Zones are 3-dimensional areas in the scene. Within a zone the normal environmental world rules can be changed. The world itself can be thought of as one or two large zones. The primary zone is the main part of the world above the world water level. If water is enabled, the area below the water level can be thought of as another zone. However, what if you want an area below the water level that is not flooded with water, such as a domed city or submarine? Or what if you want water that is not part of the world's "ocean", such as a swimming pool? This is where zones are useful.

Using zones, you can define areas that have different gravity, water, or fog settings, as well as change some of the sounds used within.

This controls the shape of the area. There are 3 types:

• Cube - The zone is a rectangular area in size as defined by the Size values.
• Cyliner - The zone is a cylindrical area. The X Size defines the radius of the cylinder, the Y Size defines the height, and the Z Size is unused.
• Sphere - The zone is a sphere whose radius is defined by the X Size value. The Y and Z values are not used.

When two zones intersect, there needs to be some way to define which zone superceeds the other. When you stand in a spot where two zones interect, which zone are you really in? The priority value defines how important this zone is in relation to others. The lower the number, the more important the zone is. Consider the following:

In this example, two zones overlap. In the left image, the blue zone has the lower priority number and thus "covers" the red zone, while in the right image the red zone has the lower number.

This defines the size of the zone. See "Volume Shape" above for details on how these values are used.

This controls how fast users will fall when in this zone. A value of 1.00 is "normal" gravity.

This controls how fast users will stop when walking in this zone. A value of 1.00 is considered "normal" friction. Lower values will make walking "slippery", while higher values will slow walking speed and cause the user to stop more quickly.

If checked, the zone is filled with water (or whatever liquid) and a user will swim when they are inside of the zone. Note that a zone is invisible, so users will not see the surface of the water. You will need to add an object to the scene if you want to make the water surface visible.

If checked, this zone will be included by particles when checking for collision.

If checked, lights created with the light command will not be visible if they are outside of this zone.

If checked, the world light ("sunlight") will not be visible from within this zone. This is useful for making underground or dark areas where the world light source should not be visible.

If checked, users within this zone will not see the chat of users outside of the zone.

This controls the color of the fog in this zone, and the color of the water (if applicable).

This controls the near / far fog settings.

This sound (if specified) will repeat in the background when the camera (usually the avatar's head) is in this zone.

This sound is used if the avatar's feet are in this zone while walking or running.

This specifies that name of a particular camera object within the scene. When the user enters this zone, their camera will switch to the camera matching the given name, and will return to the previous setting when they leave.