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  Building ideas
  Ideas for : flowers, shrubs and trees (1)
 
In the standard objectpath of Alphaworld, the offer of flowers, shrubs and trees is rather limited and the quality is not always good enough. With these building ideas you can a whole new range of plants and trees. All examples can be use in Alphaworld.
 
The "create texture" command (for png -images)
The first idea can be found in the AW Landing zone (Awexpo). When the objects are starting to load , we can see that the object xaw26.rwx is used for creating plants and flowers. One thing that you need to do is to put the xaw26.rwx-object upside down by pressing 12 times the / -key. Then you add the action command .
 
xaw26.rwx
create texture mel-scr-flower11.png
The model aw26.rwx is used for creating shrubs and flowers.
But when you look clearly how the xaw26.rwx-object is made, then you see that it is just 2 square surfaces, which are crossing eachother. This way you can easily create the same effect by using 2 flat objects (and cross the objects in the middle)..
 
When using the texture command, you need to use plants from the object path ( masks and png's), and you cannot use object from an external website.
Fortunately, last year, a lot of png-images of the website of MeL have been added to the standard objectpath. This means that you can use the texture command for these png-images.
The "create texture" command + the "mask" command
 
Activeworlds accepts .jpg .gif and .png -images. However, jpg-images are never transparent, but for these jpg-images you can use the mask command, although it's a lot easier to use .png-objects on the web that are masked already. Also because you need to search in the objectyard/objectpath for the texture and their masks.
 
The "create picture" command
 
You can also use the "create picture"-command with picture objects . But the disadvantage of using external url-links ,is that you don't have under control if the url-link will continue to exist. All images in your 3d scene could disappear from 1 day to another.
The AW Expo Landing Zone - 7700S 1400E
That's what happend this year with Wisteria Lane , where most of the planets have been created by uploading their png-images on the freeware website of PhotoBucket : but suddenly, this website disabled deeplinking of the images, unless you pay (a lot).
 
If you want to continue using a freeware impage uploading website, then you can still use Imgur.The website imgur.com is very good, because the image size of your uploaded pictures won't be reduced. And you can upload images with "powers of 2"-pixel size.
 
The better a solution, is uploading .png images to your own webspace : for a low price, you can store several gigabytes of images. It's also more secure than using a freeware image uploader, because you have paid for the webspace. If you are a world owner, then you can use this webspace for making your own object path. Then png images can be used as textures as well. And you can use your own models, etc....
Exotic plants in Wisteria Lane (before the links were disabled)
Wisteria Lane in Alphaworld - 31500N 30206W
For all the images that you are uploading, even if you have your own webspace, it is always safe to store copies of the png-images on your computer. Because you never know....
 
You can easily create png-images yourself . You can use Photoshop for this, or also Gimp and Paint.net , and these two programs are freeware.
In these AWTimes webpages there are several tutorial about how to make masks , and cut out images , about making those png-images yourself.
 
(see http://www.venice3d.net/2016create.html )
Objects that accept the create picture command
 
Fot the picture command, we use normally the picture , pictwlk and the pictwll -objects, like we will see in the object yards.
But in this example , we have a flowerbed in Star City (AlphaWorld 9306S 1489E ) where other objects are used : tbtree003.rwx and tbtree010.rwx . These objects also accept the create picture -command. As these objects are trees, they need to be scaled, and you move the treetrunk into the ground, so that they look like shrubs.
tbtree010.rwx
create picture tex.swcity.net/flora1.gif,solid no, scale .7, color tint yellow, scale .4 1 .5
 
tbtree003.rwx
create scale 0.2, picture i.imgur.com/HXWrAEk.gif, color tint c1c1c1, solid off
Flowerbed in Star City in Alphaworld - 9306S 1489E
Prim objects
 
All the prim objects accept the picture command. In the object yard, you will find a teleport to the prim objects ,and it is a wide range of objects !!
 
As an example, we go again to that flowerbed in Star City, and when you cross the road, you will find an alley that is covered with ivy , at the top :
pictwlk.rwx
create picture i.imgur.com/2JP7B06.png, solid no
And also at the sides. And in this case , a prim object has been used.
flat3b_g.rwx
create picture i.imgur.com/2JP7B06.png, solid no
 
Sprite objects with png-texture or with masked textures.
 
Another way to make plants is by using sprite objects . Sprite objects were very popular in the beginning years of Activeworlds. Sprite are in fact 2d-image objects which can turn around their axises and keep showing the frontal image towards your avatar. Only when you fly up, you really notice how they are made.
The sprite objects have become less popular , because they are not really 3-dimensional and are considered to be rather "cheap" and "ugly" in a 3d environment. However the advantage is that they are easy to make and they are low polygon.
flower1.rwx
create texture mel-ar-plant26.png , scale 2 3 2
In this case we used an existing sprite model and we added a png-texture.
I didn't find a sprite object that accepted the picture command. If you are a world owner, you could create such a sprite object and add it to your object path.
Star-shaped objects
 
We are still in the flowerbed area in Star City (AW 9306S 1489E ).

