Bright Vela

Classic scooter: texture/colour menu, 5 gears, RL sounds, exhaust smoke, & more!

DESCRIPTION

The Bright Vela is the classic Second Life scooter.

It rides beautifully: test ridden around countless Second Life city regions and tracks to ensure it is fun to use and easy to control. Five gears provide manageable low speeds for narrow roads, or the power you need to go racing. Uniquely among Second Life vehicles, as well as using left and right keys to turn normally, you can use shift-left and shift-right to produce tighter turns to take you round the sharpest of corners.

The Bright Vela carefully recreates the feeling of riding a scooter in SL. It banks variably into corners. The idling and running engine sounds are taken from an RL scooter. The wheels spin, and the exhaust produces the classic light-grey-blue smoke trail.

It also flies! Click a menu button, and the wheels turn into downjets, producing elegant blue flames which allow you to hover up into the sky and move at will.

And you can customise your Bright Vela to your heart's content. Click the scooter, and a menu pops up, with dozens of options controlling its size, and the texture, colour, and even the level of shine of each separate part.Whether you want a shiny, red cruiser, a custom mod, ska, or soul look, UK or US or other flags painted over every surface, or even a rusty grunge-mobile, you can create the machine of your dreams with a few clicks, and size the scooter to accommodate the smallest or largest riders.

There is even a HUD, programmed with 18 predefined styles. Click to instantly change your scooter's appearance from the rainbow striped colours of "Pride" to the tiedye "Summer of Love" look of "Hippy". You can add your own favourite styles to a notecard inside the HUD, simply by using the words from the menu buttons to build the appearance you have in mind.

Any menu option can be selected using chat. To switch the engine sound between "loud", "quiet" and "silent", click the [SOUND] button on the menu, or enter "/9 SOUND" in chat.

And the Bright Vela is supplied with a series of optional "gestures". Activate these, and the most important menu options are linked to function keys, so you can click F3 to start flying, or F4 to sound your horn.

All in all, the Bright Vela is an amazingly configurable, controllable, and above all *ridable* slice of the joy of RL scootering.

INSTRUCTIONS

Find the object "Bright Vela boxed" in your Inventory and drag it to the ground to rez it. Right-click to display its pop-up menu, select "Open" to show the content window, and click the "Copy to Inventory" button at the bottom. This will create a folder called "Bright Vela boxed" in your Inventory.

Find the object "Bright Vela" in this folder, drag it to the ground to rez your scooter, right-click and select "RIDE!". You'll be seated on your scooter, and ready to go.

OPTIONAL: Right-click and 'Wear' the object 'Bright Vela HUD'. This will display a new button on your screen.

OPTIONAL: Right-click and 'Activate' the gestures 'F2: Vela MENU' to 'F11: Vela CAMERA'.

The HUD and the gestures aren't necessary just to ride your scooter - you can just get on and ride - but they do provide some extra features. Read through this manual to see what they do, and then decide if and when you wish to use them.

RIDING

Cursor up/down: Move forwards or backwards
Cursor left/right: Turn left or right
Shift+left/right: Turn *sharply* left or right
Page Up/Page Down: Change gear, from 1 (city speed) to 5 (rocket speed)
Cursor up+down: Pull your front wheel up ("wheelie")

Note the shift-left/shift-right combinations. Second Life usually uses these combinations to move left and right without turning - sometimes called "strafing". As scooters never do this - how would they, when their wheels point forwards? - the Vela uses them to offer an alternative tighter, sharper, turn. Most SL wheeled vehicles don't allow this, so it's worth remembering the feature is there when you ride the Vela.

Similarly, holding *both* down and up keys at the same time to "pull a wheelie" is specific to the Vela: try it, it's fun!

First gear will give you a manageable speed for most situations. When you need more power, pressing Page Up will select a higher gear. The gears go up to 5, which provides the maximum power possible under Second Life: but you will need a very powerful computer and graphics adaptor to handle the speed at which the world moves past in 5th gear. How high a gear you can realistically use will vary from computer to computer - mine can barely handle 3rd - so don't be concerned if you find you don't use the higher gears.

USING THE MENU

Click the scooter to display its menu. If you aren't sitting on it, only those options which control its size and appearance will be shown. If you are riding, *all* the options will appear, including those which control its travel. The full menu looks like this:

Please click a button.

Menu options can also be triggered from chat.
Type '/9...', eg. '/9 HORN', '/9 PANELS WHITE LOWSHINE'.
See HELP for more information.

