Lights that slowly fade in and out

[Tim Flynn]

I'm looking to buy a script that will fade lights in and out (slowly).  I've seen plenty of blinking lights, but I don't see anything that fades in and out.  I imagine fading lights takes a little more time and effort versus blinking, but fading is what I need for my projects..

I would like the ability to also sync lights to fade in and out together as well versus having a bunch of random lights fading at random.

Anyone with the know how to help?  

I have also posted a video of an example of what i'm looking for.  Click the video and fast forward to @30:15 (thiry minutes and fifteen seconds).  



As the character on screen walks around Esthar City, you'll see all sorts of fading lights in all sorts of locations.  It adds a hi-tech and industrial vibe that can't be done any other way than with these kinds of lights, agree?

[KatelynDawne]

I have minimal experience with scripting, but have modified a few rotating ones to sow them down or make them go faster.  Maybe one of the blinking ones you can slow down enough where the fade in and out effect can be achieved.  Just a thought, good luck.

[Madelaine McMasters]

Hi Tim,

Texture animation seems the best (only?) way to get the look in that video, which is an object in which only part of the surface is changing in brightness.

Create a series of images of your object going through the fade sequence in Photoshop or whatever tool you use, then tile the images into a single texture and use a texture animation call to make it go.

Here's a YouTube tutorial that may help. In this tutorial, you'd replace the 16 256x256 tiles in the 1024x1024 texture with 16 images of your thing in various stages of dimming.

Good luck!

[Tim Flynn]

Thank you for the intial tips!  I'll check that out when I can get on my PC next, likely later this afternoon!

I have zero scripting experience, but I guess I may end up having to learn one way or another.

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

Tim Flynn wrote:

Thank you for the intial tips!  I'll check that out when I can get on my PC next, likely later this afternoon!

 

I have zero scripting experience, but I guess I may end up having to learn one way or another.

---

I learned one way and it was tough. I suggest you try another.

;-)

[Nefertiti Nefarious]

I have a script in a "ghost" that slowly fades in and out ... if you were to substitute the parameter for light distance or brightness for transparency it might work.

 

Buy her - she's free - and mod the script. I think iot's modifiable.

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/FREE-Funeral-Bronze-Hooded-Woman-with-Urn-GHOST/293500 

[Qie Niangao]

If you don't want to lag viewers very badly, be careful with this.

The texture animation suggestion is very good, and won't lag the sim nor viewers, so if you just need the light surfaces themselves to brighten and dim, that's perfect.  That approach will not affect lighting of nearby surfaces, however, for which you'd instead adjust the intensity of a point light source. That constant adjustment of light sources, however, will really lag viewers. (It's a bit of a script load on the sim, too, and dumps a constant stream of object updates on the network, both of which are bad, but the constant adjustment of light source on everything to be rendered is what can really hit viewer performance.)

[Tim Flynn]

I tried out the ghost.  Unfortunately in this case, when I placed it and looked "inside", I didn't see any script.  I saw you had a link on the ghost's item page for some sort of script, but it was a dead link.

In any case, if you do have that script somewhere, i'd be happy to pay for a full rights version of the script so I can edit things such as fade speed interval, etc.

[Tim Flynn]

That's a good point.  Although I do need a lot of fading lights, I will certainly keep tabs on how it's affecting the viewer throughout the whole process.  I have a great gaming PC and rarely experience issues in SL as to performance unless it's a server problem, but I do have an older MAC which might clue me in as how an average person may view the sim.

I also looked on the Marketplace and saw there were more than a few options for fading lights.  But there are few places to see the item in world and almost no demos.  I've learned from experience things are not as they seem in the picture or description and am hesitant to try a few of them and waste the Lindens unless I know it works.

[LepreKhaun]

---

Tim Flynn wrote:

...

I also looked on the Marketplace and saw there were more than a few options for fading lights.  But there are few places to see the item in world and almost no demos.  I've learned from experience things are not as they seem in the picture or description and am hesitant to try a few of them and waste the Lindens unless I know it works.

---

I'd try contacting the creators of those lights you find interesting on the MP.  I'm certain you'd find at least one who would be more than willing to work up exactly what you envision.

 

And if you ever have a problem when writing your own code, this would be the correct forum to post in.