Why use textures (images) to encode shapes?
• An image is just an array of numeric triples, which is what you need for a sculpty, so why not? Also, using image formats to encode shapes comes in very handy because there are many existing tools for handling them. Image compression, streaming, progressive loading, and animation are all well-explored problems. For example, we could create a Quicktime stream which fades from one sculpt texture (sculpt map) to another. When attached to a sculpted prim, the prim would “morph” from one shape to the other. Another example: it would be easy to have a flash animation generate a sculpted prim — when a Resident touches a spot on its surface, the shape could wiggle and ripple appropriately. This is the direction we are headed. • The original Linden Lab implementation of sculpted prims used a lossy texture compression method to store the shape in Second Life’s asset storage system. This resulted in an object created with hard edges being softened when uploaded into the world, creating only rou
