Guidelines
Best practices for creating vAtoms including resource requirements, face constraints, 3D model optimization, and recommended actions for optimal user experience.
In order to provide the best experience across all viewers, vAtoms should follow these guidelines.
Resources
ActivatedImage resource : Viewers use the ActivatedImage resource to display an icon for your vAtom if for some reason the face can't be loaded, or in lightweight environments. You should always include an ActivatedImage resource, which should be a transparent .png with a minimum size of 256x256 pixels.
Faces
Include an icon face : A vAtom should always have an icon face. An icon face has the constraint "view_mode": "icon" in its config. If a vAtom does not have an icon face, it may appear incorrectly. Most viewers will then fall back to displaying the vatom's ActivatedImage resource instead.
No overlapping faces : When registering faces, you should not have multiple faces with the same view_mode and platform constraints. Having multiple matching faces will cause undefined behavior on viewers.
Optimized 3D models : When creating 3D vatoms, make sure your model file is mobile game optimized, and does not exceed 4MB. The model is downloaded in real-time, so a big model may cause long wait times or excessive data usage, or sluggishness when rendering.
Actions
Include the default actions : Most vAtoms should include the Transfer, Drop, and Pickup actions, which are standard actions the user expects to have available.