Construction is well under way now. Here’s what I have so far:
Van Hemlock: Early Work On The Body
It’s recognisable, which is a start, and several people in there knew what it was supposed to be, which surprised me greatly. Planetside and Second Life are possibly as far apart on the MMO spectrum as it’s possible to get, so it just goes to show what diverse tastes gamers have.
I really should have done my research first though. The SL vehicle physics engine, which the script I’ve yoinked needs to work, can only cope with an linked object made up of 31 primitives or less, and not knowing this, I sort of went at it like a box of Lego – doing it in different layers of blocks, stacked on top of each other. So far I’m up to about 40, and now I’m learning the hard way why the real art in SL building, is economy of primitives.
It’s a shame, but I can see why. The ‘Physics’ activated objects are possibly one of the biggest drains on server resources, so it helps everyone if those can be kept to a minimum. The original Thresher (see links previously) is also a very blocky object underneath it's texturing, but I have ovoids, balls and cones at my disposal, so what I may have to end up doing, is rebuilding it from scratch, as a more 'realistic' and smooth craft than the original! The front nose section, for example, is about 9 sheared rectangular primitives at present – this can be replaced by a single smoothly curved and chopped ball, for 1, and probably look sleeker into the bargain. I can’t believe I’m working in an engine more sophisticated than the one in the game the original came from!
The script I’ve copied and tweaked was very heavily commented, and although it started as a car, it was quite easy to see what numbers to tweak to make it handle more like the Thresher I knew and loved; hover hieght, linerar friction, angular turning power, etc, and prior to hitting the 31 Prim limit, I was swooshing about on sand dunes and lakes in a manner not dissimilar to the ‘real’ thing – great stuff! Simply drop the piece of code in to the driver seat prim, and away we go.
So the next step is to start again on the bodywork, but this time, using as few prims as possible, and not worry so much about how 'authentic' it looks. I suspect there is a real art hidden somewhere...that of getting the job done in the most economic and elegant way possible...