Preliminary (unfinished) .CEL Scripting Guide

don · Post #1by **don** » 11.08.2003, 21:18

Greetings Everyone,

Lately, I've been writing a comprehensive guide for .cel scripting in Celestia. It's not quite done yet, but I think there is enough information in it to help anyone who wants to do some .cel scripting.

Here is a Word Doc version (353 KB)... http://www.donandcarla.com/Celestia/cel_scripting/guide/v0.5_Cel_Script_Guide_DonG.doc.

[ADDED:]
Here is an HTML version (490 KB)... http://www.donandcarla.com/Celestia/cel_scripting/guide/v0.5_Cel_Script_Guide_DonG.htm

Here is a RTF version (671 KB): http://www.donandcarla.com/Celestia/cel_scripting/guide/v0.5_Cel_Script_Guide_DonG.rtf
(NOTE: Beware of character wrapping in column one of the tables.)

Here is a PDF version (405 KB), thanks to Luis Gabriel: http://www.donandcarla.com/Celestia/cel_scripting/guide/v0.5_Cel_Script_Guide_DonG.pdf
(NOTE: Beware of missing fonts. Some bullets are "T". Tables look okay.)

In any of these versions, I would like to know if you have any trouble with fonts. They *should* be embedded in the Doc and RTF files, but I'm not sure what your browser will ask for when it tries to display the HTML page.
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I am open to suggestions, comments, corrections, additions, and especially to anyone who can answer the questions in the guide which are denoted by three question marks (???). There are quite a few yet.

Thank you for your interest!

Thierry_d · Post #2by **Thierry_d** » 11.08.2003, 21:33

what about a .pdf version ?!

Thierry_d · Post #3by **Thierry_d** » 11.08.2003, 21:35

BTW, chris, is it useful to learn those scripting commands, or will Lua make them obsolete ? :?:

(if anyone else knows the answer, feel free to speak up!) :wink:

PS: Good job anyway, don!

don · Post #4by **don** » 11.08.2003, 21:44

Chris has said that .cel scripting will remain in Celestia, for non-programmer users, but will probably not get any further enhancements. All future development efforts for Celestia scripting will be for Lua.

As for PDF format, I don't have the Acrobat "creator" version. If someone else does, and wants to do a quick conversion, feel free. Just remember, this guide is currently a "moving target", since it is not complete <smile>.

Cheers for now...

-Don G.

HankR · Post #5by **HankR** » 11.08.2003, 22:47

Don,

Would you mind making the RTF version available? It may have some glitches, but it would surely be better than nothing for those of us who don't have Word. Thanks.

- Hank

don · Post #6by **don** » 11.08.2003, 22:57

Here is an HTML version (490 KB): http://www.donandcarla.com/Celestia/cel_scripting/guide/v0.5_Cel_Script_Guide_DonG.htm

Here is a RTF version (671 KB): http://www.donandcarla.com/Celestia/cel_scripting/guide/v0.5_Cel_Script_Guide_DonG.rtf
(NOTE: Beware of character wrapping in column one of the tables.)

In any of these versions, I would like to know if you have any trouble with fonts. They *should* be embedded in the Doc and RTF files, but I'm not sure what your browser will ask for when it tries to display the HTML page.

Thanks!

-Don G.

Paul L · Post #7by **Paul L** » 12.08.2003, 03:12

Don - thanks so much for your hard work on this. It looks excellent !

Very much appreciated.

Paul L

Gabriel · Post #8by **Gabriel** » 12.08.2003, 03:57

Don,

I sent to your e-mail (CelestiaScripting@yahoo.com) a version in PDF format.

Regards,

Gabriel

don · Post #9by **don** » 12.08.2003, 05:18

Paul L ... You are welcome. Thought it might help a bit. Keep your eyes open for mistakes, omissions, etc.

Luis Gabriel ... Thank you very much for converting the guide to PDF format! A link to it is now listed in the first message for newcomers to the thread.

Here is the link to the PDF file (405 KB): http://www.donandcarla.com/Celestia/cel_scripting/guide/v0.5_Cel_Script_Guide_DonG.pdf

Remember everyone, this is an unfinished work, and I *do* appreciate suggestions, bug reports, answers to the ??? notes, additional material (explanations, example code, Cel://URLs, etc.), proof reading, and whatever else you would like to provide. Every little bit helps!

Thank you all very much!

-Don G.

