New addon : Tectonic Plates on Earth

[Cham]

I made a new model for the tectonic plates on Earth. The model is much more accurate that the previous one I made few days ago, and matches better the Earth texture without the oceans and match very well my volcanoes addon published some times ago. Some previews :

tect1.jpg

tect2.jpg

tect3.jpg

Two more previews and the addon itself in the next message (max 3 pictures per message only !?)

[Cham]

Two more previews and the zipped addon file :

tect4.jpg

tect5.jpg

And now the addon :

Tectonic_Plates.zip

Data comes from :
Bird, Peter (2003) An updated digital model of plate boundaries, Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 4(3), 1027.
See also this detailed page :
http://peterbird.name/publications/2003 ... PB2002.htm

The binary CMOD file is only 96 KB. I published the TEXT version (300 KB) so people could change the lines color easily.

Comments are welcome here.

The addon should be used in conjonction with a script, to toggle ON/OFF the model on the fly. Here's the script I'm using (from Vincent). The script is a permanent part of my start.celx file :

Code: Select all

objects_t = {
      "Sol/Earth/Tectonic Plates",
      "Sol/Earth/America",
      "Sol/Earth/Quebec",
      "Sol/Protuberance",
      etc...
   }

for k, object in pairs(objects_t) do
  obj = celestia:find(object)
  obj:setvisible(false)
end

function toggleObj()
  for k, object in pairs(objects_t) do
    obj = celestia:find(object)
    obj:setvisible(not obj:visible())
  end
end

keyhandlers =
{
   T = toggleObj
}


function handlekey(k)
    handler = keyhandlers[k.char]
    if (handler ~= nil) then
        handler()
        return true
    else
        return false
    end
end


celestia:registereventhandler("key", handlekey)


[Cham]

Here's another preview :

tect-nowater.jpg

See the nice match of the CMOD lines and the "cracks" on the texture.

[Cham]

It's also interesting to make a comparison with the previous model I made few days ago. Here's a view : the "old" model is shown in red :

comparison.jpg

The "new" version is a smaller CMOD file while more accurate.

[BobHegwood]

Martin,

Looks great, but I have another one of my stupid questions here...
How does one install and/or modify this add-on so that it can be turned on or off?

Have tried to use Alternate textures without success, and I have been reduced to renaming the ssc file to a txt file in order to get the add-on NOT to be displayed.
Is there an easier way to do this that you are aware of? Anyone?

Thanks, Brain-Dead

[Cham]

Bob,

you need to paste (and edit a bit) the CELX script I gave above into a CELX file. Personally, this script is part of my permanent start.celx file, so I can toggle ON/OFF the model at any time, using T (shift-t). You also need to use Celestia 1.6.0 or else it wont work. This trick is so important that it should deserve a special topic in the scripts forum.

[BobHegwood]

Bob,

you need to paste (and edit a bit) the CELX script I gave above into a CELX file. Personally, this script is part of my permanent start.celx file, so I can toggle ON/OFF the model at any time, using T (shift-t). You also need to use Celestia 1.6.0 or else it wont work. This trick is so important that it should deserve a special topic in the scripts forum.

Okay, thanks my friend.
Haven't quite gotten up the nerve to switch to the latest version yet, because it's damned intimidating when you don't know what the hell you are doing.
Especially in CELX. I'll give it a try though.
Thanks again, Bob

[Vincent]

Haven't quite gotten up the nerve to switch to the latest version yet, because it's damned intimidating when you don't know what the hell you are doing.
Especially in CELX.

Bob,

Here's a script to toggle on/off the tectonic plates model using 'shift+t' in Celestia 1.5:

Code: Select all

-- Title: Toggle tectonic plates visibility - Celestia 1.5

tectonic = celestia:find("Sol/Earth/Tectonic Plates")
tec_rad = tectonic:radius()

tectonic:setradius(1e-5)
tec_visible = false
   
function toggleTectonic()
   tec_visible = not(tec_visible)
   if tec_visible then
      tectonic:setradius(tec_rad)
   else
      tectonic:setradius(1e-5)
   end
end

keyhandlers =
{
   T = toggleTectonic
}

function handlekey(k)
   handler = keyhandlers[k.char]
   if handler ~= nil then
      handler()
      return true
   else
      return false
   end
end

celestia:registereventhandler("key", handlekey)

As suggested by Martin, I'll add a topic in the script forum to explain how to toggle the visibility of an object both in Celestia 1.6 and in Celestia 1.5.