When we fly up a little bit, then we see that the tbtree010.rwx -model , is in fact made just like the xaw26.rwx, but here we have 6 surfaces crossing eachother. A lot of 3d-plants are made like that. In this example, you could also use three xaw26.rwx -objects and have the same result. Sometimes you have a better effect when 6 surfaces are crossing , and sometimes the result is better with only 2 surfaces crossing eachother.

Flowerbed in Star City in Alphaworld - 9306S 1489E
Particle emitters
 

The small yellow flowers in the flowerbed areas are made by using Particle Emitters. In this case you change the "object" into a "particle emitter" , and you choose particle type "sprite", then in the asset list, you determine the texture (+mask) that you want as PE, and the number of those images. Finally you choose the surface size of your PE.

In the asset list, the texture and its mask are seperated by a colon. You can also choose for self-masking, then you just type the colon, without typing the mask. You can also choose multiple textures in the asset list of the PE, just seperate them by a comma.
 
More info about that in the Activeworlds wiki : http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Particle_Emitter
SWCity builders Academy
 
In SW City you will find a lot of original flora, some plants and trees that the builders of SW City have created even have their own names : the Ferrpalm, the Kithicor Pine , the Particle Tree, the Traedoni. See SWCity Builders Academy, where you can download the AWG-files of them.
http://www.swcity.net/academy/index.php
For some trees, you create first the tree-trunk and branches with cylinder-objects and bark-texture. Then the leaves are added, often bushes of leaves.
For the trunk :
p1cyl0200i.rwx
create texture tbbark9
and for the leaves :
xaw26.rwx
create texture tbtree004 mask=tbtree004m,solid no
 
SWCity : AW 2188S 3570E - the Kithicor Pine
Sometimes, other objects and textures are used for the same type of trees
For the trunk :
cyl8a1.rwx
create texture tnbark01
and for the leaves (group of leaves)
rock10.rwx
create texture tree7 mask=tree7m
Then you add other leaves on top , which you can make smaller , either by scaling it,
or by using similar models : rock8.rwx, rock10a.rwx, rock7.rwx, rock6.rwx
 
SWCity : AW 2225S 3545E
SWCity : AW 2238S 3544E - a Ferrpalm
For this nice birch tree , the trunk :
p1cyl0025f.rwx
create texture tbbark2
the birch leaves :
tbtree010.rwx
create texture birch2 mask=birch2m
For the large tree in the background , the trunk :
p1cyl0200i
create texture tbbark9
the leaves :
xaw26.rwx
create texture tbtree004 mask=tbtree004m
The trunk of the Ferrpalm :
cyl8a1.rwx
create texture wood1 mask=fencea7m
the leaves:
roof30f1.rwx
create texture grasso mask=flo2m
 
SWCity : AW 2216S 3586E - another palm tree
SWCity : 2219S 3580E - particle birch tree

This palm tree has nice fern-leaves :

p1cyl0200f.rwx
create scale .5 2 .5,picture tex.swcity.net/bark7.jpg mip=on
Top of the treetrunk :
p1sph0200.rwx
create scale .8 2 .8,picture tex.swcity.net/bark7.jpg mip=on
And for the leaves
w1crv_0200g.rwx
create picture tex.swcity.net/leaf2.gif ,scale 1.5 .6 1.5
In SWCity itself, this script is often replaced by the "name" command.
As you can see, there have been used external url-links from the website swcity.net . Those jpg's , gif's and png's are still (a bit ) more reliable than using links from external websites that have nothing to do with Activeworlds at all.

 

For the particle birch tree, we have create a high tree trunk
p1cyl0050i.rwx (3 times)
create texture tbbark9
Then for the leaves, 2 particle emitters are used, located alongside the trunk.
Here we use a particle type "Flat Panel" (instead of a sprite) , and in the asset list we add birch leaves with their mask : "birch2:birch2m", and we place the masked leaves top of eachother.

 

Another PE-tree
For the trunk and branches :
p1cyl0050h.rwx and p1cyl0100i.rwx and p1cyl0200h.rwx
create texture tnbark01
For the leaves, a PE has been used , particle type : Flat Panel
asset list : birch2:birch2m
For more details about the PE, you can teleport to the area and then right-click upon the PE-icon, which is hidden inside one of the branches.
If you don't see the icon, then you can enlarge the building icons size, by going in the menu to Options - Settings - General , and enlarge the size by moving the slider to the right.
SWCity : AW 2226S 3572E - another Particle Tree