Celestia Forums

When Celestia starts, if you go to render/view options, the 'filter stars' section is set to filter stars beyond a distance of '1,000,000' (light years, I assume, although it doesn't say).

Unfortunately it seems that if you manipulate the slider which sets this distance, the maximum you can set is changed to 99,9999. Even if you type '1,000,000' without using the slider, Celestia refuses to accept it.

This is of course a minor bug - I doubt if there are any interesting stars 99,999.8 light years from Earth, although I'm sure somebody can think of one - but it's a bug nonetheless.

Also, when you set or enter a value, then click the CANCEL button, go back to the dialog, and there is the NEW value you set <frown>!

Don't forget that Celestia currently can draw stars only to a distance of about 16K lightyears. Setting the filter to distances larger than that doesn't do anything useful.

Please see the "prelimiary User's FAQ" at the top of the Users Forum.
Q12/A12

LOL
Selden you are starting to sound like Celstia's very own Preacher Man
Quoteing the Users FAQ sections, like the chapters of a Bible.

selden wrote:Don't forget that Celestia currently can draw stars only to a distance of about 16K lightyears. Setting the filter to distances larger than that doesn't do anything useful.

Hmmm, then what is the distance unit in the Filter Stars section of the View Options dialog box? The default value is 1,000,000. If it is light years, then it is in error to be defaulted to this value.

Paul,

Well, I did write most (but not all) of the FAQs and answers!

And they are (or used to be) frequently asked questions, the question about star distance limits is one of them. My impression is that most of the questions that are answered in the FAQ are being asked much less frequently then they used to be. In other words, the FAQ is serving its purpose.

Don,

Just because star distances are limited to 16K LY now does not mean that Celestia always will have that limitation. I think it's appropriate not to build that limit into the user interfaces. When the hardware and software can support depth sorting over a much larger distance, the user interfaces won't have to be updated, too.

selden wrote:Paul,
Well, I did write most (but not all) of the FAQs and answers!

And they are (or used to be) frequently asked questions, the question about star distance limits is one of them. My impression is that most of the questions that are answered in the FAQ are being asked much less frequently then they used to be. In other words, the FAQ is serving its purpose.

Hey I totally agree, its great and works very well.

I just couldn't hold that post back.

selden wrote:Don,

Just because star distances are limited to 16K LY now does not mean that Celestia always will have that limitation.

Howdy Selden,

I wrote "default value", so I'm not sure why you are talking about setting a "limit". . Here is the message I wrote:

don wrote:Hmmm, then what is the distance unit in the Filter Stars section of the View Options dialog box? The default value is 1,000,000. If it is light years, then it is in error to be defaulted to this value.

IMHO, I think a "default value" should be a valid value, not an invalid value, and I stick with my statement. In fact, since you are saying that this value is in fact light years, then I will even extend my statement to say that if 16,000 light years is the MAXIMUM value currently supported by Celestia, then the user interface should not allow any value higher than this. Having 1,000,000 as the default and 999,999 as the slider maximum is just plain wrong and is a bug.

If, as you write, "now" and "future" means nothing in programming (no difference) then why should it mean anything anywhere else? Why doesn't General Motors put a 500 mph speedometer in my car or truck, since it will not always have a 95 mph limitation? Or why doesn't my wife's employer pay her $500,000 right now, since she will earn that much from them eventually?

Why doesn't Fridgers team simply write a paper saying that they have discovered everything there is to discover in Physics, since they won't always be limited to current knowledge? This way, they wouldn't have to write the papers THEN.

Come on Selden, get real.

Don,

The field we're discussing tells Celestia not to draw stars that are further away than the distance specified. By default, I do not want Celestia throwing things away for me. I want the default value for that field to be infinite. (1M LY is a reasonable approximation to infinity for now, but it'd be nicer if it could be even bigger -- 1e32 comes to mind An enabling checkbox would be nice, but I consider that an unnecessary frill.) If I want Celestia not to try to draw stars beyond a certain distance, then I'll set that field to some nearby distance.

Does this clarify things?

selden wrote:Does this clarify things?

Hi Selden,

I didn't need any clarification since what you first wrote was perfectly clear to me. For a data entry field that has a valid range of 0-16000, you want the range to be 0-1000000, or some other imaginary number.

So, let's just agree to disagree.

Ah, but the original point - now thoroughly obscured in some entertaining discussion - is that the slider is broken. It starts at value N, but manipulating it in any way makes it impossible to select value N again.