Working with animated objects

Objects in a scene can move through a predetermined, continuously looping animation. This animation must be created in a 3D modeling tool such as Blender or Maya and then exported as part of an object to be uploaded to Sansar. Each part of a multi-part object may be animated independently, but the animation itself is uploaded as a single component of the object.

Translation vs. bone animations

Sansar supports both translation and bone animations. Translation animations move and rotate an object in the scene (like a vehicle or elevator) but do not change the shape of the object. Bone animations use defined bones in an object to deform the object and cause it to change shape, like a flag in the wind or a living creature.

Unless otherwise noted, information in this article applies to both translation and bone animations.

Uploading animated objects

Animated objects are uploaded as 3D models in FBX (.fbx) or Object (.obj) file formats. For information on uploading 3D models to Sansar, see Uploading items in Sansar for a step-by-step guide.

Adding animated objects to a scene

Once an animated object has been uploaded to your inventory, you may place it in a scene by dragging it from your inventory to the scene.

Animated component properties

Once the animated object is in the scene, you can edit the object's animation component properties. To access this, right-click the animation component of the animated object in the Scene Objects panel.

You may edit the following properties of a terrain object:

• ClientOnly - Set the animation to play for each visitor individually rather than for everyone at once. This makes the animation play from the visitor's client, instead of the server.
• Start at offset (seconds) - Determine the offset point of the animation loop. The start time is at 0 and goes up to the maximum duration time of the animation in seconds.
• Playback speed - Set the speed at which the animation plays. The playback speed is between -10 to 10, where 0 is the normal speed time. Entering negative numbers will play the animation backwards.

In addition to the Animation component, animated objects can include light and audio components, and may also be scripted.

Limitations

Animated objects are subject to a few temporary limitations as they continue to undergo development:

• Collisions are not supported for animated objects. They simply pass through any obstacles they encounter.