Creating HUDs

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What's a HUD?

In Second Life, objects can be worn on one of the eight HUD (short for heads-up display) attachment points). HUDs are essential to understand, since every SL Resident eventually comes across them sooner or later.

A HUD typically consists of a control panel with different buttons you can click on to do context-specific stuff. Some HUDs are "passive" and only meant to be looked at, not touched.

While general attachments appear on your avatar's body and other Residents can see them, HUDs are only visible to you and have a fixed viewpoint, similar to how they're used in video games and apps. However, the scripted effects of a HUD, like emitted chat, can be visible to other Residents and objects.

HUDs are an evolution of user interaction in SL: before HUDs, Residents were limited to typing commands in chat or touch dialogs (pop-up windows with choices to click on). These methods are still used — sometimes in tandem with HUDs — but HUDs are often more visually attractive and user-friendly, making them approachable.

Objects specifically designed to be used like that may have "HUD" in their name to tell you where they'll appear, or they may have "(wear me)" in their name.

Video coming from Torley in the future...

What are HUDs used for?

HUDs are used in many kinds of products where information needs to be directly communicated to you. Popular uses:

  • Animation overrides - Click buttons to change how your avatar looks when moving. Turn off the AO if animations conflict with sitting on furniture.
  • Books - HUDs are useful for viewing info that may be tricky to camera-zoom in on, or you simply don't want others to see it.
  • Combat systems and games - See your health, stamina, experience points, and other relevant in-game info. Use special powers (cast spells in an RPG) to attack enemies. An HUD can be a whole game experience, similar to casual gaming in a web browser. (In fact, with Shared Media, an HUD can show Flash-based games.)
  • Customizable attachments - Click color swatches to change your hair, clothes, shoes, or more exotic accessories like neko tail and ears. Make particle effects (like fire and smoke).
  • Multi-tools - Gadgets that have a lot of practical functionality in one HUD. Be alerted when other avatars are nearby (including when you want privacy). Eject intruders from your land. Get region performance stats. And many more.
  • Photo enhancements - Show a fancy frame around your Viewer window to add an ornamental touch when taking snapshots.
  • Vehicles - Dashboards with speedometers and remaining fuel. Some cars even have a "turbo" or Back To The Future-esque "fly" button.
KBtip2.png Tip: You can browse and buy many HUDs on the Second Life Marketplace.

Can any object be attached as a HUD?

Yes. Any Second Life object can be attached to any attachment point, including HUD ones. However, attaching something that's not designed as an HUD may not be very useful. For example, attaching a house object may show up as a big, wood-textured square that obscures your field of view.

Troubleshooting HUDs

How do I move my HUDs?

HUDs are usually positioned towards a corner so they don't obscure your field of view (unless that's desired).

Once an HUD is worn:

  1. Right-click the HUD onscreen (not in your inventory) and select Edit.
  2. Drag the arrowheads to reposition the HUD.

The HUD remembers where it is the next time you login. In some circumstances (like a sudden Viewer crash), the HUD may forget its position, so use this workaround in addition to the above:

  1. Right-click the HUD and select Detach.
  2. Find the HUD in your inventory, right-click it and select Wear.

Why does wearing one HUD make another HUD disappear?

These HUDs are being worn on the same attachment point. There are eight HUD attachment points: Center 2, Top Right, Top, Top Left, Center, Bottom Left, Bottom, and Bottom Right. Despite their names, these only indicate where an HUD is initially positioned when you first wear it — as described above, you can always move them around as you wish.

To solve this:

  1. In your inventory, right-click one of the HUD and select Attach To HUD. In brackets, it shows you which point(s) other HUD(s) are currently attached to. Select a different attachment point that isn't already occupied.
  2. Move the HUD according to your taste using the above steps.

I can't see my HUD!

There are a couple possible solutions:

The HUD is off-screen

HUDs scale depending on your Viewer window resolution. For example, if you shrink the window, they become smaller. Since you may not have the same window resolution another Resident does, wearing the same HUDs may look very different in size and position. HUDs can also be rendered off-screen. To see it again:

  1. Right-click the HUD in your inventory and select Detach From Yourself.
  2. Right-click the HUD again and select Attach To HUD and choose a different attachment point than the one it was attached to before. This will attach it to the default position for that point, then you can move it back to where you prefer it.

The HUD is hidden

If you have the Advanced menu open, there's a Show HUD Attachments option (that can be toggled with a shortcut, even if Advanced isn't enabled). If this is the case, simply relog to show HUDs again. Or:

  1. Toggle Advanced menu > Highlighting and Visibility > Show HUD Attachments.

How do I show HUDs in snapshots?

  1. Click the Snapshot (camera icon) button on the bottom bar.
  2. In the Snapshot Preview window, click More.
  3. Check HUDs (under "Capture:").
  4. Click the Refresh button. The snapshot preview should now show your HUDs.

Advanced usage

The below details are for Residents who want to create their own HUDs.

Scripting HUDs

Please cleanup and update this!

Most scripted functionality works with HUDs, with the following exceptions. (The list is not exhaustive!)

  • Particles do not work. Don't have HUD prims generate them. If a HUD attempts to generate particles, they appear at <0,0,0> in the current sim, annoying your neighbors.
  • If a sound is triggered using llPlaySound(), only the HUD wearer will hear it. If the land parcel they're over restricts sound entry/exit, the sound will not play.
    • If a sound is triggered using llTriggerSound(), the wearer and any bystanders will hear it.
  • The Sensor will not detect the avatar wearing the HUD.

Scripted movement of HUD pieces is relative to the attachment points. The position vector used by llSetPos() is interpreted as [DESCRIPTION MISSING!]. A depth of -1 will render in front of a depth of 0.

Since HUD attachments cannot be clicked thru even if they're invisible, the common solutions to getting them out of the way are moving them and shrinking them.

If you are trying to move the HUD around relative to its current position, use llGetLocalPos() rather than llGetPos().

example:

<lsl>llSetPos(llGetLocalPos() + (<0.25,0,0> * llGetLocalRot()));</lsl>

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