Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Yeah, I know. I didn't realise it was going to look that bad until it was too late. I'll see about fixing them tomorrow.
Illustrated Guide to the Marches
- Thread starter Andrew Boulton
- Start date
The Hinterworlds Rambler
SOC-14 5K
These are done in Lunar Cell? MMmm!
What about maybe adding orbital stuff for the higher tech worlds, mebbe some nightside lights?
What about maybe adding orbital stuff for the higher tech worlds, mebbe some nightside lights?
Starviking
SOC-13
Wasn't there a Poul Anderson short story with an 'impossible' solar system around an A class star?
IRRC the Star had an encounter with a solar system in a nebula, and the extra 'friction' allowed the A class star to capture the planets.
Starviking
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
"These are done in Lunar Cell? MMmm!"
The surface and cloud textures, yeah. Actually, you could do the whole thing as a 2d picture with it.
"What about maybe adding orbital stuff for the higher tech worlds, mebbe some nightside lights?"
Unless you're talking beanstalks or stations the size of Texas, you won't see orbital stuff.
Getting lights to only show up on the night side is something that's stumped me for ages, but just this minute I think I've figured it out!
Bugger. I'm going to have to do them all again now...
The surface and cloud textures, yeah. Actually, you could do the whole thing as a 2d picture with it.
"What about maybe adding orbital stuff for the higher tech worlds, mebbe some nightside lights?"
Unless you're talking beanstalks or stations the size of Texas, you won't see orbital stuff.
Getting lights to only show up on the night side is something that's stumped me for ages, but just this minute I think I've figured it out!
Bugger. I'm going to have to do them all again now...
M
Malenfant
Guest
What, you can generate the texture itself and save that as an image instead of showing it wrapped round a sphere?
Um, I found that option straight away on the demo of the latest version of LunarCell. It's the 'cities' slider, IIRC.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
"What, you can generate the texture itself and save that as an image instead of showing it wrapped round a sphere?"
Click on the button just below the centre of the screen and up pops a list of the images you can create - 2 2d images and a load of textures.
Click on the button under the one with a cloud and it'll save a psd file with each of the textures on a separate layer (beware - it takes a while for hi-res images).
"It's the 'cities' slider, IIRC."
Works great in 2d, but tricky to make them only show up on the night side in 3d. My solution didn't work :-(
Click on the button just below the centre of the screen and up pops a list of the images you can create - 2 2d images and a load of textures.
Click on the button under the one with a cloud and it'll save a psd file with each of the textures on a separate layer (beware - it takes a while for hi-res images).
"It's the 'cities' slider, IIRC."
Works great in 2d, but tricky to make them only show up on the night side in 3d. My solution didn't work :-(
jonathonbarton
SOC-12
Oooh... Pretty shinys...
Guess what I'm going to while away the day with...
Guess what I'm going to while away the day with...
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Please don't - it'll make mine look crap
Seriously, it'd be interesting to see how they compare.
Seriously, it'd be interesting to see how they compare.
jonathonbarton
SOC-12
I'm having *FAR* too much fun with these packages of software...and I'm discovering (I think - I'd really need Malenfant to vet the numbers in the *.ssc files) that there are some VERY BAD THINGS in some of the systems...
I've started putting together a Spinward Marches for Celestia. I put Arba/Lunion as the 'origin', since it's closest to the center of the Sector.
I've finished Arba and Lanth.
Lanth has...um... Issues, I think. Yeeaaah... Things that you can only figure out when you're actually *looking* at the system.
I don't know how 'canon' this resource is, but...from this:
http://foreven.com/astro/spinward/lanth/Lanth.htm
The important part is:
5 Lanth A879533-B (orbit 5 around the star)
6 satellite F496200-A (4000 mile orbit @ 6 planetary radii)
8 satellite Y78A463-B (orbit @ 8 planetary radii)
I get this:
*oops*
And, no, it's not a trick of perspective...The planets really do intersect one another.
Anyway, very cool tools... I'll send the "work in progress" files to anyone who has Celestia, and wants them...
Oh, and Malenfant. I found out how to start with a blank universe - comment out the Stars.dat file in Celestia.cfg
I've started putting together a Spinward Marches for Celestia. I put Arba/Lunion as the 'origin', since it's closest to the center of the Sector.
I've finished Arba and Lanth.
Lanth has...um... Issues, I think. Yeeaaah... Things that you can only figure out when you're actually *looking* at the system.
I don't know how 'canon' this resource is, but...from this:
http://foreven.com/astro/spinward/lanth/Lanth.htm
The important part is:
5 Lanth A879533-B (orbit 5 around the star)
6 satellite F496200-A (4000 mile orbit @ 6 planetary radii)
8 satellite Y78A463-B (orbit @ 8 planetary radii)
I get this:
*oops*
And, no, it's not a trick of perspective...The planets really do intersect one another.
Anyway, very cool tools... I'll send the "work in progress" files to anyone who has Celestia, and wants them...
