How to Rez and Cleanup Props

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What is the MST Performance Engine rezzer?

The "MST Performance Engine" or just "PE" for short, includes many pieces of show technology in one single object. One of the the things it can do is act as rezzer, rezzing and derezzing props.

Why is the Performance Engine rezzer special?

Collaboration

I believe that tools should be collaborative, and you should be able to have your friends (or alts) help you configure them. As much as possible, this tool is designed so that others on your team can share and help you. It is not locked to the owner, unless you want it to be. These collaborative features are very useful for creating shows where you wish to work closely with a team or rehearse shows even if you are not online.

Speed

I made this rezzer specifically for use with performing venues where timing between acts is tight and performance needs to be fast and lag-free. The technology in the MST rezzer imposes less load on a region and uses less resources to manage each object compared to general-purpose rezzers. It even includes a sleep mode where it will detect when it is not in use and use even fewer resources, so you do not have to worry about leaving your rezzer out.

Portable

This stage rezzer will give you perfect prop positioning on your stage every time you run a show, even if the stage moves in the future. It will also communicate your stage center to other MST tools such as movers and scripted camera sequences, so that these too will be aligned perfectly with your props.

Major Features

  • Provides one single place to store your entire performance – props, animations, cameras, actions, etc. You don’t need to keep track of multiple objects.
  • Minimizes rotations and movement after rezzing. Objects won’t swing around distractedly if it can be avoided.
  • Allows individual objects to be rezzed/derezzed on demand, as well as all at once.
  • Allows multiple groups of scenes to be rezzed and derezzed (aka, a 'multiscene' rezzer)
  • Can be easily controlled via 3rd party HUDs and choreography systems, as well as MetaHarper Show Tools. Allows both click dialogs and chat commands for control behavior.
  • Can be shared with other users
  • Fast and responsive.
  • No hovertext on your props and no lag when in use, unlike some other rezzers.
  • Works well in areas with multiple stages or with many acts in the same place.
  • Automatically puts itself in sleep mode when not in use to minimize performance impact to your region.
  • Some limited support for rezzing no-mod objects

How do I use the Performance Engine as a rezzer?

The MST Performance Engine works similar to most other rezzer systems in SL. At a very high level you need to add a script to all the objects you want it to rez, save their positions into a notecard, and place copies of the objects you wish to rez in the rezzer's contents. We'll walk through these steps along with some MST-specific details below.

Check that you have a Performance Engine rezzed, and 'centered'

If you haven't already, rez out an MST Performance Engine and rename it something specific to your performance An example of a performance engine name might be something such as "CircusPE". Try to keep the name short without spaces or punctuation. Veterans will typically add "PE" to the end of the name as a shorthand for "Performance Engine", making it easier to find later. Also check that you have an MST centerpoint rezzed out somewhere nearby.

At this point you may notice some hovertext floating on top of your entire that says "uncentered". This means your engine is not currently active. Engines have both an activate state, also known as being 'centered', and in inactive state also called 'decentered'. The two different active/dormant modes make sure that an engine only controls your stage when you want it to, and can safely be left rezzed out backstage when it is not needed.

You can activate an MST performance engine by clicking on it, and choosing 'center' from the popup menu. The engine should move on top of your centerpoint, the hovertext will disappear, and it will now be active for all commands.


You might ask yourself, "What is this 'centerpoint' business? I have used other rezzers and they do not require a centerpoint prim. What is it for?" MST technology uses centerpoints for a few different reasons. It is useful when collaborating with a group of builders. One person can update the centerpoint's location and all the acts that use it, even from other people, will magically work without needing to be changed. Also you can visually see that your act is oriented the right way, before you use it.


Arrange Your Props

Envision that the MST performance engine you centered in above step in your live performance area. Rez your props and move them around to the positions that you want them to appear on your stage. You may also wish to put down a floor to cover the MST performance engine prim so your audience can’t see it. Alternatively, you can make the MST performance engine prim transparent. When choosing your props, they need to meet some technical qualifications:

Prop Requirements

  • Good Permissions: All props must include COPY and MODIFY permissions or you will not be able to use them with a rezzer system.
  • Unique Names: All props must have unique names. Do not have four props named “Object”, for example. This can be avoided by using your viewer to rename your MODIFY-permission props. Prop names should not have trailing spaces, or have names that include commas, or “|” characters.
  • Link props together for faster rezzing: The more you can use your viewer's build editor window link your props together into larger objects, the faster they will rez and the easier the set will be to maintain. However if you do this, avoid linking props with moving parts (such as swinging doors) to props that do not move.