[RIDE/FLY] [STOP] [EJECT]
[HORN] [EXHAUST] [DISMOUNT]
[SOUND] [SPEEDO] [CAMERA >]
[PAINT >] [RESIZE >] [HELP >]

FLYING

Click the [RIDE/FLY] button on the menu. (Or, if you have activated your gestures, just press F3.) The wheels will rotate until they are parallel with the ground, and blue downjets will start burning.

Cursor up/down: Hover forwards or backwards
Cursor left/right: Turn left or right
Shift+left/right: Hover left or right
Page Up/Page Down: Hover up or down

Once you've finished flying, click [RIDE/FLY] (or press F3) again to switch back to riding: but do bear in mind, if you are way up in the sky when you do this, your scooter will fall to earth like a rock :)

STOPPING

Simply take your fingers off the cursor keys and your scooter will slow down and stop.

However, in an emergency, click the [STOP] button on the menu, or if you have activated your gestures, press F4, and you will stop immediately.

Either way, when your Bright Vela is stopped, it turns "non-physical". This means that it is safe from griefer attack, and because you are sitting on it, so are you!

EJECT

Once you are riding your scooter, another avatar can right-click and click "Sit" to get on the seat behind you as a pillion passenger: you can use this to take your friends for a spin. But if anyone you *don't* want on your scooter does this, just click [EJECT] on the menu, or if you have activated your gestures, press F5. They will be instantly thrown off the seat.

HORN

Click [HORN] from the menu, or press F6, to sound your horn!

EXHAUST

Click [EXHAUST] from the menu, or press F7, to turn the exhaust smoke on or off.

DISMOUNT

Click [DISMOUNT] from the menu, or press F8, to get off your scooter.

(This has the same effect as clicking the Second Life "Stand" button.)

SOUND

Click the [SOUND] menu button, or press F9, to switch the sound level between LOUD, QUIET, and SILENT.

SPEEDO

Click the [SPEEDO] menu button, or press F10, to switch on "floating text" above your scooters speedo showing how fast you are travelling, both in miles per hour (MPH) and metres per second (m/s) - and, if you are not flying, which gear you have selected. Click it (or press F7) again to switch the speedo off.

CAMERA

Clicking the menu's [CAMERA] button, or pressing F11, will display the camera control menu:

Please choose the position of the camera...

xDEG to set the camera angle
xM to set the distance to the camera
LOCK to watch yourself from a fixed point
RELEASE to use default SL camera controls

Menu options can also be triggered from chat.
Type '/9...', eg. '/9 HORN', '/9 PANELS WHITE LOWSHINE'.
See HELP for more information.

[0DEG] [30DEG] [60DEG]
[90DEG] [4M] [8M]
[12M] [16M] [20M]
[< MAIN] [LOCK] [RELEASE]

When you get on your scooter, your view of yourself (or "camera position") changes to a point 8m behind you, looking down at an angle of 30 degrees.

To change this, click [ODEG] to [90DEG] to change the angle, and [4M] to [20M] to change the distance.

Try these options out before you ride, and the difference between different angles and distances will become obvious. For instance, [0DEG] gives you a ground level view of the back of your scooter, with the smoke from the exhaust blowing just past your point of view. It can look spectacular. [90DEG] on the other hand gives you from directly overhead: it's like watching yourself from a police helicopter.

Normally, your point of view or "camera" moves with you, so the scooter remains in a fixed position in the middle of your screen while the world goes past. If you click [LOCK], your camera position will be *fixed*. It will continually turn towards your scooter, but it won't move, so you'll be able to watch yourself the way you watch other avatars, moving away from your point of view, and towards you, and seeing the sides and front of your scooter as you turn. Again, this is easier to experience than to describe: do try it, it's fun.

To return to a normal view once you've locked your camera, just choose a distance ([4M] to [20M]) from the menu.

The [RELEASE] button relinquishes your scooter's control of your camera position, and gives it back to Second Life. It will follow your avatar as it would if you were walking. This isn't usually helpful, as you move faster while riding, and SL tends to keep the camera very close and bounce it around rather, but it is sometimes useful.

NOTE: If you use Control/Alt keys and your mouse to move your camera position manually, then Second Life won't allow the scooter to change the camera position you have chosen, and none of these buttons will work. Just press ESC to give up manual control.

PAINTING YOUR SCOOTER

To change the texture, colour, or shininess of any part of your scooter, click [PAINT] from your menu, or press F8.

