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Advanced Building Tips

Sunday, July 28. 1996

I can remember when there was no help file for people who wanted to start building, only a short FAQ on the Worlds site and a slightly more extensive one on my own site (before I worked for Worlds.) Now we have documentation galore, but it still can't keep up with the enhancements to the software, or with the builders in AlphaWorld and other Active Worlds.

Our focus in this column will be taking advantage of the way AlphaWorld building objects are centered. If you learn to use this feature well, you won't have to worry about objects not lining up correctly.

You may have noticed that incorrect alignment of objects is a definite problem in some structures in AlphaWorld. This can manifest as gaps between things, or overlap, or corners with edges sticking out...in every case it detracts from the effect of a site. It's very hard to "eyeball" things and get them right--it's much better to count your keyboard clicks while building.

The most important rules to follow in order to make your objects meet up correctly are:

Use the same seeder

You must have an object to copy to start with. This object should be flush with the ground and squared off with the compass points if possible. Don't copy someone else's object for part of a building, then copy another object for another part. The two objects could be off just slightly in rotation, height, or whatever, and it may not become obvious until later!

Know the sizes of your objects

Most objects in AlphaWorld are sized to one meter or 1/2 meter in height, depth and width. Furthermore, most are either four meters, eight meters, or 10 meters across. All the main objects are centered, so that you can keep them lined up more easily.

Count clicks

When you copy an object, first select the object to be copied. Then hit Insert one time to copy it. The new object will be 1/2 meter off from the old one... I always hit Insert then Downarrow so that the new object is in exactly the same spot as the old one. Then I use the appropriate arrow key to move the new object to its destination. Let's say you're copying a STREET1 object to extend a street away from you. Each STREET1 is 10 meters long, or 20 half-meter clicks. When I am doing this, I hit Insert and Downarrow, then I count 20 Uparrows.

Assuming you know the size of each object, you can learn to figure the difference while placing them. For instance, if you have an eight meter panel and you need to place a four meter panel next to it, copy the eight meter panel with Insert and Downarrow. Then if you were placing the eight meter panel next to the one you're copying you'd hit the arrow key sixteen times. But since you'll be changing it to a four meter panel you hit the arrow key 12 times, leaving two meters of overlap which will disappear when you change the new panel to a four meter model. (8 - 4 = 4, since the objects are both centered the 4 meters will be half (2) on one side and half on the other. 2 meters = 4 clicks.)

While I am hitting the arrow key to move a new object, I give extra weight to every fourth one:
CLICK click click click
CLICK click click click
CLICK click click click
CLICK click click click
CLICK click click click
This makes it harder to lose count. I call it the "building dance." I can almost hear a drum beating and picture myself doing an Amerindian dance as I go. Feel free to fill in your own fantasy. :)

When in doubt, leave it out

If your're counting clicks while building and you get distracted and lose count, the best thing to do is delete the object you're working with and pick up the last one and copy it again.

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