Celestia Forums

I am looking for advice on how I can transform shape model data in tabular format (lat, lon, radius) into a 3D model (3DS or CMOD) that can be used in Celestia. The data I have has a 5x5 degree resolution with radii in kilometers and longitude values in West Longitude.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

If you have the [tex]\theta[/tex] = Lat, [tex]\phi[/tex] = Long and [tex]r[/tex] = radius coordinates, it's very easy to convert them to cartesian coordinates and build a CMOD file. If you have less than about 65000 points, you just need a spreadsheet app (Excel, or better: NeoOffice since it's free). Just enter the spherical -> cartesian transformation formulas :
[tex]x = r \cos \theta \cos \phi,
y = r \cos\theta \sin \phi,
z= r \sin\theta.[/tex]

What is the shape you want to adapt to Celestia ?

I am working on some Saturnian satellite models that should be publicly available in the next year or so.

This is interesting. There are two small moons orbiting very close to the planet which shows some belt-like feature on their surface. I was already interested in making a model for them. However, I would like to have them faster than in a year !

LOL, so would I. At the moment, all I have are updated shape models for Janus and Epimetheus. But I know the models for Pan and Atlas exist, I just need to ask the right person...