[BobHegwood]

Here's a script to toggle the tectonic plates model using 'shift+t' in Celestia 1.5:
As suggested by Martin, I'll add a topic in the script forum to explain how to toggle the visibility of an object both in Celestia 1.6 and in Celestia 1.5.

Appreciate that very much Vincent... Sorry, but I really have no luck at all with CELX. My brain just does not get wrapped around that language easily.
Thanks again, Brain-Dead

[ElChristou]

Would really nice to have the names of plates with such addon. Same for the political borders in fact...

[Vincent]

Appreciate that very much Vincent... Sorry, but I really have no luck at all with CELX. My brain just does not get wrapped around that language easily.
Thanks again, Brain-Dead

You're welcome Bob. I'll be happy to help whenever you have to face celx.

[Cham]

And here are the tectonic plates labels, properly centered on their plate. Take note that the location file is using the new location feature for colors (LabelColor), so it probably wont work with Celestia 1.5.1. You need the latest version from SVN.

Preview :

plates.jpg

Sorry, I can't edit the two first messages (max attached files in them !). So I'm giving the file here :

Tectonic_plates_locs.ssc.zip

French version :

Plaques_tectoniques_locs.ssc.zip

[chris]

And here are the tectonic plates labels, properly centered on their plate. Take note that the location file is using the new location feature for colors (LabelColor), so it probably wont work with Celestia 1.5.1. You need the latest version from SVN.

It should still work in 1.5.1, but you the labels will all have the same color.

--Chris

[ElChristou]

And here are the tectonic plates labels, properly centered on their plate...

Nice work! Tx!

[BobHegwood]

It should still work in 1.5.1, but you the labels will all have the same color.

Yes, this works fine in both 1.5.1 and SVN 4389... However, the country name colors make me want to puke under the SVN version.
Methinks I will be changing those on my machine here Martin. Sorry...

EDIT: Oops... What I meant to say was "Thanks VERY much for both of these great add-ons."

EDIT: I should also thank Chris, (and yourself) for the ability to modify this code too.
This makes for fully-customizable add-ons, and I, for one, really like these things.

[ElChristou]

Cham, j'suis pas un sp?cialiste, mais la plaque "Easter" me paraissait ?trange en fran?ais alors Wiki: -> Ile de P?ques (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaque_de_l%27?le_de_P?ques) (Mmh... seems the board don't like this url)

(BTW guys, it's about a detail in French, so... )

[Cham]

Cham, j'suis pas un sp?cialiste, mais la plaque "Easter" me paraissait ?trange en fran?ais alors Wiki: -> Ile de P?ques (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaque_de_l%27?le_de_P?ques) (Mmh... seems the board don't like this url)

Yes, you're right. I already changed it to "P?ques" on my installation. I prefer not to use "?le de P?ques" since it's a bit confusing. The island isn't located on this plate, but on the one next to it. This is a "special case".

[ElChristou]

Cham, j'suis pas un sp?cialiste, mais la plaque "Easter" me paraissait ?trange en fran?ais alors Wiki: -> Ile de P?ques (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaque_de_l%27?le_de_P?ques) (Mmh... seems the board don't like this url)

Yes, you're right. I already changed it to "P?ques" on my installation. I prefer not to use "?le de P?ques" since it's a bit confusing. The island isn't located on this plate, but on the one next to it. This is a "special case".

For the release I suppose you should use the official designation, then each one will be free to customize it... BTW, how do you write the ^ in the ssc? (like this it creta an error and Celestia crash when loading the ssc...)

[Vincent]

Martin,

Thanks, this a great educationnal addon !

For the release I suppose you should use the official designation, then each one will be free to customize it... BTW, how do you write the ^ in the ssc? (like this it creta an error and Celestia crash when loading the ssc...)

Chris,

Just switch to UTF-8 encoding.

[ElChristou]

Martin,

Thanks, this a great educationnal addon !

For the release I suppose you should use the official designation, then each one will be free to customize it... BTW, how do you write the ^ in the ssc? (like this it creta an error and Celestia crash when loading the ssc...)

Chris,
Just switch to UTF-8 encoding.

Ok, j'avais la flemme! (Raahh la honte! )