ANDREA · Post #10by **ANDREA** » 12.08.2003, 13:33

don wrote:.... I *do* appreciate suggestions, bug reports, answers to the ??? notes, additional material (explanations, example code, Cel://URLs, etc.), proof reading, and whatever else you would like to provide. Every little bit helps!
Don G.

Don, I'm enjoing reading your work, it looks very good and comprehensive

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I'm sure this will help a lot to understand the commands before attempting the scripting, what I haven't done before :oops:

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I'll check everything I can, and report eventual doubts and/or need for clarification

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Meanwhile, thank you very much, Don

.

Andrea

don · Post #11by **don** » 12.08.2003, 15:23

Thank you Andrea, for your kind words and for your assistance

.

-Don G.

ANDREA · Post #12by **ANDREA** » 13.08.2003, 22:54

don wrote:Thank you Andrea, for your kind words and for your assistance .
-Don G.

dON, I gave a look inside your manual, and I have just some things to point on:

CHASE: not being an English-speaking man, I try to understand the exact meaning of this command: does it mean "to proceed along the orbit of ... looking forward"?
If it's not, please clarify a bit

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PRINT: the two examples look to be equal :wink:

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SET: when setting star style to "scaleddisks", could it be possible to give another command, as in all the Astronomy mapping softwares, to change the min-max values and range? Actually the most brilliant stars are too much big in size, in my opinion

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SYNCHRONOUS: means that the camera will follow the same point on the surface of the planet (or what else IT is orbiting), i.e. means the same as geostationary for an Earth satellite? :?:

WAIT: I remember to have seen somewhere that this command's duration MUST be equal or at least not less that the action duration. Is it correct?

May I suggest to put more examples, not with the single command in subject, but with many commands, as you have done in the example 2 of GOTOLONGLAT? :?:

I hope that the many many ??? stll unknown commands will be filled with their knowledge by the authors.
Just for an example, what is the exact procedure for PRELOADTEX? If I have e.g. a .cel file showing the Solar System planets at High Resolution, so 16k textures for Earth, Mars, the Moon, and the biggets possible textures for all the other planets and satellites, what have I to do? I have to give the PRELOADTEX command for the 16k Earth while I'm looking at Mercury, 15 seconds before reaching the Earth? Or what else?

Don, that's all for the moment, thank you for your work, hope to have given my penny of help.
By

Andrea

jamarsa · Post #13by **jamarsa** » 13.08.2003, 23:05

ANDREA wrote:Actually the most brilliant stars are too much big in size, in my opinion .

That's my opinion too. You have a noticeable sudden increase in size when you go away with the 'End' key from a given star (Sol is a good example), as celestia switch from sun rendering to scaled discs. Hope chris will adjust it (or permits us to adjust).

don · Post #14by **don** » 14.08.2003, 02:09

Hi Andrea,

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I have printed your message and will be working on the things it mentions.

I have tried to obtain non-technical explanations for things such as Celestia's Coordinate Systems, but the folks in-the-know are having a difficult time explaining these technical things in non-technical terms.

So, I continue to experiment and try to determine for myself exactly "what happens" with different settings -- ie. what is moving, what is not moving, on what axis, etc. -- so I can explain it in layman's terms. Very time-consuming.

Thanks again!

-Don G.

ANDREA · Post #15by **ANDREA** » 14.08.2003, 05:42

don wrote:Hi Andrea,
Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I have printed your message and will be working on the things it mentions.
I have tried to obtain non-technical explanations for things such as Celestia's Coordinate Systems, but the folks in-the-know are having a difficult time explaining these technical things in non-technical terms.
So, I continue to experiment and try to determine for myself exactly "what happens" with different settings -- ie. what is moving, what is not moving, on what axis, etc. -- so I can explain it in layman's terms. Very time-consuming. Thanks again! -Don G.

Don, let's hope "the folks in-the-know" understand that an UNEXPLAINED function is a USELESS function for all the guys "not-in-the-know" side of the problem :roll:

.
Menwhile, thank you for your efforts to solve this

By

Andrea

don · Post #16by **don** » 19.08.2003, 19:56

Come on folks.

I know there are some folks out there who can answer some of the remaining "???" questions in this guide, and who could probably provide some better descriptions than I have.

And it certainly can't be "perfect" either <laughing>! So where are those "bug" reports?

Maybe not many people are interested in scripting in Celestia?

-Don G.