Flying critters that soar majestically over your land in Open Simulator.
Last updated May 2019

Large Flying Critters

Seagull, Pelican, Albatross and Pteranodon

Natural looking flight with banking turns
Chaotic behavior, never repeats, not random
Can cross SIM boundaries
You can ride them and direct the flight
Dynamic camera (option) manages your POV
Dialog to control modes
Flies between set altitudes
Optionally avoids avatars and objects
Modes to stay in parcel, region, list of safe SIMs
Transponder for finding if lost
Unlocked mode lets your friends control it
Photographic detail on sculpted body
The newer Pteranodon is 1 mesh prim
Low lag, low prim, scripted non-physical object
1 to 4 prims, COPY, no mod, no trans

Small Flying Critters

Dragonettes, Seagull, Bat

Smaller flying critters stay over your parcel or region
Loves avatars, finds them and orbits them
Chaotic behavior, never repeats, not random
Dialog box to control behaviors
Ignores, avoids or follows avatars
Change to one of 16 million colors!
Low prim, scripted non-physical object
3 to 6 prims, COPY, no mod, no trans

The smaller flying critters cannot be ridden like the larger ones, they cannot fly across region boundaries but some of them do have color change dialogs. The seagull is kind of a crossover: It has some of the options of the larger flying critters.

Getting Started
Configuring your Flying Critter
Riding your Flying Critter
Using the Safe SIMs Remote (Owner only)
Lag Issues (none!)

Introduction:

You may never see birds that move in a more realistic way in a virtual world! These critters will fly all over your property, but never repeat the same path! A chaotic algorithm makes them behave in complex ways without being random. They are non-physical objects but move very smoothly. By default they will fly up to 30 meters above where they are rezzed and will stay over your property. They will not fly into the ground or under the water. They have modes to stay in the current parcel, region or list of safe regions to cross over into. You can set them to fly higher or lower by changing the “ceiling” and “floor” in the dialog. You can ride the larger ones and direct them where to go with the motion controls. However, they have a mind of their own and will not violate the boundaries they have been set to stay in. By default only the owner can change the options, but the bigger critters have an unlock mode that allows your friends to control them using the dialog menu. Anyone is always allowed to ride the larger critters. They have modes to ignore, avoid or turn towards nearby avatars. These critters are normally phantom objects and fly through obstacles in their path. However, there is a mode where they attempt to detect objects in the path and turn away. When not avoiding an object or turning to stay in bounds, they will normally travel in a sinusoidal path, gracefully banking left and right. There is an option for going in straight lines between borders. Some have an option to leave a smoke trail so you can see where they has been recently! Some have a color change dialog to change them to one of 17 million colors! If you think your critter might fly off and get lost, the larger ones have a transponder you can turn on to keep tabs on where it is.

Come to one of my Ocean Engineering locations to see flying critters buzzing around. To find links to my demo areas, check out http://magic.kayaker.net.

Getting Started:

When you purchase a flying critter from me it can arrive several ways: Kitely delivers it in a box in a box in a special folder. You need to get someplace where you can rez the boxes and open them. Drag the contents into a new folder. When you purchase from my vending machine, it creates a folder named after the critter in your inventory. Inside that folder is the critter object and a copy of this document for reference.

Before you install a flying critter, you should be on your own property. It will work on other property where you have permission to rez objects and run scripts. However, it will immediately put itself in “parcel” mode and will stay inside the parcel it was rezzed in. Drag a copy of the flying out of inventory onto the ground or water. It will immediately start to fly. If you want to change the default behavior of your critter, you can click on it at any time to stop it and bring up the dialog.

Configuring your Flying Critter:

Left clicking on your flying critter, or right clicking and selecting “Menu”, causes it to immediately stop moving and brings up a blue dialog in the upper right corner of your window. If you don't use the dialog for 20 seconds, the critter will ignore it and start flying again. If you still want to change something, you must IGNORE that dialog box and request a new one by left-clicking the critter. The buttons in the dialog show the current modes. To change to a different mode, click on them until they show the mode you want. Below is a list of all the buttons you will see in the dialog and what they do: .

