Hollow on wrong side of the prim

[Gunnar Korobase]

A while ago, I created a Labyrinth (100x100). Then I textured it as stone wall theme and now I am in the process of updating it to a sci-fi theme. I would like to create windows in some of the walls (there are a lot..) but, as it happens, the 'hollow' is at the top of the wall. (I never understood why, by default, the hollow is not on either side, but anyways.... )

Is there an easy(er) other then turning and  stretching the prim in order to create the cutout on the side rather then the top?

[Peggy Paperdoll]

The hollow is always on the z axis of a prim.....that is to say top or bottom or bottom to top.  The only way to fix your problem is to rotate your prim so that the z axis is horizontal instead of vertical and then adjusting your textures which is something you say you don't want to do.  You can fake it by using more prims.  Create a prim (probably a cube since it's a window) and push it through your stone wall where you want the windows, then texture the prims with a 100% transparent texture on all sides (all six sides or simply don't select a face and texture the whole prim).  You won't be able to fly through or walk through the windows unless you make them phantom (which sometimes create problems with random prims, other than the desired prim, becoming phantom when included in a linkset).

[Gunnar Korobase]

Thanks for the answer Peggy. I usually stay away from transparent textures that simulate windows and such due to the 'glitching' effect (wish there would be a solution for this). Turn and resize it is then.. 

Wouldn't it make more sense to have the hollow on the y or x axis by default? I would think one of the two is more used then a hollow from the top z axis.. 

Anyway, thanks again :-)

[Ceera Murakami]

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Peggy Paperdoll wrote:Create a prim (probably a cube since it's a window) and push it through your stone wall where you want the windows, then texture the prims with a 100% transparent texture on all sides (all six sides or simply don't select a face and texture the whole prim).  

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Umm, that won't do anything other than adding a prim that you can't see. It won't make a hole in a solid prim, even visually.

Even if you use an invisiprim texture on the added prim, it would only make a 'hole' if the prim it pushes through is textured with a 32-bit texture, and the result won't end up looking like a hole in the wall, since it won't have 'sides' in the hole and the apparent hole will shift with point of view.

Rotating the prim, readjusting its dimensions, and retexturing is the only way that will work.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Ceera, who is much more experienced as a builder than I am, gave you the answer.  And, after thinking about what I said I believe when I did that trick I was on a wall that had a 32 bit texture (I made a round window on a wall that already had a couple or windows I created with my imaging program and uploaded as a 32 bit texture.  In that case, my method would work but then you need to deal with the alpha sorting glitch OpenGL displays..........that's probably the reason I wound up redoing the whole house.   It's been a long time and my memory is a little fuzzy.

The hollow being on the z axis actually makes more sense to me.  If it were horizontal then there would be complaints about why is the hollow on the x axis or why on the y axis?  Hollowing vertically is what was chosen by whoever coded the feature into the building tools........he/she could have gone either direction but vertical is easier to deal with in my opinion.

[Knowl Paine]

I've been creating objects in SL for about 5 years.

I've always believed that a cube should rez so that the hollow would be on the sides. 

I've made buildings in the past with the cubes orientated the wrong way, it's very frustrating. Sometimes it's easy to start over rather than trying to correct all the prims.

[Rolig Loon]

A hole on the Z-axis can be inconvenient if you happen to want it on the X- or Y-axis, but a hole on the X- or Y-axis would be just as inconvenient if you wanted it on the Z-axis.  Prims are what they are.  Each is a basic form that is extruded along the Z-axis, so modifications like holes, tapering, path cuts, and slicing are all done with respect to that extrusion axis.  Somewhere in eons past, LL designed all prims on that same model.  They might have chosen a different axis to center things on but they didn't and, as I said, that would have been just as inconvenient for some people. 

[Kwakkelde Kwak]

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Rolig Loon wrote:

Each is a basic form that is extruded along the Z-axis, so modifications like holes, tapering, path cuts, and slicing are all done with respect to that extrusion axis.  Somewhere in eons past, LL designed all prims on that same model.  They might have chosen a different axis to center things on but they didn't

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That's how it works yes, extruding along the Z axis (or really path, since the "axis" can be bent) of the unextruded object. This also means it's impossible to use another axis. Extrusion is giving a flat object height. A flat object only has an X and Y axis, so it's impossible to extrude along one of those.

Other than this mathematical impossibility, the fact you can only have hollow along one axis makes the whole idea of using another one kind of useless, again just like you said. Just rotate the item and the textures you have the hole in another direction. No way around it without using mesh.