Phoenix Firestorm Project

Phototools Camera

This window combines the standard camera controls window with many options which affect camera, taken from Preferences. Some of the settings here may also be found on the Phototools window, but not all.

This is accessed via a button on the button bar. If you do not have the button visibile, right click any button on the button bar, and select Toolbar Buttons; the Toolbar Buttons window opens. Locate the Phototools Camera button there, and drag it onto any of the button bars (bottom, left or right). Alternately, you can access via top menu, World → Photo and Video → Camera tools.

Cam Controls 1

The leftmost circle allows you to rotate your camera.
The vertical slide to the right controls zoom; you can drag it or use the +/- signs for finer control;
The arrows in the square pan the camera left/right and up/down.

Below this are several buttons, as follow:

Preset Views: Shows a list of the available camera view presets, in place of the camera controls list above.
Orbit, Zoom, Pan: This is the default view, described above.
Camera Modes: Allows you to select between Object view, which is the default camera view, and mouselook.
Store current camera view: Saves the current camera view to your computer.
Load stored camera view: Recovers a saved view, changing your view back to it.

Camera Movement Settings

Zoom: In real world terms this is a Zoom feature. This will change the field of view in you viewer window. It is the same as hitting Ctrl + 0 or Ctrl+8.
NOTE: This will not function if you have flycam enabled (3D SpacenNavigator).
Zoom Speed: Controls how fast/slow the camera will zoom in and out. Higher values produce slower and smother zoom.
Camera Lag: Amount camera lags behind avatar motion (0 = none, 30 = avatar velocity).
Camera Offset: Controls how far the camera is offset/distance from the default point of view.
Cam. Smoothing: Controls how smoothly the camera starts and stops. Higher values produce smoother (and somewhat slower) movement.

Cam Controls 2

Mouse Movement Settings

Mouse Sensitivity: Controls responsiveness of mouse when in mouselook mode.
Display avatar mouselook: Display avatar and attachments below neck while in mouselook. Default is OFF.
Smooth Mouselook Movements: Smooths out motion of mouse when in mouselook mode.

Additional Camera Options

Clicking your avatar keeps camera position: Normally, clicking on your avatar resets the camera position. This option removes this behavior.
Reset camera position after teleport: Normally, the camera position gets reset when teleporting (within a region). This option prevents this behavior.
Disable minimum camera zoom distance: Disable the constraint on the closest distance the camera is allowed to get to an object.
Allow the camera to move w/o constraints: Ignores the 'push' the simulator applies to your camera to keep it out of objects.
Requires a restart to take effect.
Reset camera position on avatar movement: If this is disabled and you move your avatar, the camera will not follow it.

3D Mouse

Move L/R: Adjusts the sensitivity of the Left/Right movement. If you find it difficult to move with precision, use lower scale values.
Move U/D: Adjusts the sensitivity of the Up/Down movement.
Move I/O: Adjusts the sensitivity of the In/Out movement.
Pitch: Adjusts the sensitivity of the Tilt movement.
Yaw: Adjusts the sensitivity of the Spin movement.
Roll: Adjusts the sensitivity of the Roll movement.
Zoom Speed: Adjusts the sensitivity of the Zoom speed.
Feather: Setting the slider all the way to the right will make the camera very rigid, giving complete control to the joystick. Setting the slider all the way to the left will make the camera very fluid like the camera weighs a lot; good for fly-by shots, not good for framing.

Zoom Axis Mapping: Controls which mouse axis the zooming function is mapped to (set to work with).
Enable 3D Mouse: This turns on the 3D Mouse.
Enable Zoom Control: In order for the zooming control to work, you must set the 'Zoom Mapping' above to '4'.
Enable Auto Leveling (Prevents Camera Roll): The camera will always remain level.
Use the 3D Mouse to move the avatar:The mouse will move your avatar.
Use the 3D Mouse to move objects (building): Uses the 3D mouse to move objects when building and editing.

Derendering and Blacklisting

It is possible to make an object or avatar “invisible” - for you only. This is known as derendering. It is useful in many situations, such as photography, for example, if an object is in your view and you do not wish it in the picture.

To derender an object, right click it an select Derender from the menu. You may select temporary or permanent (blacklist) derendering. A general summary of these two types of derendering, and how to reverse them, is given here.

In order to reverse a permanent derender, you will need to open the Asset Blacklist, via the top menu bar→ World → Asset Blacklist.

Do not derender or blacklist an object you are sitting on. If you do, you will suddenly find youself in a corner of the region, still sitting, and without a “Stand” button; you will have to TP or relog to free yourself, and may still be stuck in the sit pose.

