MetaHarper Show Tools Wiki - User contributions [en]

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2025-04-24T21:25:17Z

Arrehn:

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we used animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's posture- such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to manually walk avatars around can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a crowded, laggy, or demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting.

This type of object is called a "''Mover''" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life. As a side benefit, it can be used for moving general objects around with high precision, not only avatars.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso levels where the feet are not visible.
* Movers rez "ready to go". No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or extremely slow types of movement are not supported. If you try to move too fast or too slow, your movement might result in a script 'velocity' error, move you to the wrong location, or not move you at all.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a Movement Sequence using Waypoints ==
The following will walk you through creating a very simple movement sequence to demonstrate the overall technique using a series waypoints. More complex scenarios including ways to use movers without waypoints are described later. In the below examples we often use the technique of clicking the mover and choosing options from a popup menu. If you would instead prefer to use chat commands to control your mover, or include it timelines automatically such as MST Performance Engines, these options are explained in later sections.

=== Rez and Rename your Mover ===

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez a stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.

From your the unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder in your inventory, drag the object "MST_Mover_rename_me" onto the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top and it will have the mover's name 'MST_Mover_rename_me" in hovertext above it. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its hovertext name to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover object before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish different movers from each other at a glance. Don't like the auto-assigned color? You can either change the mover's name slightly or set a custom color as described in the customization section later.

''You may ask 'Why is the mover the size it is?' The MST mover has been intentionally sized so that you can see how much space a typical avatar will take up when standing on the mover. You will be better able to plan movement sequences for avatars and not have them clip doors, walls, or other avatars. If you would like to customize your mover, this is possible and will be explained in the customization section.''

=== Set the Mover's “Home” Position ===

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu.

''Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any previous one.
''
=== Create a Movement Waypoint ===

You are ready to start creating a movement path! One typical way to accomplish this is to create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints in order with smooth motion.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypnt” from the pop-up menu. You will see a round waypoint marker with ah hollow triangular cutout appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

There will be some new hovertext on top of your waypoint. It may look like the following:

w1
testMover #1
[move:0.2 arrive 0.2 wait 0.0]

It is not important to understand all of this information right now, but you might be curious what this text means. Briefly, the top text "w1" is the name of the waypoint. The second line is the name of the mover this waypoint belongs to, and what order this waypoint is in the mover's sequence. The last line contains a number of timings.

For the timings, "'''move:'''" is "how many seconds should the mover take to move from its last waypoint to this one", with lower numbers meaning faster speeds. The "'''arrive'''" number tracks what time the mover will show up at this waypoint, once it starts moving from its home position. Finally the "'''wait'''" time determines how long the mover will rest at this waypoint doing nothing, before continuing on its way to the the next waypoint you may create.

All of this information -- the name of the waypoint, its position in the sequence, and all of the various timings, can be adjusted.

You'll also notice that the color of the waypoint marker matches the color of your mover. As you create waypoints from the same mover, waypoints become progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.

=== Set the New Waypoint’s Position and Rotation ===

You can right-click the waypoint, edit it, and use the build window tools and arrows to move and/or rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to travel to, starting from its home position.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the same region. Be careful not to cross into other parcels unless you have access to do so.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.

=== Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time ===

==== Waypoint Names ====
Next, you may click your waypoint and optionally set some simple parameters. By default, waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu.

''Hint: Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!''

==== Travel Speed ====
You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

==== Wait Time ====
Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.

=== Saving Waypoint to memory ===

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

=== Create a few more Waypoints! ===

Using the above steps create, edit, and save a few more waypoints. Once you have created two or three additional waypoints, we'll save them as described below, and practice playing back the sequence.

=== Saving Waypoints Permanently to a Notecard ===
The above waypoint “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, first double-check that you have saved all red "unsaved" waypoints to memory as decribed above, then click the MST mover once and choose “'''Printmove'''”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “'''~MOVELIST'''” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard, replacing all existing "WAYPOINT=" lines. The mover will automatically load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard reloads, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “'''Show waypnts'''” and they should all come back in the correct positions, demonstrating that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

''You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.''

== More Waypoint Options ==
=== Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails ===

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the popup menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.

=== Deleting Waypoints ===

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.

=== Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence ===

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

== Simple Playback: How to play your Movement Sequence ==

After defining and saving some waypoints, you might want to test your mover to see if the movement path looks right. There are many ways that you can tell a move to start its sequence, such as chat commands, or integration with choreography timelines, but the simplest way is just to click on the mover and choose 'Start Move' from its menu. We will describe this process and typical variations below.

=== Stopping and Starting the Waypoint Movement Sequence from the Mover's Menu ===

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”.

First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home position and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test.

Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence, with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint.

When your movement sequence finishes, you may click the MST mover again and select “Stop Move”, and it will reset back to its home position.

''Note: The MST mover will not appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.''

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.

== How to move your own Objects around a stage ==

You might be already thinking about how you could sit on your mover and ride it around, and we will discuss this in the next section. However for now we'll show you how to do something simpler, which is link your mover to a typical rezzed object to make it move and turn.

Not every object can be moved. Sometimes you will run into an object that needs special steps to get it to move, but the vast majority of object s can be linked to your mover using the below steps:

# Rez, rename, create waypoints, and save those waypoints to your mover's ~MOVELIST notecard as described in the preceding sections.
# Rez the object you wish to move. It might be a toy airplane, or a UFO, or a bicycle, or something like this. Make sure your object has "modify" permissions.
# Disable the hovertext and other mover properties which can look ugly when you link them to other objects. You do this by adding the line "@nofx" to the top of your mover's ~MOVELIST notecard
# Use the build window to link the object to be moved to your MST mover. The mover should be the "root" object. After this is done, you can adjust the position of the mover to be in the center, bottom, or top of your combined object, and also make the mover piece transparent.
# Finally, you can now click the object to access its mover menu and test the playback like usual.

== How to Move Avatars around a Stage ==

=== Invisible-on-Sit ===
You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. When you do so, your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

=== Check your height ===
While sitting on a mover, you should check to see if your avatar's feet touch the ground. Different avatars may appear to have different heights depending on their body type, shape, shoebase, foot-style, or shoes that they are wearing-- so always check. You may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly.

=== Test the Movement ===
There are a few ways you can start the movement sequence after sitting on a particular mover. You can use a chat command such as "/8 startmove MyMoverName", or you can click the invisible thin column the music turns into after using "show transparency" in your viewer, or you can use a HUD or performance engine to tell the mover to start (more on this later).

== How Combine Avatar Movement with Animations to Create Choreography ==

After sitting on a mover and watching it move through a path, you might already be imagining how it might look better if your avatar was animated at the same time as the movement to look like the avatar is walking, flying, or dancing. Luckily this is easy to do! You will need your own choreography engine to do this step. These instruction assume you are using the "MST Performance Engine" to run your choreography, although other engines can be used.

==== Locate your MST Performance Engine ====
This should be the same engine you rezzed when you created your workspace. See [[Prepare_your_Workspace_for_MST|Prepare Your Workspace for MST]] for details.

==== Add Your Choreography Timeline to the Engine ====
You should create a choreography sequence, as described in [[How_to_Create_Animation_Sequences|How to Create Animation Sequences]]. When complete, print out the choreography sequence and add it to the Performance Engine's "~EVENTLIST" notecard. As an example, your ~EVENTLIST notecard might look like this:
@group animations|ALL|waiting
animations=

0.00|Figure Eight
20.00|standing dance
40.00|The Robot
60.00|STOP

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2025-04-23T20:08:39Z

Arrehn: /* How to move avatars around a stage */

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we used animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's posture- such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to manually walk avatars around can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a crowded, laggy, or demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting.

This type of object is called a "''Mover''" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life. As a side benefit, it can be used for moving general objects around with high precision, not only avatars.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso levels where the feet are not visible.
* Movers rez "ready to go". No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or extremely slow types of movement are not supported. If you try to move too fast or too slow, your movement might result in a script 'velocity' error, move you to the wrong location, or not move you at all.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a Movement Sequence using Waypoints ==
The following will walk you through creating a very simple movement sequence to demonstrate the overall technique using a series waypoints. More complex scenarios including ways to use movers without waypoints are described later. In the below examples we often use the technique of clicking the mover and choosing options from a popup menu. If you would instead prefer to use chat commands to control your mover, or include it timelines automatically such as MST Performance Engines, these options are explained in later sections.

=== Rez and Rename your Mover ===

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez a stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.

From your the unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder in your inventory, drag the object "MST_Mover_rename_me" onto the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top and it will have the mover's name 'MST_Mover_rename_me" in hovertext above it. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its hovertext name to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover object before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish different movers from each other at a glance. Don't like the auto-assigned color? You can either change the mover's name slightly or set a custom color as described in the customization section later.

''You may ask 'Why is the mover the size it is?' The MST mover has been intentionally sized so that you can see how much space a typical avatar will take up when standing on the mover. You will be better able to plan movement sequences for avatars and not have them clip doors, walls, or other avatars. If you would like to customize your mover, this is possible and will be explained in the customization section.''

=== Set the Mover's “Home” Position ===

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu.

''Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any previous one.
''
=== Create a Movement Waypoint ===

You are ready to start creating a movement path! One typical way to accomplish this is to create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints in order with smooth motion.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypnt” from the pop-up menu. You will see a round waypoint marker with ah hollow triangular cutout appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

There will be some new hovertext on top of your waypoint. It may look like the following:

w1
testMover #1
[move:0.2 arrive 0.2 wait 0.0]

It is not important to understand all of this information right now, but you might be curious what this text means. Briefly, the top text "w1" is the name of the waypoint. The second line is the name of the mover this waypoint belongs to, and what order this waypoint is in the mover's sequence. The last line contains a number of timings.

For the timings, "'''move:'''" is "how many seconds should the mover take to move from its last waypoint to this one", with lower numbers meaning faster speeds. The "'''arrive'''" number tracks what time the mover will show up at this waypoint, once it starts moving from its home position. Finally the "'''wait'''" time determines how long the mover will rest at this waypoint doing nothing, before continuing on its way to the the next waypoint you may create.

All of this information -- the name of the waypoint, its position in the sequence, and all of the various timings, can be adjusted.

You'll also notice that the color of the waypoint marker matches the color of your mover. As you create waypoints from the same mover, waypoints become progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.

=== Set the New Waypoint’s Position and Rotation ===

You can right-click the waypoint, edit it, and use the build window tools and arrows to move and/or rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to travel to, starting from its home position.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the same region. Be careful not to cross into other parcels unless you have access to do so.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.

=== Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time ===

==== Waypoint Names ====
Next, you may click your waypoint and optionally set some simple parameters. By default, waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu.

''Hint: Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!''

==== Travel Speed ====
You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

==== Wait Time ====
Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.

=== Saving Waypoint to memory ===

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

=== Create a few more Waypoints! ===

Using the above steps create, edit, and save a few more waypoints. Once you have created two or three additional waypoints, we'll save them as described below, and practice playing back the sequence.

=== Saving Waypoints Permanently to a Notecard ===
The above waypoint “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, first double-check that you have saved all red "unsaved" waypoints to memory as decribed above, then click the MST mover once and choose “'''Printmove'''”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “'''~MOVELIST'''” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard, replacing all existing "WAYPOINT=" lines. The mover will automatically load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard reloads, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “'''Show waypnts'''” and they should all come back in the correct positions, demonstrating that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

''You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.''

== More Waypoint Options ==
=== Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails ===

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the popup menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.

=== Deleting Waypoints ===

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.

=== Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence ===

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

== Simple Playback: How to play your Movement Sequence ==

After defining and saving some waypoints, you might want to test your mover to see if the movement path looks right. There are many ways that you can tell a move to start its sequence, such as chat commands, or integration with choreography timelines, but the simplest way is just to click on the mover and choose 'Start Move' from its menu. We will describe this process and typical variations below.

=== Stopping and Starting the Waypoint Movement Sequence from the Mover's Menu ===

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”.

First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home position and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test.

Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence, with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint.

When your movement sequence finishes, you may click the MST mover again and select “Stop Move”, and it will reset back to its home position.

''Note: The MST mover will not appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.''

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.

== How to move your own Objects around a stage ==

You might be already thinking about how you could sit on your mover and ride it around, and we will discuss this in the next section. However for now we'll show you how to do something simpler, which is link your mover to a typical rezzed object to make it move and turn.

Not every object can be moved. Sometimes you will run into an object that needs special steps to get it to move, but the vast majority of object s can be linked to your mover using the below steps:

# Rez, rename, create waypoints, and save those waypoints to your mover's ~MOVELIST notecard as described in the preceding sections.
# Rez the object you wish to move. It might be a toy airplane, or a UFO, or a bicycle, or something like this. Make sure your object has "modify" permissions.
# Disable the hovertext and other mover properties which can look ugly when you link them to other objects. You do this by adding the line "@nofx" to the top of your mover's ~MOVELIST notecard
# Use the build window to link the object to be moved to your MST mover. The mover should be the "root" object. After this is done, you can adjust the position of the mover to be in the center, bottom, or top of your combined object, and also make the mover piece transparent.
# Finally, you can now click the object to access its mover menu and test the playback like usual.

== How to Move Avatars around a Stage ==

=== Invisible-on-Sit ===
You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. When you do so, your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

=== Check your height ===
While sitting on a mover, you should check to see if your avatar's feet touch the ground. Different avatars may appear to have different heights depending on their body type, shape, shoebase, foot-style, or shoes that they are wearing-- so always check. You may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly.

=== Test the Movement ===
There are a few ways you can start the movement sequence after sitting on a particular mover. You can use a chat command such as "/8 startmove MyMoverName", or you can click the invisible thin column the music turns into after using "show transparency" in your viewer, or you can use a HUD or performance engine to tell the mover to start (more on this later).

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2025-04-23T18:33:30Z

Arrehn:

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we used animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's posture- such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to manually walk avatars around can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a crowded, laggy, or demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting.

This type of object is called a "''Mover''" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life. As a side benefit, it can be used for moving general objects around with high precision, not only avatars.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso levels where the feet are not visible.
* Movers rez "ready to go". No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or extremely slow types of movement are not supported. If you try to move too fast or too slow, your movement might result in a script 'velocity' error, move you to the wrong location, or not move you at all.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a Movement Sequence using Waypoints ==
The following will walk you through creating a very simple movement sequence to demonstrate the overall technique using a series waypoints. More complex scenarios including ways to use movers without waypoints are described later. In the below examples we often use the technique of clicking the mover and choosing options from a popup menu. If you would instead prefer to use chat commands to control your mover, or include it timelines automatically such as MST Performance Engines, these options are explained in later sections.

=== Rez and Rename your Mover ===

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez a stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.

From your the unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder in your inventory, drag the object "MST_Mover_rename_me" onto the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top and it will have the mover's name 'MST_Mover_rename_me" in hovertext above it. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its hovertext name to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover object before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish different movers from each other at a glance. Don't like the auto-assigned color? You can either change the mover's name slightly or set a custom color as described in the customization section later.

''You may ask 'Why is the mover the size it is?' The MST mover has been intentionally sized so that you can see how much space a typical avatar will take up when standing on the mover. You will be better able to plan movement sequences for avatars and not have them clip doors, walls, or other avatars. If you would like to customize your mover, this is possible and will be explained in the customization section.''

=== Set the Mover's “Home” Position ===

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu.

''Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any previous one.
''
=== Create a Movement Waypoint ===

You are ready to start creating a movement path! One typical way to accomplish this is to create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints in order with smooth motion.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypnt” from the pop-up menu. You will see a round waypoint marker with ah hollow triangular cutout appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

There will be some new hovertext on top of your waypoint. It may look like the following:

w1
testMover #1
[move:0.2 arrive 0.2 wait 0.0]

It is not important to understand all of this information right now, but you might be curious what this text means. Briefly, the top text "w1" is the name of the waypoint. The second line is the name of the mover this waypoint belongs to, and what order this waypoint is in the mover's sequence. The last line contains a number of timings.

For the timings, "'''move:'''" is "how many seconds should the mover take to move from its last waypoint to this one", with lower numbers meaning faster speeds. The "'''arrive'''" number tracks what time the mover will show up at this waypoint, once it starts moving from its home position. Finally the "'''wait'''" time determines how long the mover will rest at this waypoint doing nothing, before continuing on its way to the the next waypoint you may create.

All of this information -- the name of the waypoint, its position in the sequence, and all of the various timings, can be adjusted.

You'll also notice that the color of the waypoint marker matches the color of your mover. As you create waypoints from the same mover, waypoints become progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.

=== Set the New Waypoint’s Position and Rotation ===

You can right-click the waypoint, edit it, and use the build window tools and arrows to move and/or rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to travel to, starting from its home position.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the same region. Be careful not to cross into other parcels unless you have access to do so.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.

=== Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time ===

==== Waypoint Names ====
Next, you may click your waypoint and optionally set some simple parameters. By default, waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu.

''Hint: Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!''

==== Travel Speed ====
You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

==== Wait Time ====
Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.

=== Saving Waypoint to memory ===

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

=== Create a few more Waypoints! ===

Using the above steps create, edit, and save a few more waypoints. Once you have created two or three additional waypoints, we'll save them as described below, and practice playing back the sequence.

=== Saving Waypoints Permanently to a Notecard ===
The above waypoint “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, first double-check that you have saved all red "unsaved" waypoints to memory as decribed above, then click the MST mover once and choose “'''Printmove'''”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “'''~MOVELIST'''” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard, replacing all existing "WAYPOINT=" lines. The mover will automatically load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard reloads, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “'''Show waypnts'''” and they should all come back in the correct positions, demonstrating that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

''You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.''

== More Waypoint Options ==
=== Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails ===

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the popup menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.

=== Deleting Waypoints ===

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.

=== Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence ===

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

== Simple Playback: How to play your Movement Sequence ==

After defining and saving some waypoints, you might want to test your mover to see if the movement path looks right. There are many ways that you can tell a move to start its sequence, such as chat commands, or integration with choreography timelines, but the simplest way is just to click on the mover and choose 'Start Move' from its menu. We will describe this process and typical variations below.

=== Stopping and Starting the Waypoint Movement Sequence from the Mover's Menu ===

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”.

First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home position and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test.

Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence, with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint.

When your movement sequence finishes, you may click the MST mover again and select “Stop Move”, and it will reset back to its home position.

''Note: The MST mover will not appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.''

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.

== How to move your own Objects around a stage ==

You might be already thinking about how you could sit on your mover and ride it around, and we will discuss this in the next section. However for now we'll show you how to do something simpler, which is link your mover to a typical rezzed object to make it move and turn.

Not every object can be moved. Sometimes you will run into an object that needs special steps to get it to move, but the vast majority of object s can be linked to your mover using the below steps:

# Rez, rename, create waypoints, and save those waypoints to your mover's ~MOVELIST notecard as described in the preceding sections.
# Rez the object you wish to move. It might be a toy airplane, or a UFO, or a bicycle, or something like this. Make sure your object has "modify" permissions.
# Disable the hovertext and other mover properties which can look ugly when you link them to other objects. You do this by adding the line "@nofx" to the top of your mover's ~MOVELIST notecard
# Use the build window to link the object to be moved to your MST mover. The mover should be the "root" object. After this is done, you can adjust the position of the mover to be in the center, bottom, or top of your combined object, and also make the mover piece transparent.
# Finally, you can now click the object to access its mover menu and test the playback like usual.

== How to move avatars around a stage ==

=== Invisible-on-sit ===
You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. When you do so, your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

=== Check your height ===
While sitting on a mover, you should check to see if your avatar's feet touch the ground. Different avatars may appear to have different heights depending on their body type, shape, shoebase, foot-style, or shoes that they are wearing-- so always check. You may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly.

If you do not receive a permissions dialog your avatar may look like it is stuck in an awkward sitting pose above the mover. This happens when the mover cannot find an MST performance engine or MST ChoreoHUD Director nearby. Ensure one of the above tools is rezzed or worn, and optionally open the mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and enter in the name of your MST performance engine or ChoreoHUD next to “MSTCONTROLLER=”.

When first sitting on a mover but before it starts moving, you may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly. You can also use your viewer’s hoverheight setting for this.

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2025-04-23T18:16:15Z

Arrehn: /* Simple Playback: How to play your Movement Sequence */

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we used animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's posture- such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to manually walk avatars around can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a crowded, laggy, or demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting.

This type of object is called a "''Mover''" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life. As a side benefit, it can be used for moving general objects around with high precision, not only avatars.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso levels where the feet are not visible.
* Movers rez "ready to go". No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or extremely slow types of movement are not supported. If you try to move too fast or too slow, your movement might result in a script 'velocity' error, move you to the wrong location, or not move you at all.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a Movement Sequence using Waypoints ==
The following will walk you through creating a very simple movement sequence to demonstrate the overall technique using a series waypoints. More complex scenarios including ways to use movers without waypoints are described later. In the below examples we often use the technique of clicking the mover and choosing options from a popup menu. If you would instead prefer to use chat commands to control your mover, or include it timelines automatically such as MST Performance Engines, these options are explained in later sections.

=== Rez and Rename your Mover ===

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez a stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.

From your the unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder in your inventory, drag the object "MST_Mover_rename_me" onto the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top and it will have the mover's name 'MST_Mover_rename_me" in hovertext above it. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its hovertext name to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover object before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish different movers from each other at a glance. Don't like the auto-assigned color? You can either change the mover's name slightly or set a custom color as described in the customization section later.

''You may ask 'Why is the mover the size it is?' The MST mover has been intentionally sized so that you can see how much space a typical avatar will take up when standing on the mover. You will be better able to plan movement sequences for avatars and not have them clip doors, walls, or other avatars. If you would like to customize your mover, this is possible and will be explained in the customization section.''

=== Set the Mover's “Home” Position ===

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu.

''Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any previous one.
''
=== Create a Movement Waypoint ===

You are ready to start creating a movement path! One typical way to accomplish this is to create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints in order with smooth motion.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypnt” from the pop-up menu. You will see a round waypoint marker with ah hollow triangular cutout appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

There will be some new hovertext on top of your waypoint. It may look like the following:

w1
testMover #1
[move:0.2 arrive 0.2 wait 0.0]

It is not important to understand all of this information right now, but you might be curious what this text means. Briefly, the top text "w1" is the name of the waypoint. The second line is the name of the mover this waypoint belongs to, and what order this waypoint is in the mover's sequence. The last line contains a number of timings.

For the timings, "'''move:'''" is "how many seconds should the mover take to move from its last waypoint to this one", with lower numbers meaning faster speeds. The "'''arrive'''" number tracks what time the mover will show up at this waypoint, once it starts moving from its home position. Finally the "'''wait'''" time determines how long the mover will rest at this waypoint doing nothing, before continuing on its way to the the next waypoint you may create.

All of this information -- the name of the waypoint, its position in the sequence, and all of the various timings, can be adjusted.

You'll also notice that the color of the waypoint marker matches the color of your mover. As you create waypoints from the same mover, waypoints become progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.

=== Set the New Waypoint’s Position and Rotation ===

You can right-click the waypoint, edit it, and use the build window tools and arrows to move and/or rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to travel to, starting from its home position.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the same region. Be careful not to cross into other parcels unless you have access to do so.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.

=== Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time ===

==== Waypoint Names ====
Next, you may click your waypoint and optionally set some simple parameters. By default, waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu.

''Hint: Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!''

==== Travel Speed ====
You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

==== Wait Time ====
Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.

=== Saving Waypoint to memory ===

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

=== Create a few more Waypoints! ===

Using the above steps create, edit, and save a few more waypoints. Once you have created two or three additional waypoints, we'll save them as described below, and practice playing back the sequence.

