old-school question about 3D vendors

[Sylvia Wasp]

Hello, 

This may not make sense to anyone who hasn't been in SL for a long while but I was thinking that it would be nice to have a 3D vendor again, (they go by many names but that's what my friends and I used to call them).  

The idea was that using PRIM_TEMP_ON_REZ, a vendor (which was usually just a plinth with forward and backward arrows), would rez the actual prim object (as TEMP) floating just above the plinth.  The user could then use the arrows to cycle through the products. Each one being rezzed in similar fashion.  Right-clicking on the temp object, would initiate the sale of the real object from inside the vendor.  

So first off ... is this still possible or has it been deprecated?  Secondly, if it's possible, does anyone have code?  

I already have old-school vendors that I made myself with a central prim and the two backward and forward arrows, so it seems to me that this version would be easily adaptable to the code I already have.  

In terms of why people stopped using them, I remember that they could be laggy, and that complicated objects took a while to appear. However, I'm thinking in the age of mesh that we are now in, that rendering would be lickety-split as it were for single mesh objects, when the user is standing literally right in front of the vendor.  For instance a skirt vendor, might only have two or three mesh objects in an inventory of hundreds of skirts because the thing that differentiates the skirts would primarily be the pattern.  

Anyone have any ideas or input on this thing?   I think these vendors were seriously cool and would love to have them again.  🙂 

If it's possible at all, what I'm looking for is code to modify my own vendors so that instead of just changing the picture on the vendor, it actually displays a temp rez mesh above or in front of the vendor.  

Sylvia

 

Edit: I'm also looking for all the myriad reasons & opinions (I'm sure they are out there, lol) as to why this isn't a good idea.  

Let me have it! 😄 

Edited July 24, 2019 by Sylvia Wasp

[Fionalein]

They are still around and building and vehicle designers use them a lot. Details on how they work might vary though.

[Rolig Loon]

I've made a few of those vendors myself, back when I had an in-world shop.  They were fun for things like shoes.  Some builders still use them for displaying houses and other structures.

I suspect that they are less popular now for a few reasons (some more trivial than others):

1. Rezzing objects always causes a region's servers to stall briefly, thus adding to lag.  If you have a lot of rezzers in a region, this can make a hefty potential difference.

2. Whether an object is rezzed "permanently" or is only there for a brief time, it adds to the parcel's land impact.  Again, if a region is at all busy, these vendors can compete with each other and with other objects for precious L.I.

3. In general, rezzers like this require a bit more customization than simple vendors that display a picture and send a purchase to the buyer.  The average shop owner doesn't have the skill or patience for customization. [This one is trivial, and probably most important for small shops, but still worth thinking about.]

4. Whether the rezzed items use up valuable L.I. or not, they do use up space.  It's hard to jam many 3-D vendors into a shop without eating up floor space that you need for other things.

All in all, I think those vendors are fun and certainly have a place.  That's why I used to make them.  They should probably be used sparingly, though.

[Sylvia Wasp]

40 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

I've made a few of those vendors myself, back when I had an in-world shop.  They were fun for things like shoes.  Some builders still use them for displaying houses and other structures.

I suspect that they are less popular now for a few reasons (some more trivial than others):

1. Rezzing objects always causes a region's servers to stall briefly, thus adding to lag.  If you have a lot of rezzers in a region, this can make a hefty potential difference.

2. Whether an object is rezzed "permanently" or is only there for a brief time, it adds to the parcel's land impact.  Again, if a region is at all busy, these vendors can compete with each other and with other objects for precious L.I.

3. In general, rezzers like this require a bit more customization than simple vendors that display a picture and send a purchase to the buyer.  The average shop owner doesn't have the skill or patience for customization. [This one is trivial, and probably most important for small shops, but still worth thinking about.]

4. Whether the rezzed items use up valuable L.I. or not, they do use up space.  It's hard to jam many 3-D vendors into a shop without eating up floor space that you need for other things.

All in all, I think those vendors are fun and certainly have a place.  That's why I used to make them.  They should probably be used sparingly, though.

