[sldev] [IDEA] - OpenGridProtocol - Agent/Avatar question...

[Tateru Nino]

Well, when the viewer is advised that there is an agent around, 'Ruth' 
is what is placed into the 3D view until the object data for the avatar 
becomes available to the viewer. In cases where the object data never 
becomes available or becomes only partially available the avatar remains 
wholly or partly Ruth.

The alternative is having the agent present but invisible. It's true 
that just about any kind of mesh could be substituted for Ruth (and 
indeed has been in a recent 1.20 viewer), but the important part is that 
it's a placeholder asset that is always immediately available to the 
viewer without needing additional communications. What Ruth is, is 
defined by what the viewer chooses to place.

Leastways that's the answer if I understood your question correctly. :)

Belxjander Serechai wrote:
> So what is stopping the Agent from getting a given "object" from
> storage to avoid all this "ruth"ing business?
> or is that impractical for other reasons ?
>
> On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 4:20 PM, Tateru Nino <tateru.nino at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> Well, technically an agent doesn't have a mesh or textures or any of that.
>> The agent is the part you _don't_ see. There's an avatar, which is an object
>> such as you describe, which is associated with an agent and coincides with
>> it in space. The agent represents the invisible presence and the
>> communications umbilical back to the viewer.
>>
>> Belxjander Serechai wrote:
>>     
>>> Just a random thought... but what IS the difference between a
>>> user-agent and any other object?
>>>
>>> both have a "core mesh" and texture assets applied...
>>>
>>> the only difference *I* see is one has an "Agent" directly controlling
>>> movement and events
>>>  and the other is "scripted" reactions to "Agent" presence...
>>>
>>> Whats stopping the "Avatar" of a given user being an arbitrary
>>> "object" mesh + asset listing?
>>>  or would objects need an extra "agent attachments" tag for placing
>>> Attachments?
>>>
>>> Maybe a dumb question... but would that open up pandoras box socially?
>>>  be talking to almost *anything* as AV ... even allowing for
>>> "scuplty" Octopii and other
>>>  "weirdness" AVs in addition to whats done to the existing AV meshes now ?
>>>
>>> Curious and Wondering,
>>>  Jeremy Sutherland (Real Life),
>>>  AKA Belxjander Serechai (General Internet),
>>>  Freija Yoshikawa ( LLSL & osgrid.org )
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>       
>> --
>> Tateru Nino
>> http://www.massively.com/
>>
>>
>>     
>
>