Add the Tracker Script to Each Prop Object

For each of the prop objects you have set out on and around the rezzer in the previous step, copy the “~MST reztracker” script included with MetaHarper Show Tools folder into each prop. This script will help the props find their correct positions and rez and derez properly.

Special Note: Do not copy the “~MST reztracker” script into your Performance Engine or Centerpoint. [

Save Prop Positions

When you have finished placing “~MST reztracker” scripts in each prop as described above, you can now save the positions of your props. To do this click your Performance Engine, click "<more REZ>" and select “saverez” from the popup menu. After doing this a number of lines will be printed out into your nearby chat. Copy these into your clipboard and continue. A typical line will look something like this. The important lines are colored here in blue: 

 [16:48:53] CircusPE: 
   Paste the below lines into the'~PACKLIST' notecard:
 [16:48:53] CircusPE: 
 @main
 NyPropName, <-1.200848, -2.273163, 0.203613>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>


Special Note: Sometimes it is difficult to click your performance engine if it is under the stage floor or other props. Luckily, there are other ways you can access your performance engine’s menu. One popular method is wearing the “MST Quick HUD” and using the harp logo button to access your performance engine’s menu. You may also shout the chat command, “/8 menu”. You can also use chat commands to tell your engine to print prop 'saverez' lines directly, without using the menus at all. See the reference for all the various chat command options

Update your engine's ~PACKLIST Notecard

Open the “~PACKLIST” notecard inside the performance engine and paste the lines you copied in the previous step to the end of the notecard, replacing any existing lines in the same section.

Visually check that you have one line for every prop object you placed a “~MST reztracker” script in step 1.c. If you are missing one of your props, check that the prop has a “~MST reztracker” script inside it and repeat step 3.a. Save the ~PACKLIST notecard when you are satisfied. 

 ##   Paste your lines from 'saverez' below, replacing the "@main" section
 ##   Note1: If you do not wish any item to be rezzed by default, you can make one 
 ##   or more new groups such as "@scene2", "@scene3", etc.  and paste your lines under that.
 ##   Note2: Any time/date stamps at the beginning of the lines will be ignored.        
 
 @main
 MyCoolProp, <-1.200848, -2.273163, 0.203613>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>
 
 @scene2

What are those weird numbers? This is not important to know, but if you are curious you may have noticed that the name of your prop has a bunch of numbers after it. These numbers correspond to the object's position in the world compared to the centerpoint, and the rotation direction of the object compared to the centerpoint. Think of the format is [name of your prop], <position x, position y, position z>, <rotation x, rotation y, rotation z, rotation s>"

Pick up your objects

One at a time, never as a group, right click your props and select “take copy” to pick them off the stage and place them into your inventory. Make note of where in your inventory window the picked up props appear. If it is hard to keep track of them, it may be useful to open a second inventory window, create a new folder, and then move the objects into this folder each time you pick one up. Once you are sure you have copies picked up and in an inventory folder, you can right-click each rezzed prop and delete it off the ground.

Important: You must pick up the props from the ground and not re-use props in inventory from some previous time. Older versions will likely not have the “MST ~rezTracker” script inside and may also differ in other ways that can lead to surprising results later. When you have picked up all your props and have a largely empty stage, continue to the next step.


Transfer your newly copied objects to the performance engine’s contents

Now, select the new props you just picked up from your viewer inventory window, and drag them into the contents tab of the MST performance engine.

You may see some ‘reloading’ messages when you do this since the engine will try and restart whenever its contents change. This is normal. When you have dragged all of your new props into the performance engine, continue to the next step.

Special Note: Sometimes the contents of the performance engine takes a while to display. If you have waited several seconds and it still does not appear, try closing the build window and re-selecting the performance engine again.

Try the rez/derez commands

You are now ready to test rezzing and de-rezzing! Click the MST Performance Engine (or get to the menu via the MST Quick HUD or '/8 menu' chat command) and select <more REZ> then click the “rez” button. Your props should appear in the correct locations, like magic!