=== Saving Waypoints Permanently to a Notecard ===
The above waypoint “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, first double-check that you have saved all red "unsaved" waypoints to memory as decribed above, then click the MST mover once and choose “'''Printmove'''”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “'''~MOVELIST'''” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard, replacing all existing "WAYPOINT=" lines. The mover will automatically load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard reloads, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “'''Show waypnts'''” and they should all come back in the correct positions, demonstrating that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

''You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.''

== More Waypoint Options ==
=== Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails ===

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the popup menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.

=== Deleting Waypoints ===

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.

=== Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence ===

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

== Simple Playback: How to play your Movement Sequence ==

After defining and saving some waypoints, you might want to test your mover to see if the movement path looks right. There are many ways that you can tell a move to start its sequence, such as chat commands, or integration with choreography timelines, but the simplest way is just to click on the mover and choose 'Start Move' from its menu. We will describe this process and typical variations below.

=== Stopping and Starting the Waypoint Movement Sequence from the Mover's Menu ===

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”.

First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home position and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test.

Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence, with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint.

When your movement sequence finishes, you may click the MST mover again and select “Stop Move”, and it will reset back to its home position.

''Note: The MST mover will not appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.''

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.

== How to use a mover to move your own Objects around a stage ==

You might be already thinking about how you could sit on your mover and ride it around, and we will discuss this in the next section. However for now we'll show you how to do something simpler, which is link your mover to a typical rezzed object to make it move and turn.

Not every object can be moved. Sometimes you will run into an object that needs special steps to get it to move, but the vast majority of object s can be linked to your mover using the below steps:

# Rez, rename, create waypoints, and save those waypoints to your mover's ~MOVELIST notecard as described in the preceding sections.
# Rez the object you wish to move. It might be a toy airplane, or a UFO, or a bicycle, or something like this. Make sure your object has "modify" permissions.
# Disable the hovertext and other mover properties which can look ugly when you link them to other objects. You do this by adding the line "@nofx" to the top of your mover's ~MOVELIST notecard

=== “Riding the Mover" ===

You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. The is best done when the MST Mover is stopped and in its home position and you have already added the mover to a group in your MST performance engine’s eventlist.

When you sit on the mover, your avatar will be prompted to allow a nearby performance engine to trigger animations. Accept this permissions dialog. Your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

If you do not receive a permissions dialog your avatar may look like it is stuck in an awkward sitting pose above the mover. This happens when the mover cannot find an MST performance engine or MST ChoreoHUD Director nearby. Ensure one of the above tools is rezzed or worn, and optionally open the mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and enter in the name of your MST performance engine or ChoreoHUD next to “MSTCONTROLLER=”.

When first sitting on a mover but before it starts moving, you may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly. You can also use your viewer’s hoverheight setting for this.

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

MST Components

2025-04-22T19:10:07Z

Arrehn: /* What’s in the Box? */

== What’s in the Box? ==

When you wear the MetaHarper Show Tools package, you will see a disk with our logo on it appear in the center HUD position of your screen. Click it, and it will give you a folder with a few core tools as well as other optional subpackages. Seeing all of the contents at once can be a little overwhelming, but do not worry! You do not need to learn all of the contents, and most people only use a small part. You can browse the "Show Tools (MST)" section of the sidebar and simply use only components that are required for the particular type of activity you desire. However if you are curious, below is a list of all the included components along with a brief summary of what each does. This is only an overview, full documentation can be found in the sidebar on the left.


You might notice some of the names include underscore characters "_" instead of spaces. You might be wondering why we would do this. While the underscores can sometimes look funny, they are easier to use when tools talk to each other via scripts or in notecards, and result in less typos or syntax errors. For this reason we recommend to avoiding spaces when renaming these tools.

 

=== Core Components ===
 

* '''''MST Choreo HUD SOLO''''' – This is a wearable HUD. You can place it on the ground, copy in your animations, and then pick it up and wear it to arrange the animations into a nice timed sequence to support your acts. The “ChoreoHUD Solo” is a limited version of our other choreoHUD products, suitable for timing and recording single choreography sequences.
* '''''MST_Centerpoint_rename_me''''' – This is a single triangular object that you rez on the ground to define the general location of your performance area. Typically you rez this in the middle of your stage floor or stage template before using any of the other MST tools and rename this with the name of your stage. If you are planning on creating an act for someone else’s theater, you should rename it to match the name they have chosen for their theater’s centerpoint.

* '''''MST_PerformanceEngine_rename_me''''' – This is the brains of a performance. When rezzed on the ground, it looks like a simple triangular prim and contains most of the information about a particular act or stage set. It can include information about which props to rez, which scripted camera settings to use, and which choreographed sequences can be run. It is meant to be renamed something to specific to one of your acts.

* '''''MST_Mover_rename_me''''' – This is a square sheet you can rez on the ground. You can have avatars sit on this to ride it in a smooth timed movement path, or link it with objects you wish to move. You should rename this to match the role of the avatar or object you intend to use it to move.

* '''''MST_VLPMover_rename_me''''' - This is almost the same as the earlier mover. VLP stands for "Very Long Paths". This mover has slightly less features than the regular mover, but it is optimized to hold a little more waypoints and comes preconfigured to use two notecards instead of the usual one.

* '''''MST QuickHUD''''' This is a small hud with two buttons. It is used for quick access to your MST devices that might be rezzed out on the ground.

* '''''~MST rezTracker''''' – This script can be placed in your stage props to allow them to be rezzed and derezzed quickly.
* '''''Various Notecards''''' "!MST README FIRST", "~Version 7.0 - What's New" are typical notecards included to help point new users at documentation and alert regular users to major new features.

=== Optional Components ===

 

==== Optional Camera Components ====

* '''''MST Cam-Enabled Theater Seat''''' – This customizable wooden seat is used by audience members to see scripted camera sequences. The scripts inside it can also be used with most other AVsitter (poseball-less) furniture you already own, and possibly other sit systems as well.
* '''''MST Camera HUD''''' – This is a simple one-prim HUD. It allows an avatar to see scripted camera sequences, even if they are not sitting in a seat. It’s useful for testing, particularly if you are not using the [https://doc.metaharpers.org/Immersive_Experience_Effects MST Interactive Theater] experience on your land..
* '''''MST Machinima Camsled''''' – This is a blue disc that can follow the path of scripted cameras. By riding on it an avatar can gain the smoothest possible scripted camera performance. Typically this is used only for recording machinima and not for live performances.
* '''''MST allow more seated avs''''' – These are optional scripts that can be added to multi-avatar furniture to support scripted cameras for each sitting avatar beyond the first. This is rarely used and has largely been replaced by the [https://doc.metaharpers.org/Immersive_Experience_Effects MST Interactive Theater] land experience product.
 
==== Optional Curtain Management ====

* '''''MST SmartCurtain''''' – This is a simple stage curtain that can be controlled via chat, clicks, or a wearable HUD. Rez it in front of your stage, resize the invisible frame prim and position it as needed, then click it and choose “repair” to rez the sliding flexi-cloth panels.
* '''''MST Curtain HUD''''' – Provides a quick little HUD to open and close the MST SmartCurtain.
 

==== Optional Outfitter / FX / Sync ====

* '''''MST ObjectFX''''' Script – This is a widely used, popular special effects script you can use to add common effects into your modifiable objects (fade in, fade out, colors, glow, particles, rotations, etc.)
* '''''MST Outfitter HUD''''' – This is a simple one-prim HUD. It allows an avatar to automatically wear or remove objects or clothes within special folders set up in advance in the wearer’s avatar inventory. This can be useful for changing costumes or attached props extremely fast during performances, either to improve reliability, timing, or to create a special effect of a rapid costume change. The MST Outfitter requires a viewer that can support RLV remote commands, such as Firestorm.
* '''''MST camsync''''' – This is an invisible, wearable original mesh object that helps prevent viewers from losing track of the wearer’s animations. Wear this while performing synchronized dances with others or on large stages where viewers need to cam around to see details.

MST

2025-04-22T18:47:04Z

Arrehn: /* Specific Documentation and Reference */

== MetaHarper Show Tools - What is it? ==

MetaHarper Show Tools is a complete, collaborative system for managing SL performances. If you need to rez and de-rez props safely and accurately, move objects and avatars smoothly, script camera zooms and pans, choreograph animations and special effects with real time precision, then you have found the right toolkit. I created this set of tools to promote the performing arts and creative exhibitions within SL and attempt to enable truly collaborative work, where a group of cooperating individuals can work on the same objects at the same time. Normally in-world creation tools are difficult to share with people other than the owner, but this tool suite attempts to break these barriers.

These tools have been used for years to run weekly multimedia shows across the grid, large annual acclaimed performances, and as part of exhibits in the Linden Endowment for the Arts regions.

== Where can I get a copy? ==
You may pick up a copy of the MetaHarper Show Tools in the [https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/MetaHarper-Show-Tools-BOX/7435908 SL marketplace], or on the
[http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chiaroscuro%20Isle/94/93/1201 Studio/Store platform of the MetaHarper Immersive Theater].

== Specific Documentation and Reference ==

# [[MST Components|Components - What is Included]]
# [[MST_Workspace|How to Prepare Your Workspace]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Rez and Cleanup Props]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Create Animation Sequences]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence|How to Move Avatars and Objects Around]] (Beginner)
# How to use your Animation and Movement Sequences in a Timeline (Beginner)
# How to Run Different Animation and Movement Sequences At Once (AKA- timeline groups) (Intermediate)
# How to Use "MoveTo" for better movement accuracy in lag (Advanced)
# How to Insert new steps to the beginning of timelines without having to edit every line (Advanced)
# How to Create Camera Angles, Zooms, Pans, and Fades (Beginner)
# How to Change Outfits and Costumes with MST Outfitter (Intermediate)
# [[Customization and Branding of Movers, Centerpoints, and Engines]] (Intermediate)
# Where can I find more MST Support?
# REFERENCE - ALL "chat" commands for scripted control
# [[Eventlist Command Reference|REFERENCE - All ~EVENTLIST commands]]
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MOVELIST options
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MST_CONFIG
# REFERENCE - ALL centerpoint notecard options.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2025-04-20T20:02:13Z

Arrehn:

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we used animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's posture- such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to manually walk avatars around can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a crowded, laggy, or demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting.

This type of object is called a "''Mover''" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life. As a side benefit, it can be used for moving general objects around with high precision, not only avatars.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso levels where the feet are not visible.
* Movers rez "ready to go". No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or extremely slow types of movement are not supported. If you try to move too fast or too slow, your movement might result in a script 'velocity' error, move you to the wrong location, or not move you at all.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a Movement Sequence using Waypoints ==
The following will walk you through creating a very simple movement sequence to demonstrate the overall technique using a series waypoints. More complex scenarios including ways to use movers without waypoints are described later. In the below examples we often use the technique of clicking the mover and choosing options from a popup menu. If you would instead prefer to use chat commands to control your mover, or include it timelines automatically such as MST Performance Engines, these options are explained in later sections.

=== Rez and Rename your Mover ===

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez a stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.

From your the unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder in your inventory, drag the object "MST_Mover_rename_me" onto the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top and it will have the mover's name 'MST_Mover_rename_me" in hovertext above it. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its hovertext name to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover object before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish different movers from each other at a glance. Don't like the auto-assigned color? You can either change the mover's name slightly or set a custom color as described in the customization section later.

''You may ask 'Why is the mover the size it is?' The MST mover has been intentionally sized so that you can see how much space a typical avatar will take up when standing on the mover. You will be better able to plan movement sequences for avatars and not have them clip doors, walls, or other avatars. If you would like to customize your mover, this is possible and will be explained in the customization section.''

=== Set the Mover's “Home” Position ===

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu.

''Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any previous one.
''
=== Create a Movement Waypoint ===

You are ready to start creating a movement path! One typical way to accomplish this is to create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints in order with smooth motion.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypnt” from the pop-up menu. You will see a round waypoint marker with ah hollow triangular cutout appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

There will be some new hovertext on top of your waypoint. It may look like the following:

w1
testMover #1
[move:0.2 arrive 0.2 wait 0.0]

It is not important to understand all of this information right now, but you might be curious what this text means. Briefly, the top text "w1" is the name of the waypoint. The second line is the name of the mover this waypoint belongs to, and what order this waypoint is in the mover's sequence. The last line contains a number of timings.

For the timings, "'''move:'''" is "how many seconds should the mover take to move from its last waypoint to this one", with lower numbers meaning faster speeds. The "'''arrive'''" number tracks what time the mover will show up at this waypoint, once it starts moving from its home position. Finally the "'''wait'''" time determines how long the mover will rest at this waypoint doing nothing, before continuing on its way to the the next waypoint you may create.

All of this information -- the name of the waypoint, its position in the sequence, and all of the various timings, can be adjusted.

You'll also notice that the color of the waypoint marker matches the color of your mover. As you create waypoints from the same mover, waypoints become progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.

=== Set the New Waypoint’s Position and Rotation ===

You can right-click the waypoint, edit it, and use the build window tools and arrows to move and/or rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to travel to, starting from its home position.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the same region. Be careful not to cross into other parcels unless you have access to do so.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.

=== Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time ===

==== Waypoint Names ====
Next, you may click your waypoint and optionally set some simple parameters. By default, waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu.

''Hint: Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!''

==== Travel Speed ====
You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

==== Wait Time ====
Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.

=== Saving Waypoint to memory ===

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

=== Create a few more Waypoints! ===

Using the above steps create, edit, and save a few more waypoints. Once you have created two or three additional waypoints, we'll save them as described below, and practice playing back the sequence.

=== Saving Waypoints Permanently to a Notecard ===
The above waypoint “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, first double-check that you have saved all red "unsaved" waypoints to memory as decribed above, then click the MST mover once and choose “'''Printmove'''”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=w5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “'''~MOVELIST'''” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard, replacing all existing "WAYPOINT=" lines. The mover will automatically load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard reloads, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “'''Show waypnts'''” and they should all come back in the correct positions, demonstrating that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

''You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.''

== More Waypoint Options ==
=== Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails ===

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the popup menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.

=== Deleting Waypoints ===

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.

=== Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence ===

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

== Simple Playback: How to play your Movement Sequence ==

After defining and saving some waypoints, you might want to test your mover to see how the movement path looks right. There are many ways that you can tell a move to start its sequence, such as chat commands, or integration with choreography timelines, but the simplest way is just to click on the mover and choose 'Start Move' from its menu. We will describe this process and typical variations below.

=== Stopping and Starting the Waypoint Movement Sequence from the Mover's Menu ===

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”. First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test. Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence,with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint. When your movement sequence finishes, you may click the MST mover again and select “Stop Move”, and it will reset back to its home position.

''Note: The MST mover will NOT appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.''

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.

=== “Riding the Mover" ===

You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. The is best done when the MST Mover is stopped and in its home position and you have already added the mover to a group in your MST performance engine’s eventlist.

When you sit on the mover, your avatar will be prompted to allow a nearby performance engine to trigger animations. Accept this permissions dialog. Your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

If you do not receive a permissions dialog your avatar may look like it is stuck in an awkward sitting pose above the mover. This happens when the mover cannot find an MST performance engine or MST ChoreoHUD Director nearby. Ensure one of the above tools is rezzed or worn, and optionally open the mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and enter in the name of your MST performance engine or ChoreoHUD next to “MSTCONTROLLER=”.

When first sitting on a mover but before it starts moving, you may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly. You can also use your viewer’s hoverheight setting for this.

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2025-04-20T18:44:54Z

Arrehn:

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we used animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's posture- such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to manually walk avatars around can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a crowded, laggy, or demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting.

This type of object is called a "''Mover''" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life. As a side benefit, it can be used for moving general objects around with high precision, not only avatars.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso levels where the feet are not visible.
* Movers rez "ready to go". No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or extremely slow types of movement are not supported. If you try to move too fast or too slow, your movement might result in a script 'velocity' error, move you to the wrong location, or not move you at all.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a New Avatar Movement Sequence ==
The following will walk you through creating a very simple movement sequence to demonstrate the overall technique. More complex scenarios are described later. In the below examples we often use the technique of clicking the mover and choosing options from a popup menu. If you would instead prefer to use chat commands to control your mover, or include it timelines automatically such as MST Performance Engines, these options are explained in later sections.

=== Rez and Rename your Mover ===

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez a stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.

From your the unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder in your inventory, drag the object "MST_Mover_rename_me" onto the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top and it will have the mover's name 'MST_Mover_rename_me" in hovertext above it. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its hovertext name to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover object before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish different movers from each other at a glance. Don't like the auto-assigned color? You can either change the mover's name slightly or set a custom color as described in the customization section later.

''You may ask 'Why is the mover the size it is?' The MST mover has been intentionally sized so that you can see how much space a typical avatar will take up when standing on the mover. You will be better able to plan movement sequences for avatars and not have them clip doors, walls, or other avatars. If you would like to customize your mover, this is possible and will be explained in the customization section.''

=== Set the Mover's “Home” Position ===

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu.

''Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any previous one.
''
=== Create a Movement Waypoint ===

You are ready to start creating a movement path! One typical way to accomplish this is to create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints in order with smooth motion.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypnt” from the pop-up menu. You will see a round waypoint marker with ah hollow triangular cutout appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

There will be some new hovertext on top of your waypoint. It may look like the following:

w1
testMover #1
[move:0.2 arrive 0.2 wait 0.0]

It is not important to understand all of this information right now, but you might be curious what this text means. Briefly, the top text "w1" is the name of the waypoint. The second line is the name of the mover this waypoint belongs to, and what order this waypoint is in the mover's sequence. The last line contains a number of timings.

For the timings, "'''move:'''" is "how many seconds should the mover take to move from its last waypoint to this one", with lower numbers meaning faster speeds. The "'''arrive'''" number tracks what time the mover will show up at this waypoint, once it starts moving from its home position. Finally the "'''wait'''" time determines how long the mover will rest at this waypoint doing nothing, before continuing on its way to the the next waypoint you may create.

All of this information -- the name of the waypoint, its position in the sequence, and all of the various timings, can be adjusted.

You'll also notice that the color of the waypoint marker matches the color of your mover. As you create waypoints from the same mover, waypoints become progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.

=== Set the new Waypoint’s Position and Rotation ===

You can right-click the waypoint and move and/or rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to travel to, starting from its home position.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the same region. Be careful not to cross into other parcels unless you have access to do so.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.

=== Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time ===

Next you can click your waypoint and optionally set some waypoint parameters. By default waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu

Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!

You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint, before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.
2.g Saving Waypoints

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

NOTE: This “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, you should first save as usual by clicking on all red unsaved waypoints and choosing “save”, then click the MST mover once and choose “Printmove”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “~MOVELIST” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard. Remove all previous WAYPOINT lines. The mover will automaticallly load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard is reloaded, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “Show waypnts” and they should all come back in the correct positions, proving that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.
2.h Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails.

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.
2.i Deleting Waypoints

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.
2.j Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

3. Basic Movement – How to Test Your Movement Sequence
3.a Stopping and Starting Movement

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”. First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test. Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence,with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint. When your movement sequence finishes, you can click the MST mover a third time, select “Stop Move”, and it should reset back to its home position.

The MST mover will NOT appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.
3.b “Riding the Mover”

You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. The is best done when the MST Mover is stopped and in its home position and you have already added the mover to a group in your MST performance engine’s eventlist.

When you sit on the mover, your avatar will be prompted to allow a nearby performance engine to trigger animations. Accept this permissions dialog. Your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

If you do not receive a permissions dialog your avatar may look like it is stuck in an awkward sitting pose above the mover. This happens when the mover cannot find an MST performance engine or MST ChoreoHUD Director nearby. Ensure one of the above tools is rezzed or worn, and optionally open the mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and enter in the name of your MST performance engine or ChoreoHUD next to “MSTCONTROLLER=”.

When first sitting on a mover but before it starts moving, you may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly. You can also use your viewer’s hoverheight setting for this.

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

MST

2024-09-12T20:14:20Z

Arrehn: /* Specific Documentation and Reference */

== MetaHarper Show Tools - What is it? ==

MetaHarper Show Tools is a complete, collaborative system for managing SL performances. If you need to rez and de-rez props safely and accurately, move objects and avatars smoothly, script camera zooms and pans, choreograph animations and special effects with real time precision, then you have found the right toolkit. I created this set of tools to promote the performing arts and creative exhibitions within SL and attempt to enable truly collaborative work, where a group of cooperating individuals can work on the same objects at the same time. Normally in-world creation tools are difficult to share with people other than the owner, but this tool suite attempts to break these barriers.

These tools have been used for years to run weekly multimedia shows across the grid, large annual acclaimed performances, and as part of exhibits in the Linden Endowment for the Arts regions.

== Where can I get a copy? ==
You may pick up a copy of the MetaHarper Show Tools in the [https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/MetaHarper-Show-Tools-BOX/7435908 SL marketplace], or on the
[http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chiaroscuro%20Isle/94/93/1201 Studio/Store platform of the MetaHarper Immersive Theater].

== Specific Documentation and Reference ==

# [[MST Components|Components - What is Included]]
# [[MST_Workspace|How to Prepare Your Workspace]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Rez and Cleanup Props]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Create Animation Sequences]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence]] (Beginner)
# How to use your Animation and Movement Sequences in a Timeline (Beginner)
# How to Run Different Animation and Movement Sequences At Once (AKA- timeline groups) (Intermediate)
# How to Use "MoveTo" for better movement accuracy in lag (Advanced)
# How to Insert new steps to the beginning of timelines without having to edit every line (Advanced)
# How to Create Camera Angles, Zooms, Pans, and Fades (Beginner)
# How to Change Outfits and Costumes with MST Outfitter (Intermediate)
# [[Customization and Branding of Movers, Centerpoints, and Engines]] (Intermediate)
# Where can I find more MST Support?
# REFERENCE - ALL "chat" commands for scripted control
# [[Eventlist Command Reference|REFERENCE - All ~EVENTLIST commands]]
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MOVELIST options
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MST_CONFIG
# REFERENCE - ALL centerpoint notecard options.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2024-09-12T20:12:54Z

Arrehn: /* Rez and Set Up your Mover */

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we explored animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's skeleton, such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to walk can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various high-resolution scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting.

This type of object is called a "''Mover''" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life. As a side benefit, it can be used for moving general objects around with high precision, not only avatars.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation, even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso shots of an avatar.
* Movers rez in a ready to go state. No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* Allows tight synchronization between movement, animations, and other timeline events.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover, even on the fly without notecard editing.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or slow types of movement are not supported. Miniscule amounts of rotation, extremely slow movement, or extremely fast movement may be rejected by the underlying region physics system.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a New Avatar Movement Sequence ==
The following will walk you through creating a very simple movement sequence to demonstrate the overall technique. More complex scenarios are described later. In the below examples we often use the technique of clicking the mover and choosing options from a popup menu. If you would instead prefer to use chat commands to control your mover, or include it timelines automatically such as MST Performance Engines, these options are explained in later sections.

=== Rez and Set Up your Mover ===

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez a stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.

From your the unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder in your inventory, drag the object "MST_Mover_rename_me" onto the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top and it will have the mover's name 'MST_Mover_rename_me" in hovertext above it. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its hovertext name to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover object before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish different movers from each other at a glance.

''You may ask 'Why is the move the size it is?' The MST mover has been intentionally sized so that you can see how much space a typical avatar will take up when standing on the mover. You will be better able to plan movement sequences for avatars and not have them clip doors, walls, or other avatars. If you would like to customizer your mover, this is possible and will be explained in the customization section.''

=== Set the “Home” position ===

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu.

''Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any older ones.
''
=== Create a Movement Waypoint ===

You are ready to start creating a movement path! One typical way to accomplish this is to create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints in order with smooth motion.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypnt”. You will see a round waypoint marker with ah hollow triangular cutout appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

There will be some new hovertext on top of your waypoint. It may look like the following:

w1
testMover #1
[move:0.2 arrive 0.2 wait 0.0]

It is s not important to understand all of this information right now, but you might be curious what this text means. Briefly, the top text "w1" is the name of the waypoint. The second line is the name of the mover this waypoint belongs to, and what order this waypoint is in the mover's sequence. The last line contains a number of timings "move:" is "how many seconds should the mover take to move from its last waypoint to this one", with lower numbers meaning faster speeds. The "arrive" number tracks what time the mover will show up at this waypoint, once it starts moving from its home position. Finally the "wait" time determines how long the mover will rest at this waypoint doing nothing, before continuing on its way to the the next waypoint you may create. All of this information -- the name of the waypoint, its position in the sequence, and all of the various timings, can be adjusted.

You'll also notice that the color of the waypoint marker matches the color of your mover. As you create waypoints from the same mover, waypoints become progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.

=== Set the new Waypoint’s Position and Rotation ===

You can right-click the waypoint and move and/or rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to travel to, starting from its home position.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the same region. Be careful not to cross into other parcels unless you have access to do so.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.

=== Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time ===

Next you can click your waypoint and optionally set some waypoint parameters. By default waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu

Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!

You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint, before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.
2.g Saving Waypoints

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

NOTE: This “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, you should first save as usual by clicking on all red unsaved waypoints and choosing “save”, then click the MST mover once and choose “Printmove”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “~MOVELIST” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard. Remove all previous WAYPOINT lines. The mover will automaticallly load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard is reloaded, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “Show waypnts” and they should all come back in the correct positions, proving that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.
2.h Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails.

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.
2.i Deleting Waypoints

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.
2.j Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

3. Basic Movement – How to Test Your Movement Sequence
3.a Stopping and Starting Movement

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”. First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test. Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence,with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint. When your movement sequence finishes, you can click the MST mover a third time, select “Stop Move”, and it should reset back to its home position.

The MST mover will NOT appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.
3.b “Riding the Mover”

You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. The is best done when the MST Mover is stopped and in its home position and you have already added the mover to a group in your MST performance engine’s eventlist.

When you sit on the mover, your avatar will be prompted to allow a nearby performance engine to trigger animations. Accept this permissions dialog. Your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

If you do not receive a permissions dialog your avatar may look like it is stuck in an awkward sitting pose above the mover. This happens when the mover cannot find an MST performance engine or MST ChoreoHUD Director nearby. Ensure one of the above tools is rezzed or worn, and optionally open the mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and enter in the name of your MST performance engine or ChoreoHUD next to “MSTCONTROLLER=”.

When first sitting on a mover but before it starts moving, you may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly. You can also use your viewer’s hoverheight setting for this.

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2024-09-12T20:08:32Z

Arrehn: /* Create a Movement Waypoint */

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we explored animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's skeleton, such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to walk can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various high-resolution scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting.

This type of object is called a "''Mover''" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life. As a side benefit, it can be used for moving general objects around with high precision, not only avatars.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation, even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso shots of an avatar.
* Movers rez in a ready to go state. No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* Allows tight synchronization between movement, animations, and other timeline events.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover, even on the fly without notecard editing.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or slow types of movement are not supported. Miniscule amounts of rotation, extremely slow movement, or extremely fast movement may be rejected by the underlying region physics system.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a New Avatar Movement Sequence ==
The following will walk you through creating a very simple movement sequence to demonstrate the overall technique. More complex scenarios are described later. In the below examples we often use the technique of clicking the mover and choosing options from a popup menu. If you would instead prefer to use chat commands to control your mover, or include it timelines automatically such as MST Performance Engines, these options are explained in later sections.

=== Rez and Set Up your Mover ===

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez a stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.

From your the unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder in your inventory, drag the object "MST_Mover_rename_me" onto the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top and it will have the mover's name 'MST_Mover_rename_me" in hovertext above it. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its hovertext name to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover object before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish different movers from each other at a glance.

=== Set the “Home” position ===

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu.

''Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any older ones.
''
=== Create a Movement Waypoint ===

You are ready to start creating a movement path! One typical way to accomplish this is to create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints in order with smooth motion.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypnt”. You will see a round waypoint marker with ah hollow triangular cutout appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

There will be some new hovertext on top of your waypoint. It may look like the following:

w1
testMover #1
[move:0.2 arrive 0.2 wait 0.0]

It is s not important to understand all of this information right now, but you might be curious what this text means. Briefly, the top text "w1" is the name of the waypoint. The second line is the name of the mover this waypoint belongs to, and what order this waypoint is in the mover's sequence. The last line contains a number of timings "move:" is "how many seconds should the mover take to move from its last waypoint to this one", with lower numbers meaning faster speeds. The "arrive" number tracks what time the mover will show up at this waypoint, once it starts moving from its home position. Finally the "wait" time determines how long the mover will rest at this waypoint doing nothing, before continuing on its way to the the next waypoint you may create. All of this information -- the name of the waypoint, its position in the sequence, and all of the various timings, can be adjusted.

You'll also notice that the color of the waypoint marker matches the color of your mover. As you create waypoints from the same mover, waypoints become progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.

=== Set the new Waypoint’s Position and Rotation ===

You can right-click the waypoint and move and/or rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to travel to, starting from its home position.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the same region. Be careful not to cross into other parcels unless you have access to do so.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.

=== Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time ===

Next you can click your waypoint and optionally set some waypoint parameters. By default waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu

Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!

You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint, before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.
2.g Saving Waypoints

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

NOTE: This “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, you should first save as usual by clicking on all red unsaved waypoints and choosing “save”, then click the MST mover once and choose “Printmove”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “~MOVELIST” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard. Remove all previous WAYPOINT lines. The mover will automaticallly load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard is reloaded, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “Show waypnts” and they should all come back in the correct positions, proving that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.
2.h Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails.

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.
2.i Deleting Waypoints

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.
2.j Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

3. Basic Movement – How to Test Your Movement Sequence
3.a Stopping and Starting Movement

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”. First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test. Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence,with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint. When your movement sequence finishes, you can click the MST mover a third time, select “Stop Move”, and it should reset back to its home position.

The MST mover will NOT appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.
3.b “Riding the Mover”

You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. The is best done when the MST Mover is stopped and in its home position and you have already added the mover to a group in your MST performance engine’s eventlist.

When you sit on the mover, your avatar will be prompted to allow a nearby performance engine to trigger animations. Accept this permissions dialog. Your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

If you do not receive a permissions dialog your avatar may look like it is stuck in an awkward sitting pose above the mover. This happens when the mover cannot find an MST performance engine or MST ChoreoHUD Director nearby. Ensure one of the above tools is rezzed or worn, and optionally open the mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and enter in the name of your MST performance engine or ChoreoHUD next to “MSTCONTROLLER=”.

When first sitting on a mover but before it starts moving, you may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly. You can also use your viewer’s hoverheight setting for this.

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2024-09-12T20:04:50Z

Arrehn: /* Create a Movement Waypoint */

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we explored animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's skeleton, such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to walk can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various high-resolution scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting.

This type of object is called a "''Mover''" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life. As a side benefit, it can be used for moving general objects around with high precision, not only avatars.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation, even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso shots of an avatar.
* Movers rez in a ready to go state. No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* Allows tight synchronization between movement, animations, and other timeline events.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover, even on the fly without notecard editing.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or slow types of movement are not supported. Miniscule amounts of rotation, extremely slow movement, or extremely fast movement may be rejected by the underlying region physics system.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a New Avatar Movement Sequence ==
The following will walk you through creating a very simple movement sequence to demonstrate the overall technique. More complex scenarios are described later. In the below examples we often use the technique of clicking the mover and choosing options from a popup menu. If you would instead prefer to use chat commands to control your mover, or include it timelines automatically such as MST Performance Engines, these options are explained in later sections.

=== Rez and Set Up your Mover ===

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez a stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.

From your the unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder in your inventory, drag the object "MST_Mover_rename_me" onto the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top and it will have the mover's name 'MST_Mover_rename_me" in hovertext above it. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its hovertext name to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover object before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish different movers from each other at a glance.

=== Set the “Home” position ===

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu.

''Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any older ones.
''
=== Create a Movement Waypoint ===

You are ready to start creating a movement path! One typical way to accomplish this is to create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints in order with smooth motion.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypnt”. You will see a round waypoint marker with ah hollow triangular cutout appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

There will be some new hovertext on top of your waypoint. It may look like the following:

w1
testMover #1
[move:0.2 arrive 0.2 wait 0.0]

It is s not important to understand these right now, but you might be curious what this text means. Briefly, the top text "w1" is the name of the waypoint. The second line is the name of the mover this waypoint belongs to, and what order this waypoint is in the mover's sequence. The last line contains a number of timings "move:" is "how many seconds should the mover take to move from its last waypoint to this one", with lower numbers meaning faster speeds. The "arrive" number tracks what time the mover will show up at this waypoint, once it starts moving from its home position. Finally the "wait" time determines how long the mover will rest at this waypoint doing nothing, before continuing on its way to the the next waypoint you may create.

The color of the waypoint markers will match the hue of the mover that created it. As you create waypoints from the same mover, waypoints become progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.

=== Set the new Waypoint’s Position and Rotation ===

You can right-click the waypoint and move and/or rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to travel to, starting from its home position.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the same region. Be careful not to cross into other parcels unless you have access to do so.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.

=== Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time ===

Next you can click your waypoint and optionally set some waypoint parameters. By default waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu

Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!

You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint, before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.
2.g Saving Waypoints

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

NOTE: This “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, you should first save as usual by clicking on all red unsaved waypoints and choosing “save”, then click the MST mover once and choose “Printmove”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “~MOVELIST” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard. Remove all previous WAYPOINT lines. The mover will automaticallly load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard is reloaded, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “Show waypnts” and they should all come back in the correct positions, proving that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.
2.h Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails.

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.
2.i Deleting Waypoints

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.
2.j Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

3. Basic Movement – How to Test Your Movement Sequence
3.a Stopping and Starting Movement

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”. First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test. Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence,with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint. When your movement sequence finishes, you can click the MST mover a third time, select “Stop Move”, and it should reset back to its home position.

The MST mover will NOT appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.
3.b “Riding the Mover”

You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. The is best done when the MST Mover is stopped and in its home position and you have already added the mover to a group in your MST performance engine’s eventlist.

When you sit on the mover, your avatar will be prompted to allow a nearby performance engine to trigger animations. Accept this permissions dialog. Your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

If you do not receive a permissions dialog your avatar may look like it is stuck in an awkward sitting pose above the mover. This happens when the mover cannot find an MST performance engine or MST ChoreoHUD Director nearby. Ensure one of the above tools is rezzed or worn, and optionally open the mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and enter in the name of your MST performance engine or ChoreoHUD next to “MSTCONTROLLER=”.

When first sitting on a mover but before it starts moving, you may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly. You can also use your viewer’s hoverheight setting for this.

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2024-09-12T18:48:51Z

Arrehn: /* Rez and Set Up your Mover */

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we explored animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's skeleton, such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to walk can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various high-resolution scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting.

This type of object is called a "''Mover''" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life. As a side benefit, it can be used for moving general objects around with high precision, not only avatars.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation, even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso shots of an avatar.
* Movers rez in a ready to go state. No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* Allows tight synchronization between movement, animations, and other timeline events.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover, even on the fly without notecard editing.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or slow types of movement are not supported. Miniscule amounts of rotation, extremely slow movement, or extremely fast movement may be rejected by the underlying region physics system.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a New Avatar Movement Sequence ==
The following will walk you through creating a very simple movement sequence to demonstrate the overall technique. More complex scenarios are described later. In the below examples we often use the technique of clicking the mover and choosing options from a popup menu. If you would instead prefer to use chat commands to control your mover, or include it timelines automatically such as MST Performance Engines, these options are explained in later sections.

=== Rez and Set Up your Mover ===

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez a stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.

From your the unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder in your inventory, drag the object "MST_Mover_rename_me" onto the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top and it will have the mover's name 'MST_Mover_rename_me" in hovertext above it. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its hovertext name to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover object before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish different movers from each other at a glance.

=== Set the “Home” position ===

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu.

''Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any older ones.
''
=== Create a Movement Waypoint ===

You are reading to start creating a movement path! To do this you create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints smoothly.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypoint”. You will see a hollow waypoint marker appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

The color of the waypoint markers will match the hue of the mover that created it. As you create waypoints on the same mover, waypoints are progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.

=== Set the new Waypoint’s Position and Rotation ===

You can right-click the waypoint and move and/or rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to travel to, starting from its home position.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the same region. Be careful not to cross into other parcels unless you have access to do so.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.

=== Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time ===

Next you can click your waypoint and optionally set some waypoint parameters. By default waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu

Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!

You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint, before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.
2.g Saving Waypoints

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

NOTE: This “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, you should first save as usual by clicking on all red unsaved waypoints and choosing “save”, then click the MST mover once and choose “Printmove”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “~MOVELIST” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard. Remove all previous WAYPOINT lines. The mover will automaticallly load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard is reloaded, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “Show waypnts” and they should all come back in the correct positions, proving that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.
2.h Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails.

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.
2.i Deleting Waypoints

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.
2.j Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

3. Basic Movement – How to Test Your Movement Sequence
3.a Stopping and Starting Movement

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”. First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test. Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence,with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint. When your movement sequence finishes, you can click the MST mover a third time, select “Stop Move”, and it should reset back to its home position.

The MST mover will NOT appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.
3.b “Riding the Mover”

You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. The is best done when the MST Mover is stopped and in its home position and you have already added the mover to a group in your MST performance engine’s eventlist.

When you sit on the mover, your avatar will be prompted to allow a nearby performance engine to trigger animations. Accept this permissions dialog. Your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

If you do not receive a permissions dialog your avatar may look like it is stuck in an awkward sitting pose above the mover. This happens when the mover cannot find an MST performance engine or MST ChoreoHUD Director nearby. Ensure one of the above tools is rezzed or worn, and optionally open the mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and enter in the name of your MST performance engine or ChoreoHUD next to “MSTCONTROLLER=”.

When first sitting on a mover but before it starts moving, you may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly. You can also use your viewer’s hoverheight setting for this.

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2024-09-11T18:58:21Z

Arrehn:

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we explored animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's skeleton, such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to walk can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various high-resolution scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting.

This type of object is called a "''Mover''" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life. As a side benefit, it can be used for moving general objects around with high precision, not only avatars.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation, even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso shots of an avatar.
* Movers rez in a ready to go state. No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* Allows tight synchronization between movement, animations, and other timeline events.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover, even on the fly without notecard editing.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or slow types of movement are not supported. Miniscule amounts of rotation, extremely slow movement, or extremely fast movement may be rejected by the underlying region physics system.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a New Avatar Movement Sequence ==
The following will walk you through creating a very simple movement sequence to demonstrate the overall technique. More complex scenarios are described later. In the below examples we often use the technique of clicking the mover and choosing options from a popup menu. If you would instead prefer to use chat commands to control your mover, or include it timelines automatically such as MST Performance Engines, these options are explained in later sections.

=== Rez and Set Up your Mover ===

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez a stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.

Rez your MST Mover on the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its name hovering above it to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover object before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish different movers from each other at a glance.

=== Set the “Home” position ===

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu.

''Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any older ones.
''
=== Create a Movement Waypoint ===

You are reading to start creating a movement path! To do this you create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints smoothly.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypoint”. You will see a hollow waypoint marker appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

The color of the waypoint markers will match the hue of the mover that created it. As you create waypoints on the same mover, waypoints are progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.

=== Set the new Waypoint’s Position and Rotation ===

You can right-click the waypoint and move and/or rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to travel to, starting from its home position.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the same region. Be careful not to cross into other parcels unless you have access to do so.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.

=== Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time ===

Next you can click your waypoint and optionally set some waypoint parameters. By default waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu

Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!

You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint, before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.
2.g Saving Waypoints

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

NOTE: This “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, you should first save as usual by clicking on all red unsaved waypoints and choosing “save”, then click the MST mover once and choose “Printmove”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “~MOVELIST” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard. Remove all previous WAYPOINT lines. The mover will automaticallly load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard is reloaded, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “Show waypnts” and they should all come back in the correct positions, proving that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.
2.h Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails.

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.
2.i Deleting Waypoints

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.
2.j Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

3. Basic Movement – How to Test Your Movement Sequence
3.a Stopping and Starting Movement

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”. First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test. Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence,with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint. When your movement sequence finishes, you can click the MST mover a third time, select “Stop Move”, and it should reset back to its home position.

The MST mover will NOT appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.
3.b “Riding the Mover”

You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. The is best done when the MST Mover is stopped and in its home position and you have already added the mover to a group in your MST performance engine’s eventlist.

When you sit on the mover, your avatar will be prompted to allow a nearby performance engine to trigger animations. Accept this permissions dialog. Your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

If you do not receive a permissions dialog your avatar may look like it is stuck in an awkward sitting pose above the mover. This happens when the mover cannot find an MST performance engine or MST ChoreoHUD Director nearby. Ensure one of the above tools is rezzed or worn, and optionally open the mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and enter in the name of your MST performance engine or ChoreoHUD next to “MSTCONTROLLER=”.

When first sitting on a mover but before it starts moving, you may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly. You can also use your viewer’s hoverheight setting for this.

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2024-09-11T18:38:38Z

Arrehn:

== What is a Mover? ==

In the previous section we explored animation sequences as a way of changing an avatar's skeleton, such as rotating hips, extending arms, bending legs, etc. These motions can make an avatar move up to 5 meters in any direction, but oftentimes you will want to move a dancing , walking, or flying avatar much farther distances.

There are many ways to move avatars greater distances but many of them have drawbacks when used in performances where synchronized timing with music, animations, and special effects is desired.
* Using a viewer to walk can be inaccurate and difficult to control during a demanding performance.
* Similarly, using traditional vehicles often are difficult to control in confined spaces and can be subject to unwanted errors from the Second Life physics engine.

The better solution is to have an avatar sit on an non-physical object, and then use various high-resolution scripted controls to move the object around, all the while playing animations to make it appear that the avatar is standing, dancing, or otherwise naturally moving under their own power and not sitting. This type of object is called a "Mover" is is a core component of choreographed scenes in Second Life.

MST Movers allow you to define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

=== What's Cool About the MetaHarper Show Tools Movers ===

MST Movers can perform typical mover functions, but also have some advanced capabilities not found elsewhere. They are particular useful for their ability to hold an almost unlimited amount of movements paths that can cover an entire region, while also allowing design teams to share design access and permissions, even interoperate with each other's equipment.

Other typical features include:

* Smooth movement and rotation, even when you are zoomed in tight to head or torso shots of an avatar.
* Movers rez in a ready to go state. No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is require, even when using different notecards containing movement sequences.
* This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
* This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
* This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
* This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
* Allows tight synchronization between movement, animations, and other timeline events.
* You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover, even on the fly without notecard editing.
* Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
* Integrates easily with MST Performance Engines as well as third party systems
* Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
* Waypoints are searchable with the viewer's area seach if you choose, making it easier to find them quickly.

=== Known Limitations ===

* Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with a rating of 64 physics equivalent or less. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
* Crossing sims on a mover may be unreliable. This is an SL limitation.
* Due to limitation in SL's physics engines, extremely fast or slow types of movement are not supported. Miniscule amounts of rotation, extremely slow movement, or extremely fast movement may be rejected by the underlying region physics system.
* When using some movement modes, timing may be affected by sim physics lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

== How to Create a New Avatar Movement Sequence ==
2.a What you Need to Get Started

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez your stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.
2.b Rez and Rename the MST mover

Rez your MST Mover on the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its name hovering above it to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover prim before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish movers from each other at a glance.
2.c Set the “Home” position

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu. If you would rather use chat commands, you can shout the chat command “/8 setmovehome arrehnmover” instead, with “arrehnmover” changed to whatever you have named your own MST mover.

Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any older ones.
2.d Create a Movement Waypoint

You are reading to start creating a movement path! To do this you create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints smoothly.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypoint”. You will see a small pill-shaped waypoint marker appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

The color of the waypoint markers will match the hue of the mover that created it. As you create waypoints on the same mover, waypoints are progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.
2.e Set the new Waypoint’s Position and Rotation

You can right-click the waypoint and move and rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to move to, starting from it’s home spot, in a straight line.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the region.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.
2.f Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time

Next you can click your waypoint and optionally set some waypoint parameters. By default waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu

Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!

You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint, before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.
2.g Saving Waypoints

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

NOTE: This “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, you should first save as usual by clicking on all red unsaved waypoints and choosing “save”, then click the MST mover once and choose “Printmove”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “~MOVELIST” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard. Remove all previous WAYPOINT lines. The mover will automaticallly load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard is reloaded, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “Show waypnts” and they should all come back in the correct positions, proving that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.
2.h Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails.

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.
2.i Deleting Waypoints

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.
2.j Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

3. Basic Movement – How to Test Your Movement Sequence
3.a Stopping and Starting Movement

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”. First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test. Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence,with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint. When your movement sequence finishes, you can click the MST mover a third time, select “Stop Move”, and it should reset back to its home position.

The MST mover will NOT appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.
3.b “Riding the Mover”

You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. The is best done when the MST Mover is stopped and in its home position and you have already added the mover to a group in your MST performance engine’s eventlist.

When you sit on the mover, your avatar will be prompted to allow a nearby performance engine to trigger animations. Accept this permissions dialog. Your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

If you do not receive a permissions dialog your avatar may look like it is stuck in an awkward sitting pose above the mover. This happens when the mover cannot find an MST performance engine or MST ChoreoHUD Director nearby. Ensure one of the above tools is rezzed or worn, and optionally open the mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and enter in the name of your MST performance engine or ChoreoHUD next to “MSTCONTROLLER=”.

When first sitting on a mover but before it starts moving, you may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly. You can also use your viewer’s hoverheight setting for this.

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence

2024-09-11T02:42:05Z

Arrehn: Created page with "1. OVERVIEW 1.a What is the MST Mover? The MST mover is a single prim that is both a movement sequence design tool and a production-ready movement choreography tool in one. It allows you define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways. This mover is especially great for allowing your designed mover sequences to work collaboratively with others, even if..."

1. OVERVIEW

1.a What is the MST Mover?

The MST mover is a single prim that is both a movement sequence design tool and a production-ready movement choreography tool in one.

It allows you define a series of movement waypoints that you can use to move both avatars and objects around your performance area in very precise, smooth, and repeatable ways.