PARCEL/REGION SAFE SIMS/GRID	(Only the larger critters.) One button in the dialog cycles between FOUR modes. The current mode is displayed on the button, click it to change to the next one in sequence. Here is what each mode means:
PARCEL	In this mode the critter will stay inside the boundaries of the parcel that it is currently over.
REGION	The critter flies anywhere in the current region, even a var region
SAFE SIMs	The critter flies across borders into a list of regions known to be safe. See the section below about setting this up.
GRID	Only while you are riding, the critter is allowed to cross any border. It is up to you, the pilot to know where it is safe to cross. Smaller birds like the Seagull cannot be ridden, so this mode is similar to SAFE SIMs.
.	.
DYN/FREE CAM	(only the larger critters.) One buttong switches between two modes that determine how you see yourself when riding the flying critter. Smaller birds like the Seagull cannot be ridden so they don't have this option.
DYN CAM	The camera tracks behind you as the critter flies
FREE CAM	You can control your point of vie (within viewer limitations) to watch yourself fly from other angles. Usefull for videoing yourself.
.	.
CEILING-+10	Pressing ceiling+10 will allow the critter to fly 10 meters higher than before. Pressing ceiling-10 lowers the limit.
FLOOR-+10	Pressing floor-10 will allow the critter to fly 10 meters lower than before. Floor+10 will raise the floor. (You cannot se the floor higher than the ceiling). The menu will pop back up so you can change it again or change other options.
HELP	Pressing this button brings up the "go to link" dialog that brings you back to this WEB page to help you use your critter.
DONE	Every time you change anything in the dialog, it pops back up to show you the new mode. When all the modes are set the way you want, press DONE to dismiss the menu the last time.
MORE	All the buttons did not fit on one dialog, click MORE to switch to a page with more options, shown below
MAIN	To get back to the main page of buttons, described above, press the MORE button.
AV IGNORE/AVOID/FOLLOW	One button cycles through 3 different avatar behaviors. Pressing on the button puts the critter into the next mode, then the dialog pops back up to show you what mode you are in now. If you want to get from IGNORE mode to CHASE mode, you will have to press the button 2 times. Here is what each avatar mode means:
AV IGNORE	The critter will ignore avatars as if they were not there.
AV AVOID	The critter will turn away from avatars
AV FOLLOW	The critter will turn towards nearby avatars. It will try to circle the avatar until she moves away or it is distracted by someone else.
.	.
OB IGNORE/OB AVOID	One button switches between two object modes. In IGNORE mode the critter ignores all objects in the air and fly through them. In AVOID mode, the critter TRIES to detect other birds and objects and avoid them. Due to the nature of virtual objects, this does not work perfectly and the critter will still pass through some objects.
FINE/MEDIUM/COARSE	(Only some smaller critters.) One button chooses how fast you can change the colors. Fine changes the color by one step out of 256, so it can take a long time to go through 17 million colors! MEDIUM changes by 8 steps at a click and COARSE changes colors by 64 steps at a time.
+/-RED/GREEN/BLUE	(Only some smaller critters.) These buttons bump (+ up, - down) the current color components (RED, GREEN or BLUE) by 1, 8 or 64, based on the COARSE/MEDIUM/FINE setting. Each time you click one of these buttons, the crittere changes color instantly and the dialog pops back up to change again. Press DONE when you like the color you have.
SMOKE ON/OFF	(only the larger critters.) The critter will leave smoke trails if you turn this mode on. Originally put in for debugging the chaotic behavior, many people found it interesting to see where the critter has recently flown. Click the button until is says SMOKE ON then click DONE. The critter has to be moving for the smoke to appear.
CURVED_ON/OFF	The critter normally flies in a sinusoidal flying path, this is called CURVED ON. Sometimes it is convenient to force the critter to travel in straight lines between turning at the boundaries. CURVED ON allows you to do this. For example, when riding on the critter it is easier to control when it does not turn back and forth on you.
TRANSP_ON/OFF	(Only the larger critters.) One button switches the transponder on and off. When on the critter reports its position once a minute to the locator WEB page. this works best in InWorldz and DiscoveryGrid but will be tuned for more grids soon.
UNLOCKED/LOCKED	(Only the larger critters.) Normally only the owner of the critter can stop it, bring up the menu and change these parameters. (This is LOCKED mode). Smaller birds like the Seagull do not have this button. When UNLOCKED, anyone can bring up the menu and control it. This will allow your friends to play with your the parameters of the critter. For example, most people prefer to turn CURVED mode off when riding. Note, only the owner of the critter can lock or unlock it.

