4k Andromeda billboard addon

[jim]

Hi all,

Original I want only correct the position of Christoria's Andromeda addon but now I'd also made a new 4k DDS dxt5 texture (with alpha transparency channel).



You can see it works perfect with the large star catalog


4k DDS DXT5: http://www.celestiaproject.net/~jim/files/M104 ... 4k_dds.zip (8,1mb)

I'd also corrected the possition for M32 and M110 in 'deepsky.dsc'.

Code: Select all

# NGC 205, satellite of M31
Galaxy "M110"
{
   Type "E5"
   RA    0.6728
   Dec   41.685
#   RA    0.6883
#   Dec   41.683
   Distance 2.9e6
   Radius 8500
   Detail 0.5
}

# NGC 221, satellite of M31
Galaxy "M32"
{
   Type "E2"
   RA    0.7116
   Dec  40.865
#   RA    0.712
#   Dec  40.867
   Distance 2.9e6
   Radius 4000
   Detail 0.5
}

Now I'm not an expert in this things therefore somewere should check this before 'deepsky.dsc' is updated. Selden? Grant?

for Christoria's addon here is new dsc:

Code: Select all

# M31 / Andromeda / NGC 224
Nebula "M31" {
    Mesh     "m31.3ds"
   RA        0.7117
   Dec      41.261
   Distance  2.9e6
   Radius   55680
    Axis [-0.579407 -0.795188 -0.178785]    
   Angle 102.994
}

Bye Jens

[selden]

Jens,

According to Simbad, the official ICRS (J2000) coordinates
of NGC 205 are
RA= 00 40 22.3 ( = 0.6728612 )
Dec= +41 41 09 ( = 41.6858333 )

and of NGC 221 are
RA = 00 42 41.87 ( = 0.7116305 )
Dec = +40 51 57.2 ( = 40.8658889 )

Yes: Celestia's values are off slightly.

[danielj]

It didn?t work in my system,either putting the dds images in med res main texture folder or in a subfolder M31 in Extras.In the last case,Celestia superimpose M83 and M104 images in M31 blob.It?s weird.I can?t change dsc.I tried to change galaxies.dsc to galaxies.dat,then M31,Milk Way and so on dissapeared.I don?t know what to do.I am also finding difficulties in installing M51.Should I need an adittional galaxies file?
I am using Celestia 1.3.1 pre 11

[selden]

Daniel,

The "Galaxy" entries for M31 and its satellites are in deepspace.dsc. The "Galaxy" entries for M31, M51 and M104 also are in some other Messier DSC catalogs. These "Galaxy" entries cause Celestia to draw the grey blobs.

Jens' Addons define "Nebula" objects. His pictures are transparent. You can see the grey blobs through them.

If you do not want those "Galaxy" blobs to be seen, you must remove their "Galaxy" definitions from deepspace.dsc or any other DSC catalog that your copy of Celestia is using.

"Nebula" objects are drawn separately from "Galaxy" objects. You can have many objects with the same name. Celestia will happily draw them all. Removing one "Galaxy" entry does not affect any of the other objects which happen to have the same name. Celestia will still draw the "Nebula" that has the same name.

If Jens' "Nebula" objects are not being drawn, then you have changed something else.

I hope this clarifies things a little.

[danielj]

M51 did work,but the problem is changing Andromeda galaxy 1k png file to Andromeda galaxy 4k DDS file.
I can?t change a dsc file,because to write in it,I have to transform to a dat file.And when I did this,Andromeda galaxy,SMC,LMC and Milky Way dissapeared from Celestia.
I would like to know if I have to delete the 1k image file or even change the 3ds model,although both models have the same size

[selden]

Daniel,

You should not be doing anything with a DAT file. Celestia v1.3.0 and later come with their galaxy locations defined in the file \data\deepspace.DSC
They do not use galaxies.dat You should not be changing DSC files into DAT files for any reason.

All .DSC files are plain-text files. You can use any text editor to change them: Notepad and Wordpad both work fine. (Wordpad works better if the DSC file came from a Unix system. Wordpad understands the <new-line> that Unix uses. Notepad does not.)

You should be keeping each Addon in its own folder inside Celestia's \extras\ folder. Do not mix the files of different Addons together in the same \models\ and \textures\medres\ folders.

Then, to disable an Addon, you do not have to edit or delete anything at all. You just move that Addon's folder into a different folder that Celestia does not know about. (I use a folder called \Celestia\Holding\ You can name it anything, but it must not be inside \Celestia\extras\ )

Does this help?

[danielj]

I tried againd and two things happenened.First I put a # in front of M31 in deepsky.dsc(after opening with the Notepad) and then I see a lot of letters in a line,instead of the galaxy Andromeda.Then,I retired the # and then Andromeda return to his blooby appearance,and when I turn around the galaxy,textures of M104,M51 and M83 appeared,alternating.There isn?t any time that Celestia shown the 4k Andromeda DDS.
I create the M31 folder and put both folders(Models and Textures) inside it.I also put Andromeda.dds in med res main Celestia folder.I have M31.3ds in the Models folder and create an Unrelated folder to put all M31 1k files.
In my Extras,I have the following folders :
Earth 18000BC
HIP 300002
M83
NGC 4314
redmars
M31
M104
real
In the textures main textures folder,this is ;
Celestia>textures>med res,
I have M51.png,andromeda.dds,M104.dds and M83.jpg
You mentioned that the textures could be mixed up,but if it?s true,why the Andromeda png 1k billboard worked so well,but 4k DDS don?t?