This mover is especially great for allowing your designed mover sequences to work collaboratively with others, even if you are offline.
1.b Major Features

Very smooth movement and rotation, even when you are zoomed in tight to parts of the moving avatar.
Movers rez in an immediate, ready to go state. No initialization, reseting, notecard reading, or waiting time is required.
This mover can allow movement to any waypoint, in any order. It is not restricted to a single playback path.
This mover can go anywhere within a single region. it’s not limited to size constraints.
This mover can allow scripted movement sequences even if you have not defined waypoints in advance.
This mover may be placed in different choreography groups while it is running, without having to edit notecards.
Allows sub-sections of waypoints to be looped in various ways.
Allows tight synchronization between movement, animations, and other timeline events.
You may allow or disallow other avatars to control the mover, even on the fly without notecard editing.
Allows specific waypoints to be named. This tactic can result in re-using waypoints for less memory, easier edits, and more readable timelines.
Integrates easily with both MST Performance Engines and MST ChoreoHUD Director
Does not require a separate designer piece, all of your movement details are kept in the same object.
Allows easy insertion of waypoints
Waypoints are searchable with area seach, when visible
Allows “private waypoints” that exist outside of the normal linear playback path

This mover has been designed to work in places where the owner is not necessarily logged in or on the same sim, so the primary way you use it is via chat commands and blue dialog boxes. If you own the MST ChoreoHUD Director product, you also have the option of calling up the menu for each mover via a graphical HUD display.
1.c Known Limitations

Movement of objects only works with “convex-hull” type objects with the physics equivalent of less than 64. To see the physics equivalent of your object, select it, open the build window, and click the “more info” little text link next to where it prints the Prim Equivalent(PE) weight.
Crossing sims on the MST mover may be unreliable
Extremely small changes in rotation may result in path errors. Typically this comes into play when rotating very slowly over a long path. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. This can be avoided by moving at faster speeds, increasing rotation, or not rotating at all.
When using the simple playback mode, movement timing can be affected by sim lag. This means by the end of a very long running movement sequence, there may be some timing drift. This is a known issue with LSL’s “llSetKeyframedMotion” function. See the section on “moveto” for possible ways to mitigate this effect.

2. How to Create a New Avatar Movement Sequence
2.a What you Need to Get Started

Go to your performance area or work area where you can rez objects. You may wish to rez your stage template and stage props to get a feel for your performance space.
2.b Rez and Rename the MST mover

Rez your MST Mover on the ground. It will look like a colored square with some chevrons on the top. Rename it something to represent the avatar or object that you are trying to move. For example “arrehnMover” or “elephant”. Try not to use punctuation or spaces- this can make troubleshooting harder than it needs to be later.

After renaming the mover, click it to pull up its menu, which will also cause its name hovering above it to change. You can close the window safely without choosing anything. Ensure that your new name shows up in floating text above the mover prim before continuing further.

The mover will also change color whenever its name changes. This is a normal feature to help you be able to distinguish movers from each other at a glance.
2.c Set the “Home” position

The MST Mover has a concept of its “home” location within a particular region. Whenever it is told to start moving, it will go to this location first. Whenever it is told to stop all movement, it will also return to its home location.

To set the home location, move and/or rotate your MST mover to the place on the region you want it to start. Then, click it and choose “set home” from the popup menu. If you would rather use chat commands, you can shout the chat command “/8 setmovehome arrehnmover” instead, with “arrehnmover” changed to whatever you have named your own MST mover.

Note: when you rez your MST mover, it will automatically set its home position to where it was rezzed. If you want the home to be some other location, follow the above procedure after rezzing. Setting a new home position will replace any older ones.
2.d Create a Movement Waypoint

You are reading to start creating a movement path! To do this you create a series of “waypoints” at particular locations. The mover prim will travel to these waypoints smoothly.

To create your first waypoint, click your MST mover and choose “New Waypoint”. You will see a small pill-shaped waypoint marker appear a short distance in front of your MST mover.

The color of the waypoint markers will match the hue of the mover that created it. As you create waypoints on the same mover, waypoints are progressively darker versions of the same hue. If you create enough waypoints, the brightness will repeat. These colors help you see at a glance which waypoints go with each mover, and in what order. Later on in this documentation you will see how you can draw particle paths to connect the waypoints for an even clearer picture.
2.e Set the new Waypoint’s Position and Rotation

You can right-click the waypoint and move and rotate it around your performance area. Place it in the location where you want to MST mover to move to, starting from it’s home spot, in a straight line.

If you have more complex movement paths in your mind, such as movement involving multiple steps, going around corners, going in curves, etc.. You will create these later by using a series of waypoints. However, for now just pick one single location, move your waypoint there, and rotate it is needed.

You can move your waypoint up, down, or anywhere in the region.

After you move your waypoint it may change color to red and tell you that it is “unsaved”. You can ignore this for now, we will cover saving in a later step.
2.f Edit Waypoint Name, Movement Speed, and Wait Time

Next you can click your waypoint and optionally set some waypoint parameters. By default waypoints are given a generic name such as “Waypoint 1”. You can rename them if you choose, this can move using them later easier in some cases. Rename a waypoint by clicking on it and choosing “rename” from the popup menu

Renaming your waypoints also let you find them in your viewer’s area search easier!

You can also set the “travel speed”. Movement speed is a measure, in seconds, of how long your mover should take to travel from it’s last postion (in this case, the home) and the waypoint. The lower the number of seconds, the faster it will move. You can set the travel speed by clicking a particular waypoint marker and choosing “speed” from the popup menu. This is a value only used by Simple Playback mode, and the minimum number of seconds is 0.2.

Finally you can set the “wait time”. Wait time is a measure, in seconds, of how long the mover should pause after reaching this waypoint, before it moves on to anywhere else. Wait time is only used for Simple Playback mode.
2.g Saving Waypoints

When you are happy with the way your waypoint is configured, click the waypoint and choose “Save” from the menu. Always make sure to save unsaved waypoint markers before adding a new waypoint. When you save, you will see your waypoints briefly disappear and then return. This is how you know they were saved properly.

NOTE: This “save” is only a temporary save. It will last until the MST Mover’s inventory changes or its scripts are reset. To save your waypoints permanently, you should first save as usual by clicking on all red unsaved waypoints and choosing “save”, then click the MST mover once and choose “Printmove”. This will print out a number of lines in nearby chat. This list will look something like this:

Example:

WAYPOINT=home,<0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 0.200000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint1,<0.000000, 0.000000, 12.630370>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint2,<-0.687103, 0.000000, 0.906403>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 8.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint3,<-0.780853, -0.493500, 4.047516>, <0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000>, 3.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint4,<0.000000, -1.618942, 3.736115>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.972370, 0.233445>, 1.000000, 0.000000
WAYPOINT=waypoint5,<2.004822, 0.025909, 2.606476>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.052336, 0.998630>, 2.000000, 0.000000

You should copy all of the lines that start with “WAYPOINT” into your clipboard, then open up the “~MOVELIST” notecard inside the mover, and paste these lines into the end of the notecard. Remove all previous WAYPOINT lines. The mover will automaticallly load the new notecard as soon as you save it. After the notecard is reloaded, any waypoints shown will disappear. You can show them again by clicking on the mover and choosing “Show waypnts” and they should all come back in the correct positions, proving that your notecard was saved correctly.

You may notice that there is a waypoint at the beginning called “home” that you may not have added. This waypoint always exists, to mark the mover’s home position. Even if you leave it out of the notecard, it will silently be added back. This waypoint is not shown when showing waypoints because the floating text would make the mover difficult to read.

You may optionally remove the timestamps before the “WAYPOINT” lines, but if you forget it is ok. The mover will ignore the timestamps.
2.h Showing and Hiding the Waypoint Markers, and Optional Particle Trails.

At any time you can hide the waypoint markers by clicking the MST Mover and choosing “Hide waypnts” from the menu. If you want to make them visible again. click the MST Mover, choose “Stop Move” to ensure it is in its home position, then choose “Show waypnts”.

Is is normal for the waypoint markers to all share a similar color hue. The color of the waypoint markers will grow darker as the sequence of them increases, so you can visuallly get an idea of their order.

Some people find it helpful to see particle trails that connect each waypoint to another, so you can see the pattern of travel. To see these, use the “Show trails” and “Hide trails” menu options when clicking the MST mover, similar to “Show waypnts” and “Hide waypnts”.

This option will show the waypoints connected by particle trails. Note: Make sure you have particles enabled in your viewer to see them.
2.i Deleting Waypoints

If you want to delete a waypoint, you can click that waypoint and choose “Delete”, or simply remove the line for that waypoint from your ~MOVELIST notecard and resave it.
2.j Inserting New Waypoints into the Middle of a Movement Sequence

If you wish to insert new waypoints, click the wayoint before or after the place where you desire to insert a new waypoint, and click the appropriate menu choice- either “insert before” or “insert after”.

If you wish to completely rearrange the order of your existing waypoints, you might be able to save time by opening the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and rearranging or relabelling the lines inside. Experiment with changes, save, and choose “Show trails” to see if you have the desired behavior.

3. Basic Movement – How to Test Your Movement Sequence
3.a Stopping and Starting Movement

To see what your movement sequence will look like, you can use the mover to activate “Simple Playback Mode”. First, click your MST Mover and choose “Stop Move”. This will reset your mover to its home and is always a good practice to get into before starting a test. Next, click the MST Mover again and choose “Start Move”. You should see the mover begin to travel to each of the waypoints you have created, in sequence,with speeds and pauses that match the parameters you have set for each waypoint. When your movement sequence finishes, you can click the MST mover a third time, select “Stop Move”, and it should reset back to its home position.

The MST mover will NOT appear to move if you have it selected with the build tool. Make sure the mover is deselected before telling it to start movement. You do not need to sit on the mover to test its movement.

At this point you can make adjustments to the waypoints as needed to satisfy your vision, such as increasing the speed of certain segments, adjusting the pauses, position, rotation, or adding more waypoints. Remember to “save” each waypoint after making a change, and remember to use “printmove” and save the new movement sequence into the MST Mover’s notecard when you’re happy with the waypoints.
3.b “Riding the Mover”

You can have your avatar “sit” on the mover to ride it as it travels through it’s movement sequence. The is best done when the MST Mover is stopped and in its home position and you have already added the mover to a group in your MST performance engine’s eventlist.

When you sit on the mover, your avatar will be prompted to allow a nearby performance engine to trigger animations. Accept this permissions dialog. Your MST Mover will also become invisible while you sit on it. This is normal. It will become visible again after you stand up.

If you do not receive a permissions dialog your avatar may look like it is stuck in an awkward sitting pose above the mover. This happens when the mover cannot find an MST performance engine or MST ChoreoHUD Director nearby. Ensure one of the above tools is rezzed or worn, and optionally open the mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and enter in the name of your MST performance engine or ChoreoHUD next to “MSTCONTROLLER=”.

When first sitting on a mover but before it starts moving, you may use the ‘pageup’ and ‘pagedown’ keys, or the ‘e’ and ‘c’ keys to adjust your avatar up and down so that your feet touch the floor properly. You can also use your viewer’s hoverheight setting for this.

4. Integration with MST Eventlist Timelines

MST Movers are specifically optimized to work with the eventlists of MST Performance Engines or ChoreoHUD Director. When you are using either of these tools below are some important steps to perform.
4a. Group membership

Ensure that your mover name is listed in at least one group definition line in the eventlist. For example, if you want your mover to be used in group “dancers” and your mover is named “arrehnMover” your group definition should look something like:

@group dancers|arrehnMover,someOtherMover,yetAnotherMover|waiting

4b. Pair the Mover to a Specific Eventlist

If there are multiple MST performance engines or ChoreoHUDs around, you should ensure your movers only respond to a particular one, for predictability and safety. To accomplish this edit your mover’s “~MOVELIST” notecard and add the name of the performance engine or ChoreoHUD after the ‘MSTCONTROLLER=’ option. For exampe, if your performance engine is called ‘arrehnFlamenco’, the line would look like:

MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnFlamenco

4c. Use the Optmimized Event Actions

While you can use mover chat commands in section 5 in your eventlists for maximum flexibility, the following event action commands are optimized to perform well in crowded, stressed regions:

MOVESTART

This can be used to start the simple playback sequence, using the speed and wait times you have specified at each waypoint. If you use MOVESTART within a group, it will apply to every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “all”. For example:

MOVESTART
MOVESTART:arrehnMover
MOVESTART:backupDancerGroup
MOVESTART:ALL

MOVESTOP

This command will stop all movement and reset MST Movers to their home positions. If you use MOVESTOP within a group, it will stop and reset every mover in that group. You can also specify a specific group, movername, or “ALL”, similar to MOVESTART above.

MOVEPAUSE

This command will immediately pause movement. It can be restarted again using “MOVESTART”. Be careful when using this command, as using it more than once during the same movement sequence can be unreliable. It takes the same optional group and mover options as MOVESTOP and MOVESTART.

MOVETO

The “MOVETO” command is sophisticated and can be used to bring the mover to any waypoint, at any speed, in any order. When using MOVETO you specify a waypoint name and a speed, and the speed and/or wait times you set on the waypoints are ignored. MOVETO also has the side effect of being more resistant to region lag than MOVESTART, but as a tradeoff it requires using many separate commands in your eventlist instead of only one.

If you set the speed to ‘0’ or leave it blank, the movement will be near instant. We will discuss the nuances of using this command later in this document. When used in the event list, it will move all movers in the current group to the specified waypoint at the specified speed. It can also be used with specific movers, as shown in the following examples:

MOVETO:waypoint1
MOVETO:arrehnMover waypoint2 3.5
MOVETO:backupDancerGroup waypoint3 2.0w
MOVETO:ALL home 2.0

4.d Using MST Movers in a Rezzer, such as the MST Performance Engine

The MST Mover is made to fully support being rezzed on demand, as part of an act, the same as any other prop that would show up on stage. It does not need long initialization times after rezzing, it’s ready to go. Packing your MST movers in your rezzer system is the recommended approach if you have planned enough time to rez your set and get your avatars on movers, before your act is due to start.

Not every show allows enough time for props to rez and avatars to find their place, before the show is due to start. For example, If your internet connectivity is very slow or sporadic, it may take you too long to see the results of rezzing props and movers. In cases like this, you may wish to leave your MST mover outside of a rezzer, in its home position backstage.

In these cases where you are leave the mover backstage, you way also wish to pack the mover in a rezzer as normal, but use a “NOREZ” line in in your PACKLIST notecard. This allows you to keep all of your work in a single location and gives you a backup in case your backstage mover is missing, out of place, or not behaving as you expect. You may also wish to read the secion on using private waypoints along with private groups to handle your pre-show and post-show setup movement.
4.e Cameras are Built In

The MST Mover already contains a camera client. An avatar riding the mover does not need to wear a camera HUD to see scripted camera movement. Do not wear a camera HUD and ride the mover at the same time, or you will see all scripted camera motion twice and this can cause stuttering-like effects.
5. (OPTIONAL) How to Control the MST Mover using a Traditional Chat Command

Chat commands are sometimes helpful for achieving rare special effects or integrating with other tools. Every action that the MST mover can perform via the blue dialogs, plus many more, can also be performed via chat commands. Below we will show some examples of chat commands that can used to trigger simple playback movement, similar to what you used to test in section 3.

To stop movement, returning an MST mover to its home position, you can shout the “/8 stopmove arrehnmover” command to send a stop command on channel 8. You should replace “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object. Below are some examples of how to use this chat command:

/8 stopmove movertest (This will stop the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

To start movement, you can use the command “/8 startmove arrehnmover”, replacing “arrehnmover” with the name of your specific MST mover object, similar to how you stopped movement above.

/8 startmove movertest (This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named "movertest"

In general when you use chat commands you will need to specify the name of the mover right after the command. The movers are designed to share a channel but look for their name for each command. If you want to see a full list of mover chat commands you can shout “/8 help”. The full list can be found below:

How to read the syntax:

< > means “this parameter is required”, and you do not have to type the “<” and “>” characters.
[ ] means “this parameter is OPTIONAL”, and you do not have to type the “[” and “]” characters.
<something>|<somethingelse> means that you can choose EITHER the “something” parameter, or the “something else” parameter, but not both at once. You do not type the “<“, the “|” or the “>” characters.

startmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>] [start_waypoint] [end_waypoint] [loop|rev|pingpong]
stopmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
pausemove [<move_name>|<group_name>]
moveto <mover_name>]|<group_name> (<pos> <rot>|<waypoint>) [seconds]
newwaypoint [movername]
printmove [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
setmovehome [<mover_name>|<group_name>]
hidewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
showwaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
deletewaypoint <mover_name> [waypointname]
newwaypoint <mover_name>
precache <mover_name>
camon <mover_name>
camoff <mover_name>
hidemove <mover_name>|<group_name
moveranim <move_name>

You may see the above like by typing “/8 helpmove“
6. Advanced Movement – How to Make Movement Timing More Precise with MOVETO
6.a What Causes Movement Lag?

Movement sequences are affected by your region statistics. If your region is very busy, full of avatars and scripts, it is very possible for movement to take longer than it is supposed to last. For example, if you have created a movement sequence that moves to five waypoints for a total movement time of 30 seconds, this may take longer on a busy region. It may take 31 seconds, or 35 seconds, etc. In general, the longer the sequence, the more of a drift effect that can be seen when the region is under stress. This behavior is a consequence of Second Life’s physics engine and is difficult to predict.

This movement lag can make it very difficult to tightly choreograph avatar animations, music, and effects that you wish to trigger at the same time as movement.

One way to compensate for this is to change how he mover plays back a sequence. Normally you would tell the mover to “start” and accept that it may be affected by lag. An alternate command to start is “MOVETO”. This command can be used to tell the mover to move to particular waypoints at particular exact times. This method requires more chat commands overall, but in exchange for more chat commands you gain tighter timing.

MOVETO can be used either as an MST Eventlist command (preferred) or as a generic chat command.
6.b When to Use MOVETO

Use the “moveto” methods in the following situations:

When you need movement to perfectly match animations near the end or middle of your act, which might otherwise be affected by movement lag.
When you need to move from point A to point B near instantaneously, faster than 0.2 seconds.
When you want to wish to move to waypoints in a dynamic, changeable way that isn’t pre-programmed in advance. Waypoint order and movement speed can be changed on the fly.
When you regularly move to the same location and you’d rather use a single waypoint for it than have many waypoints on top of each other.

SPECIAL NOTE: When you use the “moveto” commands, the speed and pause times you defined for a waypoint in the sequence builder are both ignored. The speed you specify with the moveto command replaces the speed you set on the waypoint in the sequence builder. Instead of specifying a pause time, you simply wait the right amount of seconds before sending the next moveto command.
6.c Precautions when Using MOVETO

When you use MOVETO, you have to send a MOVETO command for each waypoint you wish to visit. For example if you have five waypoints, you could use “MOVESTART” and watch the mover visit all five in order. However if you use MOVETO, you need to tell it to go to each one. Example:

0.0|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint1 2.0
2.1|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint2 4.5
6.7|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoing3 3.0
9.8|MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint4 10.0
19.9MOVETO:MyGroup1 waypoint5 5.5

Notice in the above example I have left about 0.1s of padding between each movement. It is a good idea to leave some padding but not required.

Because MOVETO requires so many extra commands , you have to take care not to send too many commands during the same moment of time, or some may be delayed or even lost. To avoid this, try use MOVETO with groups whenever possible instead of individual movers, so you are moving many movers with a single command. If you must move your movers individually, avoid moving them at the exact same time.
7. Advanced Movement Patterns – Other Waypoints Tricks
7.a Movement Playback Segments

You may optionally decide to use the Simple Playback Mode only a certain segment of your larger movement sequence, by specifying startWaypoint and endWaypoint arguments to the “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5

(This will start the movement sequence only for the mover named “movertest” and perform the movement only from waypoints2 through waypoint5. Please note that there are spaces between the name of the mover, and each of the waypoints.)

As with other startmove commands, you should specify a group or movername.

NOTE: You should move your mover to the desired starting location for the above sequence first, before using “/8 startmove…”. This can be done by using a moveto command if your mover doesn’t start at the correct place already.
7.b Movement Playback Loops

When using simple playback mode, you may optionally decide to play all or some of your movement sequence in a loop, by specifying either “loop” “rev” or “pingpong” after your “/8 startmove” command. For example:

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 loop

(This will loop the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 rev

(This will play the movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint5 in reverse)

/8 startmove movertest waypoint2 waypoint5 pingpong

(This will loop movement sequence between waypoint2 and waypoint 5 back and forth.. first playing it forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, etc.)
7.c Using “moveto” with Coordinates instead of Waypoints

The chat moveto commands are very flexible, and do not even require you to set up a waypoint ahead of time. You may pass position and rotation values directly with the moveto command, for example:

/8 moveto movertest <1.0,0.0,0.0> <0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0> 5.0

The above command would slowly cause the mover named “movertest” to slide 1 meter forward over the course of 5 seconds. Most people will probably not use this functionality, but it can be very handy when the list of specific waypoints cannot be known in advance, or there are so many waypoints required that they cannot all be added to the ~MOVELIST notecard and fit into memory.

NOTE The positions and rotations specified should be relative to the mover’s home position.
7.d Private Waypoints

Sometimes you wish to use simple playback mode with MOVESTART, but also at the same time want to have waypoints that are not part of the MOVESTART sequence. These can be useful for making waypoints that are intended to be used before or after the main part of the show. This is particularly useful for people who leave their movers rezzed semi-permanently backstage.

If you want to make a waypoint “private” and ignored by MOVESTART, rename it so that it starts with a “!” character. When you do this the color of the waypoint will change to white, and you will be unable to set a speed or wait time, because this waypoint now can only be used by MOVETO commands. The main MOVESTART command will ignore it.
8. Advanced Movement Patterns – Using multiple mover notecards (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple movement cards may be desired

When using a very large number of waypoints you may need to split your movement up between two or more movement notecards. Each notecard can typically hold around 50-70 waypoints depending on how you name them. Shorter waypoint names use a little less memory. You may also wish to use multiple movement notecards even when you are not low on memory, if you wish your mover to have two or more distinct travel sequences. For example, if you wished to keep travel from backstage onto centerstage while the theater curtain is down, seperate from stage movement sequence that happens while the stage curtain is up.
8.b How to use different movement cards

First, create a new notecard (typically by copying a default ~MOVELIST notecard) and place it in the mover’s inventory. Be sure to name this new notecard something unique so you will not confuse it with the usual ~MOVELIST card.

Second, for each notecard you add to the mover (beyond ~MOVELIST), add both a “~moveReaderN” and “~moveMgrN” script. These scripts can be found in your MST Box in an item called “MST – Optional Scripts for more dancers and longer movers”. “N” will be a number, and you should be careful to add them in order. For example, if you wish to use a total of three movement notecards (~MOVELIST, and then two others), you should add the following scripts to your mover: “~moveReader2″ ,”~moveMgr2″ ,”~moveReader3″,”~moverMgr3”.

Once the new scripts have been added, and notecards configured you can change notecards for designing the waypoints by clicking the mover and choose “Select Card”.

When playing back movement, you can use an EVENTLIST command “MOVECARD:NameOfYourMovementCard” to change cards. Or you use a chat command “/8 setnotecard yourMoverName yourNotecardName”.

Example:

0.0|SAY:0:Starting VLP Example 1. Starting movement of first notecard
0.0|ANIM:The Robot
0.0||MOVESTART
9.0|SAY:0:Starting movement of second notecard
9.0|MOVECARD:A_Different_Notecard
9.5|MOVESTART
9.5|ANIM:Figure Eight
25.0|STOP

Note: When changing movement notecards, the previous notecard’s movement will automatically be stopped.

9. Advanced Feature – Using multiple animation engines with the same mover (Beta 2021 Feature)
8.a Why multiple animation engines may be desired

Sometimes you have a very long animation sequence that cannot fit in any single MST Performance Engine or ChoreoHUD. In this case, you can tell your mover to accept animation control from multiple sources. You can do this by editing the mover’s ~MOVELIST notecard and adding additional “MSTCONTROLLER=” lines, each line specifying a different engine.

Some choreographers also wish to use multiple animation sources just to provide redundancy or allow staff members to share duties. If the animation engines are owned by different people, make sure to also add an ALLOW= line in your ~MOVELIST notecard for each other animation engine owner, other than yourself.