Similarly, you can click activate the MST performance engine, select <more REZ>, then “derez” to clear away the props.

You are now ready to use your MST Performance Engine to handle rezzing and derezzing!

If you do not see “rez” options in your MST performance menu, make sure that it does not say “uncentered” in floating hover text. You will need to center your performance engine using its menu before rezzing props.

Final Touches for a Particular Theater

The owner or director of a particular performance venue will sometimes have special instructions for MST users. For example, they may ask you to name your centerpoint something particular, and then set the CENTERPOINT value in your MST Performance Engine’s “~MST_CONFIG” notecard to match this centerpoint name.

You may also be asked to add “ALLOW=…” lines to your “~MST_CONFIG” notecard in order to use a particular theater’s existing centerpoint. These lines allow your performance engine to work with other people’s centerpoints and sometimes camera-enabled seating. Ask your director or stage manager about this if you have questions.

Preparing for Live Events

Always test centering, rezzing, and derezzing and decentering well ahead of rehearsal or your show date to avoid surprises.

If the performance engine menu isn’t allowing you to rez, make sure to tell it to center itself first. If it can’t center itself, ensure in your performance engine’s “~MST_CONFIG” notecard you have the “CENTERPOINT=” line either blank or set to a particular nearby centerpoint. Also if that centerpoint is not owned by you, ensure that the owner of the centerpoint is allowed in your “~MST_CONFIG” notecard.

Once you have your performance engine working, it’s typical to first "decenter" your engine when you are done working with it, then move it backstage out of the way, but ready to go. It's always better to leave your engine rezzed out in advance rather than wait until right before your show to rez it.

Pro tip: Use the “stagerez” and “stagederez” menu commands to both center and rez, or derez and return to backstage position all in one fast command. These commands can also be shouted along with the name of your performance engine. For example: “/8 stagerez myGreatAct”, “/8 stagederez myGreatAct”

How to Make Changes to your Props After Adding them to the Performance Engine

Update Type #1: Replace a prop with a newer version while keeping it in the same location

If you want to replace one of the props loaded in the MST performance engine without changing where it will appear when it rezzes:

  1. Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
  2. Derez and/or delete your current props to clear the stage.
  3. Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
  4. Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
  5. Rez your props and check that the new version appears.

Pro Tip: Consider editing the description field of your prop to add a date whenever you update your prep. This can help you quickly check in the future if your prop is updated or not. For example you could change a description to "Updated: 5:43pm 6/22/2024"

Important Note: The new version must have the same name as the old one and must contain the ~MST reztracker script.

Update Type #2: Keep the same Prop, but Change what Location it should Rez

If you want to change the location where an existing prop will rez:

  1. Rez the prop using your PE and then move the prop into the new correct position.
  2. Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez YourPropName’
  3. Find the printed line in your nearby chat window that has the name of the prop you are moving. Copy this single line into your clipboard.
  4. Derez your props.
  5. Finally, open up the ~PACKLIST notecard in the PE and replace the old line for this prop with the new line from your clipboard, thend save the notecard.
  6. Rez your props again, and verify the position you changed has updated as you expect.

How to Add New Props

If you wish to add a new prop object to a MST performance engine:

  1. Place your new prop in the desired location on your stage and add a “~MST reztracker” script inside it as usual.
  2. Click the MST performance engine and select “saverez” button or use the “/8 saverez” shouted chat command, as described earlier. You can save time by just copy-pasting the single new line that includes the name of your new prop, and pasting that single line to the end of the ~PACKLIST notecard.
  3. Pick up a copy of your new prop to inventoryu, remove the original, then drag the new copy from your inventory window into the contents of the performance engine.

Removing Props

It is easy to remove an object from your MST performance engine.

  1. Open the “~PACKLIST” notecard
  2. Delete the line that contains the name of the prop you wish to remove.
  3. Delete that prop from the contents of the MST performance engine.

You're done!

Fast Access to the Performance Engine’s Click Menu

If you wish to access the Performance Engine’s click menu without using your viewer camera to navigate to it’s location, you have a few options.