The Asset Blacklist Window

The Asset Blacklist window, shown above, lists all the items you have blacklisted. The list shows the name of the item, the type (object, sound, etc), and the date added.

To remove an item from the blacklist, click on it, then click the Remove selected items from blacklist button.

At this point, you will need to force your view to redraw. This can be done by changing your active group, or by TPing out and then back.

Mini-map

The mini-map gives you an overview of the region in which you are located. It shows the region and people and objects in it.

You can use your mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out. Press and hold shift, then left click to pan the view around. If you click and drag the lower right corner, you can resize it.

The mouse cursor is a small cross hair, superimposed on a circle. The color, opacity and size of this circle can be changed, in Preference→ Colors -> Minimap→ Pick Radius.

The mini map contains color coded symbols, as follows:

Yellow dot in the center: That's you!
Cone of light: This comes from the yellow dot; it shows which direction you're facing and your field of vision.
Yellow dots: Yellow dots represent nearby friends.
Grey dots: Grey dots represents residents that you have blocked/muted.
Blue dots: Blue dots represents Linden residents.
Green dots: Green dots represent other Residents of Second Life

NOTE: the colors of these dots may be changed in Preferences → Colors -> Minimap.

Avatar dots change shape depending on their height relative to yours:

Round dot: An avatar at about the same height as your camera viewpoint; for example, if you're standing next to them.
^ - An avatar above your camera position. They may be flying, or in a very high building.
v - An avatar below your camera position. This may also show if the avatar is over 1,000m.
+ - Height unknown.

Dark gray blocks: These are objects owned by others.
Cyan blocks: These are objects you own in the area.
Fuchsia blocks: These are objects deeded to (owned by) a group you're in.
Pale Orange blocks: Scripted objects.
Dark orange: Temp on rez objects.
Red blocks: Physical objects.
Tiled dark blue: These are areas beyond your vision. You can see them by moving closer, or increase your draw distance in the Graphics tab of the Preferences window.
Red areas: The Mini-Map turns red if the Region is offline or your viewer has lost its connection.

Some of the above are not enabled by default. Right click the mini map, and enable as desired in the Show sub-menu.

If you mouse over an avatar symbol, you will get a hover tip showing the avatar's name and distance from you. Clicking the orange (i) allows you to view their profile.

Right clicking on the map opens a menu:

Zoom Close/Medium/Far/Default: A quick way to change the map zoom level.
Show: Shows a list of what you want to show on the minimap.
Rotate Map: Enabling this makes the map rotate, keeping your field of view directed upward. Otherwise, the map will be oriented North, and your field of view will change on the map as you move and turn.
Auto Center: If enabled, the minimap will keep your avatar at the cenetr of the window.
Chat Distance Ring: If enabled, draws rings showing your change range limit (20m) and shout range limit (100m).
Place Profile: Opens the place profile window, showing infomation about the parcel.
World Map: Opens the world map for the region.

If you right click on an avatar, the menu will have more options:

Profile: Opens the person's profile. (Versions after 3.2.2 only.)
Cam: Allows you to cam on the avatar - assuming parcel privacy allows it. (Parcel privacy is set in About Land→ Options)
Mark: Allows you to color the specific avatar's dot differently.
More options:
- Add Friend: Offers friendship.
- Add to Set: adds the person to a contact set.
- Remove Friend: Remove the person from your friends list (if they are a friend).
- IM: Start an IM conversation
- Call: Initiates a voice call
- Map: Shows the eprson on the world map, if they have granted you map rights.
- Share: Allows you to share inventory items with the person.
- Pay: Opens a pay window, so you can pay L$.
- Offer teleport: Sends a teleport invite.
- Request teleport: Sends a message asking that the person send you a teleport.
- Teleport To: Directly teleport to the person.
- Invite to Group: Allows you to send a group invitation.
- Get Script Info: Gets information on the running scripts the person is wearing.
- Block/Unblock: Blocks (mutes) the person - or reverses this.
- Report: Opens the Abuse Report window.
- Derender: Temporarily Derenders the person.
- Derender + Blacklist: Permanent derender.
Start Tracking: Enables tracking avatars by drawing a beacon.
Stop Tracking: If you have a red beacon active, this will clear it.

Beacons

The beacons window allows you to locate certain types of objects, by identifying them visually on your screen. The window is activated via the top menu→ World → Show More → Beacons, or by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Shift-N.

Bounding boxes for lights in scene: This will draw a bounding box showing the extent of every light in our view.
Beacons: Shows beacons as small boxes with axes.
Highlights: Tints items in red.