Example:

# Set the name of your MST Engine or ChoreoHUD below. Setting this will improve performance.
# If you are using the ChoreoHUD to run your movers, you MUST use the choreoHUD's name here.
MSTCONTROLLER=arrehnPE_cabaret
MSTCONTROLLER=johndoeChoreoHUD_cabaret
ALLOW=Johndoe Resident

NOTE: When multiple animation engines are paired to a mover, anyone sitting on that mover will receive animation permission requests from each engine listed. To avoid permission request spam, it is suggested the the animation engines be configured to to use the “MetaHarper Immersive Theater” land experience, if possible, by edited each engine’s “MST_CONFIG” notecards and setting “USE_EXPERIENCE=YES”.

10. Addtional Features / HowTos
10.a Easy Ways to Select Movers and Waypoints, even while Riding the Mover

If you are looking for a way to select the mover and access it’s click menu without using your viewer cameras, there are a few methods available.

Method 1 is “Area Search”. Pull open your viewer’s Area Search window (usually accessed under “World”) and search for the name of your mover or the name of your waypoint. From the list of results you may right-click any line and select “touch”.

Method 2 is “chat commands”. Most commands to manipulate your mover can be accomplished via chat commands. For a list of all commands you can type “/8 help” when standing near your mover, or find examples on this documentation page.

Method 3, if you own the “MST Choreo HUD Director Edition” is to use the Mover Tab in your choreoHUD. From this tab you can select movers in the area and click the edit icon to access that mover’s click menu.
10.b How to Change the Message Sent when Avatars Sit on the Mover.

When you first sit on the mover it will send you a welcome message in your chat. You can change this message by adding a line to your ~MOVELIST notecard that starts with “WELCOME=”. For example, you could add this line to your ~MOVELIST notecard:

WELCOME=Make sure to tell the director you're ready to go and set your home position here.

10.c How to Move Objects instead of Avatars

By default, the mover is a good size and shape for avatars to ride. If you want to move an object instead of an avatar, here’s what to do.

First, turn off some of the special effects that only apply to avatars by adding this line in your ~MOVELIST notecard:

@nofx

At this point you can make the MST mover transparent, resize it if needed, and link it it with the object you wish to move. If you link the mover to other objects keep in mind that the MST mover must be the “root” object, and that the prim accounting type should be set to “Convex Hull”, and the PE value should be less than 64.
10.d How to Create a New Movement Sequence that is a Left-Right Mirror Image of an Existing Sequence.

It’s fairly common for people to want to make movement on the left of their performance area be a mirror image of movement on the right of their performance area. The MST mover supports this concept.

To mirror movement, first create the waypoints for the left or right side and save the waypoints to the ~MOVELIST notecard. Next, make a copy of the MST Mover and rename it something new. Finally, click the newly copied mover and choose the “Mirror” option from the pop up dialog. After doing this, print out the waypoints and re-save the new values to the ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.e How to Hide Empty Movers During a Show

Sometimes you may want to make the green MST viewers temporarily invisible.

To hide the MST Mover you can simply make it transparent, or pick it up. You can also click the mover and choose ‘hide’ from its menu to toggle whether it is hidden or not.

You also can send a special command to tell movers to hide themselves.

/8 hidemove NameOfYourParticularMover

This command is temporary– The mover will reset to its normal state whenever its scripts reset or an avatar riding on it stands up.
10.f How to Give Other Avatars Control of your MST Mover for Collaboration

You may optionally allow other avatars to collaborate with you and send chat commands to your MST mover or make changes to waypoints. To do this add “ALLOW” lines to your “~MOVELIST” notecard with the names of the avatars you wish to share with. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Resident

Note: You can use full names, usernames, or UUIDs, but you cannot use “Display Names” because Display Names are able to be impersonated. Make sure the spelling and capitalization is exact, and if the avatar you are sharing with doesn’t have a last name make sure to add “Resident”.

In addition to adding this line, you may need to check the “share with group” box in the viewer build window for your MST mover, and/or grant “allow object rights” to your collaborators, in order to allow the avatar to make direct edits to your ~MOVELIST notecard.
10.g How to Disable the Built-in Scripted Camera Feature

You can add the line:

@nocam

to the ~MOVELIST notecard to disable the scripted camera feature.
10.h How to Change the “Sit Here” Floating Text

In the ~MOVELIST notecard, you can use the FLOATTEXT option to set the floating next above the mover to something other than “Sit Here”. Example:

FLOATTEXT="Arrehn's Set"

10.i How to Disable Animation Invites when Avatars Sit on the Mover

If you have linked your mover to something that has its own animation poses, you might not want someone sitting on the mover to receive an animation invite from a metaharper performance engine or ChoreoHUD. If this is the case you can use the following option in the ~MOVELIST notecard:

@noanim

10.j How to Disable the Default “page-up / page-down” Height Adjustment Feature

If you have linked your mover to an object that already captures the page up/pagedown/e/c keys, you might not wish the mover to try and use these button presses to adjust a rider’s height. In this case you can disable the mover’s default behavior by using the ~MOVELIST notecard option:

@noadjust

10.j How to make visually smooth movement between waypoints, automatically (auto time)

If you have want to make your mover appear to travel at the same rate between many waypoints, some which are close together and some further apart, this can be accomplished automatically. Sometimes this is called also called a “normalize time” function. This can be accomplished by clicking your mover, using the [>> More] button, and selecting “Auto Time”. You can feed it the waypoint to start from, waypoint to end with, and total travel time in seconds. It will automatically compute the arrival times of all the waypoints in between for you. Be sure to save re-print your movelist list after using this feature so you can update the MOVELIST notecard.

MST

2024-09-11T02:40:44Z

Arrehn:

== MetaHarper Show Tools - What is it? ==

MetaHarper Show Tools is a complete, collaborative system for managing SL performances. If you need to rez and de-rez props safely and accurately, move objects and avatars smoothly, script camera zooms and pans, choreograph animations and special effects with real time precision, then you have found the right toolkit. I created this set of tools to promote the performing arts and creative exhibitions within SL and attempt to enable truly collaborative work, where a group of cooperating individuals can work on the same objects at the same time. Normally in-world creation tools are difficult to share with people other than the owner, but this tool suite attempts to break these barriers.

These tools have been used for years to run weekly multimedia shows across the grid, large annual acclaimed performances, and as part of exhibits in the Linden Endowment for the Arts regions.

== Where can I get a copy? ==
You may pick up a copy of the MetaHarper Show Tools in the [https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/MetaHarper-Show-Tools-BOX/7435908 SL marketplace], or on the
[http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chiaroscuro%20Isle/94/93/1201 Studio/Store platform of the MetaHarper Immersive Theater].

== Specific Documentation and Reference ==

# [[MST Components|Components - What is Included]]
# [[MST_Workspace|How to Prepare Your Workspace]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Rez and Cleanup Props]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Create Animation Sequences]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence]] (Beginner)
# How to use your Animation and Movement Sequences in a Timeline (Beginner)
# How to Run Different Animation and Movement Sequences At Once (AKA- timeline groups) (Intermediate)
# How to Use "MoveTo" for better movement accuracy in lag (Advanced)
# How to Insert new steps to the beginning of timelines without having to edit every line (Advanced)
# How to Create Camera Angles, Zooms, Pans, and Fades (Beginner)
# How to Change Outfits and Costumes with MST Outfitter (Intermediate)
# Where can I find more MST Support?
# REFERENCE - ALL "chat" commands for scripted control
# [[Eventlist Command Reference|REFERENCE - All ~EVENTLIST commands]]
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MOVELIST options
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MST_CONFIG
# REFERENCE - ALL centerpoint notecard options.

How to Create Animation Sequences

2024-09-11T02:34:15Z

Arrehn:

== What exactly is a Choreography Sequence? ==
When we talk about a "choreography sequence", this typically refers to the body movements of an avatar over a period of time. "Body Movements" in this case are manipulations of an avatar's skeleton such as leg bends, hip rotations, arm extensions, etc. In Second Life, body movements of an avatar are accomplished by playing pre-recorded "animation" objects. By playing specific animations in specific orders at specific times, we can create a graceful, continuous story.

== Building an animation sequence with ChoreoHUD Solo ==
There are a few different ways to compose sequences of animations together. In this section we'll describe one of the simplest methods, using the "ChoreoHUD Solo" tool included in the MetaHarper Show Tools package. This tool can be used to create an animation sequence suitable for a single avatar at a time.

You might ask what if wish to compose sequences for more than one avatar at a time? Or try out other methods? We'll come back to this later.

=== Load your Animations ===
# Go to a place where you can rez objects. You will need about 70 prims free.
# Drag the "MST Choreo HUD SOLO" from your unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder onto the ground nearby.
# Copy some animations from your avatar’s inventory and paste them into the HUD’s inventory on the ground. For best results copy less than 40 animations per copy-paste. If you have a very large number of animations to import from another device see the FAQ documentation for a fast method. TIP: Don’t use no-copy animations
# Pick up your MST Choreo HUD off the ground and attach it to your avatar

=== Select Your Desired Animations ===

Click the blue button at the bottom of the ChoreoHUD. The display should change to "Sequence Builder Mode"". This mode can be used for quickly assembling a list of timed animations that flow together to create an effect or tell a story. This is often the first step in creating a larger performance that involves dances or animations.

To build a sequence, first click the ‘list’ button in the lower right area of the HUD. This will slide out an window on the right showing all of your loaded animations. Browse and click animations on this right panel to see them play on your avatar. If you like the way an animation looks and want to use it in your sequence, Click the the “left arrow” button at the top of the right-hand window bar to move the currently-playing animation onto the left sequence panel. When you add an animation to the left sequence panel, the name of the animation you selected will be shown in nearby chat (only visible to you). This can be handy if you need to copy and paste the name of an animation for any reason later.

=== Edit Timing and Order ===

Once you’ve added a a few animations to the left selection panel you can click lines on this panel to fine-tune the sequence. When you click a line, additional buttons will appear at the top of the left-panel.

Next to each animation, you will see a number to the right of it. That number represents the number of seconds the animation should play. You can change this number by selecting the animation in this left panel and clicking the 'pencil' button at the top of the window. In addition to the pencil button for changing play times, there are a few other buttons you can use at the top of the sequence panel:

* The “(x)” button will remove this line from your sequence
* The “up/down” button will move a line up or down in the sequence order depending on which part of the button you click. Note that sequences begin from the top and work towards the bottom.]
* The (>) button will start playing the sequence starting from the currently selected line, so you can see what it looks like.

You may notice a line that says "STOP" at the end of your sequence. Do not delete this line or move it around. It's normal for this line to be the last in your sequence.

''Special Note: If you want to find out low long an animation naturally plays, you can double-click this animation in your avatar inventory, and use the "down" button on the window that will pop up. This is a relatively new feature of SL viewers that some veteran might not know.''

=== (Optional) use 'Record Mode' to help find timings. ===

If you click the stopwatch icon on the right panel, it will toggle ‘record mode’ on and off. When record mode is active, clicking an animation will play it immediately. As soon as you click a second animation, you will get a printout of how long the previous animation played, and its name. This will be printed both in local chat and additionally in red text at the bottom of the right hand panel. You can use this get quickly get timings for a sequence. Toggle record mode off again to allow selecting animations and bringing them to the left-hand panel.

''Special Note: You may notice that your timings are rounded to the nearest hundredth of a second. You might be tempted to use more digits, but the SL sim engine and latency between sim and viewers cannot handle timing resolutions greater than 1/45th of a second at best. Using additional numbers in your timers is not helpful and can be misleading.''

=== Testing / Playing a Completed Sequence ===

You can test your sequence at any time by using the solid-black triangle “Play” button in the lower right corner of the left panel. When you click this Play button, animations will start playing from the top to the bottom, in the order and timing that you have selected. Animations that have been played will be highlighted in green. You can stop the sequence from playing at any time by using the square “stop” button at the bottom of the left panel. If you desire to start the sequence playing from somewhere in the middle, you may select the line you wish to start from and click the circle-play icon at the top of the left-panel.

''Note: When you are playing back sequences, you may click the ‘list’ button to close the animation browser slide out panel to save screen space. The slide out panel is only used when designing a sequence, and not needed for playback.''

=== Save your Sequence ===

When you are happy with your sequence in the right panel, you can click the “Print” icon in the left-bottom of the sequence panel. Lines will be printed to your nearby chat window (only visible to you). Copy and paste these lines to a notecard, give it a short name, and add this notecard to the MST Choreo HUD. You will want to do this so that your careful work will not be lost in future changes, and also so that you can load your animation sequence into other MST tools such as the Performance Engine in the sections to come.

When you press the save button, you will see output lines that look a little different from the window. Here's an example:

@group animations|ALL|waiting
animations=

0.00|Figure Eight
20.00|standing dance
40.00|The Robot
60.00|STOP

You'll notice a couple of new lines at the beginning, "@group animations|ALL|waiting" and "animations=". These are often called the "group definition lines". You can ignore them for now, they are used later on.

You'll also noticed that the numbers are now at the front of each line, and they count up from the start of the sequence instead of just each animation individually.

''You might ask 'Why are the lines in this format?' The short answer is that this is for compatibility with other popular choreography tools and older releases, and that the numbering format can make it easier to make certain types of changes later. You can ignore this information for now, it will be covered in later sections. Loading notecards in your choreohud will always automatically convert between the simpler panel format and the longer save format for you.''

At any point in the future you can click the “Load” icon that looks like a file box at the bottom of the sequence panel, and then choose your notecard from the popup list.

== Additional ChoreoHUD Techniques ==

You might notice there's a few buttons on the ChoreoHUD Solo HUD that we haven't spoken about. You'll want to read the ChoreoHUD documentation section for detailed information. Some of the extra functions you can include:
* Caching animations so you won't see a stutter when playing them in your viewer the first time.
* Changing the alignment and width of text animation names
* Changing which side the animation library panel will slide out from
* Using animations from sources other than the ChoreoHUD's contents, such as MST Performance Engines
* Importing hundreds of animations in bulk automatically from other objects.
* Filtering your library of animations into smaller subsets for easy browsing
* Searching a large animation library by name, and navigating using the hot bar rather than next/previous page buttons only.

== Share Your Animation Sequences with an improptu crowd, using ChoreoHUD Dancer ==

If you have the ChoreoHUD Dancer edition, you can share a playback of a sequence with a crowd of friends. Simply use the invite buttons or rez one of the other inviter mechanisms, and any animation sequence you play in the HUD will be performed by everyone who has accepted the invite.

== Share your Animation Sequences with Separate Groups of Perfomers, using MetaHarper Show Tools Performance Engine ==

Once you've created an animation sequence with ChoreoHUD, you might be wondering how you can synchronize the sequence to other parts of a performance such as movement, prop special effects, and/or camera movement. You might also wonder how you can run multiple sequences at the same time, each applying to different groups of avatars. You can do these things using MST's Performance Engines, which will be described in the section titled "How to use your Animation and Movement Sequences in a Timeline".

How to Create Animation Sequences

2024-09-11T02:06:36Z

Arrehn:

== What exactly is a choreography sequence? ==
When we talk about a "choreography sequence", this typically refers to the body movements of an avatar over a period of time. "Body Movements" in this case are manipulations of an avatar's skeleton such as leg bends, hip rotations, arm extensions, etc. In Second Life, body movements of an avatar are accomplished by playing pre-recorded "animation" objects. By playing specific animations in specific orders at specific times, we can create a graceful, continuous story.

== Building an animation sequence with ChoreoHUD Solo ==
There are a few different ways to compose sequences of animations together. In this section we'll describe one of the simplest methods, using the "ChoreoHUD Solo" tool included in the MetaHarper Show Tools package. This tool can be used to create an animation sequence suitable for a single avatar at a time.

You might ask what if wish to compose sequences for more than one avatar at a time? Or try out other methods? We'll come back to this later.

=== Load your Animations ===
# Go to a place where you can rez objects. You will need about 70 prims free.
# Drag the "MST Choreo HUD SOLO" from your unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder onto the ground nearby.
# Copy some animations from your avatar’s inventory and paste them into the HUD’s inventory on the ground. For best results copy less than 40 animations per copy-paste. If you have a very large number of animations to import from another device see the FAQ documentation for a fast method. TIP: Don’t use no-copy animations
# Pick up your MST Choreo HUD off the ground and attach it to your avatar

=== Select a Subset of Animations to Work With ===

Click the blue button at the bottom of the ChoreoHUD. The display should change to "Sequence Builder Mode"". This mode can be used for quickly assembling a list of timed animations that flow together to create an effect or tell a story. This is often the first step in creating a larger performance that involves dances or animations.

To build a sequence, first click the ‘list’ button in the lower right area of the HUD. This will slide out an window on the right showing all of your loaded animations. Browse and click animations on this right panel to see them play on your avatar. If you like the way an animation looks and want to use it in your sequence, Click the the “left arrow” button at the top of the right-hand window bar to move the currently-playing animation onto the left sequence panel. When you add an animation to the left sequence panel, the name of the animation you selected will be shown in nearby chat (only visible to you). This can be handy if you need to copy and paste the name of an animation for any reason later.

=== Edit Timing and Order ===

Once you’ve added a a few animations to the left selection panel you can click lines on this panel to fine-tune the sequence. When you click a line, additional buttons will appear at the top of the left-panel.

Next to each animation, you will see a number to the right of it. That number represents the number of seconds the animation should play. You can change this number by selecting the animation in this left panel and clicking the 'pencil' button at the top of the window. In addition to the pencil button for changing play times, there are a few other buttons you can use at the top of the sequence panel:

* The “(x)” button will remove this line from your sequence
* The “up/down” button will move a line up or down in the sequence order depending on which part of the button you click. Note that sequences begin from the top and work towards the bottom.]
* The (>) button will start playing the sequence starting from the currently selected line, so you can see what it looks like.

You may notice a line that says "STOP" at the end of your sequence. Do not delete this line or move it around. It's normal for this line to be the last in your sequence.

''Special Note: If you want to find out low long an animation naturally plays, you can double-click this animation in your avatar inventory, and use the "down" button on the window that will pop up. This is a relatively new feature of SL viewers that some veteran might not know.''

=== (Optional) use 'Record Mode' to help find timings. ===

If you click the stopwatch icon on the right panel, it will toggle ‘record mode’ on and off. When record mode is active, clicking an animation will play it immediately. As soon as you click a second animation, you will get a printout of how long the previous animation played, and its name. This will be printed both in local chat and additionally in red text at the bottom of the right hand panel. You can use this get quickly get timings for a sequence. Toggle record mode off again to allow selecting animations and bringing them to the left-hand panel.

''Special Note: You may notice that your timings are rounded to the nearest hundredth of a second. You might be tempted to use more digits, but the SL sim engine and latency between sim and viewers cannot handle timing resolutions greater than 1/45th of a second at best. Using additional numbers in your timers is not helpful and can be misleading.''

=== Testing / Playing a Completed Sequence ===

You can test your sequence at any time by using the solid-black triangle “Play” button in the lower right corner of the left panel. When you click this Play button, animations will start playing from the top to the bottom, in the order and timing that you have selected. Animations that have been played will be highlighted in green. You can stop the sequence from playing at any time by using the square “stop” button at the bottom of the left panel. If you desire to start the sequence playing from somewhere in the middle, you may select the line you wish to start from and click the circle-play icon at the top of the left-panel.

''Note: When you are playing back sequences, you may click the ‘list’ button to close the animation browser slide out panel to save screen space. The slide out panel is only used when designing a sequence, and not needed for playback.''

=== Save your Sequence ===

When you are happy with your sequence in the right panel, you can click the “Print” icon in the left-bottom of the sequence panel. Lines will be printed to your nearby chat window (only visible to you). Copy and paste these lines to a notecard, give it a short name, and add this notecard to the MST Choreo HUD. You will want to do this so that your careful work will not be lost in future changes, and also so that you can load your animation sequence into other MST tools such as the Performance Engine in the sections to come.

When you press the save button, you will see output lines that look a little different from the window. Here's an example:

@group animations|ALL|waiting
animations=

0.00|Figure Eight
20.00|standing dance
40.00|The Robot
60.00|STOP

You'll notice a couple of new lines at the beginning, "@group animations|ALL|waiting" and "animations=". These are often called the "group definition lines". You can ignore them for now, they are used later on.

You'll also noticed that the numbers are now at the front of each line, and they count up from the start of the sequence instead of just each animation individually.

''You might ask 'Why are the lines in this format?' The short answer is that this is for compatibility with other popular choreography tools and older releases, and that the numbering format can make it easier to make certain types of changes later. You can ignore this information for now, it will be covered in later sections. Loading notecards in your choreohud will always automatically convert between the simpler panel format and the longer save format for you.''

At any point in the future you can click the “Load” icon that looks like a file box at the bottom of the sequence panel, and then choose your notecard from the popup list.

== Additional ChoreoHUD Techniques ==

You might notice there's a few buttons on the ChoreoHUD Solo HUD that we haven't spoken about. You'll want to read the ChoreoHUD documentation section for detailed information. Some of the extra functions you can include:
* Caching animations so you won't see a stutter when playing them in your viewer the first time.
* Changing the alignment and width of text animation names
* Changing which side the animation library panel will slide out from
* Using animations from sources other than the ChoreoHUD's contents, such as MST Performance Engines
* Importing hundreds of animations in bulk automatically from other objects.
* Filtering your library of animations into smaller subsets for easy browsing
* Searching a large animation library by name, and navigating using the hot bar rather than next/previous page buttons only.

== Share Your Animation Sequences with an improptu crowd, using ChoreoHUD Dancer ==

If you have the ChoreoHUD Dancer edition, you can share a playback of a sequence with a crowd of friends. Simply use the invite buttons or rez one of the other inviter mechanisms, and any animation sequence you play in the HUD will be performed by everyone who has accepted the invite.

== Share your Animation Sequences with a planned groups of perfomers, using MetaHarper Show Tools performance Egnine ==

How to Create Animation Sequences

2024-09-11T01:29:09Z

Arrehn: /* Select a few animations in particular to work with */

== What exactly is a choreography sequence? ==
When we talk about a "choreography sequence", this typically refers to the body movements of an avatar over a period of time. "Body Movements" in this case are manipulations of an avatar's skeleton such as leg bends, hip rotations, arm extensions, etc. In Second Life, body movements of an avatar are accomplished by playing pre-recorded "animation" objects. By playing specific animations in specific orders at specific times, we can create a graceful, continuous story.

== Building an animation sequence with ChoreoHUD Solo ==
There are a few different ways to compose sequences of animations together. In this section we'll describe one of the simplest methods, using the "ChoreoHUD Solo" tool included in the MetaHarper Show Tools package. This tool can be used to create an animation sequence suitable for a single avatar at a time.

You might ask what if wish to compose sequences for more than one avatar at a time? Or try out other methods? We'll come back to this later.

=== Load your Animations ===
# Go to a place where you can rez objects. You will need about 70 prims free.
# Drag the "MST Choreo HUD SOLO" from your unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder onto the ground nearby.
# Copy some animations from your avatar’s inventory and paste them into the HUD’s inventory on the ground. For best results copy less than 40 animations per copy-paste. If you have a very large number of animations to import from another device see the FAQ documentation for a fast method. TIP: Don’t use no-copy animations
# Pick up your MST Choreo HUD off the ground and attach it to your avatar

=== Select a Subset of Animations to Work With ===

Click the blue button at the bottom of the ChoreoHUD. The display should change to "Sequence Builder Mode"". This mode can be used for quickly assembling a list of timed animations that flow together to create an effect or tell a story. This is often the first step in creating a larger performance that involves dances or animations.