This will display the painting menu:

Set TEXTURE, COLOUR or SHINE of the *BODY*...

...or choose another part to paint.

Menu options can also be triggered from chat.
Type '/9...', eg. '/9 HORN', '/9 PANELS WHITE LOWSHINE'.
See HELP for more information.

[TEXTURE >] [COLOUR >] [SHINE >]
[BODY] [TRIM] [TOOLBOX]
[SEAT] [BELT] [BACKREST]
[< MAIN] [PANELS] [WHEELS]

To choose which part of your scooter you wish to paint, click [BODY], [TRIM] (the edges of the panels and so forth), [TOOLBOX] (the door of the box behind the front panel), [SEAT], [BELT] (across the seat), [BACKREST], [PANELS] (on the sides of the scooter), or [WHEELS].

The name of the part you have chosen will appear at the top of the menu. To begin with, it is *BODY*.

You can then choose to change the [TEXTURE], [COLOUR] or [SHINE] of the part you have chosen. If you change the texture, the colour will be set back to white (so the texture looks as you expect), and the shininess is set to suit the texture, so if you are going to change the texture *and* the colour or shine, set the new texture *first*.

CHANGING TEXTURES

Click [TEXTURE] to display the texture menu:

Please choose a texture for the BODY...

PAGE 1 of 6: BASICS

(REMEMBER: Will reset colour & shine!)

Menu options can also be triggered from chat.
Type '/9...', eg. '/9 HORN', '/9 PANELS WHITE LOWSHINE'.
See HELP for more information.

[BLANK] [STEEL] [RUSTY]
[GOLD] [SILVER] [BRONZE]
[BEECH] [CHERRY] [WALNUT]
[< PAINT] [<] [>]

There are 54 textures to choose from, divided into 6 pages of 9 textures each. Click [<] or [>] to move between them. The pages show:

Page 1, BASICS: BLANK, STEEL, RUSTY, GOLD, SILVER, BRONZE, BEECH, CHERRY, WALNUT

Page 2, FABRICS: LEATHER1, LEATHER2, LEATHER3, COWHIDE, ZEBRA1, ZEBRA2, LEOPARD, TIGER, TIEDYE

Page 3, FLAGS: UK, US, CANADA, ITALY, GERMANY, FRANCE, BRAZIL, RAINBOW, CHECKERED

Page 4, VARIOUS 1: VELA, BRIGHT, SL, SOUL, MOD, SKA, TARGET, WHO, GIRLPOWER

Page 5, VARIOUS 2: PEACE, LOVE, FLOWER, YINYANG, DAVINCI, BOBDOBBS, COMMUNIST, ANARCHY, PIRATE

Page 6, HUBS: HUB1, HUB2, HUB3, HUB4, HUB5, HUB6, HUB7, HUB8, HUB9

Experiment to see what they look like, and what works best where!

You can even set textures you have in your inventory which aren't on this list: to see how, see COMMANDS below.

CHANGING COLOURS

Click the [COLOUR] button on the paint menu to display this menu:

Please choose the BODY colour...

Menu options can also be triggered from chat.
Type '/9...', eg. '/9 HORN', '/9 PANELS WHITE LOWSHINE'.
See HELP for more information.

[WHITE] [BLACK] [PINK]
[RED] [GREEN] [BLUE]
[YELLOW] [MAGENTA] [CYAN]
[< PAINT] [ORANGE] [LIME]

CHANGING SHININESS

Click the [SHINE] button on the paint menu to display this menu:

Please choose the shininess of the BODY...

Menu options can also be triggered from chat.
Type '/9...', eg. '/9 HORN', '/9 PANELS WHITE LOWSHINE'.
See HELP for more information.

[MEDSHINE] [HIGHSHINE]
[< PAINT] [NOSHINE] [LOWSHINE]

RESIZING YOUR SCOOTER

Click the [SIZE] button on the main menu to display this menu:

Please set the wheelbase of your Vela size in metres...

Menu options can also be triggered from chat.
Type '/9...', eg. '/9 HORN', '/9 PANELS WHITE LOWSHINE'.
See HELP for more information.

[1.0] [1.1] [1.2]
[1.3] [1.4] [1.5]
[1.6] [1.7] [1.8]
[< MAIN] [1.9] [2.0]

The "wheelbase" of a vehicle is the distance between the tyres where they touch the road. The Bright Vela's normal wheelbase is 1.4 metres. Use this menu to change it to any value between 1m and 2m, and the entire scooter will be shrunk, or grown, appropriately.

