The tool consists of two parts: a recorder (configuration tool), and once you have set the open/close positions, the controller. Read first this overview of the steps you will have to follow. It will help you to better understand all the details that are developed under the long "Step-by-step Guide" section of this documentation.
STEP I
We design our build and link it normally, making sure that NO DOORS are the root prim. The root prim should never be part of a door. Never. We can group prims if we want all of them moving with the same click, like double doors or simply a complex one that, by design, needs more than one prim (for example, a door with a knob.)
Then MAKE A COPY of your build before starting with the process. Do not skip this!
We will have to give the door prims specific PRIM NAMES. After this, we will have to set up a configuration notecard.
Then, this configuration notecard and a specific script will have to be dropped in the ROOT PRIM of the object.
STEP II
We edit the build so all our doors are in closed position, and tell the tool to save this closed state.
STEP III
We edit the build so all our doors are in open position, and tell the tool to save this open state.
STEP II and STEP III are interchangeable. The configure tool is fine whether you save first the open state, or the closed one, as long as you're aware of which one you're saving.
STEP IV
We now test our doors in open/closed positions.
Are the doors exactly as we want them?
NO: We repeat steps II and III, then test the doors again
YES: We CONFIRM to the configuration tool that the doors are ready to go
After this, the configure tool outputs A LOT of information in local chat that will be required to be pasted into a notecard.
STEP V
We process the output in local chat into a suitable notecard (minimal editing may be needed, none at all in most cases)
STEP VI
We take this final notecard and drop it in our finished build together with the Controller script. We're done.
So, basically, the configuration tool takes an input notecard with the names of the prims that we want as doors. Then, once we have recorded the open/closed positions, it outputs chat that we have to save in a notecard, and then the configuration tool deletes itself so we don't forget about it.
And that's it: We save the chat output in the new notecard, edit it only if we need to, drop the notecard and the controller script into our build, and our doors/drawers/etc. are ready to go.
The Black Tulip Multi-Door/Drawer/Curtain Tool v2 has another useful feature: a scripting interface. It can send linked messages, so other scripts you make for your build can know if the doors have been opened, closed, which one, and who clicked to have them open/close.
This allows you integrate it with other scripts you may have or may write.
Remember not to close your mind to use this tool only with doors. Think of lids that open and close. Drawers. Books. See this tool as a (limited) two-frames prim animator, not just as a door tool. And taking into account the interface provided to talk with other scripts, you can end up creating some simple but cool effects (A drawer that emits particles when it's open? A book that rezzes an owl when it's closed? You set the limits.)