To build a sequence, first click the ‘list’ button in the lower right area of the HUD. This will slide out an window on the right showing all of your loaded animations. Browse and click animations on this right panel to see them play on your avatar. If you like the way an animation looks and want to use it in your sequence, Click the the “left arrow” button at the top of the right-hand window bar to move the currently-playing animation onto the left sequence panel. When you add an animation to the left sequence panel, the name of the animation you selected will be shown in nearby chat (only visible to you). This can be handy if you need to copy and paste the name of an animation for any reason later.

=== Edit Timing and Order ===

Once you’ve added a a few animations to the left selection panel you can click lines on this panel to fine-tune the sequence. When you click a line, additional buttons will appear at the top of the left-panel.

Next to each animation, you will see a number to the right of it. That number represents the number of seconds the animation should play. You can change this number by selecting the animation in this left panel and clicking the 'pencil' button at the top of the window. In addition to the pencil button for changing play times, there are a few other buttons you can use at the top of the sequence panel:

* The “(x)” button will remove this line from your sequence
* The “up/down” button will move a line up or down in the sequence order depending on which part of the button you click. Note that sequences begin from the top and work towards the bottom.]
* The (>) button will start playing the sequence starting from the currently selected line, so you can see what it looks like.

You may notice a line that says "STOP" at the end of your sequence. Do not delete this line or move it around. It's normal for this line to be the last in your sequence.

''Special Note: If you want to find out low long an animation naturally plays, you can double-click this animation in your avatar inventory, and use the "down" button on the window that will pop up. This is a relatively new feature of SL viewers that some veteran might not know.''

=== (Optional) use 'Record Mode' to help find timings. ===

If you click the stopwatch icon on the right panel, it will toggle ‘record mode’ on and off. When record mode is active, clicking an animation will play it immediately. As soon as you click a second animation, you will get a printout of how long the previous animation played, and its name. This will be printed both in local chat and additionally in red text at the bottom of the right hand panel. You can use this get quickly get timings for a sequence. Toggle record mode off again to allow selecting animations and bringing them to the left-hand panel.

''Special Note: You may notice that your timings are rounded to the nearest hundredth of a second. You might be tempted to use more digits, but the SL sim engine and latency between sim and viewers cannot handle timing resolutions greater than 1/45th of a second at best. Using additional numbers in your timers is not helpful and can be misleading.''

=== Testing / Playing a Completed Sequence ===

You can test your sequence at any time by using the solid-black triangle “Play” button in the lower right corner of the left panel. When you click this Play button, animations will start playing from the top to the bottom, in the order and timing that you have selected. Animations that have been played will be highlighted in green. You can stop the sequence from playing at any time by using the square “stop” button at the bottom of the left panel. If you desire to start the sequence playing from somewhere in the middle, you may select the line you wish to start from and click the circle-play icon at the top of the left-panel.

''Note: When you are playing back sequences, you may click the ‘list’ button to close the animation browser slide out panel to save screen space. The slide out panel is only used when designing a sequence, and not needed for playback.''

=== Save your Sequence ===

When you are happy with your sequence in the right panel, you can click the “Print” icon in the left-bottom of the sequence panel. Lines will be printed to your nearby chat window (only visible to you). Copy and paste these lines to a notecard, give it a short name, and add this notecard to the MST Choreo HUD.

You will see output lines that look a little different from the window. Here's an example:

@group animations|ALL|waiting
animations=

0.00|Figure Eight
20.00|standing dance
40.00|The Robot
60.00|STOP

You'll notice a couple of new lines at the beginning, "@group animations|ALL|waiting" and "animations=". These are often called the "group definition lines". You can ignore them for now, they are used later on.

You'll also noticed that the numbers are now at the front of each line, and they count up from the start of the sequence instead of just each animation individually.

''You might ask 'Why are the lines in this format?' The short answer is that this is for compatibility with other popular choreography tools and older releases, and that the numbering format can make it easier to make certain types of changes later. You can ignore this information for now, it will be covered in later sections. Loading notecards in your choreohud will always automatically convert between the simpler panel format and the longer save format for you.''

At any point in the future you can click the “Load” icon that looks like a file box at the bottom of the sequence panel, and then choose your notecard from the popup list.

How to Create Animation Sequences

2024-09-11T01:27:18Z

Arrehn:

== What exactly is a choreography sequence? ==
When we talk about a "choreography sequence", this typically refers to the body movements of an avatar over a period of time. "Body Movements" in this case are manipulations of an avatar's skeleton such as leg bends, hip rotations, arm extensions, etc. In Second Life, body movements of an avatar are accomplished by playing pre-recorded "animation" objects. By playing specific animations in specific orders at specific times, we can create a graceful, continuous story.

== Building an animation sequence with ChoreoHUD Solo ==
There are a few different ways to compose sequences of animations together. In this section we'll describe one of the simplest methods, using the "ChoreoHUD Solo" tool included in the MetaHarper Show Tools package. This tool can be used to create an animation sequence suitable for a single avatar at a time.

You might ask what if wish to compose sequences for more than one avatar at a time? Or try out other methods? We'll come back to this later.

=== Load your Animations ===
# Go to a place where you can rez objects. You will need about 70 prims free.
# Drag the "MST Choreo HUD SOLO" from your unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder onto the ground nearby.
# Copy some animations from your avatar’s inventory and paste them into the HUD’s inventory on the ground. For best results copy less than 40 animations per copy-paste. If you have a very large number of animations to import from another device see the FAQ documentation for a fast method. TIP: Don’t use no-copy animations
# Pick up your MST Choreo HUD off the ground and attach it to your avatar

=== Select a few animations in particular to work with ===

Click the blue button at the bottom of the ChoreoHUD. The display should change to "Sequence Builder Mode"". This mode can be used for quickly assembling a list of timed animations that flow together to create an effect or tell a story. This is often the first step in creating a larger performance that involves dances or animations.

To build a sequence, first click the ‘list’ button in the lower right area of the HUD. This will slide out an window on the right showing all of your loaded animations. Browse and click animations on this right panel to see them play on your avatar. If you like the way an animation looks and want to use it in your sequence, Click the the “left arrow” button at the top of the right-hand window bar to move the currently-playing animation onto the left sequence panel. When you add an animation to the left sequence panel, the name of the animation you selected will be shown in nearby chat (only visible to you). This can be handy if you need to copy and paste the name of an animation for any reason later.

=== Edit Timing and Order ===

Once you’ve added a a few animations to the left selection panel you can click lines on this panel to fine-tune the sequence. When you click a line, additional buttons will appear at the top of the left-panel.

Next to each animation, you will see a number to the right of it. That number represents the number of seconds the animation should play. You can change this number by selecting the animation in this left panel and clicking the 'pencil' button at the top of the window. In addition to the pencil button for changing play times, there are a few other buttons you can use at the top of the sequence panel:

* The “(x)” button will remove this line from your sequence
* The “up/down” button will move a line up or down in the sequence order depending on which part of the button you click. Note that sequences begin from the top and work towards the bottom.]
* The (>) button will start playing the sequence starting from the currently selected line, so you can see what it looks like.

You may notice a line that says "STOP" at the end of your sequence. Do not delete this line or move it around. It's normal for this line to be the last in your sequence.

''Special Note: If you want to find out low long an animation naturally plays, you can double-click this animation in your avatar inventory, and use the "down" button on the window that will pop up. This is a relatively new feature of SL viewers that some veteran might not know.''

=== (Optional) use 'Record Mode' to help find timings. ===

If you click the stopwatch icon on the right panel, it will toggle ‘record mode’ on and off. When record mode is active, clicking an animation will play it immediately. As soon as you click a second animation, you will get a printout of how long the previous animation played, and its name. This will be printed both in local chat and additionally in red text at the bottom of the right hand panel. You can use this get quickly get timings for a sequence. Toggle record mode off again to allow selecting animations and bringing them to the left-hand panel.

''Special Note: You may notice that your timings are rounded to the nearest hundredth of a second. You might be tempted to use more digits, but the SL sim engine and latency between sim and viewers cannot handle timing resolutions greater than 1/45th of a second at best. Using additional numbers in your timers is not helpful and can be misleading.''

=== Testing / Playing a Completed Sequence ===

You can test your sequence at any time by using the solid-black triangle “Play” button in the lower right corner of the left panel. When you click this Play button, animations will start playing from the top to the bottom, in the order and timing that you have selected. Animations that have been played will be highlighted in green. You can stop the sequence from playing at any time by using the square “stop” button at the bottom of the left panel. If you desire to start the sequence playing from somewhere in the middle, you may select the line you wish to start from and click the circle-play icon at the top of the left-panel.

''Note: When you are playing back sequences, you may click the ‘list’ button to close the animation browser slide out panel to save screen space. The slide out panel is only used when designing a sequence, and not needed for playback.''

=== Save your Sequence ===

When you are happy with your sequence in the right panel, you can click the “Print” icon in the left-bottom of the sequence panel. Lines will be printed to your nearby chat window (only visible to you). Copy and paste these lines to a notecard, give it a short name, and add this notecard to the MST Choreo HUD.

You will see output lines that look a little different from the window. Here's an example:

@group animations|ALL|waiting
animations=

0.00|Figure Eight
20.00|standing dance
40.00|The Robot
60.00|STOP

You'll notice a couple of new lines at the beginning, "@group animations|ALL|waiting" and "animations=". These are often called the "group definition lines". You can ignore them for now, they are used later on.

You'll also noticed that the numbers are now at the front of each line, and they count up from the start of the sequence instead of just each animation individually.

''You might ask 'Why are the lines in this format?' The short answer is that this is for compatibility with other popular choreography tools and older releases, and that the numbering format can make it easier to make certain types of changes later. You can ignore this information for now, it will be covered in later sections. Loading notecards in your choreohud will always automatically convert between the simpler panel format and the longer save format for you.''

At any point in the future you can click the “Load” icon that looks like a file box at the bottom of the sequence panel, and then choose your notecard from the popup list.

How to Create Animation Sequences

2024-09-10T20:14:15Z

Arrehn:

= Use ChoreoHUD to make an animation sequence =
== What exactly is a choreography sequence? ==
When we talk about a "choreography sequence", this typically refers to the body movements of an avatar over a period of time. "Body Movements" in this case are manipulations of an avatar's skeleton such as leg bends, hip rotations, arm extensions, etc. In Second Life, body movements of an avatar are accomplished by playing pre-recorded "animation" objects. By playing specific animations in specific orders at specific times, we can create a graceful, continuous story.

== Building an animation sequence with ChoreoHUD Solo ==
There are a few different ways to compose sequences of animations together. In this section we'll describe one of the simplest methods, using the "ChoreoHUD Solo" tool included in the MetaHarper Show Tools package. This tool can be used to create an animation sequence suitable for a single avatar at a time.

You might ask what if wish to compose sequences for more than one avatar at a time? Or try out other methods? We'll come back to this later.

=== Load your Animations ===
# Go to a place where you can rez objects. You will need about 70 prims free.
# Drag the "MST Choreo HUD SOLO" from your unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder onto the ground nearby.
# Copy some animations from your avatar’s inventory and paste them into the HUD’s inventory on the ground. For best results copy less than 40 animations per copy-paste. If you have a very large number of animations to import from another device see the FAQ documentation for a fast method. TIP: Don’t use no-copy animations
# Pick up your MST Choreo HUD off the ground and attach it to your avatar

=== Select a few animations in particular to work with ===

Click the blue button at the bottom of the ChoreoHUD. The display should change to "Sequence Builder Mode"". This mode can be used for quickly assembling a list of timed animations that flow together to create an effect or tell a story. This is often the first step in creating a larger performance that involves dances or animations.

To build a sequence, first click the ‘list’ button in the lower right area of the HUD. This will slide out an window on the right showing all of your loaded animations. Browse and click animations on this right panel to see them play on your avatar. If you like the way an animation looks and want to use it in your sequence, Click the the “left arrow” button at the top of the right-hand window bar to move the currently-playing animation onto the left sequence panel. When you add an animation to the left sequence panel, the name of the animation you selected will be shown in nearby chat (only visible to you). This can be handy if you need to copy and paste the name of an animation for any reason later.

=== Edit Timing and Order ===

Once you’ve added a a few animations to the left selection panel you can click lines on this panel to fine-tune the sequence. When you click a line, additional buttons will appear at the top of the left-panel.
*
* The “(x)” button will remove this line from your sequence
* The “up/down” button will move a line up or down in the sequence order depending on which part of the button you click. Note that sequences begin from the top and work towards the bottom.
* The “pencil” button will allow you change how long the animation should play. The default play time is 20.00 seconds.
* The (>) button will start playing the sequence starting from the currently selected line, so you can see what it looks like.

=== (Optional) use 'Record Mode' to help find timings. ===

If you click the stopwatch icon on the right panel, it will toggle ‘record mode’ on and off. When record mode is active, clicking an animation will play it immediately. As soon as you click a second animation, you will get a printout of how long the previous animation played, and its name. This will be printed both in local chat and additionally in red text at the bottom of the right hand panel. You can use this get quickly get timings for a sequence. Toggle record mode off again to allow selecting animations and bringing them to the left-hand panel.

=== Testing / Playing a Completed Sequence ===

You can test your sequence at any time by using the solid-black triangle “Play” button in the lower right corner of the left panel. When you click this Play button, animations will start playing from the top to the bottom, in the order and timing that you have selected. Animations that have been played will be highlighted in green. You can stop the sequence from playing at any time by using the square “stop” button at the bottom of the left panel. If you desire to start the sequence playing from somewhere in the middle, you may select the line you wish to start from and click the circle-play icon at the top of the left-panel.

=== Save your Sequence ===

When you are playing back sequences, you may click the ‘list’ button to close the animation browser slide out panel to save screen space. The slide out panel is only used when designing a sequence, and not for playback.

If you have previously invited other avatars to share your animations (for example, in the Browse Animations Mode), they will also be animated when you play a sequence.
Save your Sequence

When you are happy with your sequence in the right panel, you can click the “Print” icon in the bottom of the sequence panel. Lines will be printed to your nearby chat window (only visible to you). Copy and paste these lines to a notecard, give it a short name, and add this notecard to the MST Choreo HUD.

At any point in the future you can click the “Load” icon that looks like a file box at the bottom of the sequence panel, and then choose your notecard from the popup list.
Smart Caching

When you click the “Cache” button (looks like a cloud with an arrow inside) at the bottom of the sequence panel, your avatar will rapidly play through the animations used in your sequence in order to upload these animations to the viewer cache of avatars nearby. This will ensure when you play them back later, the animations will appear to start immediately and will prevent ‘freezes’ while a viewer waits for an animation to be downloaded.

This cache button is ‘smart’ because it will only upload animations used by your sequence, instead of every animation in the HUD’s inventory. This is much more efficient and polite to the sim and to the avatars around you.

How to Create Animation Sequences

2024-09-10T20:05:06Z

Arrehn: /* What exactly is a choreography sequence? */

= Use ChoreoHUD to make an animation sequence =
== What exactly is a choreography sequence? ==
When we talk about a "choreography sequence", this typically refers to the body movements of an avatar over a period of time. "Body Movements" in this case are manipulations of an avatar's skeleton such as leg bends, hip rotations, arm extensions, etc. In Second Life, body movements of an avatar are accomplished by playing pre-recorded "animation" objects. By playing specific animations in specific orders at specific times, we can create a graceful, continuous story.

== Building an animation sequence with ChoreoHUD Solo ==
There are a few different ways to compose sequences of animations together. In this section we'll describe one of the simplest methods, using the "ChoreoHUD Solo" tool included in the MetaHarper Show Tools package. This tool can be used to create an animation sequence suitable for a single avatar at a time.

You might ask what if wish to compose sequences for more than one avatar at a time? Or try out other methods? We'll come back to this later.

=== Load your Animations ===
# Go to a place where you can rez objects. You will need about 70 prims free.
# Drag the "MST Choreo HUD SOLO" from your unpacked MetaHarper Show Tools folder onto the ground nearby.
# Copy some animations from your avatar’s inventory and paste them into the HUD’s inventory on the ground. For best results copy less than 40 animations per copy-paste. If you have a very large number of animations to import from another device see the FAQ documentation for a fast method. TIP: Don’t use no-copy animations
# Pick up your MST Choreo HUD off the ground and attach it to your avatar

=== Select a few animations in particular to work with ===

Click the blue button at the bottom of the ChoreoHUD. The display should change to "Sequence Builder Mode"". This mode can be used for quickly assembling a list of timed animations that flow together to create an effect or tell a story. This is often the first step in creating a larger performance that involves dances or animations.

To build a sequence, first click the ‘list’ button in the lower right area of the HUD. This will slide out an window on the right showing all of your loaded animations. Browse and click animations on this right panel to see them play on your avatar. If you like the way an animation looks and want to use it in your sequence, Click the the “left arrow” button at the top of the right-hand window bar to move the currently-playing animation onto the left sequence panel. When you add an animation to the left sequence panel, the name of the animation you selected will be shown in nearby chat (only visible to you). This can be handy if you need to copy and paste the name of an animation for any reason later.

=== Edit Timing and Order ===

Once you’ve added a a few animations to the left selection panel you can click lines on this panel to fine-tune the sequence. When you click a line, additional buttons will appear at the top of the left-panel.
*
* The “(x)” button will remove this line from your sequence
* The “up/down” button will move a line up or down in the sequence order depending on which part of the button you click. Note that sequences begin from the top and work towards the bottom.
* The “pencil” button will allow you change how long the animation should play. The default play time is 20.00 seconds.
* The (>) button will start playing the sequence starting from the currently selected line, so you can see what it looks like.

=== (Optional) use 'Record Mode' to help find timings. ===

If you click the stopwatch icon on the right panel, it will toggle ‘record mode’ on and off. When record mode is active, clicking an animation will play it immediately. As soon as you click a second animation, you will get a printout of how long the previous animation played, and its name. This will be printed both in local chat and additionally in red text at the bottom of the right hand panel. You can use this get quickly get timings for a sequence. Toggle record mode off again to allow selecting animations and bringing them to the left-hand panel.

=== Testing / Playing a Sequence ===

You can test your sequence at any time by using the solid-black triangle “Play” button in the lower right corner. When you click Play, animations will start playing from the top to the bottom, in the order and timing that you have selected. The actively playing animation will be highlighted in green. You can stop the sequence from playing at any time by using the square “stop” button at the bottom of the panel. If you desire to start the sequence playing from somewhere in the middle, you may select the line you wish to start from and click the circle-play icon at the far-right of that selected line.

When you are playing back sequences, you may click the ‘list’ button to close the animation browser slide out panel to save screen space. The slide out panel is only used when designing a sequence, and not for playback.

If you have previously invited other avatars to share your animations (for example, in the Browse Animations Mode), they will also be animated when you play a sequence.
Save your Sequence

When you are happy with your sequence in the right panel, you can click the “Print” icon in the bottom of the sequence panel. Lines will be printed to your nearby chat window (only visible to you). Copy and paste these lines to a notecard, give it a short name, and add this notecard to the MST Choreo HUD.

At any point in the future you can click the “Load” icon that looks like a file box at the bottom of the sequence panel, and then choose your notecard from the popup list.
Smart Caching

When you click the “Cache” button (looks like a cloud with an arrow inside) at the bottom of the sequence panel, your avatar will rapidly play through the animations used in your sequence in order to upload these animations to the viewer cache of avatars nearby. This will ensure when you play them back later, the animations will appear to start immediately and will prevent ‘freezes’ while a viewer waits for an animation to be downloaded.

This cache button is ‘smart’ because it will only upload animations used by your sequence, instead of every animation in the HUD’s inventory. This is much more efficient and polite to the sim and to the avatars around you.

How to Create Animation Sequences

2024-09-10T14:26:23Z

Arrehn: Created page with "= Use ChoreoHUD to make an animation sequence = == What exactly is a choreography sequence? == When we talk about a "choreography sequence", this typically refers to the body movements of an avatar over a period of time. "Body Movements" in this case are manipulations of an avatar's skeleton such as leg bends, hip rotations, arm extensions, etc. In Second Life, body movements of an avatar are accomplished by playing pre-recorded "animation" objects. By playing specific a..."

= Use ChoreoHUD to make an animation sequence =
== What exactly is a choreography sequence? ==
When we talk about a "choreography sequence", this typically refers to the body movements of an avatar over a period of time. "Body Movements" in this case are manipulations of an avatar's skeleton such as leg bends, hip rotations, arm extensions, etc. In Second Life, body movements of an avatar are accomplished by playing pre-recorded "animation" objects. By playing specific animations in specific orders at specific times, we can create a graceful, continuous story.

Sequence Builder Mode

The “Build Animation Sequence” mode can be used for quickly assembling a list of timed animations that flow together to create an effect or tell a story. This is often the first step in creating a larger performance that involves dances or animations.
Select Animations To Use

To build a sequence, first click the ‘list’ button in the lower right area of the HUD. This will slide out an window on the right showing all of your loaded animations. Browse and click animations on this right panel. Use the play and stop buttons on the popup selection bar to see what an animation looks like. If you like the way an animation looks and want to use it in your sequence, Click the the “left arrow” button on the popup selection bar to move this animation onto the left sequence panel. When you add an animation to the left sequence panel, the name of the animation you selected will be shown in nearby chat (only visible to you). This can be handy if you need to copy and paste the name of an animation for any reason later.

Edit Timing and Order

Once you’ve added a a few animations to the left selection panel you can click lines on this panel to fine-tune the sequence. When you click a line, additional buttons will appear on a popup selection bar over the line you have selected.

The “(x)” button will remove this line from your sequenc
The “up/down” button will move a line up or down in the sequence order depending on which part of the button you click. Note that sequences begin from the top and work towards the bottom.
The “pencil” button will allow you change how long the animation should play. The default play time is 20.00 seconds.

Record Mode

If you click the stopwatch icon on the right panel, it will toggle ‘record mode’ on and off. When record mode is active, clicking an animation will play it immediately. As soon as you click a second animation, you will get a printout of how long the previous animation played, and its name. This will be printed both in local chat and additionally in red text at the bottom of the right hand panel. You can use this get quickly get timings for a sequence. Toggle record mode off again to allow selecting animations and bringing them to the left-hand panel.
Testing / Playing a Sequence

You can test your sequence at any time by using the solid-black triangle “Play” button in the lower right corner. When you click Play, animations will start playing from the top to the bottom, in the order and timing that you have selected. The actively playing animation will be highlighted in green. You can stop the sequence from playing at any time by using the square “stop” button at the bottom of the panel. If you desire to start the sequence playing from somewhere in the middle, you may select the line you wish to start from and click the circle-play icon at the far-right of that selected line.

When you are playing back sequences, you may click the ‘list’ button to close the animation browser slide out panel to save screen space. The slide out panel is only used when designing a sequence, and not for playback.

If you have previously invited other avatars to share your animations (for example, in the Browse Animations Mode), they will also be animated when you play a sequence.
Save your Sequence

When you are happy with your sequence in the right panel, you can click the “Print” icon in the bottom of the sequence panel. Lines will be printed to your nearby chat window (only visible to you). Copy and paste these lines to a notecard, give it a short name, and add this notecard to the MST Choreo HUD.

At any point in the future you can click the “Load” icon that looks like a file box at the bottom of the sequence panel, and then choose your notecard from the popup list.
Smart Caching

When you click the “Cache” button (looks like a cloud with an arrow inside) at the bottom of the sequence panel, your avatar will rapidly play through the animations used in your sequence in order to upload these animations to the viewer cache of avatars nearby. This will ensure when you play them back later, the animations will appear to start immediately and will prevent ‘freezes’ while a viewer waits for an animation to be downloaded.

This cache button is ‘smart’ because it will only upload animations used by your sequence, instead of every animation in the HUD’s inventory. This is much more efficient and polite to the sim and to the avatars around you.

