an object |
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Example of a sheared object in use |
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The color tint command is very powerful, in that it allows you to change the color of any texture on an object. There are times when the color of a texture just isn't quite right for your build. You can use the color tint command to change the color of a texture to suit. Here is an example of this command being used in AWSchool. The syntax for this is: create texture ice1,color tint skyblue. Of course, you simply change the name of the texture and the color tint you want to use. You can learn more at http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Color#Tint.
The final command - opacity - ties in with the previous one, and basically replaces the mask=semitrans option. Note that in the screenshot above, the windows there use the create texture, then color tint, then opacity. You can change the strength of the opacity with the values between 0.2 to 1.0, where 1.0 is no transparency at all. More details can be found at http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Opacity_%28command%29.
In the coming months we will be bringing you more new developments. AW commands are becoming more powerful all the time, and while that makes building a lot more interesting, it also means a lot to learn. Be sure to check developments through the AWNewsletter, the forums, and visit AWSchool.
Does anyone have any building questions they want answered or do you have some tips you want to share? Please contact Ozman and also to give feedback on this article, particularly if there are any mistakes. He is doing this from experience. And as always, be sure to check the AW Help page and the related AW wiki pages for further help.
For new builders, be sure to visit AWNewbie, and AWSchool worlds for very good tutorials, on-line help from qualified teachers, and lots of very good objects.