  • Wear the MST quick hud from your show tools inventory folder,then use the "Harp Logo" button to pair it with a Performance Engine if it isn't already piared. From that point forward whenever you click the harp logo button, you will receive that engine's popup menu.
  • Use your “Area Search” window to find the Performance Engine by its name, then right click it’s line in the search results and choose “touch”.
  • Use the chat command “/8 menu”. If you are further away, you may need to use ‘shout’ for your performance engine to hear you. Caution: all MST Performance Engine’s within hearing range will send you their menu. If you only want to access a specific one, you may specify its name. For example: “/8 menu myPerformanceEngineName”

Collaboration with others / Sharing your performance engine

Share Menu Access

You can optionally allow other users to use the stagerez, stagederez and other MST performance engine commands, especially if you have left your performance engine in a storage location backstage in a theater. To allow another user to be able to click your stage or send chat commands, edit the “~MST_CONFIG” notecard and add a line with your friend’s login name or avatar key and re-save the notecard. For example: 

 ALLOW=Arrehn Oberlander
 ALLOW=SomeoneElse Resident

There should be an example of this line already in the ~MST_CONFIG notecard. The allowed person should now be able to click your engine and receive its menu.

Use avatar UUIDs instead of names for the greatest safety and speed. You can find an avatar’s UUID by opening up their profile and looking at the top of the window. It is a good idea to allow a theater’s seating and centerpoint owner by UUID, if that person is not yourself.

Share Object and Notecard Access

If you want other users to be able to update your props, some care must be taken. You will wish to do the following:

  1. Select the Performance Engine in the build window, ensure the ‘share’ button on the first tab is checked, and that a group is set. Your collaborators should all be members of this group.
  2. Grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
  3. In the Performance Engine’s contents, click the permissions button. Ensure the "notecard" option is selected, along with permissions COPY, MODIFY, TRANSFER and SHARE. Note: You or your collaborators may have to re-perform this step regularly.

Your collaborators should now be able to open up your ~PACKLIST notecard in your performance engine, adjust positions, and remove props. It’s likely that due to SL permissions, you will be the only person who can add new props.

If you’re having trouble sharing access to your notecards after doing the above, ensure your collaborators have the same group as the performance engine active. If this still does not allow access, sometimes relogging or leaving the region and returning helps. Sometimes step 2. also needs to be performed again.

Customizing the MST Performance Engine’s appearance

You can also change the textures of the MST Performance Engine and make it invisible and/or phantom if you desire. You may also link it to other objects as long as it is always the “root” object in a linkset.

You are encouraged to customize the appearance of performance engine and make it reflect your personality or brand. Audience members often cam around the theater and make their own ‘backstage tours’, so customizing your performance engine can be a subtle way to build your name recognition.

Other Types of Rezzing (scenes, individual objects, chat commands, etc)

Chat commands

The MST Performance engine can be operated entirely by chat commands, not just the blue popup menu. This can be useful for automation or for kicking off commands from a programmed timeline. For a list of chat commands your MST rezzer supports, use the “/8 help” command, or choose “help” from the performance engine’s menu.

If you use these commands be sure to shout them if you are further away than 20m. Also be sure that you add ‘ALLOW’ lines for any users other than yourself who should be allowed to operate your performance engine as described in section labelled, ‘Collaboration’.

Rezzing and Derezzing Specific Objects

If you wish to rez a single prop or derez a single prop, you can use the chat commands “/8 rez <propname>” and “/8 derez <propname>”. For example: 

 /8 rez largePlant
 /8 derez sofa1

You can also rez or derez more than one specific object at a time by separating the object names with colon ":" characters, like this: 

 /8 rez largePlant:smallPlant:table
 /8 derez sheets:pillows

Any single “rez” or “derez” line can be a maximum of 256 characters. If you have more objects than can fit on one line, just use more then one line.

These targeted prop rez and derez commands can sometimes be an alternative to using “hide” transparency scripts. Derezzing in particular is fast and easy even during a busy show. Rezzing during a live performance however, can sometimes be delayed if the sim becomes busy. Additionally if you are rezzing mesh or a richly textured objects, you might notice a delay before the mesh and/or textures can be sent to each nearby viewer.

Special Note: To avoid typing or gestures, you can program many of the rez chat commands into scheduled timelines or huds. This is discussed in the the documentation section of timelines, and the "MST Programmable Button HUD".

