Some advice would be appreciated!

[Nacy Nightfire]

I'm completely new to scripting , although I've gotten lucky fiddling with a few to get  results I've wanted re: particles and animations.   I'm now ready (after 5 year in SL :P ) to teach myself and I have the following project in mind:

I'd like to make a script that  on a face basis switches the texture on that face to alpha and back again.  The texture would switch to alph on its own (no touch needed) and return to the texture based on a timer.  Only one face would have a texture showing at any one time (the other's being in an alpha state).  Also I'd like to specify the order in which each texture face in turn appears as a non-alpha texture. 

Is this too complex a project for a beginner?  Is this method of scripting hard on resources?  Would texture animation on each face and attempting to line them up so the above is  a better approach - or would that be less reliable and more tedious to achieve?

Thanks for any and all assistance.  I hope this isn't repeating an early post.  I researched this on the forums and the web for a few hours and got nowhere.

[Rolig Loon]

As scripts go, that's a pretty easy one to write, Nacy.  Whenever you want to apply a texture or alpha to an object, you have to specify which face you want to apply it to, so applying a new one to just one face is no problem at all, whether you do it in a timer or wherever.  Take a look in the LSL wiki at llSetLinkAlpha, which lets you specify not only the face but also the link that you are changing.

If you are changing several faces and you want to do it in a predictable order, you may want to save the face (and link) numbers in a list and then refer to that list each time the timer fires.  Especially since this is a first scripting project, I suggest writing a very simple version first -- no bells and whistles -- just to see whether you have the basic logic right.  When that works, move up to the big time.  If it doesn't work, post what you have and we'll see what's up.

[Nacy Nightfire]

Thanks so much Rolig!  I appreciate the help and I'm relieved that I'm not chasing after something that would be too complex for a beginner.   (This is shark infested waters for me and I'm a bit nervous...I never venture out of the the Mesh forum where I feel safe!)

[Rolig Loon]

I know what you mean.  I have just begun putting my toes in the water in the Mesh forum.  :smileywink:

When it comes right down to it, though, I think scripters and 3D modellers share overlapping talent sets.  You can't be good at either one unless you have patience and a logical mind.  A touch of OCD doesn't hurt either.

Good luck with this project.