Some quick previews... [Large graphics inside]

[Chuft-Captain]

Looks like a Bernal Sphere (click) with a radius of perhaps 1-2 km's judging by the scale.

Very nice, however I am a little concerned for the health of your inhabitants, as the hub appears to be open to space.
How do you keep the atmosphere from escaping?

[julesstoop]

When it rotates around the hub axis, because of friction air will start to rotate as well and thusly will be forced in the direction of the walls. At least, that's was more or less Arthur C. Clarke's explanation in his novel "Rendezvous with Rama".

[Chuft-Captain]

When it rotates around the hub axis, because of friction air will start to rotate as well and thusly will be forced in the direction of the walls. At least, that's was more or less Arthur C. Clarke's explanation in his novel "Rendezvous with Rama".

Hm, all I have to say to that is: "Rendezvous with Rama" is science fiction.

[julesstoop]

When the diameter is big enough though, Clarke's assumption is probably correct. A radius of 1 to 2 km's will however certainly not be enough.

[rthorvald]

all I have to say to that is: "Rendezvous with Rama" is science fiction.

So is Ran.

A radius of 1 to 2 km's will however certainly not be enough.

The radius of the asteroid is 82 km, the cave is about 25.

- rthorvald

[Chuft-Captain]

When it rotates around the hub axis, because of friction air will start to rotate as well and thusly will be forced in the direction of the walls. At least, that's was more or less Arthur C. Clarke's explanation in his novel "Rendezvous with Rama".

Actually, I have this book, and from my memory of last time I read it, I remember it having triple airlocks. (Ramans do everything in threes )

all I have to say to that is: "Rendezvous with Rama" is science fiction.

So is Ran.

In that case, airlocks are optional. (unless you're aiming for hard science-fiction)

[julesstoop]

I couldn't find the appropriate passage in Rendezvous with Rama. But I found this one:


But the air-pressure is up, as we expected - around three hundred
millibars. Even with this low oxygen content, it's almost
breathable; further down there will be no problems at
all. That will simplify exploration enormously.


This is when the first expedition goes down from the hub to the cylindrical surface of Rama and the atmosphere gets thicker along the way.
We can't be sure if Clarke was right in his assumption, but it still seems sort of plausible to me.

Later on in the book Rama heats up and the atmosphere does indeed expand and the three airlocks probably become increasingly useful.

[rthorvald]

In that case, airlocks are optional. (unless you're aiming for hard science-fiction)

The asteroid rotates (on a 3-minute cycle) to get some gravity - or rather, centrifugal force. I??d think that would keep the air inside.

- rthorvald

[sokertort]

Anti-deSitter spacetime (AdS for short) is a solution of Einstein equation in vacuo, with a negative cosmological constant. The metric of spacetime is then (in some spherical coordinates system) :



Here, Lambda is the (negative) cosmological constant. In pure "classic" empty space, this constant is zero. Here, "c" is light speed, "t" is time, "r" is a radius coordinate.

This metric describes the geometry of the AdS spacetime. It tells how particles should move, how light rays bends, etc.

There are some strong speculations in the physics community about its physical signifiance for our universe, and maybe other universes "out there".

does it mean the wave-like nature of light was cause by this so-called anti-sitter universe?

[trainboy72]

those are some really nice thumbnail previews. It feels like I'm actually on the planets when looking at the pictures. The only thing is is that it takes me forever for them to load on my screen. oh well.

[rthorvald]

Ran III takes its time: it is a big project.

But, i have updated my CM image blog with a series of new screenshots; i won??t post any more here. You can see them on this link:
http://www.celestialmatters.org/cm/host ... log&leaves
(Click on any thumbnail to get a full-size pic).

... Every time i say something, it is "a couple of months away". Well, it still is; lots of detail to get right...

- rthorvald

[bh]

Holy Roman Catholic Church! They are beautiful shots Runar. Each is a work of art in it's own right. Bloody great work skip! 1600x1200 please!

[rthorvald]

1600x1200 please!

There will be a series of proper wallpapers later on (like the JTPS set): these are just work-in-progress screenshots.

- rthorvald

[Dollan]

Runar, you have definitely achieved a mastery of this program. I cannot believe that what I am seeing is made with Celestia! THIS is my own goal for my ArcBuilder add-ons that I've slowly but surely been uploading, and even though right now they are merely the basework for future modifications (just the planets in question, nothing else), when compared next to stuff like yours, I can totally understand why even my best efforts often are poorly reviewed.

Clearly you have some amazing skills in multiple areas to come up with these items. One of these days, you should really write a few pages outlining how you work your magic, and the creative process that goes into it.

Heck, the wallpaper alone will be worth far more than the price of admission when it comes to this. I cannot wait until you complete the project! Absolutely fantastic!