Rezzing Scenes or Groups of Objects Independently of Each Other

Sometimes you will want to rez a group of objects at once. This can be use for quick and easy complete stage or theater changes, for example. You may have noticed that in the examples we place our props under the "@main" line in the ~PACKLIST notecard. This is because "@main" is the default scene. To use other scenes you can simply add your own names that start with "@" to the packlist notecard, and move objects under those scene names. Be sure to keep the names short without punctuation. For example: 

 @main
 myHouse, <0,0,0>,<0,0,0,0>
 houseSofa, <0,0,0>,<0,0,0,0>
 
 @scene2
 myCastle, <0,0,0>,<0,0,0,0>
 moat, <0,0,0>,<0,0,0,0>
 
 @spaceTheater
 spaceSurround, <0,0,0>,<0,0,0,0>
 shootingStars, <0,0,0>,<0,0,0,0>

In the above example the scene names are highlighted in bold. Now, when you click the Performance Engine and select "Rez [main]", the "myHouse" and "houseSofa" props will be rezzed. If you want to rez the other groups instead, you can click the PE again, select "<More Rez>", then "rez [GROUP]". You will then be shown buttons with all your scenes. Simply click the button for the scene you wish to rez.

You can rez and derez specific scenes via chat commands. For example: 

 /8 rez @scene2
 /8 derez @scene2
 /8 rez @spaceTheater
 /8 rez @main:@scene2

You can also rez and derez specific scenes in a programmed timeline, as we will demonstrate in the programmed timeline section of the MST docs.

Prevent certain objects from being rezzed with the default "rez" command

If you do not want one of your objects to be rezzed by default when you use “rez” or “stagerez” commands:

  1. Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
  2. Move that line from underneath the "@main" group, to a different group such as "@scene2".

Now this object will not rez unless you specifically rez that one object or if you use "/8 rez @scene2". Similarly you will have to derez it manually by name or with "/8 derez @scene2"

Reset Locations of Accidentally Moved Props

If you have moved one or more of your props out of its normal position, and you want the prop to return to its normal spot, you can click the performance engine, choose “<more REZ>” and then choose “updaterez”. You may also shout the chat command, “/8 updaterez”. You could also derez the object and then rez it back.

Adding No-Mod objects

If you must use a no-mod object as a prop, sometimes you can get it to work in the MST Performance Engine. Your results may vary. Instead of using saverez (which requires a ~MST reztracker script), shout the chat command “/8 nomodsaverez <name>”. For example: 

 /8 nomodsaverez pinkcadillac

The above command will print out a line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the usual saverez method. Now pack the no-modify prop like you would any other prop. There are some limitations with this method:

  • It only works if the prop will be located < 10m from the MST Centerpoint.
  • Sometimes the position or rotation of the saved prim will not be accurate. It may depend on the specific object and the rotation of the stage how accurate the positioning will be. This inaccuracy in some circumstances when rezzing no-mod objects is a known SL bug.
  • You will have to manually pick up or delete any no-mod rezzed objects from your set when you are finished. They will not be able to listen to “derez” or “stagederez” commands.

Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker

If you ever wish to stop managing your props with the MST Performance Engine and wish for them to stay out permanently, you may use the following command to automatically delete the “~MST reztracker” scripts: 

 /8 permrez

You can also simply remove the rezTracker script from the prop's contents.

Optimizing Contents Window Load Time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 12 avatars at once, with a total capability to handle over 130 avatars with expansions. You will see 12 “~perm” scripts in the contents of the engine. Do not panic, these scripts are turned off by default and are only turned on when they are used. However, they can make the contents window slower to load at times.

If you wish your contents window to load faster, you may delete the ~perm scripts you are not intending to use +1 spare. For example, if you only need to animate three avatars, keep the scripts ‘~perm0, ~perm1, ~perm2, and ~perm3’ and delete all the others.


Troubleshooting

If your performance engine isn’t working as you expect, check your nearby chat window for clues. Sometimes it chats warnings or errors that can help you solve the issue.

Be careful of syntax in your notecard lines. Ensure that any lines that you have pasted into the notecards are complete and haven’t been garbled in some way. If you are still having issues you may wish to check them against examples to see if they look similar, or try only making one prop change at a time.

You may ‘reset scripts’ on the performance engine if you want to return it to a clean state for any reason. If you do this, wait for it to completely finish loading its notecards and announce to you that is ‘ready’ in your nearby chat window. If you do this, you may need to clean up any props rezzed out manually.

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