MACS, Part 1 - Introduction and requirements

Hello again. This tends to be a long post, for that i plan to separate it into smaller parts. What is MACS? MACS its not a coulpe of computers, but something i called "Multi Attachment Control System". This post will work like a table of contents. Posts that are about the system wil be linked here. For now, I'd set three milestones:

First the theory: About the system itself

• Introduction and requirements (this post)
• Design and global architecture
• System Development Kit
• System core security
  

Than we use it to make a real application, bu using the supplied core system and SDK

• Structuring the controlled device
• Simple control HUD
• Extended control HUD

The SDK was released  stand-alone. Next three tutorials show how to use it also without MACS. You need a preprocessor script to do that.

• Simple preprocessor script
• Using the preprocessor script
• Extended preprocessor script

Finally we extend the MACS system

• Writing processors
• Writing controllers
  

Now, let's start...

Introduction and requirements

The idea was born as a friend of mine asked to script a hud to resize and recolor shoes. Ok, at this point, the system is simple: The hud must colorize both shoes at once, it must handle different shoe parts by colorizing separatelly, but it must resize whole shoes at once.

But, there is also future. And this adds some more requirements:

Resizing and recolrizing might become too less, we will for sure want soon to change textures, transparency, rotation of prims and texture and so on. The system must be easilly to extend by those tasks.

We will want for sure to control also inworld objects, not only attachments. We will want that one hud can control multiple objects, and that one object can be controlled by multiple huds or inworld control units, belonging to more than one operator, or being operated by people even not owning the control units. The boots, i.e. units under control must handle access permissions properly.

Each prim of the unit under control needs a script in it, which do the whole job on the prim it is in. In background of LL's script limit plans, that script needs to be removable -- and not less important -- also easilly re-installable into the prims, if the unit user want to change something again.

The system must be easy to configure, without to change large configuration notecards, best idea is just to put some modules together and the system must run.

Release

The system is released in two editions, the personal and professional edition. Both differ only in owner permission, the professional edition has set the transfer permission and allows so development of products for sale, the private edition is intended as a demo and for private use.

The SDK and also the MACS Solutions package are now released as well, on XStreet SL as parts of the Freeby Pack. The solutions package contains some important objects and scripts creaded by writing this tutorials.

You will find the MACS, SDK and Solutions packages also inworld if you visit this place: JFS shop.

In next part

The system has been developed, at least the core part of it. It's architecture and properties will be briefly intorduced in the next part of the tutorial.

Greetings