Vol. 5 No. 1 April 2014 Flannery Street, Temple Village. Coordinates Yellow 181.09n 1280.45e 0.01a 202
Rotating objects can be a royal pain sometimes, but it's a great way to make good, alternative uses of objects. Rotating is also a way to generate curves. Because AW uses a cartesian grid, X,Y, and Z, you can use the rotation measurements to overcome the straight lines of this grid and generate curves. We will show you how this can be done here.
There are very few curved building objects in AW. Frequently those pieces just don't work in the build you are attempting to do. You can come close to generating a good curve by rotating an object on one or other of the three axes. The example we are using here is the stock item p1rec0050d.rwx, a medium long square post. The important thing is to be aware of the axis point of any item you are using, and that will give you the info needed to be able to rotate successfully without a great deal of hair pulling and sulphurous language.
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This first shot shows the post in its default, upright position. Note where the axis points are on this item: on the bottom of the post. You can rotate the post on any or all of the three axes. |
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This screenshot shows the pole laid on its side. We have done this by rotating the post using the Z-axis until the post is flat on the surface. Note where the axes point now: X is facing up, Y is facing forward from the main axis point, and Z is facing sideways from the axis point. Also check the object properties box for the rotation measurements. These are (ironically) the direction of each axis by degrees. In this case, you can see that X is 90 degrees, Y is 0 degrees, and Z is 90 degrees. Compare these rotation measurements against the upright post in the shot above. |
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This shot shows the post rotated on its Z axis by 45 degrees. Again, take note of the rotation measurements. |
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This last shot shows a sort of curved structure with all the pieces on a 45 degree bevel which uses our post. Each post is 15 degrees turned from the 90 degree point on the Y axis, and all posts are still 90 degrees on the X and 45 degrees on the Z. Doing this kind of "curved" structure is a bit fiddly, but by observing the rotation measurements, you will be able to see what is happening and get some consistency in your curves. Note also that the more turned points you have, the closer to a circle your curved structure will be. The downside of this is that dedpending on your cell space, you may have issues with filling up the cells. Keep note of the Cell Limit percentage shown on the bottom of the object properties box. |
And finally...
Check out the AWSchool! There are lots of tutorials and DIY help examples there. Workshops are frequently run on various building topics.
If you have anything you would like to see in the build tips page, please contact the Gazette at yellowgazette@cox.net. We are happy to help. If there are any errors in this page that you have found, send Ozman a telegram please.