Tanketai wrote:The first time I saw this pic I thought about the specular map. Is it a copy of the layer you used to make the pannels? (seem logic to be so, as the pannels are reflecting)
No, I just made a general, all white map and assigned it as the specular texture. The panels are just a tiling effect performed on the original texture, rather than a seperate texture or layer.
But I thought something else; why cover a planet when you could put those pannels on space?
Planet-based light pannels:
- Only half a day's worth of light, as the planet rotates;
- A serious variation of distance, as planets orbit around theyr star, frequent recalibration of the energy transmission system, and periods with no energy (the star or other planets getting in the way -> maybe using several station to redirect the energy could solve the latter)
Space-based:
- Ininterrupt illumination, free from atmosphere disturbance (if there were any on your planet)
- Could be placed in stable orbit around the planet, providing a constant and steady energy flow. (possibly trojan orbits?)
This is all true. The original, and very preliminary thoughts that I had about this system are more along the lines of these panels as having been created automatically, perhaps by a specifically programmed mass of nannites, likely launched to this system quite some time before the colonists themselves arrived. At the very least, there would have been some kind of energy source waiting and available. I have no idea, though, how long it would take for the entire planetary surface to be covered. But this is a close in Hermian world, so there would be a large amount of energy being transmitted back almost constantly.
To be frank, though, I did this as a quick and dirty exercise, rather than to be a part of any kind of thought out item. I mainly wanted to see what kind of results I could get with an experiment like this. When I get around to working on this system (Delta Pavonis, I think it was), I'll consider the options a bit more carefully.
...John...
