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  Texture (+ masks & animated textures)
 

The texture command

Using the texture command is in fact using a texture of another object : every world has an object path and contains a map of models , a map of textures, a map of sounds, etc... For each object you have the model and you have the texture(s) that has been created with it, but they are stored in 2 separate maps.

In the world Uberpath (and also in other worlds), you will find the display of the entire object path (=object yard) , but also a display of the entire texture path (=texture yard), because the texture names are in most cases not the same names as the object names.The texture yard in the world Uberpath is on location 6N 103W. In this example we will make another texture for the vase (vase1.rwx). We will give it the texture of the floor (floor50.rwx). The texture name of this floor is called "rosa1" , so this will be the command :

model : vase1.rwx
action : create texture rosa1

Texture pattern of the objects.

The texture command is very simple, but it's not always obvious, because a lot of models have a different texture pattern : every object has been created differently , and has been created by a different person, who has chosen to use another pattern upon the object. On this picture, there are displayed several objects with the same texture command : create texture ceiling2. And as you can see, on 1 object the ceiling2-texture is only displayed 1 time, whereas on another object , the object is displayed 64 times. Some examples:

Model Pattern Total
rm-walk5 1x1 1
table1 1x1 1
floor50 2x2 4
flata10 2x2 4
walk001 4x4 16
wall10 4x1 4
wall001 2x1 2
fw-walwina1 2x1 2
landa 8x8 64

 

As every object has been created and modelled differenly, you will see that some objects are bright and the others are darker (examples: landa, wall10, wall001). This is the pre-light of the object and this can be changed if you re-model the object (e.g. with the program Accutrans). When building , this choice between pre-lighted or dark objects is also important : When using darker objects will make your world darker. If you want to make a world with night view, then check first if the objects you are using are getting dark with night view or not. If necessary you can make changes at the model (eg. with Accutrans) and replace the model in the object path of your world.

Another thing is that a lot of objects are only textured on 1 side , on the other side of the object they are invisible , (example : flata10.rwx).

You will also notice that a lot of standard objects have the same texture. In the object yard of the world AWSchool 34S 44W , you will see that all the objects with the same texture are grouped together. In other worlds the object yards are presented differently (alfabetically, per theme, type of object..etc.). In Alphaworld 27430S 12600E you will find several types of object yards.

Seamless textures

In Activeworlds, a lot of the textures of the uberpath are seamless textures : this means that when you build a line of identical objects (e.g. walls, tiles, floors) then you won't see any interruptions in the texture pattern, you won't see any texture border lines , its just as if the objects are one piece only.

If you want to use your own textures for your object path , and you want to use texture patterns in your world, then choose seamless textures for your object path. You can find a lot of websites with free seamless textures and patterns . Or you can use a texturing progam and make the texture seamless yourself . But of course, there are also objects for which no seamless pattern/texture is needed .

Masks & masked textures

* Masks are pictures of which the background has been cut out, so that only the silhouette of the object on the pictures remains.

.png-files
* In most texturing programs, you can make masked pictures with the original the image and colours included , and they can be saved as .png files. These .png files can also be used in Activeworlds on picture objects.
.bmp-files
* The masks we use here in Activeworlds however are white images with black background. The black background will be the part that will be cut out of the original image. This black&white-image is saved as a bitmap file (=.bmp) , with the same filename as the original texture but ending with "m" (=mask). Then this .bmp file is zipped (and can be passworded too), and stored in the textures map of the object path , together with the original texture. The difference between using a png file is now that .png-files can only be used for picture objects , whereas masks can be used for all objects.
* You can create those black&white bmp-image-files with most texturing programs.
texture yard
* In the world Uberpath there is also a large texture yard : a texture yard contains textures , but also masked textures and animated textures.
mask yard
* In Alphaworld 14800N 9500E you will find a mask yard: each mask is applied upon several types of objects . You will also find masks of numbers and characters.
* Another location in Alphaworld is 1422S 490W -15A is also texture yard, and in one corner you will find this mask yard .
 
model : pp00.rwx
action : create texture black mask=horse3m
model : walk001h.rwx
action : create texture flat27 mask=hrglas1m
model : wall1.rwx
action : create texture rosa1 mask=helper1m

These were examples of giving another texture to a mask (black, rosa1). Normally the mask is applied to the original texture (where the mask has been created for).

* This is a picture of a part of the texture path in the world Uberpath . The masks are displayed together with the original texture of which the mask has been created for. For each masked object there exists the original picture and the .bmp mask file .
* You will see that also animated textures can have masks.
 
model : kn-displayh_t
action : create texture artclock2 mask=artclock2m
model : kn-displayh_t
action : create texture arrow1 mask=arrow1m
model : kn-displayh_t
action : create texture btrflyw3 mask=btrflyw3m
model : kn-displayh_t
action : create texture flow13 mask=flow13m
model : kn-displayh_t
action : create texture ginger2 mask=ginger2m

On the pictures below : the original texture(ginger2), the mask (ginger2m ->.bmp-file) and the masked texture (action command).

Animated textures

* In the texture yard of the world Uberpath, but also in other texture yards, you will see animated textures. Creating an animated texture is very simple : the animation is created just by creating a filmstrip-texture. In the texture path most textures have the shape of 64x64 pixels, 128x128pixels, 128x128 pixels, etc..

* When you use a filmstrip, then the verticle side is a multiple amount as the horizontal side of the texture. When you make a filmstrip yourself , then then vertical side must be an (exact!) multiple number of the horizontal side. A filmstrip of 128x320 pixels won't have an animation because 320 is not divisable by 128. A horizontal filmstrip won't have an animation either !

Texture Pixel size Proportion Animation
led1 64x192 1x3 red-black-black
red 128x256 1x2 lightred- darkred
land3 128x512 1x4 1circle-2circles-3circles-4circles
globe1 128x512 1x4 red ball bubbles
skym 128x2048 1x16 clouds moving forward.

 

* As you can see for these textures they have used the "powers of 2 "-pixel size.

* If you have a filmstrip with a proportion 1x4 then you will have an animation of 4 images. The images repeat constanly. The texture skym is an animation of 16 images.

* So its quite easy : make a vertical filmstrip of the animation you want to make .There are still other possibilities to make animations but with other action commands....

 

model : kn-displayh_t
action : create texture led1
model : kn-displayh_t
action : create texture red
model : kn-displayh_t
action : create texture land3
model : kn-displayh_t
action : create texture globe1
model : kn-displayh_t
action : create texture skym

*On this picture you won't see the animation but in the 3d world you will clearly see....The images repeat constanly

 

http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Texture