Saturn Preview

[pangloss]

It isn't finished yet, but in celebration of the 1.3.4 release, I've decided to release a preview of the Saturn add-on, another member of World Wind's growing family. It is an exanding universe, after all. This includes eight moons of Saturn with labeled surface features.

Click to enlarge:



May 10, 2006: The final version has been released here

[patmurris]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pangloss @ Apr 22 2006, 03:40 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I've decided to release a preview of the Saturn add-on...
[/b][/quote]
It would be nice to have some sort of ring plug-in then... that could be used for other 'ringed' worlds like Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus (i think) [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif[/img]

And then some sort of moons plug-in to display all the moons where they should be when viewing the main body - a la Celestia [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]

[pangloss]

....and a cherry on top, too! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

[withak]

And don't forget the plugin I requested that makes coffee in the morning.

[Guest_Jim_*]

I don't know how to add a cherry of make a coffee making plug-in but I did go through and add every planet to the Heavenly Bodies plug-in. Except for Earth and the Moon all that the other planets have are the Sun because I haven't figured out how to have more than two objects rendered per planet. If I do I'll send it off toPt Murris since he made the original plug-in. All I'm putting up here is the .cs file because everything else you need is already in the Heavenly Bodies plug-in. All you have to do is, if you already have the Heavenly Bodies plug-in, is replace it's .cs file.
Heavenly Bodies.cs
Here is where you can get the original Heavenly Bodies plug-in by Pat Murris
http://www.alpix.com/3d/worldwin/

[bull]

It would be nice to have some sort of ring plug-in then... that could be used for other 'ringed' worlds like Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus (i think) [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif[/img]

And then some sort of moons plug-in to display all the moons where they should be when viewing the main body - � la Celestia [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif[/img]
[/quote]

Are you offering [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img] Pangloss has all the necessary images for the ring, but no-one in irc will/can help.

[patmurris]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bull @ Apr 22 2006, 01:08 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Are you offering [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img]
[/b][/quote]
Bull... you know i cant resist [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

However, this one is tricky again because of the ZBuffer issue : rings have to be both behind and in front of the planet. Either you draw before the planet, but it is overdrawn by the image layers or you draw after and then it overdraws the planet... with or without using ZBuffer [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif[/img]

I'm sure there is a way to coax the ZBuffer with a fake sphere at some point but i dont know how to do that yet [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif[/img]

I put together a quick code base to start with. It does not work properly (and on my system, triangles are flashing here and there). The textures come directly from Celestia - i dont know if thats right though [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif[/img]

Planetary Rings plug-in 0.1 alpha 1

I'm very busy with WW2DPlusOne right now and i dont think i will have time to run that down soon...

[bull]

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] not much shows up for me, no texture just a few ring lines, damn that zbuffer, thanks for making a start I know you are very busy with WW2D+1, maybe some other devs can play with the code and get it working now the hard part is done.

[Guest_Jim_*]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bull @ Apr 25 2006, 12:10 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>maybe some other devs can play with the code and get it working now the hard part is done. [/b][/quote]
Please, this is really cool and should be done, so please somebody work on it. By the way Jupiter has rings as well, every gas giant does, Jupiter's are just very faint and, if I remember correctly, actually reach down almost all the way to the tops of its clouds.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bull @ Apr 25 2006, 12:10 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'> [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img] not much shows up for me, no texture just a few ring lines, damn that zbuffer,[/b][/quote]
Did you try Saturn's rings because those are more than just lines, like Neptune's and Uranus's. Although it makes sense for theirs because they are much fainter. I've included some images (I changed the brightness and contrast on the Uranus and Neptune images to make the rings easier to see since I also reduced the image sizes).

[patmurris]

I couldnt let it there. Here you go : Planetary Rings plug-in 0.1 (Zip 9k)

I solved the ZBuffer thing - and learned new tricks



Doesnt detect world yet.
Rings proportions are very approx and a factor of the current world radius...
It may also collide with Atmosphere or SkyGradient though...
Ring resolution could be set higher to avoid the broken lines and angles when you get close to them.
Needs planet shadow and the blue 'unlit side' of the ring plane...

How about using Celestia bitmaps ? is that OK ?