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[C. Shawn Smith]

Cameni, I'm curious ...

In another thread you spoke about the moon being a real body rather than faked, as well as the sun, so now I have a couple of questions I'm itching to get answers to.

1) If the moon is a real body, are solar eclipses possible within the engine? (would be VERY interesting to see something like that eventually)
2) Are the sun and moon "actual size" within the engine?  IE, if I were to fly to the sun, would it dwarf everything I have ever known regarding size?
3) Are you modeling actual orbital parameters for the moon, or simplified ones?

[cameni]

1) If the moon is a real body, are solar eclipses possible within the engine? (would be VERY interesting to see something like that eventually)

This one is harder if the viewer lies within the atmosphere, because what we perceive as sun is basically an atmospheric effect. But now I think it can be simulated somewhat - first by specially handling the sun disc rendering, and then by adjusting sun intensity in relation to the occluded area.
There are other rare effects that can be handled too - eclipses of moon by earth, the red moon ..

2) Are the sun and moon "actual size" within the engine?  IE, if I were to fly to the sun, would it dwarf everything I have ever known regarding size?

Note there's no moon or actual sun body yet, I was just saying how it will be done. But to give an impression of how big the sun is, our brains need the detail to compare with. Effectively we'd need the sun flares so we can feel small enough there. You know what impression of sun gives Celestia, for example ..

3) Are you modeling actual orbital parameters for the moon, or simplified ones?

Both options will be probably supported, depending on the use.

[C. Shawn Smith]

Ah, so I missed the basic premise of that post, but got the gist of it from what you were posting.  Interesting.

I recently visited "actual stellar sizes" in a website I created that I began work on years ago, just never finished.  A good friend of mine who is a teacher was discussing it, so I decided to finish it.  I ended up creating graphics that were specific sizes in pixels, and rendering all the planets to correct sizes, with only a modest percentage of error.  It was an eye-opening experience.  Then I decided to render actual distances in a web browser .... boy, going from left to right in a web browser to view Pluto's actual distance was a pain in the proverbial bottom.

http://www.cshawnsmith.com/stellar_comparison_chart/index.html

I was originally inspired by this website: http://www.merzo.net/, which compared fictional and real-world ships to their actual dimensions.  Eventually, I'm going to add the galaxy as a whole, along with the more common stars and known planetary systems using Hipparcos catalogues and the most recent Kepler mission studies.  But this is a very long-term project that doesn't have much impact one what I'm doing currently, except as a mind thought for a couple of projects you know about.

My biggest gripe about relative sizes in fiction was when I watched an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation, when they encountered the Dyson Sphere.  They did a modestly good job on depicting the size of it (it was ALMOST flat, even from orbit), but they screwed everything up when they went inside and showed the Enterprise orbiting a star that was only about three times the size of the ship.  I understand the need for simplicity, but come on, they could have made that sfx shot a LOT more realistic.

I just hope one day I can fly toward the sun in Outerra, and have it literally white out my monitor, blow up a few chips on my motherboard, and make me curse for not waiting for technology to help me get closer  Hehhehe

(*edit* Fixed broken link)

[cameni]

I ended up creating graphics that were specific sizes in pixels, and rendering all the planets to correct sizes, with only a modest percentage of error.  It was an eye-opening experience.  Then I decided to render actual distances in a web browser .... boy, going from left to right in a web browser to view Pluto's actual distance was a pain in the proverbial bottom.

I'm getting the sizes, but not the distances. I thought I'd have to scroll down .. but all planets are close to the sun, spaced regularly ..

[C. Shawn Smith]

Ahh, at the top of the page, click on the Distances link.  I need to change the interface a bit so it's easier to find.

[cameni]

Oh, thanks, missed that one completely

[SpaceFlight]

2) Are the sun and moon "actual size" within the engine?  IE, if I were to fly to the sun, would it dwarf everything I have ever known regarding size?

It would be pretty neat if the sun and moon were "actual size".