Idea: Exceptions for SSC 1ly limit?

[PlutonianEmpire]

I was reading Reiko's old thread about interstellar spaceships, and the 1 light year limit for SSC objects was brought up, and I got an idea, but I don't know how well it might work, if it works out at all.

Basically, While Celestia would still have a universal 1 light year limit for SSC objects by default, but maybe one could add an additional line saying something like "<definition> true" in an SSC file, where "true" would enable the object to be drawn beyond 1 light-year, and perhaps even being allowed to be illuminated by a different system if it comes within that system's 1 ly radius (or if that system happens to have an extremely luminous star)?

Granted, this would be mainly for inter-stellar travel enthusiasts, and I don't know what defining term we could use for it, but hey, ya never know.

[W0RLDBUILDER]

and I don't know what defining term we could use for it

How about:

Code: Select all

EllipticalOrbit {
Period 1
SemiMajorAxis 100000000
Distant true
}

[W0RLDBUILDER]

Sorry but absolutely FALSE

Why
Because the object is too far of light source and it became invisible...
it remind you of anything

Dark != not even there.

Tested with these numbers :
SemiMajorAxis 100000000 => 1538 LY from Sol => INVISIBLE
SemiMajorAxis 63245 => 1.001 LY from Sol => INVISIBLE
SemiMajorAxis 63240 => 0.999 LY from Sol => VISIBLE
qED

That's why we need a Distant parameter. You want an object to be in interstellar space, you have lights baked into the texture, and you don't want to define a new star just for the object. Or, you might have a simulated comet coming in from the Oort cloud, about 1 ly out, and you want to see it before it starts its descent toward the sun. Also, getting an object to smoothly transition from an orbit around one star to an orbit around another can be difficult.

[PlutonianEmpire]

Sorry but absolutely FALSE

Why
Because the object is too far of light source and it became invisible...
it remind you of anything

Dark != not even there.

Tested with these numbers :
SemiMajorAxis 100000000 => 1538 LY from Sol => INVISIBLE
SemiMajorAxis 63245 => 1.001 LY from Sol => INVISIBLE
SemiMajorAxis 63240 => 0.999 LY from Sol => VISIBLE
qED

That's why we need a Distant parameter. You want an object to be in interstellar space, you have lights baked into the texture, and you don't want to define a new star just for the object. Or, you might have a simulated comet coming in from the Oort cloud, about 1 ly out, and you want to see it before it starts its descent toward the sun. Also, getting an object to smoothly transition from an orbit around one star to an orbit around another can be difficult.

On top of that, I tried a little experiment last weekend with reference frames. Apparently, the parent star/barycenter can be set for one system, and the object will, obviously, be visible in that system's 1 ly radius, BUT, if you use reference frames to re-center the object around another star WITHOUT changing the parent object tagline, it will actually be able to be visible in that other system. Although, the downside is you'll have to select the original parent star before selecting the re-centered object.

Here's an example:

Code: Select all

"Test Ship 1" "SIG Dra" {
   Class "spacecraft"
   Radius 8.04672
   OrbitFrame {
      EclipticJ2000 {
         Center "Sol"
      }
   }
   EllipticalOrbit {
      Period            1
      SemiMajorAxis     1
      Eccentricity      0.0100
      Inclination       90
      AscendingNode     43.603333333333333333333333333333
      ArgOfPericenter   19.320520833333333333333333333333
      MeanAnomaly       180
      Epoch             "2012 11 15 16:36:30"
   }
}

While the test ship is defined as orbiting Sigma Draconis, the reference frame puts it around our Sun, so it will be visible in our solar system. BUT, you'll still need to select Sigma Draconis first before being able to select said ship.

So, with the ideas WorldBuilder and I proposed in this thread, using Distance true, we'd be able to observe an interstellar voyage from Earth beyond the 1 ly limit, and when it finally DOES reach it's destination, the ship could be re-centered around the destination using reference frames similar to the one I posted.

Although, it might be best to allow the timeline feature, if one wants to use it for such an addon, to modify whether "Distant" is "true" or "false" by allowing it to be placed within the timeline brackets. Dunno if it would be redundant though, since with Distant set to "true", it'd be able to be viewed within its specified system's 1 ly radius regardless.