TROI Timtam asked me last week for a script for pond ripples using texture animation in Second Life, and that got me thinking about sculpted prims as an alternative. That led me to a site that is a PHP app that generates a sculpt texture, and last night I was playing around with it and voila - a wading pool that ripples when you touch it (or jump in!).

nand Nerd's Sculpt Texture Generator is a form-based method for specifying a z-position and radius value for a symmetric object, and I stepped through a series of these giving a rippled wave pattern. I ultimately use a sequence of 10 maps, and use the llSetPrimitiveParams() call to cycle through them.

The cycle occasionally hiccups and the prim doesn't resolve to its full size before the next shape is applied. As far as I know, though, the pool doesn't suffer from festering boils. [UPDATE: I got an IM from nand Nerd who suggested embedding/linking two cubes into the pool, with their faces textured with the sculpt textures. This keeps the sculpt textures preloaded and pretty much gets rid of the hiccups. Thanks, nand!]

Kiwini Oe had to fly over to the sculpted prim competition at Luna to see if there was anything like this. No, but lots of cool stuff. I set a couple pools out next to my office on Clear Ink Island; feel free to drop in!