The right size will depend on your avatar's height. Try changing the size until the scooter looks the most natural: with your hands as close to the controls as possible. But note, because of the huge variation not only the heights of avatars, but in the way their limbs are proportioned, Second Life vehicles rarely *exactly* match their rider's bodies: but the Vela's size control allows you to get closer than most.

To save yourself having to change the size (or indeed appearance) of your scooter more than once, once you have it set as you want it, "take" it back into your inventory, and put it in a "My Vela" folder. You can then rez it with all your choices in place.

GETTING HELP

Click the [HELP] button on the main menu to display the help menu:

Please choose a command to receive help...

Menu options can also be triggered from chat.
Type '/9...', eg. '/9 HORN', '/9 PANELS WHITE LOWSHINE'.
See HELP for more information.

['RIDE/FLY'] ['STOP'] ['EJECT']
['HORN'] ['EXHAUST'] ['DISMOUNT']
['SOUND'] ['SPEEDO'] ['CAMERA']
[< MAIN] ['PAINT'] ['SIZE']

Click any of these buttons to get a summary of the information in this manual. For instance, click ['STOP'] to see what the main menu [STOP] option does. You'll hear the following in chat:

[11:14] Bright Vela #086: HELP ON 'STOP' OPTION:
(Alternatively to using the menu, type in chat: '/9 STOP')
Emergency stop.
Makes scooter 'non-physical' and so immune to griefing.
Simply press a movement key to get going again.

You can trigger any option or options from chat, such as:
/9 TOOLBOX UK LOWSHINE
(Applies a UK flag texture with low shine to the toolbox.)

COMMANDS

Any menu option button can also be used by typing "/9" followed by the name of the option into chat. For instance...

/9 HORN

...will sound the horn.

You can put more than one option on the line. This can be especially useful for changing your scooter's appearance. For instance...

/9 SEAT TIGER RED

...will put a red-tinted tiger skin texture on your seat: it is exactly the same as clicking [SEAT] to select the seat from the paint menu, [TIGER] to select the tiger texture from the texture menu, and [RED] to select red from the colour menu.

To allow you to use textures from your inventory, which don't appear on the Vela's texture menu, right-click the texture in your inventory and select 'Copy Asset UUID' to get its 'key'. Then enter...

/9 SEAT 89556747-24cb-43ed-920b-47caed15465f

This will set your seat to Second Life's rather uncomfortable 'plywood' texture.

You can use commands like these to set the appearance of all the parts of your scooter in one go. For instance...

/9 BODY TIEDYE TRIM BLANK PINK TOOLBOX FLOWER SEAT FLOWER BELT BLANK PINK BACKREST LOVE PANELS FLOWER WHEELS LOVE

...will turn your scooter into a hippy dream, or...

/9 BODY UK HIGHSHINE TRIM BLANK HIGHSHINE TOOLBOX UK HIGHSHINE SEAT BLANK BELT BLANK RED HIGHSHINE BACKREST BLANK PANELS TARGET HIGHSHINE WHEELS HUB5

...into a shiny mod-mobile, and...

/9 BODY BLANK RED TRIM RED HIGHSHINE TOOLBOX BLANK RED SEAT LEATHER1 BELT BLANK RED HIGHSHINE BACKREST LEATHER1 PANELS BLANK RED WHEELS HUB8

...back into the smart red scooter you originally received.

Cut them from this notecard, paste them into chat, and see what they do!

THE HUD

We include a simple HUD (or "head up display") with the Bright Vela. Just right-click it in your inventory, click "Wear", and a button will appear on your screen.

Click it to display a menu:

Page 1 of 2: Please click a button...

[ORIGINAL] [GIRLPOWER] [BRIGHTCORP]
[HIPPY] [SKA] [MOD]
[GRUNGE] [UNCLE SAM] [SAFARI]
[<<] [<] [>]

Click [<] and [>] to move between pages, or [<<] to return to the first page.

(To begin with, there are only two pages of options, but as you add your own, this number may grow. The second page shows buttons [PRIDE] [BLACK&WHITE] [SOVIET] [SECONDLIFE] [WOODEN] [WATERMELON] [DAVINCI] [SOUL] and [BOB].)

