Your First Object
Creating your first object
 To
begin using objects you must first copy an existing object in to your own
username.
To do this we right click the object we wish to duplicate, this
will place a yellow box around it to indicate that it has been selected.
Once the object is selected we tap the insert key to duplicate this object.
Typically the object will remain in the same place except
that it will move away from you slightly. The original object will become
deselected and a yellow selection box will appear around your cloned object. |
Moving your object in the normal axis
To move the object into a position that you can begin to use it,
use the arrow keys on your keyboard. Tap the keys until the object you
have now moved your object away from the object which you cloned. This is
to prevent encroachment.
Encroachment means that an object which
you have placed overlaps the objects or property of another user.
Because of problems this could create the server will automatically
delete any objects which encroach upon another users building. |
Rotating objects
 To
rotate objects we take advantage of the mouse wheel or
the page up / page down keys. Activeworlds allows you
to rotate objects through 360 degrees.
Each time you tap the page up / page down keys, or roll
your mouse wheel, the object will be rotated through
15 degrees. To rotate through 90 degrees requires 6 clicks.
During our introduction we will only use objects that
are perpendicular. It is important to realise that once
you have rotated objects, the direction in which they
move will change when you attempt to move them in the
normal axis. For this reason it is important to try and
keep objects rotated the same while moving them. |
Rotating objects objects in 3D Axis
 In
most worlds it is possible to rotate an object in all
3 axis. To do this we use the home and end keys, as well
as the divide and multiply keys located to the right
of your keyboard.
Rotation keys work in pairs, for example the end key
will rotate the object in one direction, while pressing
the end key will rotate it in the opposite direction.
The same is true for the multiply and divide keys, as
well as page up / page down for our standard rotation. |
Object Properties
 So
far we have been using the same object as we cloned.
To make better buildings we need to know how to change
the object model that is shown. To do this we use the
object properties box that is shown whenever an object
is selected.
The object properties box contains several important
sections. First is the object section which shows us
the model, description and action boxes for the object
we have currently selected. At the moment we are only
interested in the model box.
Below these standard object properties are sections showing
the objects position, its owner, and information about
when it was built and by who. |
Changing the object model
 To
change the object model, we first need to know the name
of the object we wish to change it to.
You can find the
names of objects you wish to use by either selecting
them from other locations in the world you are in or
using an object yard search such as http://www.awportals.com/opsearch/megapath/ which will allow you to browse available objects.
Today we will be using pd01.rwx - this object is similar
to our initial pp01.rwx object except that it is a door.
There is also pw01.rwx which is a small window.
To change the model, select the object so that the yellow
bounding box is shown, change the 'model' box to pd01.rwx
and with your mouse click on any part of the 3D window
that is not the object you have selected.
Your selected model will appear once it has loaded. |
|
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