The slider underneath controls how wide the beacon lines will be. (It does not affect highlight mode.)

The check boxes below control what kinds of objects will be indicated:

Physical
Scripted
- Scripted but only those that respond to touch
Sound sources
Particle sources
Media sources

You may select one or more of these to be highlighted on screen.

Beacons are handy for finding lost or “unknown” objects, or “griefer” prims.

If you wish to search for items by name or description, try Area Search.

Conversation Log

This window shows a list of saved conversations you have had, with people or groups.

For each entry in the list, you can right click it and get a menu. Some items will not be available if not relevant (eg, you cannot send a teleport offer to a group).

IM… Start an IM with the person or group.
Voice call: Start a voice call
Open chat transcript: Shows the log of the conversation in a window.
Open chat transcript externally… Opens the chat log in an external program.
View Profile: Opens the profile for the avatar or group.
Offer Teleport: Send a TP offer to the person.

Invite to group: allows you to invite the person to a group you belong to; opens the Groups selector window.

Map: If your friend gave you map rights, this item will be enabled. If clicked, it will open the world map and show the person's current location.
Share: If you click this entry, an IM window opens; you can then drag and drop inventory items into it, to give them to the other person.
Pay: Opens a window, which you can use to pay the other person L$. Some default values are shown, or you can type the number in manually.
Block/Unblock: aka Mute/Unmute. This mutes the other person, completely blocking them from contacting you. You will not see anything they type in local chat or receive any IMs they might send, and all inventory offers made will be automatically declined. Use with caution; muting a person can also mute their objects, which means that if you make a purchase from them, you are likely to not receive what you paid for.

To the right of the avatar/group name is the date of the last entry in the conversation, followed by an 'x', whcih allows you to remove the entry 9and associated log file) from the list.

The Gear icon at the top has the same functions as the right click menu.

The List icon has the following items:

Sort by name: Sort the list by name
Sort by date: Sort the lsit by the date of the conversation

Sort friends on top: Put friends at the top of the list.

View nearby chat history… Shows the history of nearby (local) chat in a window. Logging of local chat needs to be enabled for this to show the history; that is set in Preferences→ Privacy -> Logs & Transcripts.

Firestorm Money Tracker

After this window has been opened, it will record all payments people send to you (i.e., tips), as well as payments you send to others. The tip tracker window is a handy way of keeping track of those avatars with whom you have been financially interacting. You may find it helpful for easily finding the names of people to thank.

The names of financial senders/recipients are clickable, and doing so will take you to that avatar's profile. You also have the option of manually exporting the data to CSV format. To do so, right click the selected entry or entries and choose “Copy to CSV,” then paste the data to a text file or spreadsheet.

If you minimize the window, it will continue to collect entries as they arrive. If you close the window, it will erase its data to free up memory. However, if you enable Track when closed, at the bottom, it will continue tracking even when closed.

Toolbar Buttons

This window is used to customize the layout of the on-screen buttons. The window is accessed by right clicking any of these buttons.

You can drag and drop buttons to and from this window, from the tool bars. Tool bars exist on both sides of the screen, and at the bottom.

The buttons will be displayed according to each toolbar's settings: icons, text labels, or both.

The following toolbar buttons are available:

Below are these three buttons:

Clear all toolbars will remove all buttons from all toobars.
Restore defaults will restore buttons as they would be on a clean install.
Locked: If you enable this, it will prevent you from accidentally moving or removing buttons from the toolbars.

See this video for a tutorial.

Mesh Upload - Upload Options

For an overviewe of mesh upload, see this page.

This tab is the third step in the model upload process, in which you specify additional features on your model, such as textures.

When you have specified all the information you wish to on this tab:

Click Calculate weights & fee, then review the resource weights, prim equivalent cost, and Linden dollar cost of your model.
Click Upload to upload your model.

Scale: Increases or decreases the base size of your model. Increasing the scale of a model can result in an increase in resource and upload costs.
Dimensions: Shows the model's dimensions with the specified scale.
Include textures: Select to include the model's textures in the upload, and automatically apply them to the model. Each texture increases the upload fee by L$10. Uploaded textures also appear in your inventory inside a new folder in your Textures folder. The new folder has the same name as the uploaded model.

For avatar models only:

Skin weight: Select to include the model's skin weight information for the purposes of avatar rigging.
Joint positions: Select to include the model's joint positioning information for the purposes of avatar rigging.
Pelvis Z Offset: Set to change the vertical offset of a rigged mesh when it is worn on an avatar. Use this parameter to help properly align meshes that are not meant to be centered on an avatar's root location (pelvis).

