Visual effects: linking avatars and Linking Books

[zib_redlektab]

I don't think the particles need to be so detailed that they need to be re-computed after every customization. A general approximation of the avatar's shape should be enough to give the effect....I like your proposed idea for how it would work though

[75th Trombone]

You step 1 implies that if there's 300 linking poses and 30 avatar in an age, you have to compute 9000 models of points.

Rebuttal 1: There aren't 300 linking poses, there are (last I counted, which I admit has been a while) about four or five. Let's name them:

1. Normally touching an LB on a pedestal
2. Crouching and touching an LB in a Bahro pedestal or the Teledahn fish tank
3. Touching your Relto book
4. Falling off a cliff and automatically touching your Relto book
5. And linking while you're just standing around, like when you use an LB on your Relto bookshelf.

Perhaps there may be a very large number of poses someday, BUT

Rebuttal 2: The calculations are being made in the Avatar Customization Age whenever you save your avatar. So the game doesn't compute anything when you link, it just loads the precomputed set of points from a file or server somewhere.

I don't think the particles need to be so detailed that they need to be re-computed after every customization. A general approximation of the avatar's shape should be enough to give the effect

Well, perhaps not with the avatars we have today. But hopefully some day we will be able to have a far greater level of control over how the avatar looks — particularly over the avatar's height. If we can ever have shorter/taller avatars, we'll have to compute the points for every avatar.

I like your proposed idea for how it would work though

Thank you.

[realXCV]

How many points ?

When you link to your Relto (with the book), where should the particles go ? If you just make them go to where the book was, they will touch it from the wrong side.

[75th Trombone]

How many points ?

Err, I dunno. A good amount. One per polygon in the avatar, perhaps? I don't know.

When you link to your Relto (with the book), where should the particles go ? If you just make them go to where the book was, they will touch it from the wrong side.

For all poses, the particles that aren't in the linking arm should make a beeline for the shoulder. From there they stream through the arm into the linking panel. This is of course negotiable depending on what's easy to implement while still looking good. But generally the particles follow a path through the arm.

[The stranger]

As for the animated linking panels, I think it will be cool to see linking panels as "windows".

You see the view of the age, exactly as you will see it the moment you arrive in the age. This is a video of the age, with no people around. All other things will be there. No avatars are shown (this will be a video). Big changes in the age will be seen in the video (different videos will apply. For example- ahnonay spheres changed, snow and no snow in eder delin, such thing). If there is a book in a public age, which links to a private version of an age, which is in different state for everyone- the panel shows the natural version of the age, no changes.

EDIT: you know, I once changed the linking sound file in UU to the Myst III Exile linking sound. Every time I linked I heared the cool exile linking sound, and every time others linked around I heared that voice. It was REALLY cool.

[75th Trombone]

I don't think the state of linking panel movies ever needs to change, unless it's on a new linking book. My understanding is that canon Linking Books always show the Age as it was when the Linking Book was activated.

So unless we create a new linking book to a location, it should only display the beginning state of the location.

[Alahmnat]

I don't think the state of linking panel movies ever needs to change, unless it's on a new linking book. My understanding is that canon Linking Books always show the Age as it was when the Linking Book was activated.

That doesn't make any sense though... I'm reasonably certain that canonically, the Myst Linking Book displays all of the structures that Atrus built on the island, and that Atrus did in fact use the Riven Linking Book to monitor the Age's health from his desk in K'veer; how else would he have known whether his changes were having any effect? Further, BoT specifically mentions using the Linking Panel of a Prison Age to monitor Veovis when he was imprisoned the first time... that's not possible without a realtime Panel.

The only monkey wrench in the "Linking Panel is a realtime image" theory is really the Sedona Book from BoD, which was being immolated by a solar nova at the time they tried to investigate it for survivors - Atrus would have to have seen evidence of that in the Linking Panel if it updated in realtime. I'm more inclined to chalk this one exception up to a dramatic exaggeration or some flaw in the Panel for that specific Book which prevented Atrus from seeing what was really going on in the Age. There's a greater collection of evidence from multiple sources within the "degree of canonality" heirarchy that point to the Panels being realtime than there is pointing to them not being realtime. However, I don't think realtime Panels are feasible or even necessary in Uru... just make 'em move!

[75th Trombone]

the Myst Linking Book displays all of the structures that Atrus built on the island

It does. All Myst Linking Books we've ever seen were activated AFTER construction on Myst was finished.

Further, BoT

I'm hesitant to consider anything in the novels, even the BoD example that supports my theory, as RAWA has pretty firmly said that those are often way outside canon.

Atrus did in fact use the Riven Linking Book to monitor the Age's health

Atrus used the stability of the linking panel's image to montior the Age's health (i.e., the stability of the sum total of the writing in the Book). He didn't necessarily see anything different in the Age itself in the panel. (It's not like he could've made anything out from that weird video we see at the beginning of Riven!)

But hey, as long as you're not foolishly pursuing realtime panels in Uru, you're okay in my book.

I could swear that RAWA has talked about this before. Will investigate.

SFT

[The stranger]

My opinion changed a lot, yet now I stick with realtime window of the age (1st view you see once linking in 1st person).

PS: 7th trombone (where's that name came from? ), some time ago I saw you posted in your blog (which doesn't work now) a music file, which appears to be yeesha's original speech (was it singing?) from the very old days. Do you have some more MUDPIE files you can share somewhere? they really bring a lot of things to think about, many old stuff which were deleted bring nice ideas for the future. I know it's not related and sorry if I just bother you, but when you are finally seen around, I guess it's at least worth asking .

[Owehn]

It does. All Myst Linking Books we've ever seen were activated AFTER construction on Myst was finished.

I'm not sure what you mean by "activated". As far as we know, the Myst book presented at the beginning of Myst had last been used when Atrus fell through the fissure on Riven, at which point there were many fewer structures on the island.