MST

2024-09-10T13:53:47Z

Arrehn: /* Specific Documentation and Reference */

== MetaHarper Show Tools - What is it? ==

MetaHarper Show Tools is a complete, collaborative system for managing SL performances. If you need to rez and de-rez props safely and accurately, move objects and avatars smoothly, script camera zooms and pans, choreograph animations and special effects with real time precision, then you have found the right toolkit. I created this set of tools to promote the performing arts and creative exhibitions within SL and attempt to enable truly collaborative work, where a group of cooperating individuals can work on the same objects at the same time. Normally in-world creation tools are difficult to share with people other than the owner, but this tool suite attempts to break these barriers.

These tools have been used for years to run weekly multimedia shows across the grid, large annual acclaimed performances, and as part of exhibits in the Linden Endowment for the Arts regions.

== Where can I get a copy? ==
You may pick up a copy of the MetaHarper Show Tools in the [https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/MetaHarper-Show-Tools-BOX/7435908 SL marketplace], or on the
[http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chiaroscuro%20Isle/94/93/1201 Studio/Store platform of the MetaHarper Immersive Theater].

== Specific Documentation and Reference ==

# [[MST Components|Components - What is Included]]
# [[MST_Workspace|How to Prepare Your Workspace]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Rez and Cleanup Props]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Create Animation Sequences]] (Beginner)
# How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence (Beginner)
# How to use your Animation and Movement Sequences in a Timeline (Beginner)
# How to Run Different Animation and Movement Sequences At Once (AKA- timeline groups) (Intermediate)
# How to Use "MoveTo" for better movement accuracy in lag (Advanced)
# How to Insert new steps to the beginning of timelines without having to edit every line (Advanced)
# How to Create Camera Angles, Zooms, Pans, and Fades (Beginner)
# How to Change Outfits and Costumes with MST Outfitter (Intermediate)
# Where can I find more MST Support?
# REFERENCE - ALL "chat" commands for scripted control
# [[Eventlist Command Reference|REFERENCE - All ~EVENTLIST commands]]
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MOVELIST options
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MST_CONFIG
# REFERENCE - ALL centerpoint notecard options.

Eventlist Command Reference

2024-08-10T02:18:04Z

Arrehn: /* Time Control */

== Welcome ==

The following contains all the native commands currently supported by the 7.x series MST Performance Engines. For a context of how to use the eventlist to program sequences of comands, see the timeline scheduling section in the MST documentation.

==== Format of this Reference Guide ====
In many cases these commands have the same names as their lowercase chat command equivalents. In general using the uppercase versions will offer a speed increase over a traditional chat cmmand. For example

0.0|MOVESTART myMoverName

will be faster than the equivalent chat command:

0.0|SAY:8:movestart myMoverName

All commands are meant to have a time to run in front of them. In the examples they are all "0.0", but in a typical eventlist this number will be a specific number of seconds to wait to execute the commands, either in the format of "<number of seconds to execute this comamnd>" such as "3.0", or "+<number of seconds to wait after the previous command>" such as "+3.0".

== Animation Control ==
====ANIM====
''Usage'': '''ANIM:<animation name>''' 
''Alt. Usage'': '''<animation name>''' 

This command will stop the last animation, and start the specified animation in its place. It will play on all avatars and movers defined by the group where it is used.
 
''Example:''
0.0|ANIM:TheRobot
''Example #2:''
0.0|TheRobot

==== OSTART ====
''Usage'': '''OSTART:<animation name>''' 
This command is used to start an animation without ending the current animation already in effect. It is useful for specific hand motions, lip motions, designed to overlay on top of other animations. It can also be used to hide an animation 'in the background' so that it can be revealed later, appearing as if it started in the middle of its natural sequence. This command was formerly called 'overlayanim'.
''Example:''
0.0|OSTART:OverheadClap

==== OSTOP ====
''Usage'': '''OSTOP:<animation name>''' 
This command is used to stop an animation. Typically it is used to stop playing an overlay animation started with the "OSTART" command. This command was formerly called 'overlaystop'.
''Example:''
4.0|OSTOP:OverheadClap
==== CLEARANIM ====
''Usage: '''CLEARANIM''''' 
This command is used to stop all playing animations. Typically it is useful to forceably stop other animations that might have been started by something other than metaharper show tools, for example props, clothing, huds, or vehicles that have their own animations.
''Example:''
0.0|CLEARANIM
==== ANIMCACHE ====
''Usage: '''ANIMCACHE''''' 
This command will quickly cause and avatar to play every animation in the performance engine's inventory. It is useful to pre-upload animations to nearby viewers, ahead of a performance, avoiding future upload latency. 
''Example:''
0.0|ANIMCACHE

== Time Control ==
==== RESET / STOP ====
''Usage: '''RESET''''' 
''Alt Usage: '''STOP''''' 
This command will stop all running animations, stop all further timeline processing, and reset all movers to their starting 'home' position. It is useful as the last command in a timeline sequence, and it can also be used when workshopping a specific piece of lengthy timeline. In this last case you could use a RESET command to make the event timeline terminate early, avoiding the need to wait for its the natural end. 
''Example:''
5.0|RESET
==== LOOP ====
''Usage: '''LOOP'''' 
 
''Example:''
5.0|LOOP

== Communication ==
==== SAY ====
==== SHOUT ====
==== REGIONSAY ====
==== WHISPER ====

== Mover Control ==
==== MOVESTART (MOVEPLAY) ====
==== MOVEPAUSE ====
==== MOVESTOP ====
==== MOVETO ====
==== MOVECARD ====

== Experience Effects ==
==== EEP ====
==== EHUD ====

== Rez / Derez ==
==== REZ ====
==== DEREZ ====

== Cameras ==
==== SETCAM ====
==== CLEARCAM ====
==== SHAKECAM ====
==== TRACKCAM ====
==== CAMFADEIN ====
==== CAMFADEOUT ====

== Outfit Control ==
==== OUTFITADD ====
==== OUTFITREM ====
==== OUTFITGADD ====
==== OUTFITGADD ====

== Curtain ==
==== CURTAINOPEN ====
==== CURTAINCLOSE ====

== 3rd Party Script Integration ==
==== LINK ====

Eventlist Command Reference

2024-08-10T02:08:52Z

Arrehn: /* Animation Control */

== Welcome ==

The following contains all the native commands currently supported by the 7.x series MST Performance Engines. For a context of how to use the eventlist to program sequences of comands, see the timeline scheduling section in the MST documentation.

==== Format of this Reference Guide ====
In many cases these commands have the same names as their lowercase chat command equivalents. In general using the uppercase versions will offer a speed increase over a traditional chat cmmand. For example

0.0|MOVESTART myMoverName

will be faster than the equivalent chat command:

0.0|SAY:8:movestart myMoverName

All commands are meant to have a time to run in front of them. In the examples they are all "0.0", but in a typical eventlist this number will be a specific number of seconds to wait to execute the commands, either in the format of "<number of seconds to execute this comamnd>" such as "3.0", or "+<number of seconds to wait after the previous command>" such as "+3.0".

== Animation Control ==
====ANIM====
''Usage'': '''ANIM:<animation name>''' 
''Alt. Usage'': '''<animation name>''' 

This command will stop the last animation, and start the specified animation in its place. It will play on all avatars and movers defined by the group where it is used.
 
''Example:''
0.0|ANIM:TheRobot
''Example #2:''
0.0|TheRobot

==== OSTART ====
''Usage'': '''OSTART:<animation name>''' 
This command is used to start an animation without ending the current animation already in effect. It is useful for specific hand motions, lip motions, designed to overlay on top of other animations. It can also be used to hide an animation 'in the background' so that it can be revealed later, appearing as if it started in the middle of its natural sequence. This command was formerly called 'overlayanim'.
''Example:''
0.0|OSTART:OverheadClap

==== OSTOP ====
''Usage'': '''OSTOP:<animation name>''' 
This command is used to stop an animation. Typically it is used to stop playing an overlay animation started with the "OSTART" command. This command was formerly called 'overlaystop'.
''Example:''
4.0|OSTOP:OverheadClap
==== CLEARANIM ====
''Usage: '''CLEARANIM''''' 
This command is used to stop all playing animations. Typically it is useful to forceably stop other animations that might have been started by something other than metaharper show tools, for example props, clothing, huds, or vehicles that have their own animations.
''Example:''
0.0|CLEARANIM
==== ANIMCACHE ====
''Usage: '''ANIMCACHE''''' 
This command will quickly cause and avatar to play every animation in the performance engine's inventory. It is useful to pre-upload animations to nearby viewers, ahead of a performance, avoiding future upload latency. 
''Example:''
0.0|ANIMCACHE

== Time Control ==
==== RESET / STOP ====
==== LOOP ====

== Communication ==
==== SAY ====
==== SHOUT ====
==== REGIONSAY ====
==== WHISPER ====

== Mover Control ==
==== MOVESTART (MOVEPLAY) ====
==== MOVEPAUSE ====
==== MOVESTOP ====
==== MOVETO ====
==== MOVECARD ====

== Experience Effects ==
==== EEP ====
==== EHUD ====

== Rez / Derez ==
==== REZ ====
==== DEREZ ====

== Cameras ==
==== SETCAM ====
==== CLEARCAM ====
==== SHAKECAM ====
==== TRACKCAM ====
==== CAMFADEIN ====
==== CAMFADEOUT ====

== Outfit Control ==
==== OUTFITADD ====
==== OUTFITREM ====
==== OUTFITGADD ====
==== OUTFITGADD ====

== Curtain ==
==== CURTAINOPEN ====
==== CURTAINCLOSE ====

== 3rd Party Script Integration ==
==== LINK ====

Eventlist Command Reference

2024-08-09T19:06:47Z

Arrehn:

Eventlist Command Reference

2024-08-09T16:48:45Z

Arrehn: Created page with " == Animation == ====ANIM==== ==== OSTART ==== ==== OSTOP ==== ==== CLEARANIM ==== ==== ANIMCACHE ==== == Time Control == ==== RESET / STOP ==== ==== LOOP ==== == Communication == ==== SAY ==== ==== SHOUT ==== ==== REGIONSAY ==== ==== WHISPER ==== == Mover Control == ==== MOVESTART (MOVEPLAY) ==== ==== MOVEPAUSE ==== ==== MOVESTOP ==== ==== MOVETO ==== ==== MOVECARD ==== == Experience Effects == ==== EEP ==== ==== EHUD ==== == Rez / Derez == ==== REZ ==== ==== DE..."

== Animation ==
====ANIM====
==== OSTART ====
==== OSTOP ====
==== CLEARANIM ====
==== ANIMCACHE ====

== Time Control ==
==== RESET / STOP ====
==== LOOP ====

== Communication ==
==== SAY ====
==== SHOUT ====
==== REGIONSAY ====
==== WHISPER ====

== Mover Control ==
==== MOVESTART (MOVEPLAY) ====
==== MOVEPAUSE ====
==== MOVESTOP ====
==== MOVETO ====
==== MOVECARD ====

== Experience Effects ==
==== EEP ====
==== EHUD ====

== Rez / Derez ==
==== REZ ====
==== DEREZ ====

== Cameras ==
==== SETCAM ====
==== CLEARCAM ====
==== SHAKECAM ====
==== TRACKCAM ====
==== CAMFADEIN ====
==== CAMFADEOUT ====

== Outfit Control ==
==== OUTFITADD ====
==== OUTFITREM ====
==== OUTFITGADD ====
==== OUTFITGADD ====

== Curtain ==
==== CURTAINOPEN ====
==== CURTAINCLOSE ====

== 3rd Party Script Integration ==
==== LINK ====

MST

2024-08-09T16:00:24Z

Arrehn: /* Specific Documentation and Reference */

== MetaHarper Show Tools - What is it? ==

MetaHarper Show Tools is a complete, collaborative system for managing SL performances. If you need to rez and de-rez props safely and accurately, move objects and avatars smoothly, script camera zooms and pans, choreograph animations and special effects with real time precision, then you have found the right toolkit. I created this set of tools to promote the performing arts and creative exhibitions within SL and attempt to enable truly collaborative work, where a group of cooperating individuals can work on the same objects at the same time. Normally in-world creation tools are difficult to share with people other than the owner, but this tool suite attempts to break these barriers.

These tools have been used for years to run weekly multimedia shows across the grid, large annual acclaimed performances, and as part of exhibits in the Linden Endowment for the Arts regions.

== Where can I get a copy? ==
You may pick up a copy of the MetaHarper Show Tools in the [https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/MetaHarper-Show-Tools-BOX/7435908 SL marketplace], or on the
[http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chiaroscuro%20Isle/94/93/1201 Studio/Store platform of the MetaHarper Immersive Theater].

== Specific Documentation and Reference ==

# [[MST Components|Components - What is Included]]
# [[MST_Workspace|How to Prepare Your Workspace]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Rez and Cleanup Props]] (Beginner)
# How to Create Animation Sequences Beginner
# How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence (Beginner)
# How to use your Animation and Movement Sequences in a Timeline (Beginner)
# How to Run Different Animation and Movement Sequences At Once (AKA- timeline groups) (Intermediate)
# How to Use "MoveTo" for better movement accuracy in lag (Advanced)
# How to Insert new steps to the beginning of timelines without having to edit every line (Advanced)
# How to Create Camera Angles, Zooms, Pans, and Fades (Beginner)
# How to Change Outfits and Costumes with MST Outfitter (Intermediate)
# Where can I find more MST Support?
# REFERENCE - ALL "chat" commands for scripted control
# [[Eventlist Command Reference|REFERENCE - All ~EVENTLIST commands]]
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MOVELIST options
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MST_CONFIG
# REFERENCE - ALL centerpoint notecard options.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-09T15:58:39Z

Arrehn: /* Rezzing Scenes or Groups of Objects Independently of Each Other */

== 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:

# Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
# Derez and/or delete your current props to clear the stage.
# Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
# Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
# 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:

# Rez the prop using your PE and then move the prop into the new correct position.
# Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez YourPropName’
# 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.
# Derez your props.
# 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.
# 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:

# Place your new prop in the desired location on your stage and add a “~MST reztracker” script inside it as usual.
# 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.
# 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.

# Open the “~PACKLIST” notecard
# Delete the line that contains the name of the prop you wish to remove.
# 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:

#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.
#Grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
#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:

# Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
# 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-09T13:14:04Z

Arrehn:

== 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:

# Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
# Derez and/or delete your current props to clear the stage.
# Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
# Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
# 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:

# Rez the prop using your PE and then move the prop into the new correct position.
# Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez YourPropName’
# 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.
# Derez your props.
# 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.
# 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:

# Place your new prop in the desired location on your stage and add a “~MST reztracker” script inside it as usual.
# 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.
# 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.

# Open the “~PACKLIST” notecard
# Delete the line that contains the name of the prop you wish to remove.
# 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:

#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.
#Grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
#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 ===

=== 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:

# Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
# 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-02T21:51:35Z

Arrehn: /* Other Types of Rezzing (scenes, individual objects, chat commands, etc) */

== 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:

# Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
# Derez and/or delete your current props to clear the stage.
# Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
# Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
# 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:

# Rez the prop using your PE and then move the prop into the new correct position.
# Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez YourPropName’
# 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.
# Derez your props.
# 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.
# 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:

# Place your new prop in the desired location on your stage and add a “~MST reztracker” script inside it as usual.
# 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.
# 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.

# Open the “~PACKLIST” notecard
# Delete the line that contains the name of the prop you wish to remove.
# 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:

#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.
#Grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
#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".'''''

=== Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default ===

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

# Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
# 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-02T21:30:57Z

Arrehn: /* Other Commands */

== 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:

# Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
# Derez and/or delete your current props to clear the stage.
# Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
# Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
# 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:

# Rez the prop using your PE and then move the prop into the new correct position.
# Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez YourPropName’
# 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.
# Derez your props.
# 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.
# 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:

# Place your new prop in the desired location on your stage and add a “~MST reztracker” script inside it as usual.
# 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.
# 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.

# Open the “~PACKLIST” notecard
# Delete the line that contains the name of the prop you wish to remove.
# 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:

#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.
#Grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
#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.

To avoid typing or gestures, you can program these rez commands into scheduled timeline. This is discussed in the the documentation section of timelines.

=== Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default ===

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-02T19:02:57Z

Arrehn: /* Other Commands */

== 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:

# Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
# Derez and/or delete your current props to clear the stage.
# Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
# Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
# 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:

# Rez the prop using your PE and then move the prop into the new correct position.
# Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez YourPropName’
# 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.
# Derez your props.
# 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.
# 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:

# Place your new prop in the desired location on your stage and add a “~MST reztracker” script inside it as usual.
# 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.
# 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.

# Open the “~PACKLIST” notecard
# Delete the line that contains the name of the prop you wish to remove.
# 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:

#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.
#Grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
#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 Commands ==
=== 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.

=== Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default ===

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-02T18:52:52Z

Arrehn: /* Collaboration with others / Sharing your performance engine */

== 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:

# Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
# Derez and/or delete your current props to clear the stage.
# Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
# Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
# 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:

# Rez the prop using your PE and then move the prop into the new correct position.
# Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez YourPropName’
# 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.
# Derez your props.
# 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.
# 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:

# Place your new prop in the desired location on your stage and add a “~MST reztracker” script inside it as usual.
# 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.
# 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.

# Open the “~PACKLIST” notecard
# Delete the line that contains the name of the prop you wish to remove.
# 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:

#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.
#Grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
#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 Commands ==
8.a 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 5, ‘Collaboration’.
8.b 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.
8.c Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-02T18:39:48Z

Arrehn: /* Removing Props */

== 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:

# Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
# Derez and/or delete your current props to clear the stage.
# Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
# Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
# 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:

# Rez the prop using your PE and then move the prop into the new correct position.
# Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez YourPropName’
# 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.
# Derez your props.
# 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.
# 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:

# Place your new prop in the desired location on your stage and add a “~MST reztracker” script inside it as usual.
# 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.
# 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.

# Open the “~PACKLIST” notecard
# Delete the line that contains the name of the prop you wish to remove.
# 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 ==

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. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Oberlander
ALLOW=SomeoneElse Resident

There should be an example of this line already in the notecard. After you’ve added your own line to the ~MST_CONFIG notecard, save the notecard and they will be able to use the blue menu of your performance engine.

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.

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

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.
In the Performance Engine’s contents, right-click the ~PACKLIST notecard. Change the permission to allow COPY, MODIFY, TRANSFER and SHARE.
Optionally grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
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.

7. 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.

8. Other Commands
8.a 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 5, ‘Collaboration’.
8.b 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.
8.c Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-02T13:32:41Z

Arrehn: /* How to Make Changes to your Props After Adding them to the Performance Engine */

== 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:

# Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
# Derez and/or delete your current props to clear the stage.
# Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
# Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
# 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:

# Rez the prop using your PE and then move the prop into the new correct position.
# Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez YourPropName’
# 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.
# Derez your props.
# 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.
# 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:

# Place your new prop in the desired location on your stage and add a “~MST reztracker” script inside it as usual.
# 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.
# 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.

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

5. 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.

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”.
Wear the MST ChoreoHUD Solo (or any other MST Choreo HUD) and use the gear menu to pair theHUD with your Performance Engine. From this point on, whenever you click the MetaHarper mermaid logo on the MST Choreo HUD, your Performance Engine’s menu will pop up.
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”

6. Collaboration with others / Sharing your performance engine

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. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Oberlander
ALLOW=SomeoneElse Resident

There should be an example of this line already in the notecard. After you’ve added your own line to the ~MST_CONFIG notecard, save the notecard and they will be able to use the blue menu of your performance engine.

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.

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

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.
In the Performance Engine’s contents, right-click the ~PACKLIST notecard. Change the permission to allow COPY, MODIFY, TRANSFER and SHARE.
Optionally grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
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.

7. 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.

8. Other Commands
8.a 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 5, ‘Collaboration’.
8.b 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.
8.c Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-02T13:18:44Z

Arrehn: /* How do I use the Performance Engine as a rezzer? */

== 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:

* Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
* Derez your current props to clear the stage.
* Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
* Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
* 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:

Rez the prop as usual and then move the prop into the new correct position.
Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez’
Find the “REZME” line in your nearby chat window that has the name of the prop you are moving. Copy this single line into your clipboard.
Derez your props.
Finally, open up the ~PACKLIST notecard and paste this new line overwriting the previous “REZME” line for this one specific prop and save the notecard.
Rez your props again, and verify the position you changed has updated as you expect.

4.c Adding new props

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

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

4.d Removing props

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

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

5. 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.

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”.
Wear the MST ChoreoHUD Solo (or any other MST Choreo HUD) and use the gear menu to pair theHUD with your Performance Engine. From this point on, whenever you click the MetaHarper mermaid logo on the MST Choreo HUD, your Performance Engine’s menu will pop up.
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”

6. Collaboration with others / Sharing your performance engine

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. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Oberlander
ALLOW=SomeoneElse Resident

There should be an example of this line already in the notecard. After you’ve added your own line to the ~MST_CONFIG notecard, save the notecard and they will be able to use the blue menu of your performance engine.

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.

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

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.
In the Performance Engine’s contents, right-click the ~PACKLIST notecard. Change the permission to allow COPY, MODIFY, TRANSFER and SHARE.
Optionally grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
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.

7. 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.

8. Other Commands
8.a 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 5, ‘Collaboration’.
8.b 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.
8.c Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-02T13:04:51Z

Arrehn: /* What is the MST Performance Engine rezzer? */

== 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 objects 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.

=== 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:

* Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
* Derez your current props to clear the stage.
* Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
* Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
* 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:

Rez the prop as usual and then move the prop into the new correct position.
Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez’
Find the “REZME” line in your nearby chat window that has the name of the prop you are moving. Copy this single line into your clipboard.
Derez your props.
Finally, open up the ~PACKLIST notecard and paste this new line overwriting the previous “REZME” line for this one specific prop and save the notecard.
Rez your props again, and verify the position you changed has updated as you expect.

4.c Adding new props

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

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

4.d Removing props

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

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

5. 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.

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”.
Wear the MST ChoreoHUD Solo (or any other MST Choreo HUD) and use the gear menu to pair theHUD with your Performance Engine. From this point on, whenever you click the MetaHarper mermaid logo on the MST Choreo HUD, your Performance Engine’s menu will pop up.
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”

6. Collaboration with others / Sharing your performance engine

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. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Oberlander
ALLOW=SomeoneElse Resident

There should be an example of this line already in the notecard. After you’ve added your own line to the ~MST_CONFIG notecard, save the notecard and they will be able to use the blue menu of your performance engine.

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.

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

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.
In the Performance Engine’s contents, right-click the ~PACKLIST notecard. Change the permission to allow COPY, MODIFY, TRANSFER and SHARE.
Optionally grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
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.

7. 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.

8. Other Commands
8.a 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 5, ‘Collaboration’.
8.b 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.
8.c Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-02T03:55:30Z

Arrehn:

== 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. So the PE acts as a rezzer, but it is not only a rezzer.

=== 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 objects 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.

=== 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:

* Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
* Derez your current props to clear the stage.
* Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
* Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
* 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:

Rez the prop as usual and then move the prop into the new correct position.
Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez’
Find the “REZME” line in your nearby chat window that has the name of the prop you are moving. Copy this single line into your clipboard.
Derez your props.
Finally, open up the ~PACKLIST notecard and paste this new line overwriting the previous “REZME” line for this one specific prop and save the notecard.
Rez your props again, and verify the position you changed has updated as you expect.

4.c Adding new props

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

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

4.d Removing props

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

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

5. 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.