Riding your Flying Critter
(large ones only)

If you right click on the critter and select “fly me” from the menu, you will immediately sit on it. (Except the smaller birds like the seagull which cannot be ridden). These creatures do not make an exciting vehicle to ride: They move slowly and cannot travel outside of the limits set by the dialog. They may refuse to fly outside the boundaries of your property, above or below the ceiling and floor settings in the menu. They do make banked turns, but not at high speed. Perhaps it would be best to just sit on your flying critter, let it drive and enjoy a stately ride around your property (at a constant 2 meters per second). You can influence where the critter will will go next with the movement controls or the arrow keys on your keyboard. (Note that these keys only work while you are flying/sitting on the critter).

Keyboard Key	Function
LEFT_ARRROW	turns the critter to the left
RIGHT_ARROW	turns the critter to the right
FWD_ARROR	causes the critter to pitch down
BACK_ARROW	causes the critter to pitch up
	(This sounds backwards, but it is intended to feel like pushing the stick forward/backward on an airplane joystick)
MOUSE_WHEEL	to zoom your POV in close or far from your avatar
ALT_LEFT_ARROW ALT_RIGHT_ARROW	Rotates your POV in FREE CAM mode

Using the Safe SIMs Remote
(Owner only, large critters only):

Safe SIMs mode currently only works in OpenSim 0.9 or better where vehicles can cross SIM boundaries. The critter has a list of “safe SIMs” that it knows it can cross safely into. I am working on a system of storing the default list of safe SIMs "in the cloud". This has been set up for Discovery Grid and InWorlds so far. If you are interested in setting this up on your grid, contact me for some scripts to set this up. I have an orb you carry from one grid to the next and it sends their locations to my database server.

In “SAFE SIMS” mode, the critter will autonomously cross into a SIM that is on the list. You can replace this list using the “Safe SIMs Remote” that came with your critter. Wear the remote on your right hand when you want to change the safe SIMs list. Inside the remote is a NC named “SafeSIMs”. You edit this NC to contain a list of safe places to go, then click on the remote to send them to the critter.

The SafeSIMs NC has a specific format with the following requirements:

If the first line in the note-card says 'reset', (highly recommended) the board will forget the previous list and start a new one. You will probably always want to do this.

The rest of the lines contain the co-ordintes of SIMs you want added to the safe SIMs list. Each sim is listed on a separate line in the NC in 'vector format' with the value you would get from calling llGetRegionCorner() and dividing the result by 256. For example the InWorldz Desert Island is at <1000,1000,0>.

How do you find out what the co-ordinates are for each SIM you want to list? The remote can tell you! Just wear the remote on your hand and fly into each region. It will IM you the numbers in local chat. You can cut the numbers out of there and paste them into the SafeSIMs NC. The NC comes with a sample list of SIMs. You should use that as an example but delete those and replace them with your own.

Once you have edited your list, make sure you save the note-card, hold the remote near the critter, and left-click the remote. The center of the critter must be within 10 meters of the remote for this to work, and you will know it is working because the critter will report the co-ordinates to chat as it receives them. You can save that critter back into inventory with this list and it will remember it the next time it is rezzed. Caution: if you rez several critters, and they are within 10 meters of the remote when you click it, they will all get the same list.

Below is an example that resets (removes all the default safe SIMs) and adds just 6 SIMs back in.

reset
<976, 999, 0>
<976, 1000, 0>
<977, 999, 0>
<977, 998, 0>
<976, 998, 0>
<976, 997, 0>

Lag Issues:

These flying critters are non-physical objects and are very low lag. Every effort has been taken to minimize other potential lag issues. When in motion it only updates its velocity once a second. The menu uses chat to communicate, but only while the dialog box is visible and stops listening when flying to decrease chat lag. They are all sculpts or mesh to lower the prim count as much as possible. This helps decrease lag on the sim, unless you abuse it by rezzing too many critters.