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- Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!hellgate.utah.edu!fcom.cc.utah.edu!cc.utah.edu!eyring
- From: eyring@cc.utah.edu
- Subject: SGI Space Simulator Version 1.0 (long)
- Message-ID: <1992Nov23.061813.1@cc.utah.edu>
- Lines: 122
- Sender: news@fcom.cc.utah.edu
- Organization: University of Utah Computer Center
- Date: 23 Nov 92 06:18:13 MDT
-
- SGI Space Simulator Version 1.0
-
- I just had the chance to play with one of the coolest
- simulations/machines I have ever seen.
-
- We have a Crimson SGI (100K$ class) on site and there is
- GL demo program called space or the
- SGI Space Simulator Version 1.0.
-
- It's a simulation of the Solar System and the Milky Way galaxy
- with certain artistic liberties.
-
- It's like something you see on Nova or other PBS shows when
- they describe planetary orbits, etc. Anyone who is interested
- in space/astronautics can spend several hours playing with this
- program exploring the solar system and galaxy. I highly recommend
- everyone to seek out one of these machines and see this program.
- I am sure it comes on the lower class SGI machines also, but the
- speed of the Crimson will "knock your socks off".
-
- It starts by placing you in our solar system. The orbits of the
- planets are displayed (green) along with the names. Standard aircraft
- yoke controls are driven by the mouse. (Rolls are difficult though.)
-
- You can navigate the system by controlling your velocity/direction.
- As you approach a planet, you will begin to see the orbit paths
- of the moons in blue with names. You can turn off the orbit paths
- and object labels and see graphics of the planets/moons. As you
- approach even closer, the images get clearer and more defined. Saturn is
- spectacular during a flyby, like watching Star Trek, etc.
-
- It appears that satellite Earth color data and planetary color data
- have been incorporated into the database. If you approach, say earth,
- the terrain goes through 4 to 5 levels of increased resolution. With
- planets with atmospheres, the sky changes color and the stars fade
- from view. You can position yourself to observe ecplise events.
-
- I am not a space scientist and don't know what the accuracy is of
- this simulation, but it was a very fascinating experience. Very
- educational, now I know what the surface of the moon of Pluto looks
- like. It's an image of the software engineer who wrote this program.
- :) While visiting other landscapes I half expected to see a
- billboard for SGI.
-
- By changing time, you can observe the motion of planets and moons in
- their orbits. Zodiac and star names can be displayed. You can
- explore other star systems and observe other planetary systems.
- (Documented fact starts to break down here, I am sure, but it makes it
- interesting.) There is even a Dysan type system called "Ring World". You
- can accelerate beyond the local systems out to the bounds of the galaxy.
- Stars are replaced with an image of the galaxy. Going further
- into inter-galactic areas you can easily get lost and not find your
- way back. An autopilot function can return you to the familar
- Sol system.
-
- Here are the commands the operate the program:
-
- MOUSE CONTROLS
- left : accelerates
- middle : brakes
- right : pan/rotate toggle
-
- left+right : face nearest moon
- middle+right : face nearest planet
- left+middle : face nearest star
-
- (Use these with the autopilot engaged! Really cool.)
-
- KEY CONTROLS
- Esc : quit
- Shift : defeat mouse controls (for menu)
- Ctrl : disconnect view vector from velocity vector
- a : autopilot
- b : single buffer mode (< 24bits) (left mouse is trigger)
- h : on screen help toggle
- i : moons/orbits toggle
- l : reshade polyplanet every frame
- n : star name toggle
- o : planets/orbits toggle
- q : control panel toggle
- r : decelerates time by 10
- s : stellar system statistics
- t : accelerates time by 10
- v : reverse velocity
- x : text display toggle
- y : time reset
- z : display constellation boundaries
- - : time direction toggle
- up arrow : increase tesselation level (max: 5)
- down arrow : decrease tesselation level (min: 0)
- PrintScrn : snap rgb image and quit
-
- TEXT COLOR CODES
- red : in interplanetary space
- blue : in interstellar space
- yellow: in intergalactic space
- green : currently being eclipsed
-
- Satellite Earth color data provided by
- TOM VAN SANT and the GEOSPHERE PROJECT
- With assistance from NOAA, NASA, EYES ON EARTH
- Technical Direction Lloyd van Warren, Leo Blume, Jim Knighton
- Source data derived from NOAA/TIROS-N Series Satellites
- All rights reserved by Tom Van Sant, Inc.
- 146 Entrada Drive, Santa Monica, CA 90402
- 310-459-4342
-
- This program seems to be a sales demo for SGI, but this is
- the kind of thing that should be available at all the
- planetariums/space museums. There are simulators like this
- on personal computers but the speed and sheer graphics brute
- force of the Crimson really shine here.
-
- A very remarkable experience!
-
- Enjoy.
-
- --
- >Bob Witmer
- >Eyring Corp., Flight Simulation Div.
- >Salt Lake City, Utah
- >eyring@cc.utah.edu
-