Stairs???

[electroglyph]

How do stairs work?
I've searched the forums here and over at almlys. I found one topic about modeling. What makes an avitar decide to step up and start climbing? Is it a region? what is the default spacing for the model to make the walk cycle look right?

[boblishman]

basically "stairs" don't exist ... you obviously model & texture the stairs ... but then you add a "helper" mesh ... a flat sloping plane that the avatar actually walks on (make it a collider - then it will be invisible) ... if you look closely at Cyan's stairs in game ... the avatar actualy never "steps" them ... it just walks up an invisible collider that is level with the edges of the steps ...

... each "step" is usually about 6" (0.5 units in Blender) higher than the previous one ...(but it depends on the design of your stairs) ... you just have to try varying step "heights" and see how it looks in game ...

[electroglyph]

Thanks much!

I had actually dreaded the stairs I was making. They were much too precise compaired to the rough look for the rest of the age. I thought I was going to have to stick with some fancy formula like ladder climb regions have.

So I should remove bounds and col_type 4 from the actual stairs mesh?

[boblishman]

you shouldnt use col_type at all ... on anything... use only the "bounds" button ....

if you make your collision mesh correctly your stairs would not need any bounds (as they will be "climbing" the collider ) ... it kind of depends on how complicated your mesh is, and if the "stairs" are part of a bigger mesh (landscape/room) ...

[Aloys]

Right, the avatar automatically climbs anything smaller than 0.5 units.
I don't know what the exact angle of the slopes the avatar can walk, but above 40 degrees it start becoming difficult.. All the stairs I looked at in the Cyan Ages are usually around 30 degrees.

[electroglyph]

Thanks so much!

I built a ramp over the stairs and set it as string-alctype-collider. It's invisible and he walks right up. Not only that but I was poking around region types and figured out how to set a mesh as a swim surface. Now my avitar swims over to the steps, stands up and walks out of the pool. Two problems solved for the price of one.

[electroglyph]

Oh well, I tried to make real world carpenter type steps, 8 inch of rise for every 12 inch of run. I tried colliders with static triangular mesh and no rc value. Walking up looked fine in that 8 steps took 8 steps. Coming down was like Uru-on-ice. The same happened with an rc of 4. Lower rc values did nothing for going up but it got slicker going down. A high rc value of 9 and the avitar stopped sliding on the slope but going up took 15 steps for every 8 steps covered. I thought he'd get more traction but it actually impeded his progress.

I ripped everything out and made half foot high steps. There are a lot more of them but he goes up and down just fine and even stops in the middle. Live and learn I guess. The collider still works in the pool well enough. nobody is going to notice if you slide back into the water if you stop.

[boblishman]

do not use the rc value at all ... just have the bounds set ... no other properties ... the default values that are exported will work better ....

[Nadnerb]

Yes, if you don't use an rc value, then friction will be disabled on that surface, and the avatar will not slide, or have any momentum whatsoever while standing on that surface.