Feature request : "Track surface"

General discussion about Celestia that doesn't fit into other forums.
Topic author
JackHiggins
Posts: 1034
Joined: 16.12.2002
With us: 21 years 11 months
Location: People's Republic Of Cork, Ireland

Feature request : "Track surface"

Post #1by JackHiggins » 15.09.2003, 21:38

An idea... :idea:

We have "track" already, but that locks the FOV the the center of the planet. What would be good would be something like a "track surface" feature.

What I imagine here is that you could press a key (maybe Shift + T , since it's another kind of track) and your field of view would be locked to the area of the surface of the object you currently have selected, (obviously on "your side" of the object too).

So say if I was following the ISS, and I was already locked to the earth (to keep both in my FOV), and I was over a particularly interesting part of the world (Ireland, for example :wink: ). I would select "track surface", and the camera would follow whichever part of ireland was at the center of my screen, as I pressed the key. However, since i'm locked ISS : Earth, both would stay in my FOV, and my selected "track surface" position would pan across as I flew over.

Another example would be during Galileo's Jupiter orbital entry in 1995. As galileo flies past Io, the giant volcano Pilan Patera is a large surface feature of that part of Io. Instead of just tracking Io's center, meaning that Pilan Patera would not be centered the whole time, if I could just track this particular feature, it would give me a better view!

Perhaps when you press *down* Shift + T or whatever the key is, a large crosshair would appear at the center of the screen, allowing you to line up the particular area you're interested in. Then as you *release* the key, it would begin tracking this location.

Good idea...?!! :)
- Jack Higgins
Jack's Celestia Add-ons
And visit my Celestia Gallery too!

chris
Site Admin
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Joined: 28.01.2002
With us: 22 years 10 months
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA

Post #2by chris » 15.09.2003, 22:41

Very good idea! And quite easy to implement as well . . . I'll take a shot at doing this soon. Also, it should already be possible to track a surface location if it's named in a locations .ssc file.

--Chris

Topic author
JackHiggins
Posts: 1034
Joined: 16.12.2002
With us: 21 years 11 months
Location: People's Republic Of Cork, Ireland

Post #3by JackHiggins » 16.09.2003, 20:58

Brilliant thanks! :D
- Jack Higgins

Jack's Celestia Add-ons

And visit my Celestia Gallery too!


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