Figure 7.106: awn4o.jpg
Use Performance options to optimize your experience in an Active World.
See Copyright and Usage Notice
Fine-tuning Your World and Other
Tips
Object actions
The Action field of an object allows you to
attach behaviors to your objects. For example, you can play a
sound, link an object to a hypertext page, or make objects appear
or disappear in certain ways. An object can even have more than
one action. To create an action, right-click on an object until
you see the Object Properties dialogue. Next, enter text into
the Action field. Commands have the following three parts:
If you break apart an example action message,
it would look something like this:
Example action: BUMP VISIBLE OFF
What it does: The command will take place
when you collide with the object. It will make the object invisible.
You can enter commands in either upper- or
lower-case and you can include more than one action in a single
Action field. Actions are described more fully in the section
ìQuestions and Answers about Action Commandsî in
the FAQ later in this chapter.
Performance options
If you find that AlphaWorld or any other Active
World just runs too slowly on your computer, select the Options
menu and the Performance dialogue. Just click on the checkboxes
next to options like Use Texture Maps or Play Sounds and you will
reduce the amount of work the Active Worlds Browser has to do.
I suggest you experiment with Performance Options until you reach
an experience with which you are comfortable.
Multimedia streams in Active
Worlds
Active Worlds supports several types of multimedia
streams. In the skating rink in Winter Wonderland (this world
is called guild) you will hear schmaltzy rink music played through
the RealAudio system. You have to have RealPlayer installed to
use this feature. You can download and install RealAudioís
free RealPlayer from http://www.realaudio.com.
Active Worlds also supports streaming images.
Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology integrated
a live Web camera to play images onto a sign in their Active World
area. We can watch these students in their dormitory room all
day and night, which will convince you that the life of students
at M.I.T. really is as nerdy as legend has it.
The preceding figure shows an innovative use
of image streaming into Active Worlds to create a model of NASA
Mission Control. Live images of STS-80, a mission of the Space
Shuttle Columbia, are updated into an Active World area. Needless
to say, this is only a hint of how virtual worlds could be used
for work.
If you are interested in using advanced multimedia
commands, see the picture and other commands referenced under
the Help menu found in the Active Worlds Browser.