From http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewerhelp:Upload_Model_-_Modifiers

Mesh Upload - Physics

For an overviewe of mesh upload, see this page.

A model's physics shape defines how it collides with other objects, and is typically simpler than its visual appearance to reduce computational cost. For example, a complex vehicle model might have a square physical box shape. NOTE: Models meant to be used as vehicles must not have a physics weight higher than 32.

Step 2: Analyze and Step 3: Simplify are not mandatory for creating a physics shape for your model, but can significantly decrease your model's physics weight.

After you make selections in this tab, click the Upload Options tab.

Step 1: Level of Detail

Choose one… Select a level of detail to automatically generate a physics model based on an existing visual level of detail. Lowest or Low are adequate for most purposes and incur a relatively small physics cost.
- Lowest
- Low
- Medium
- High
- From file (see below)

From file: Select this option to upload your own physical model from a .dae file. This gives you the greatest control over the model's physics shape. Click Browse to select a file.

Step 2: Analyze

Select options in this section, then click Analyze.

Method: Select a decomposition method for the model. Each method is best suited to a particular type of shape, because it will return the most accurate and least costly results for models of that type:
- Surface - best for curved, organic shapes, such as an animal body.
- Solid - best for objects with sharp angles and a clear inside and outside, like buildings.
- Wrap - best for very complex shapes, such as trees and branches.

Quality: Select how much combining and overlap reduction is performed on the hulls at the decomposition stage. High returns the best simplification results, but requires the most time to process. If you experience performance problems, try Preview setting first to confirm your smoothing and select Close Holes, then switch to High to get the best simplification results.

Smooth: Set the tolerance to which coplanar triangles are merged. The value is the angle between adjacent triangles for which merging is permitted. A value of zero allows some angle between triangles, resulting in gently-curving surfaces being flattened.
A lower Smooth setting results in a lower physics cost for objects with curved surfaces.

Close Holes (slow): Select to fill any holes in the physical representation of the model (if possible) to fix minor errors in the model. Selecting this option will also close intentional openings in objects: do not use for models that have intentional openings, such as door frames.

Step 3: Simplify

Select options in this section, then click Simplify.

Method: Select a simplification method:
- Retain %: Select a percentage of the hulls to retain from the original analysis.
- Detail: Reduces the complexity of the physics model based on the Detail Scale slider.
- Better Detail: Similar to Detail, but does a better job preserving openings in your model.

Passes: Increase this value to create results with fewer overlapping hulls and more accurate overall representation of your model's physical shape.

Detail Scale: Reduce this number to preserve more fine detail in your model during the simplification process. Larger values result in a decreased physics cost, but lower accuracy in the physics model. For many models, most of the simplification takes place at very low values, between 0.0 and 0.3, after which the physics model is reduced to a single hull.

Preview Spread: Move the Preview Spread slider (below the Preview pane) to explode your view of the hulls that comprise your physical model. Make sure the Physics box below the Preview pane is also checked. On objects with many hulls, this can help you to find and examine hulls that would not otherwise be entirely visible.

From http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewerhelp:Upload_Model_-_Physics

Mesh Upload - Level of Detail

For an overviewe of mesh upload, see this page.

This tab is the first step in the model upload process, in which you specify levels of detail for your model. Levels of detail (LOD) determine how the model looks at various distances. As you get farther away from a model, it renders in less detail to boost performance.

Preview your model's automatically generated levels of detail on the Level of Detail tab by clicking High, Medium, Low, or Lowest. Notice how the object's complexity is reduced at each level.

After you make selections in this tab, click the Physics tab.

Select Level of Detail

Click High, Medium, Low, or Lowest to preview and modify your model's various levels of detail (LOD). The status indicator color will show the whether your model is suitable for upload:

Green: No problems detected. Ready to upload.
Red: Too many vertices at this level of detail. Models at each level must have fewer vertices than the level above them.

Source

Select from the Source dropdown how you will specify your model's LOD:

Load from file: Manually upload .dae files for models at any level of detail. This enables you to control how your model looks at each level of detail, preserving key visual features that the automated algorithms may otherwise distort.

Auto-generate: Generate a new model at the currently-previewed level of detail, based upon the model you uploaded. Choose a complexity level for your object, based upon a maximum number of triangles or a maximum amount of overall change in your model's shape:
- Triangle limit: Enter the maximum number of triangles for the model at the selected level of detail. This number must not exceed the number of triangles in the LOD above it.
- Error threshold: Increase this value to decrease the amount of detail retained during simplification. For example, setting this value to 0.1 results in a model that is simplified to 90% of the original model's accuracy.