[jim]

You mentioned that the textures could be mixed up,but if it?s true,why the Andromeda png 1k billboard worked so well,but 4k DDS don?t?

Hi danielj,

I thougth this is meanwhile known that for all objects except sphere meshes in Celestia the restiction of the grafic card must be regarded. Look at 'OpenGL Info' in Celestia and you can see that your grafic card (GF4mx) can maximum use 2k textures!

Therefore a 4k texture won't work on your system but you can use my little DOS-script to downsize the 4k DDS file to 2k or 1k.
http://www.celestiaproject.net/~jim/files/downsize_DDS.zip (49,8KB)

Further every 3ds model (billboard) will work only with the specified texture file therefore don't try to use texture files with another name or filetype!

My addons have already the needed folder structure. You must only extra this to the 'extra' folder or a sub folder. Don't move files around if you don't know what you do! Well you can copy different addons into one folder so that all models are in one 'model' folder and all textures are in one 'textures/medres' folder.

I hope this helps.

Jens

[danielj]

I?m sorry,but I don?t think this is the answer.The M104.dds 4k worked well in my system and I have planets until 16 k texture(Realistic-Earth16k.dds).Could this limit only apply to billboards?I don?t know.Now I am going to test M51 2k to see if the problem will appear in this case,too.

[christoria]

Try to capitalize "M31.3ds" in the "dsc" file. That did it for me.

[danielj]

Try to capitalize "M31.3ds" in the "dsc" file. That did it for me.

OK.It appeared to work,but how can I know if my M31 Andromeda is 1k png or 4k DDS?They look more or less the same

[christoria]

Open up "M31.3ds" in a hex editor. It will be in the file really close to the top which file it's referring to.

[danielj]

What is a hex editor?

[christoria]

Try this one. The one I use is no longer available for free.

http://www.hhdsoftware.com/hexeditor.html

[kinderino]

Therefore a 4k texture won't work on your system but you can use my little DOS-script to downsize the 4k DDS file to 2k or 1k.
http://www.celestiaproject.net/~jim/files/downsize_DDS.zip (49,8KB)

Ahh.. it work for me.. Strangely i use many big graphics files on my 64megs Ati card and all are smooth and all work well (except naturally, for bumb and spec, it is normal for my card).. Anyway, the Andromeda 22megs was not showing at all.. so with that DownsizeDDS program, i get a couple of files and i use the one of 4megs and i can see her now.. Good!..

Only thing i do more, (perhaps because of the downsize program) is that i don't like those little mini twinkling stars around M31 when i move the mouse/screen. example:


So i modify that new Andromeda image by removing, well, more like lowering the brightness of all those extra stars that are around M31-32-33. So now when in our galaxy.. No more of those mini twinkling stars.. Well, for me anyway, it is more nice for the eyes..

Nice day.. J.P.

-= Before =-

-= After =-

[danielj]

Try this one. The one I use is no longer available for free.

http://www.hhdsoftware.com/hexeditor.html

I downloaded and installed it,but it always says the same thing : 4,even when my texture is only 1k;it?s a 4 marked with a black square that twinkles

[jim]

Hi kinderino,

Ahh.. it work for me...

I don't think so
because:

i get a couple of files ...

Kinderino, something is going wrong with the script. You should find after the first run only one new file "andromeda_s.dds" (5,5mb).
The script does three things (in your case):
1. Extract the mip maps, ( This seems to work.)
2. Delete the "andromeda_00.dds" mip map and rename the other,
3. Stitch the renamed mip maps to "andromeda_s.dds" (5,5mb) and delete all processing files.

Only thing i do more, (perhaps because of the downsize program) is that i don't like those little mini twinkling stars around M31 when i move the mouse/screen.

This happens because your texture has no mip maps.

I don't know why the script does't work correct, but you can do this also manully.
1. Copy your "andromeda.dds" in a folder with all the script files.
2. Start the command line and go into your script folder
3. write and execute this: detach andromeda
4. delete "andromeda_00.dds" and "andromeda.dds"
5. rename:
"andromeda_01.dds" -> "andromeda_00.dds"
"andromeda_02.dds" -> "andromeda_01.dds"
"andromeda_03.dds" -> "andromeda_02.dds"
...
and so one

6. write and execute this: stitch andromeda

That's all. Now you should find a new "andromeda.dds" in the script folder.

Bye Jens

[Guest]

4. delete "andromeda_00.dds" and "andromeda.dds"
5. rename:
"andromeda_01.dds" -> "andromeda_00.dds"
"andromeda_02.dds" -> "andromeda_01.dds"
"andromeda_03.dds" -> "andromeda_02.dds"
... and so one
6. write and execute this: stitch andromeda

Hello Jim..

It work perfectly the way you tell it.. No more twinklings stars. Thanks!!..
I do btw like a lot the one i make with less luminous stars that are from our own galaxy..

Bye Jean-Pierre