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”.
Wear the MST ChoreoHUD Solo (or any other MST Choreo HUD) and use the gear menu to pair theHUD with your Performance Engine. From this point on, whenever you click the MetaHarper mermaid logo on the MST Choreo HUD, your Performance Engine’s menu will pop up.
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”

6. Collaboration with others / Sharing your performance engine

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. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Oberlander
ALLOW=SomeoneElse Resident

There should be an example of this line already in the notecard. After you’ve added your own line to the ~MST_CONFIG notecard, save the notecard and they will be able to use the blue menu of your performance engine.

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.

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

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.
In the Performance Engine’s contents, right-click the ~PACKLIST notecard. Change the permission to allow COPY, MODIFY, TRANSFER and SHARE.
Optionally grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
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.

7. 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.

8. Other Commands
8.a 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 5, ‘Collaboration’.
8.b 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.
8.c Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-02T00:55:18Z

Arrehn:

== 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. So the PE acts as a rezzer, but it is not only a rezzer.

=== 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? ==

=== 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.

=== 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.''

== Saving and Rezzing Props – Basic Steps ==

=== 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 Show Time ==

Always test centering, rezzing, and derezzing 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 Managed Props ==
=== Updating a prop while keeping its rez ===

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

* Pick up your new version of the props from the region into your avatar inventory.
* Derez your current props to clear the stage.
* Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
* Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
* 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"''

The new version must have the same name as the old one and must contain the ~MST reztracker script.
4.b Updating a prop to change its rez position

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

Rez the prop as usual and then move the prop into the new correct position.
Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez’
Find the “REZME” line in your nearby chat window that has the name of the prop you are moving. Copy this single line into your clipboard.
Derez your props.
Finally, open up the ~PACKLIST notecard and paste this new line overwriting the previous “REZME” line for this one specific prop and save the notecard.
Rez your props again, and verify the position you changed has updated as you expect.

4.c Adding new props

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

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

4.d Removing props

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

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

5. 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.

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”.
Wear the MST ChoreoHUD Solo (or any other MST Choreo HUD) and use the gear menu to pair theHUD with your Performance Engine. From this point on, whenever you click the MetaHarper mermaid logo on the MST Choreo HUD, your Performance Engine’s menu will pop up.
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”

6. Collaboration with others / Sharing your performance engine

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. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Oberlander
ALLOW=SomeoneElse Resident

There should be an example of this line already in the notecard. After you’ve added your own line to the ~MST_CONFIG notecard, save the notecard and they will be able to use the blue menu of your performance engine.

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.

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

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.
In the Performance Engine’s contents, right-click the ~PACKLIST notecard. Change the permission to allow COPY, MODIFY, TRANSFER and SHARE.
Optionally grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
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.

7. 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.

8. Other Commands
8.a 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 5, ‘Collaboration’.
8.b 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.
8.c Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-02T00:26:49Z

Arrehn: /* Update your engine's ~PACKLIST Notecard */

== 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. So the PE acts as a rezzer, but it is not only a rezzer.

=== 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? ==

=== 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.

=== 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.''

== Saving and Rezzing Props – Basic Steps ==

=== 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 venue ===

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 VENUE 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 to confirm.
3.g Preparing for show time

Always test centering, rezzing, and derezzing 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 “VENUE=” line set to either ‘ALL’ or 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 leave it rezzed out backstage out of the way, and ready to go.

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”

4. Updating Props
4.a Updating a prop while keeping its rez position

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

Pick up your new version of the props into your avatar inventory.
Derez your current props to clear the stage.
Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
Rez your props and check that the new version appears.

The new version must have the same name as the old one and must contain the ~MST reztracker script.
4.b Updating a prop to change its rez position

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

Rez the prop as usual and then move the prop into the new correct position.
Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez’
Find the “REZME” line in your nearby chat window that has the name of the prop you are moving. Copy this single line into your clipboard.
Derez your props.
Finally, open up the ~PACKLIST notecard and paste this new line overwriting the previous “REZME” line for this one specific prop and save the notecard.
Rez your props again, and verify the position you changed has updated as you expect.

4.c Adding new props

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

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

4.d Removing props

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

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

5. 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.

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”.
Wear the MST ChoreoHUD Solo (or any other MST Choreo HUD) and use the gear menu to pair theHUD with your Performance Engine. From this point on, whenever you click the MetaHarper mermaid logo on the MST Choreo HUD, your Performance Engine’s menu will pop up.
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”

6. Collaboration with others / Sharing your performance engine

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. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Oberlander
ALLOW=SomeoneElse Resident

There should be an example of this line already in the notecard. After you’ve added your own line to the ~MST_CONFIG notecard, save the notecard and they will be able to use the blue menu of your performance engine.

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.

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

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.
In the Performance Engine’s contents, right-click the ~PACKLIST notecard. Change the permission to allow COPY, MODIFY, TRANSFER and SHARE.
Optionally grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
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.

7. 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.

8. Other Commands
8.a 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 5, ‘Collaboration’.
8.b 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.
8.c Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-08-01T23:59:54Z

Arrehn: /* Save Prop Positions */

== 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. So the PE acts as a rezzer, but it is not only a rezzer.

=== 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? ==

=== 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.

=== 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.''

== Saving and Rezzing Props – Basic Steps ==

=== 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 “REZME” lines.

Visually check that you have one “REZME..” 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.

An example of a ~PACKLIST notecard is below:

Paste your REZME lines below:
Do not paste any lines with just timestamps and no "REZME" or "NOREZ" marks.
Note: You can change the text "REZME" to "NOREZ" if you do not want that object to be rezzed right away.
Note2: Any time/date stamps at the beginning of the lines will be ignored.

REZME=Feeling Good wall, <-4.503634, 0.423905, 3.725710>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -1.000000, 0.000000>
REZME=Feeling Good Stairs, <-2.165010, 0.406470, 1.272430>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.707110, 0.707110>
REZME=Ruins - Pillar, <-5.427906, 6.000003, 3.964999>, <0.500000, -0.500000, -0.500000, 0.500000>
REZME=Feeling Good base, <-0.232758, 0.385536, 0.051865>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.707107, 0.707107>
REZME=Raised tile 1, <-1.261811, -12.691132, 0.171204>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.707107, 0.707107>

3.c Pick up your objects

One at a time, never as a collection, right click your props and select “take” 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.

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.
3.d Copy objects to the performance engine’s inventory

Now, select the new props you just picked up in step 3c in 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, and these can be safely ignored. When you have dragged all of your new props into the performance engine, continue to the next step.

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.
3.e Try the rez/derez commands

You are now ready to test rezzing and de-rezzing! Click the MST Performance Engine and select <more REZ> then click the “rez” button. Your props should appear in the correct locations.

Similarly, you can click 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.

Also remember that you can use the MST Choreo HUD to quickly access the performance engine’s click menu. You may also shout the chat commands ‘/8 rez’ and /8 derez’.
3.f Final touches for a particular venue

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 VENUE 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 to confirm.
3.g Preparing for show time

Always test centering, rezzing, and derezzing 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 “VENUE=” line set to either ‘ALL’ or 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 leave it rezzed out backstage out of the way, and ready to go.

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”

4. Updating Props
4.a Updating a prop while keeping its rez position

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

Pick up your new version of the props into your avatar inventory.
Derez your current props to clear the stage.
Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
Rez your props and check that the new version appears.

The new version must have the same name as the old one and must contain the ~MST reztracker script.
4.b Updating a prop to change its rez position

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

Rez the prop as usual and then move the prop into the new correct position.
Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez’
Find the “REZME” line in your nearby chat window that has the name of the prop you are moving. Copy this single line into your clipboard.
Derez your props.
Finally, open up the ~PACKLIST notecard and paste this new line overwriting the previous “REZME” line for this one specific prop and save the notecard.
Rez your props again, and verify the position you changed has updated as you expect.

4.c Adding new props

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

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

4.d Removing props

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

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

5. 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.

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”.
Wear the MST ChoreoHUD Solo (or any other MST Choreo HUD) and use the gear menu to pair theHUD with your Performance Engine. From this point on, whenever you click the MetaHarper mermaid logo on the MST Choreo HUD, your Performance Engine’s menu will pop up.
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”

6. Collaboration with others / Sharing your performance engine

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. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Oberlander
ALLOW=SomeoneElse Resident

There should be an example of this line already in the notecard. After you’ve added your own line to the ~MST_CONFIG notecard, save the notecard and they will be able to use the blue menu of your performance engine.

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.

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

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.
In the Performance Engine’s contents, right-click the ~PACKLIST notecard. Change the permission to allow COPY, MODIFY, TRANSFER and SHARE.
Optionally grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
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.

7. 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.

8. Other Commands
8.a 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 5, ‘Collaboration’.
8.b 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.
8.c Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-07-31T18:17:40Z

Arrehn:

== 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. So the PE acts as a rezzer, but it is not only a rezzer.

=== 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? ==

=== 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.

=== 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.''

== Saving and Rezzing Props – Basic Steps ==

=== 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 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.

''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”.''

=== 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 “REZME” lines.

Visually check that you have one “REZME..” 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.

An example of a ~PACKLIST notecard is below:

Paste your REZME lines below:
Do not paste any lines with just timestamps and no "REZME" or "NOREZ" marks.
Note: You can change the text "REZME" to "NOREZ" if you do not want that object to be rezzed right away.
Note2: Any time/date stamps at the beginning of the lines will be ignored.

REZME=Feeling Good wall, <-4.503634, 0.423905, 3.725710>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -1.000000, 0.000000>
REZME=Feeling Good Stairs, <-2.165010, 0.406470, 1.272430>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.707110, 0.707110>
REZME=Ruins - Pillar, <-5.427906, 6.000003, 3.964999>, <0.500000, -0.500000, -0.500000, 0.500000>
REZME=Feeling Good base, <-0.232758, 0.385536, 0.051865>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.707107, 0.707107>
REZME=Raised tile 1, <-1.261811, -12.691132, 0.171204>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.707107, 0.707107>

3.c Pick up your objects

One at a time, never as a collection, right click your props and select “take” 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.

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.
3.d Copy objects to the performance engine’s inventory

Now, select the new props you just picked up in step 3c in 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, and these can be safely ignored. When you have dragged all of your new props into the performance engine, continue to the next step.

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.
3.e Try the rez/derez commands

You are now ready to test rezzing and de-rezzing! Click the MST Performance Engine and select <more REZ> then click the “rez” button. Your props should appear in the correct locations.

Similarly, you can click 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.

Also remember that you can use the MST Choreo HUD to quickly access the performance engine’s click menu. You may also shout the chat commands ‘/8 rez’ and /8 derez’.
3.f Final touches for a particular venue

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 VENUE 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 to confirm.
3.g Preparing for show time

Always test centering, rezzing, and derezzing 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 “VENUE=” line set to either ‘ALL’ or 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 leave it rezzed out backstage out of the way, and ready to go.

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”

4. Updating Props
4.a Updating a prop while keeping its rez position

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

Pick up your new version of the props into your avatar inventory.
Derez your current props to clear the stage.
Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
Rez your props and check that the new version appears.

The new version must have the same name as the old one and must contain the ~MST reztracker script.
4.b Updating a prop to change its rez position

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

Rez the prop as usual and then move the prop into the new correct position.
Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez’
Find the “REZME” line in your nearby chat window that has the name of the prop you are moving. Copy this single line into your clipboard.
Derez your props.
Finally, open up the ~PACKLIST notecard and paste this new line overwriting the previous “REZME” line for this one specific prop and save the notecard.
Rez your props again, and verify the position you changed has updated as you expect.

4.c Adding new props

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

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

4.d Removing props

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

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

5. 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.

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”.
Wear the MST ChoreoHUD Solo (or any other MST Choreo HUD) and use the gear menu to pair theHUD with your Performance Engine. From this point on, whenever you click the MetaHarper mermaid logo on the MST Choreo HUD, your Performance Engine’s menu will pop up.
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”

6. Collaboration with others / Sharing your performance engine

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. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Oberlander
ALLOW=SomeoneElse Resident

There should be an example of this line already in the notecard. After you’ve added your own line to the ~MST_CONFIG notecard, save the notecard and they will be able to use the blue menu of your performance engine.

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.

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

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.
In the Performance Engine’s contents, right-click the ~PACKLIST notecard. Change the permission to allow COPY, MODIFY, TRANSFER and SHARE.
Optionally grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
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.

7. 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.

8. Other Commands
8.a 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 5, ‘Collaboration’.
8.b 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.
8.c Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

How to Rez and Cleanup Props

2024-07-31T18:12:25Z

Arrehn: Created page with " == 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. So the PE acts as a rezzer, but it is not only a rezzer. === 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..."

== 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. So the PE acts as a rezzer, but it is not only a rezzer.

=== 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? ==

=== 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.

=== 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 into each one. This script will help the props find their correct positions and rez and derez properly.

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

3. Saving and Rezzing Props – Basic Steps

3.a Save Prop Positions

When you have finished placing “~MST reztracker” scripts in each prop as described in step 2c, you can now save the positions of your props. To do this click the performance engine and select “saverez” from the popup blue menu. After doing this a number of “REZME..” lines will be printed out into nearby chat. Copy these into your clipboard and continue.

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 Choreo HUD” and using the harp logo button to access your performance engine’s menu. You may also shout the chat command, “/8 menu”.
3.b Update the ~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 “REZME” lines.

Visually check that you have one “REZME..” 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.

An example of a ~PACKLIST notecard is below:

Paste your REZME lines below:
Do not paste any lines with just timestamps and no "REZME" or "NOREZ" marks.
Note: You can change the text "REZME" to "NOREZ" if you do not want that object to be rezzed right away.
Note2: Any time/date stamps at the beginning of the lines will be ignored.

REZME=Feeling Good wall, <-4.503634, 0.423905, 3.725710>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -1.000000, 0.000000>
REZME=Feeling Good Stairs, <-2.165010, 0.406470, 1.272430>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.707110, 0.707110>
REZME=Ruins - Pillar, <-5.427906, 6.000003, 3.964999>, <0.500000, -0.500000, -0.500000, 0.500000>
REZME=Feeling Good base, <-0.232758, 0.385536, 0.051865>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.707107, 0.707107>
REZME=Raised tile 1, <-1.261811, -12.691132, 0.171204>, <0.000000, 0.000000, -0.707107, 0.707107>

3.c Pick up your objects

One at a time, never as a collection, right click your props and select “take” 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.

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.
3.d Copy objects to the performance engine’s inventory

Now, select the new props you just picked up in step 3c in 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, and these can be safely ignored. When you have dragged all of your new props into the performance engine, continue to the next step.

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.
3.e Try the rez/derez commands

You are now ready to test rezzing and de-rezzing! Click the MST Performance Engine and select <more REZ> then click the “rez” button. Your props should appear in the correct locations.

Similarly, you can click 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.

Also remember that you can use the MST Choreo HUD to quickly access the performance engine’s click menu. You may also shout the chat commands ‘/8 rez’ and /8 derez’.
3.f Final touches for a particular venue

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 VENUE 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 to confirm.
3.g Preparing for show time

Always test centering, rezzing, and derezzing 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 “VENUE=” line set to either ‘ALL’ or 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 leave it rezzed out backstage out of the way, and ready to go.

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”

4. Updating Props
4.a Updating a prop while keeping its rez position

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

Pick up your new version of the props into your avatar inventory.
Derez your current props to clear the stage.
Delete the older version of the prop from the contents of the performance engine.
Drag the new version of your prop from your avatar inventory into the performance engine’s inventory.
Rez your props and check that the new version appears.

The new version must have the same name as the old one and must contain the ~MST reztracker script.
4.b Updating a prop to change its rez position

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

Rez the prop as usual and then move the prop into the new correct position.
Use the “saverez” menu button as described in step 3a, or shout ‘/8 saverez’
Find the “REZME” line in your nearby chat window that has the name of the prop you are moving. Copy this single line into your clipboard.
Derez your props.
Finally, open up the ~PACKLIST notecard and paste this new line overwriting the previous “REZME” line for this one specific prop and save the notecard.
Rez your props again, and verify the position you changed has updated as you expect.

4.c Adding new props

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

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

4.d Removing props

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

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

5. 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.

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”.
Wear the MST ChoreoHUD Solo (or any other MST Choreo HUD) and use the gear menu to pair theHUD with your Performance Engine. From this point on, whenever you click the MetaHarper mermaid logo on the MST Choreo HUD, your Performance Engine’s menu will pop up.
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”

6. Collaboration with others / Sharing your performance engine

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. For example:

ALLOW=Arrehn Oberlander
ALLOW=SomeoneElse Resident

There should be an example of this line already in the notecard. After you’ve added your own line to the ~MST_CONFIG notecard, save the notecard and they will be able to use the blue menu of your performance engine.

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.

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

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.
In the Performance Engine’s contents, right-click the ~PACKLIST notecard. Change the permission to allow COPY, MODIFY, TRANSFER and SHARE.
Optionally grant your collaborators “Object Rights” permissions, if you trust them completely. Be careful with this.
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.

7. 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.

8. Other Commands
8.a 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 5, ‘Collaboration’.
8.b 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, like:

/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.

These shouted commands can be cumbersome to type manually but you can program them into an EVENTLIST later, or use gestures.
8.c Prevent certain objects from being rezzed by default

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

Edit the PACKLIST notecard and find the line for the object you do not want to rez by default.
Change the command “REZME” at the start of the line to “NOREZ”. This will allow you to load the object individual as described above, but it will not rez by default.

8.d Reset locations of inadvertently 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”.
8.d Adding No-Mod objects (not recommended)

If you simply 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 “REZME=…” line you can add to the ~PACKLIST notecard, similar to the saverez method from section [2.1]. From here 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 location < 10m from the stage center.
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.

8.e Permanently Removing ~MST rezTracker Scripts

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

8.f Optimizing contents window load time

By default the MST Performance Engine comes with the capability to animate up to 80 avatars at once. You will see 80 “~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.

9. Sleep Mode

Your MST Performance Engine will turn off most of its scripts automatically if it has not been used in 2 hours. It does this to minimize any script load on the region where it is rezzed. It will automatically wake up again whenever an authorized person clicks it to activate the blue popup menu, or tells it to center itself.

If your region is extremely laggy it may take longer than usual for scripts to ‘wake up’. If you are worried about this, simply call up the menu of your performance engine early to wake it up.

10. 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.

MST

2024-07-31T15:33:49Z

Arrehn: /* Specific Documentation and Reference */

== MetaHarper Show Tools - What is it? ==

MetaHarper Show Tools is a complete, collaborative system for managing SL performances. If you need to rez and de-rez props safely and accurately, move objects and avatars smoothly, script camera zooms and pans, choreograph animations and special effects with real time precision, then you have found the right toolkit. I created this set of tools to promote the performing arts and creative exhibitions within SL and attempt to enable truly collaborative work, where a group of cooperating individuals can work on the same objects at the same time. Normally in-world creation tools are difficult to share with people other than the owner, but this tool suite attempts to break these barriers.

These tools have been used for years to run weekly multimedia shows across the grid, large annual acclaimed performances, and as part of exhibits in the Linden Endowment for the Arts regions.

== Where can I get a copy? ==
You may pick up a copy of the MetaHarper Show Tools in the [https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/MetaHarper-Show-Tools-BOX/7435908 SL marketplace], or on the
[http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chiaroscuro%20Isle/94/93/1201 Studio/Store platform of the MetaHarper Immersive Theater].

== Specific Documentation and Reference ==

# [[MST Components|Components - What is Included]]
# [[MST_Workspace|How to Prepare Your Workspace]] (Beginner)
# [[How to Rez and Cleanup Props]] (Beginner)
# How to Create Animation Sequences Beginner
# How to Create an Avatar or Object Movement Sequence (Beginner)
# How to use your Animation and Movement Sequences in a Timeline (Beginner)
# How to Run Different Animation and Movement Sequences At Once (AKA- timeline groups) (Intermediate)
# How to Use "MoveTo" for better movement accuracy in lag (Advanced)
# How to Insert new steps to the beginning of timelines without having to edit every line (Advanced)
# How to Create Camera Angles, Zooms, Pans, and Fades (Beginner)
# How to Change Outfits and Costumes with MST Outfitter (Intermediate)
# Where can I find more MST Support?
# REFERENCE - ALL "chat" commands for scripted control
# REFERENCE - All ~EVENTLIST commands
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MOVELIST options
# REFERENCE - ALL ~MST_CONFIG
# REFERENCE - ALL centerpoint notecard options.

MST Workspace

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Arrehn: Arrehn moved page MST Workspace to Prepare your Workspace for MST

#REDIRECT [[Prepare your Workspace for MST]]

Prepare your Workspace for MST

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Arrehn: Arrehn moved page MST Workspace to Prepare your Workspace for MST

To get up and running with the MetaHarper Show Tools, wear the show tools package and then click it to receive a folder of items, if you have not done so already. Then, complete the following steps:

# '''Find a place to build''': Go to a place where you can rez objects and leave them out for many hours. Ensure you are not too close to any region boundaries or edges. When looking for build space, be sure to avoid the terrain floor and also avoid the 4096m build height limit. Don’t work directly on the terrain floor or you can have trouble rezzing objects that need to be moved down. Similarly don’t work too close to the 4096m altitute limit, or you will have trouble rezzing objects that need to be moved up. You should have at least 200 prims free, as a general guide, for set building and temporary rezzing of various HUDs and tools.
# '''Pay attention to "nearby chat"''': When using the MST tools, the components will tell you what they are doing in nearby chat, or if there is an unexpected situation that must be addressed. Often warnings are errors will show up in chat first, and you can save yourself some time just by watching for any unusual messages.
# '''OPTIONAL: Rez your stage template if you have one''': Some theaters give out stage templates to assist people creating shows. If you are building and act for a particular theater, ask the owner or theater manager if there is a “stage template” you can use to help build your act to the right size and shape.
# '''Rez the MST Centerpoint''': Find the “MST Centerpoint” object in your show tools folder. Rez this object on the ground. If you are using a stage template for a particular theater, you may have instructions for where to place the centerpoint and you should follow these instructions now. Otherwise, if you do not have any special instructions it is fine to rez the centerpoint in the middle of your stage floor. ''(Note: Some veterans will rez the MST Centerpoint under their stage floor to keep it out of sight, but when you are learning you can rez it directly on your stage floor, and then make the MST Centerpoint transparent in the SL Viewer’s build tools window later.)''
# '''Name your Centerpoint''': Using your viewer, select and edit this centerpoint. If you are using a stage template, follow any instructions you may have over what name to use with your MST centerpoint. Otherwise, select the centerpoint object, edit it so that the build window pops up, and change the name of the centerpoint object to something specific to you, such as 'ArrehnStageCP”. Try not to use any spaces or punctuation, and keep the name short. ''(Note: veterans will often add "CP" at the end of a centerpoint name, as a shorthand for 'centerpoint')''
# '''Rez and name your Performance Engine''': Next, find the object “MST_PerformanceEngine_rename_me” in your show tools folder. Rez this object on the ground. You should also select and edit this object. In your viewer’s build tools window, rename this performance engine to reflect the name of your act. For example “PirateAct”. You should keep the name of your engine short, ideally with no spaces or punctuation.

You have now rezzed the basic components that you will need to quickly build and take down a future performance. You can think of the above components as the digital version of an efficient stage crew, or in SL terms, you may think of the above tools as theater-specific rezbox that can hold your choreography routines, special effects, scenes, and props.

Prepare your Workspace for MST

2024-07-31T15:25:51Z

Arrehn: Created page with "To get up and running with the MetaHarper Show Tools, wear the show tools package and then click it to receive a folder of items, if you have not done so already. Then, complete the following steps: # '''Find a place to build''': Go to a place where you can rez objects and leave them out for many hours. Ensure you are not too close to any region boundaries or edges. When looking for build space, be sure to avoid the terrain floor and also avoid the 4096m build height li..."