Set filters

Why

The default for the Theme-O-Matic is to record prim properties for every prim and face properties for every face of every prim. If your object has dozens of prims and every one of them has 4, 5, 6 or more faces, this will quickly be much too much information, especially if only a few textures (or other settings) need changing here and there but not everywhere.

Why record every wall, ceiling, floor, roof, door etc. of your house when you just want to change the curtains texture ?

Filters are the solution. Using filters you will be able to define which prims and which faces will be recorded, thus dramatically reducing the amount of information to record for your theme. This way your theme notecard will be much shorter and faster to load.

2 filters, 2 policies

The Theme-O-Matic uses two independent filters:

• the prim filter is used only when it comes to recording prim properties (size, position, light etc.),

• the face filter is used only when it comes to recording face properties (texture, color, glow...).

Moreover, each filter can independently be set to use one of two modes (also called "policies"):

• inclusive mode: only the prims or faces listed in the filter will be recorded when recording the theme. This is kind of a "white list" filter ;

• exclusive mode: all prims or faces will be recorded except those listed in the filter. This means the filter really is a "black list" of prims or faces.

The default is that both filters are set to exclusive mode and contain no prim or faces. So this effectively means that all prims and faces will be considered when making the theme, since "nothing is excluded".

In most use cases you will not want to use the default, for the reasons mentioned earlier.

Configuring the prim filter

To change the prim filter policy from inclusive to exclusive or inversely, just click the Prim Policy button. The current mode will be displayed in the local chat for you to check.

To add a prim to the prim filter, click the Add prim button. You can specify the prim you want to add in two ways:

• touch the prim to add with your mouse, or

• say its link number in the local chat.

As a lag-prevention measure, the timeout for this operation is set to 30 seconds. If you reached the timeout then just click your object again to get the menu back and try again. Make sure you read the message in the local chat to check that the operation succeeded.

Removing a prim from the prim filter is a similar operation: click the Remove Prim button and either touch the required prim or say its link number in the local chat.

Configuring the face filter

Configuring the face filter is very similar to the prim filter, with one main difference: the filter contains prim/face combinations instead of just prim numbers. First, changing the face filter policy is done by clicking the Face Policy button. The new policy applied for this filter will be said in the local chat.

To add a face to the face filter, click the Add face button. You can specify the face you want to add by:

• touching it,

• in the local chat, saying the prim link number and the face number in the format prim/face. For example 4/0 means "face #0 on prim #4".

As a special operation, you can also type -1 or * as the face number to mean all faces. For example, you can type 2/* (or 2/-1) to mean "all faces on prim #2". Doing so will add to the face filter all faces on that prim that were not already in the filter's list.

Once again you have 30 seconds to complete this operation, and you will get a small information about the adding in the local chat.

The same principle applies to remove a face from the face filter: click the Remove face button and either touch the face or use the local chat to specify the prim/face combination. Again you can use * or -1 as the face number to remove all faces of a particular prim from the face filter.

Note well

Depending on the "policies" of the filters, the prims and faces you are adding are those to record (inclusive mode) or those which will not be recorded. It's a good idea to always check your filter settings by clicking the List button before generating the theme.