Good info, thanks

I'm thinking if I had any at all, I might have like, one in my shop.  I'm not thinking of replacing my regular vendors with them.  Since I wrote my own vendors, I believe I could probably handle the code if I got some clues as to where to start.  

I think they might be a good option for things like skirts & panties etc., in that these items often sell in multi-packs with a texture changing HUD, but the buyer only really wants that one skirt or that one panty set.  The seller's options are either to have a whole wall of product, or to sell one product with a HUD full of questionable texture options  

Also, a lot of sellers seem to think that a $150 skirt, with a 12 texture HUD is actually worth 12 x $150 (minus some tiny discount), when it's really not worth anything like that to the buyer because 10 of those 12 textures will never be used.  I know this situation really frustrates me when I go to buy things.

If a temp rez skirt/panty vendor displayed say a hundred items, then the buyer could simply pick the three colours/patterns they like instead of buying multiple texture packs.  It would be more honest, more like a real store and definitely better for the buyer. 

I think it also might give the seller more money in the end anyway.  

Sylvia

Edit: I forgot all this time to say another big reason I'm interested ...

I put a lot of time and effort into the textures and especially the materials effects on my clothes, but the box art can't really convey this, so displaying the item in a "real-world" environment so you can see the shine or the normal map effects etc. is a definite bonus. Items look far better "in person" with the new materials effects than they ever could in a picture. 

Edited July 24, 2019 by Sylvia Wasp

[Fritigern Gothly]

Note that the Caspervend system comes with a holovendor, which is a 3D vendor.

[Sylvia Wasp]

13 minutes ago, Fritigern Gothly said:

Note that the Caspervend system comes with a holovendor, which is a 3D vendor.

"Holovendor!"  that was the word I couldn't remember, lol.  

Edited July 24, 2019 by Sylvia Wasp

[Rolig Loon]

20 minutes ago, Sylvia Wasp said:

I put a lot of time and effort into the textures and especially the materials effects on my clothes, but the box art can't really convey this, so displaying the item in a "real-world" environment so you can see the shine or the normal map effects etc. is a definite bonus. Items look far better "in person" with the new materials effects than they ever could in a picture.

I agree, and that's why I put them in my shop (well, that and the fact that it was sort of a novelty). The basic design of a system like that needn't be difficult.  Basically, you have two objects with separable functions: (1) a rezzer that creates the object and (2) the object itself, which has the functions of any normal vendor.  You script the rezzer to create the object on demand and then you script the object as you would script any other vendor (click to Pay the object and have it send you a copy with appropriate perms), plus a timer that kills the object after X seconds or when the buyer pays.  You can load it with other features (sounds, particles, rotating display  .... ) but that's icing and puffery.  The basic design doesn't need to be difficult.

Edited July 24, 2019 by Rolig Loon
typos. as always.

[Sylvia Wasp]

4 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

I agree, and that's why I put them in my shop (well, that and the fact that it was sort of a novelty). The basic design of a system like that needn't be difficult.  Basically, you have two objects with separable functions: (1) a rezzer that creates the object and (2) the object itself, which has the functions of any normal vendor.  You script the rezzer to create the object on demand and then you script the object as you would script any other vendor (click to Pay the object and have it send you a copy with appropriate perms), plus a timer that kills the object after X seconds or when the buyer pays.  You can load it with other features (sounds, particles, rotating display  .... ) but that's icing and puffery.  The basic design doesn't need to be difficult.

Thanks Rolig, 

This will get me started at least.  I was looking in-world for your store, but I guess you meant "used to have a store"? 

Sylvia

[Rolig Loon]

Yeah, I closed it when mesh came in.  I couldn't compete.  I am a scripter, not much of a mesher.

[Sylvia Wasp]

34 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

Yeah, I closed it when mesh came in.  I couldn't compete.  I am a scripter, not much of a mesher.

I can't mesh OR script, lol.  I rely on full perm mesh to make my clothes and the pickings are mighty slim indeed.  

I am a superb prim-smith and can make almost anything with them but sadly that skill is completely redundant now too