Use LoD above : Copy the next higher level of detail. If you set Medium, Low, and Lowest to this setting, only the model for High will be used.

It is highly recommended that you read these two blog post for information on best practices:

Generate Normals

Provides options for generating surface normals on your model, affecting its shading and appearance of “hardness” along edges between vertices.

Crease Angle

Adjusts the smoothness of the model. Increase this value to soften the hard, “faceted” look of models with relatively few vertices.

From http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewerhelp:Upload_Model_-_Level_of_Detail
See also Mesh and LOD

Animation Upload

This window is shown when you have selected an animation to upload.

NOTE: With the exception of Name and Description, most of these options can't be changed after uploading. So set them carefully, as otherwise you will have to reupload.

The options available are:

Name: Auto-populates with the uploaded BVH's filename.
Description: Enter optional details.
Priority: Determines the animation's relative importance when your avatar is playing multiple animations. Higher priorities override lower ones. For example, if you upload a priority 2 animation where your avatar's legs are kneeling and play it at the same time as a priority 4 animation where the avatar's legs are dancing, dancing takes precedence.
Loop: Enable this to have the animation play repeatedly until stopped manually or by a script. Loop needs to be on if you're creating a static pose.
In(%) / Out (%): Sets the duration of the loop cycle. For example, if an avatar walks for the first half of the animation then waves a hand for the second half, setting In(%) to 50.000 loops the waving part.
Hand Pose: Choose a pose from the dropdown for additional body language. For example, a jumping animation may be complemented by choosing Spread.
Expression: Choose a facial pose. Like Hand Pose, it's a subtle difference that can go a long way toward expressing an avatar's “emotion.”
Preview while: Doesn't affect the uploaded animation, but rather, shows how the animation interacts with other typical animations. Particularly useful in conjunction with Priority.
Ease In (sec) / Ease Out (sec): Sets the transition time for the animation to start or stop. Longer times are more gradual. For example, if you want an avatar to sit on a chair smoothly instead of suddenly appearing in it, try an Ease In (sec) time of 1.000.
Play / Stop Buttons: Previews or stops the animation. Even if your final result isn't meant to loop, it can be useful to temporarily enable Loop so you can experiment with various animation settings without having to press after each cycle. Also, you can drag in the preview square to zoom and rotate the generic avatar.
Upload: Uploads the animation after you're happy with customizing the above choices. Your account will be debited 10L by SL.

NOTE: Animations must be in valid BHV format. If the Upload button is greyed out, then the most likely cause is that the file format is not correct.

For more information on animations in SL, refer to this SL wiki page.

From http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewerhelp:Upload_Animation

Sound Upload

This window opens when you have selected a sound clip to upload into SL. There are two fields you can edit:

Name: The name of the clip. This auto-populates with the name of the file you selected.
Description: An optional description of the clip.

Once done, click Upload to upload the file into SL. Your account will be debited 10L by SL. If you change your mind, click the Cancel button.

Image Upload

The window is displayed when you have selected an image you wish to upload as a texture into Second life.

The central portion shows the image you selected. If you mouse over the image, your cursor changes to a magnifying glass. You can click and drag the mouse up or down to zoom the image in or out.

Above the image, you can change the image name (the default is the name of the file you selected to upload). You can also supply an optional description.

Below this is a drop down which allows you to select how the image will be previewed, including being mapped to different parts of your avatar as shown in the Appearance Editor or sculpted prims. You can choose from:

Image - The default
Hair
Female Head
Female Upper Body
Female Lower Body
Male Head
Male Upper Body
Male Lower Body
Skirt
Sculpted prim

Below the image are two options:

Use lossless compression:SL normally applies a lossy compression to uploaded images, meaning they'll appear a bit fuzzier but load quicker. However, lossy compression isn't desirable for when exact precision is needed, such as the values used in sculpted prims and certain other smaller textures. Check this box if that's your intent. Note that lossless compression only applies to smaller textures;
Free (Temporary): Uploads the image as a temporary texture. Such textures are not actually stored in the asset servers and so will vanish over time. They can be used for test work but must never be used on a production (for sale) item, as they will vanish and be replaced by a flat grey.
IMPORTANT: Temporary uploads are not available on regions with Server Side Appearance enabled.

To upload the image, click the Upload button; your SL account will be debited 10L by SL. Cancel closes the window without uploading.

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Phototools Camera

Cam Controls 1

Camera Movement Settings

Cam Controls 2

Mouse Movement Settings

Additional Camera Options

3D Mouse