HOME / AVATAR CUSTOMIZATION / HUDs

OVERVIEW

HUDs or Heads-Up Displays in Second Life are a special form of attachment point. Unlike normal attachment points on the body, they maintain a fixed position on your screen. Only you can see them. Other Residents won't be able to view your HUDs, and vice-versa.

HUDs are commonly used to provide status and info, for example displaying your velocity and altitude while in a spaceship, recording your high score during a card game, racking up region stats, or even cycling through a photo album of your fondest memories. Think of it as a personal screen overlay. As with many things in Second Life, there are probably purposes for HUDs which haven't emerged yet. At its simplest level, you can hollow out a black cube and attach it to a HUD point, giving yourself a simulated widescreen view of the world.

WEARING A HUD

As with normal attachments, any object can be attached to a HUD point. To get a better understanding:

  1. Right-click on build-enabled ground (no red circle with a yellow cube on the menu bar) and choose Create.
  2. Click on the ground to rez a cube.
  3. Right-click the cube, and from the pie menu choose More.. Attach HUD.. Screen Top.

You will now see a cube stuck in your field of view. You can right-click it and Edit as you would normally. Do that now, and try dragging it down using the drag arrow.

It may be hard to see, so you can zoom out by using your mouse's scroll wheel, or click Focus (Ctrl-1) and drag the Zoom slider to the left. You'll observe there's a white outline. This represents the boundaries of your screen, depending on your monitor's current resolution.

You can move the cube around wherever you'd like. Feel free to make other edits to it too. Then, press Esc to reset the view and walk your avatar around. See how the cube stays in place? Other residents cannot see this cube at all, only you can.

To remove your HUD, simply right-click the cube and choose Detach.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

  • HUDs are often scripted to provide functionality, although there are a few limitations. For example, particles cannot be used.
  • The number of vehicles paired with HUDs is growing, and a similar case may be made for weapons.
  • There are plenty of standalone HUD gadgets which provide utilities which the default SL user interface lacks, simplifying how you organize and manage your Second Life. For instance, a button bar with your favorite landmarks or a control panel to activate animations - something which would usually be more difficult to do.
  • The best way to understand further is to acquire more HUDs for yourself. Click the Find button on the toolbar and search for 'HUD' in the Classifieds or Places tabs to locate some.