Tuxsaver story editor HOWTO
1. Introduction
If you want tux to do whatever you would like see him doing You should make own story for tuxsaver.
It isn't very difficult, all you need is a text editor (for example: kate or emacs).
How to make your own story is explained in this HOWTO.
2. About the stories.
A story is a text file that contains commands that say what tux has to do.
The average story is about 100s long and the screensaver randomly picks a story out of the storylist.
A storylist is a text file where all the stories are listed.
These stories and the storylist file are located in '/usr/share/apps/tuxsaver/stories' (on Mandrake/Redhat).
3. How to make a story.
3.1 The names of the objects.
There are several objects in the screensaver, the following is a list of objects that can be displayed/used in the screensaver and that are standard part of tuxsaver
Name object in story-file
|
Description
|
penguin
|
Tux; the penguin of the screensaver
|
hat
|
The hat of tux. The type of hat can be tuned in the setup dialog of tuxsaver
|
camera
|
The camera. The camera films the penguin.
|
island
|
The island. (moves along with the sea)
|
world
|
The whole world; everything
|
You can also draw objects in AC3D (www.ac3d.org or www.download.com) and use them in tuxsaver.
How to use an object drawn in AC3D in tuxsaver:
- Make your object in AC3D
- Save you object in /usr/share/apps/tuxsaver/objects/nameofyourobject.ac (for mandrake and redhat)
- Add this line: loadobject nameofyourobjectinthestory nameofyourobject.ac to the story you want to use the object in
- Now you can use the object as if it was a normal object.
remark: AC3D can be used in windows and in linux. You can download it at www.ac3d.org or www.download.com
remark: The name of the object in the story doesn't has to be the same as the filename of the object
example: loadobject titanic titanic3.ac
titanic move 1 5 0 6 5
3.2 A list of all the commands.
click here to see a list of all the commands + a description and an example of all the commands
3.3 How to use the commands
The story-file uses a certain structure.
- The first word of a line in the story is the name of the object that you are going to use. (for example: penguin)
- The second word of a line in the story is the command that says what should be done with the object. (for example: move)
- The second word is followed by the start-time and the begin-time of the action that has to take place. (starttime stoptime)
- For example "12 13": the action will take place from the 12th second since the story started
- and the action will stop at the 13th second since the program has started.
- remark: If you want an action to take place at once, you have to make the begin time and the end time equal.(example "12 12")
- This is followed by the 3 co-ordinates that the object has to go to. (x y z)
example: "penguin move 3 4 0 2 0" = the penguin will move from second 3 till 4 to the co-ordinates 0 2 0 (= x y z)
remark: There is an exception when using the "follow","visible" and "openmouth" command. (see "3.2")
3.4 What is a storyfile and how to edit?
The storyfile is the file with a list of the names all the stories.
It exists of:
- A list with the filenames of the stories
- A number which takes care of the frequency that stories are showed (the higher the number, the more it is showed)
- remark: The number intermediates 0 (=the story will never be shown) and 100 (=the story will always be shown)
- example:The story "wave" will be shown more frequently than the story "swim"
- wave 30
swim 15
3.5 What do i have to do to let tuxsaver use my story?
The story-files and the story-list file are stituated in '/usr/share/apps/tuxsaver/stories/' (for mandrake and redhat)
If you want tux to execute your story:
- You have to put your story in this directory: '/usr/share/apps/tuxsaver/stories/'
- You have to edit this file: '/usr/share/apps/tuxsaver/stories/storylist'. Just add the name of you story to the list, and add a number which indicates the frequency the story has to be displayed with (0-99)
example: swim 15
3.6 Overview.
- Open a text editor. For example kate
- You have to say which objects that need to be shown => Use the "visible" command (example: penguin visible 0 25 )
- You have to say which object should follow which object. => Use the "follow" command (example: penguin follow 0 25 island )
- Type your story. => Use the commands discripted in "3.2"
- End your story. => Use the "endstory" command (example: endstory 25 25)
-
remark: It is very important that at the end of your story the position of 'penguin' is 0 0 0 (= x y z)!!!
remark: It is very important that at the end of your story the position of 'camera' is 0 9 -38 (= x y z)!!!
remark: It is very important that at the end of your story 'penguin' is wearing his hat!!!
remark: It is very important that at the end of your story 'penguin' isn't wearing his sunglasses!!!
- Copy your story to '/usr/share/apps/tuxsaver/stories/'
- Edit '/usr/share/apps/tuxsaver/stories/storylist'. Add 1 line: the name of your story-file and a number which indicates the frequency the story has to be displayed with
4. It would be great if my story or object was part of the tuxsaver package next release.
If you have a good story or you have made a cool object with AC3D and you want it to be part of the tuxsaver package next release:
e-mail your story to a tuxsaver developer