Oh, and Malenfant. I found out how to start with a blank universe - comment out the Stars.dat file in Celestia.cfg
Are you sure that you've set the distant for the satellites based on the world's radius, not the satellite's radius?
Seems to me that if Lanth's diameter is 8000 miles, then each orbital radii is equal to 4000 miles.
Satellite number one is 4000 miles across (based on its size code), and 24000 miles out (based on its orbit multiplied by Lanth's radius). They shouldn't be intersecting.
Satellite number two is 7000 miles in diameter (see size code from the satellite's UWP), and is 32000 miles out (based on its orbit multiplied by Lanth's radius.) These two aren't intersecting either.
Finally, if the two satellites line up in a row, then the surfaces of satellite one, orbiting at 24000 with a radius itself of 2000 (max 26000), and satellite two, orbiting at 32000 with a radius of 3500 (min 28500), are no closer than 1500 miles.
Probably still too close, all things considered, but none of them should be touching.
Have I made a mistake here?
Thanks,
Flynn
Seems to me that if Lanth's diameter is 8000 miles, then each orbital radii is equal to 4000 miles.
Satellite number one is 4000 miles across (based on its size code), and 24000 miles out (based on its orbit multiplied by Lanth's radius). They shouldn't be intersecting.
Satellite number two is 7000 miles in diameter (see size code from the satellite's UWP), and is 32000 miles out (based on its orbit multiplied by Lanth's radius.) These two aren't intersecting either.
Finally, if the two satellites line up in a row, then the surfaces of satellite one, orbiting at 24000 with a radius itself of 2000 (max 26000), and satellite two, orbiting at 32000 with a radius of 3500 (min 28500), are no closer than 1500 miles.
Probably still too close, all things considered, but none of them should be touching.
Have I made a mistake here?
Thanks,
Flynn
daryen
SOC-14 1K
Actually, Flynn, it doesn't matter if they intersect or not.
As Mal has pointed out in another thread, if you have a size 8 world with a size 7 moon, you really have a double planet. And if you have a double planet that big and that close to the sun (i.e. in the habitable zone), then they will 1) be tide-locked with each other, 2) there can't be any other moons, and (most importantly) 3) they will eventually circle in and collide.
So intersecting moons is probably the least of Lanth's issues.
As Mal has pointed out in another thread, if you have a size 8 world with a size 7 moon, you really have a double planet. And if you have a double planet that big and that close to the sun (i.e. in the habitable zone), then they will 1) be tide-locked with each other, 2) there can't be any other moons, and (most importantly) 3) they will eventually circle in and collide.
So intersecting moons is probably the least of Lanth's issues.
I remembered reading that from one of Malenfant's earlier posts.
My concern was that worlds were being depicted as already intersecting, and I just didn't grok that as happening. I do admit that there's more problems here than the initial "are they intersecting" question that I was addressing, and if anyone knows whether modern scientific theory holds that a particular combination is legitimate or not, I'd wager it would be Malenfant.
Looks like Book 6 Scouts needs to be revisited badly...
More later,
Flynn
My concern was that worlds were being depicted as already intersecting, and I just didn't grok that as happening. I do admit that there's more problems here than the initial "are they intersecting" question that I was addressing, and if anyone knows whether modern scientific theory holds that a particular combination is legitimate or not, I'd wager it would be Malenfant.
Looks like Book 6 Scouts needs to be revisited badly...
More later,
Flynn
M
Malenfant
Guest
Ok, Lanth is about 12800 km (8000 miles) in diameter, so one radius is 6400 km.
Inner satellite is 6 radii out, so it's at 38,400 km from the centre of Lanth. Radius is 3200 km (2000 miles).
Outer satellite is 8 radii out, so it's at 51,200 km from the centre of Lanth. Radius is 5,600 km (3,500 miles).
So they're not overlapping (just!).
It's a TOTALLY impossible system though, of course. No way can you get such big worlds that close together, let alone another moon orbiting inside them. Or the dense atmosphere on the smaller moon for that matter.
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
Um, Mal, wouldn't you start the "one radius" from the surface of the planet? Otherwise, all orbit 1s would be large rocks rolling across the planetscape, hurting people and breaking things.
M
Malenfant
Guest
"1 radius" is one radius from the centre of the planet (ie the surface) - there's nothing that orbits at radius 1, is there?
Defining it any other way would be confusing and inconsistent. (it's bad enough that size codes are defined using diameters instead of radii, or that 100D limits are used instead of 200R limits...)
Defining it any other way would be confusing and inconsistent. (it's bad enough that size codes are defined using diameters instead of radii, or that 100D limits are used instead of 200R limits...)
M
Malenfant
Guest
Gah! Nuts, that's annoying.
Orbital distances in astronomy are always measured from the centre of the planet or star, which is why I said that 1 radius = the surface of the body.
Orbital distances in astronomy are always measured from the centre of the planet or star, which is why I said that 1 radius = the surface of the body.
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