[rthorvald]

and even though right now they are merely the basework for future modifications (just the planets in question, nothing else), when compared next to stuff like yours, I can totally understand why even my best efforts often are poorly reviewed.

Don??t bother too much with reviews... Just do what is fun to do. Most of it aren??t usable critique anyway.

One of these days, you should really write a few pages outlining how you work your magic

I??m not sure there??s any magic involved... I just scetch out the scenes, and experiment until i get there. Some scenes are easy, falls into place in minutes - and some i have worked on for months to find a technique that works. It is just a matter of exploring Celestia??s limitations and imagining for ways around them. So, the "magic" is just taking the time.

Heck, the wallpaper alone will be worth far more than the price of admission when it comes to this. I cannot wait

Well, i am glad you like it; thanks for the praise

- rthorvald

[Dollan]

Don??t bother too much with reviews... Just do what is fun to do. Most of it aren??t usable critique anyway.

Oh, very true. I only listen to the ratings when comments accompany them (preferably by email). Otherwise, I agree, they're pretty useless.

I??m not sure there??s any magic involved... I just scetch out the scenes, and experiment until i get there. Some scenes are easy, falls into place in minutes - and some i have worked on for months to find a technique that works. It is just a matter of exploring Celestia??s limitations and imagining for ways around them. So, the "magic" is just taking the time.

Yeah, that's the rub, isn't it? Time.... That's why I'm sending out just the planets, and little or no peripherals. I want to at least get the groundwork laid down. Still, your approach definitely has merit. I'm about done with the major planetary add-ons. Next step... some special scenery products!

Anyway, the praise is well warranted for your stuff! Absolutely amazing.

...John...

[danielj]

The models are incredibly complex.What computer do you have?What will be the minimal and recomended specs to run such large addon?I remember that even Ran II was very heavy in computer demanding and run quite slow in my old system:the same specs,except that was a Geforce 6600 GT and not a 7600 GT.
Of course,Ran III could be more optimized than Ran II...

Ran III takes its time: it is a big project.

But, i have updated my CM image blog with a series of new screenshots; i won??t post any more here. You can see them on this link:
http://www.celestialmatters.org/cm/host ... log&leaves
(Click on any thumbnail to get a full-size pic).

... Every time i say something, it is "a couple of months away". Well, it still is; lots of detail to get right...

- rthorvald

[rthorvald]

The models are incredibly complex.What computer do you have?What will be the minimal and recomended specs to run such large addon?I remember that even Ran II was very heavy in computer demanding and run quite slow in my old system:the same specs,except that was a Geforce 6600 GT and not a 7600 GT.
Of course,Ran III could be more optimized than Ran II...

III is way more complex than II, yes. But it will run infintely much better, since i didn??t know anything about 3D design in 2004. Actually, Ran II is a crime against any computer in terms of efficenciy. Ran III is designed with efficiency at the front of my mind... Though it is so huge, lower-end machines can??t use it anyway...

The minimal package will be slightly less than 1 GB. The full version is 2.5 GB. The only difference between the two is texture resolution, which is from 4 to 8 times better in the full version.

It will run reasonably well on a 64 MB card, though the framerate will suck at certain locations. A 256 MB card is optimal, and will run *every* aspect of the scenario smoothly. Of course, a lot of RAM helps. 1 GB is good enough - i haven??t tested with less.

Additionally, the project is structured such that one can disable non-essential events and scenes by removing SSC files: the entire scenario will degrade gracefully by removing high numbered SSC files toward low numbered ones. This makes it easy to customize it for your computer.

- rthorvald

[rjcraig]

I use screenshots from Celestia for my desktop and custom screensaver.
I've just spent the last half hour or so pillaging this thread for new ones.

Very nice work!

[ANDREA]

I've learned that there are optimum settings for video cards that maximize the frame rates for Celestia. Unfortunately, I do not know them. Would someone who is knowledgeable in this question please advise ... what are the proper Nvidia settings for my video cards to optimize Celestia? Specifically:

For maximum speed:

Antialiasing? off
Anisotropic Filtering? off
Ansiotropic sample optimization? on (though it won't matter when aniso is off)
Ansiotropic Optimization? on
Image Setting? not sure about this one
Force mipmaps? off
Conformant texture clamp? whatever the default is (on i think)
Extension Limit? default (hopefully off)
Trilinear Optimization? on
Negative LOD bias? off (can make textures look crisper, but hurts performance because of reduced texture access locality)
Triple buffering? the default is probably fine. In your case, you may see some performance bonus for turning it off, since it frees up some additional memory for textures)
--Chris

Chris, I'm resuming this old thread because in the last 13 months many things changed in nvidia settings.
The new Control Panes "Global Settings" list has 17 items to be chosen, most of them missing in your old reply.
Could you please kindly inform us on the best settings for speed enhancement?
Thanks a lot.
Bye

Andrea