Each of these buttons will change your scooter's appearance. You may notice [HIPPY] and [MOD] have the same effect as the chat commands mentioned above. This is because all the HUD does is read from a list of commands on a notecard, and put them into chat. You can edit the notecard to add your own buttons to the HUD menu. Just right-click the HUD, click "Open", and double-click the "COMMANDS" notecard to open it. It looks something like this:

MOD = BODY UK HIGHSHINE TRIM BLANK HIGHSHINE TOOLBOX UK HIGHSHINE SEAT BLANK BELT BLANK RED HIGHSHINE BACKREST BLANK PANELS TARGET HIGHSHINE WHEELS HUB5

HIPPY = BODY TIEDYE TRIM BLANK PINK TOOLBOX FLOWER SEAT FLOWER BELT BLANK PINK BACKREST LOVE PANELS FLOWER WHEELS LOVE

...and so on. The bit before the "=" sign is the text which appears on the button on the HUD's menu. The bit after is the command you wish the HUD to issue when the button is clicked.

You can add as many lines as you wish to this notecard, or remove ones you don't need. And while we've used it to provide a choice of "styles", you can use any commands. for instance...

TAKE OFF! = HORN HORN RIDE/FLY HORN HORN

...will add a button labelled [TAKE OFF!] which sounds the horn twice, switches from riding to flying, and then sounds the horn twice again.

Well, why not?

GESTURES

Commands can also be useful for linking options to Second Life 'gestures', a rather underused Second Life feature, often confused with animations.

A gesture is a kind of 'macro' or user-created command. You can create a gesture to play animations (which is why people sometimes confuse them with animations), play sound effects, say things in chat, or any combination of these. Once you've created one, you can start it either by selecting it from your gestures list, or by linking it to a 'keyword' (so that the gesture plays whenever you use that word chatting to someone), or a function key.

By creating a gesture which says "/9 HORN", and linking it to a function key, you can sound your horn just by hitting that function key.

We provide the following gestures with the Bright Vela: you will find them in your "Bright Vela boxed" folder. Just right-click and "activate" them:

F2: Vela MENU
F3: Vela RIDE/FLY
F4: Vela STOP
F5: Vela EJECT
F6: Vela HORN
F7: Vela EXHAUST
F8: Vela DISMOUNT
F9: Vela SOUND
F10: Vela SPEEDO
F11: Vela CAMERA

If these gestures don't access your favourite options, or you'd prefer to use different keys, you can edit them, or just create your own. To find out how, see Linden Lab's "Knowledge Base" page:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Using-gestures-and-animations/ta-p/700069

You can also use gestures to set your scooter's appearance, by using commands similar to those found in the HUD section above. In fact, the HUD, and the creation of gestures, are both essentially just ways of saving and quickly reusing commands.

WEARING YOUR SCOOTER

Yes - you can wear your Bright Vela!

To do this, instead of dragging it from your inventory onto the ground to rez it, just right-click it and click "Wear".

The scooter will then be attached to your bottom, in the same way that a hat might be attached to your head. You'll also be animated to sit in the rider's position - BUT YOU MUST REMEMBER TO TURN OFF YOUR AO.

As you walk, the wheels will turn, and when you fly, the wheels will change into jets automatically. If you double-press the "Cursor up" key to run, you'll simply appear to be riding faster.

As always, clicking the scooter will display its menu. The [RIDE/FLY] and [STOP] options won't be there, because you'll just be walking or flying as an avatar, and the [EJECT] button won't be there, because Second Life doesn't allow other avatars to sit on an attachment anyway, but all the other options will be, so you can still sound your horn, change the level of engine noise, move the camera, and set your scooter's size and appearance.

And because your scooter is only an attachment, by wearing it you can appear to "ride" it anywhere: even in no-rez or no-script areas, even through shops and around malls, even while teleporting from place to place!

TIPS

* You may find you prefer different camera settings in different situations: for instance, 30DEG 4M (close and fairly low) for normal riding, but 60DEG 12M (higher and further back) for racing. Create gestures linking to function keys so you can move your camera between them with a single keypress.

* Add your Vela as an attachment to your favourite outfits, so that when you wear the outfit, you are automatically put on your Vela. Or create a separate outfit with your favourite riding clothes, and including your Vela.

* SAVE your favourite size and appearance settings in one of three ways: (a) add a line to the HUD's notecard to issue a command selecting the settings you like, (b) create a gesture which issues this same command, or (c) simply right-click and 'Take' the modified scooter, and put it in a 'My Vela' folder, so you can rerez it at will.

Ride free!

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT...

Shan Bright
Chief Executive Officer