New Tour of Uranus

[Bob Hegwood]

Well, I finally got it finished...

It ain't celx, but it's still rather entertaining if you like to
tour the solar system. Tour of Uranus now available on
my website at http://home.earthlink.net/~bobhegwood

Take care, Bob

[Toti]

Bob:

Thank you very much for the script. I enjoyed your previous planetary tours, but this is by far your best one. It's more informative and instructive, and the pacing seems improved.

While watching it I had an "idea" about adding a small reference to the origin of nomenclature, for example:

"We are approaching Titania, discovered by William Herschel in 1787, and named by his son John for the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream"
or
"This is Alberich crater, named for the Scandinavian mythology dwarf who kept the Niebelung gold"

I think it could be an interesting enhacement.
I found this page, with a comprehensive list of planetary and geological name origins: http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/

Again, Good work!

Bye

[Bob Hegwood]

Thank you very much for the script. I enjoyed your previous planetary tours, but this is by far your best one. It's more informative and instructive, and the pacing seems improved.

Damn, Toti... I didn't think you had *any* interest in my tours. Thanks for letting me know about it. I appreciate it when someone actually likes the things.

While watching it I had an "idea" about adding a small reference to the origin of nomenclature, for example:

"We are approaching Titania, discovered by William Herschel in 1787, and named by his son John for the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream"
or
"This is Alberich crater, named for the Scandinavian mythology dwarf who kept the Niebelung gold"

I think it could be an interesting enhacement.

Yeah, I'm usually aware of the naming histories, as well as a lot of other neat details about the subjects of my tours. The problem is that I didn't really know where to draw the line. You know what I mean? If I wanted to, I could have told you the origins of almost *every* name I referenced in the tour. Before I do one, I usually download a ton of information about each of the objects which will be displayed, then I try to make the best out of what I have.

I'll keep your thoughts in mind the next time though, and thanks *very* much for sharing your opinion with me. It's nice to know that *somebody* likes the things. This one was a bitch to get right. Whew!

Take care, Bob

[Jeam Tag]

The problem is that I didn't really know where to draw the line. You know what I mean? If I wanted to, I could have told you the origins of almost *every* name I referenced in the tour. Before I do one, I usually download a ton of information about each of the objects which will be displayed, then I try to make the best out of what I have.Take care, Bob

Howdy Bob, my two cents: Wouldn't this be possible to add short sequences in the script which opens a little information window, as those that allows the infoplugin by Maxim? See http://www.nefkom.net/z-bau/celestia/ Your trips are really useful: when I'll have little time I will translate them into French for my small nephews, it's a good way to learn the solar system Jeam

[Bob Hegwood]

Thanks for the information, Jeam...

I've downloaded the extension, and I'll see what I can do with it.
Remember though, I'm Brain-Dead so don't expect too much.

Seriously, though... I will take a good look at it. An infowindow sounds
like a great idea.

Take care, Bob

[don]

Way to go Bob! VERY nice tour.

I think you deserve the title: Celestial Tourmaster

Your tour scripts are the best in Celestia.

Sure wish there was some way folks could override existing solarsys.ssc values without having to manually change the original file though. Maybe Chris will come up with something.

[Bob Hegwood]

Way to go Bob! VERY nice tour.

I think you deserve the title: Celestial Tourmaster

Your tour scripts are the best in Celestia.

You sure about that Don?

I thought I was the Brain-Dead Geezer who couldn't use
celx scripts? At any rate, thanks very much for the comment.

Take care, Bob

[don]

You sure about that Don?

I thought I was the Brain-Dead Geezer who couldn't use
celx scripts?

Celx is for programming geeks. Cel is for the rest of the population!

[TimMc]

Thanks for this script, Bob. As always, I find your tours really educational. It doesn't matter what language a script is written in - but whether it achieves its intended purpose. Cel scripts are ideal for educational tours like these. I look forward to more tours from your stable.
Regards, TimMc

[Bob Hegwood]

Thanks for this script, Bob. As always, I find your tours really educational.

Thanks for the comments, Tim. I appreciate it.

Take care, Bob

[Bob Hegwood]

Howdy Bob, my two cents: Wouldn't this be possible to add short sequences in the script which opens a little information window, as those that allows the infoplugin by Maxim?

Jeam (and anyone else interested in this topic),

I've written private messages to you, to Maxim, and to Mr. Goyette stating that Maxim's
infoplugin can indeed be used to display additional
information while running one of my scripts.

Just so that EVERYONE understands the concept here, the procedure is
as follows:

1) Install Maxim's infoplugin following his directions.
2) Run whatever touring script you like.
3) While the script is running, and when it displays the object you're
interested in, press the space bar to PAUSE the script.
4) Right-click on the planet, or moon, and select "Info" from the menu.
5) View the browser page which opens up with the object's information.
6) Close the information windows.
7) Press the space bar in order to resume the script from where you quit.

I've tested this procedure and it works like a charm. The only
requirement is that the informational HTML pages will need to be
modified to contain whatever information is pertinent to a script.

Any thoughts?

Thanks, Bob

[don]

Howdy Bob,

Congratulations on figuring out how to use maxim's add-on! ... proving that you're not half as "Brain Dead" as you think you are.

This was one of the reasons I posted a new message in the Development forum ("Overriding Provided SSC Files" http://www.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4833).

[Bob Hegwood]

Don,

I've made some progress too...

I interpreted the JavaScript coding enough to be able to add another
option to Maxim's base menus so that I can now give the user an option
for use in displaying HTML screens which would be dedicated solely to the
enhancement of whatever tour happens to be running at the moment.

If you're running the Uranus Tour, for example, I can now add an option
for use in displaying the information that I might feel would be appropriate for the tour.

Of course, this also means that I'd have to create about six more HTML screens for the Uranus
Tour too. Is this gonna be worth the effort just
to display additional (and already publicly-available) information to
enhance a tour?

At this point I don't know yet. All I can say for certain is that it CAN be
done. In fact, all of the information that Maxim has made available on
his HTML pages can remain in place, and I can still add another set of
pages for use during the tours. This assumes, of course, that Maxim
doesn't mind me modifying his infoplugins. Haven't gotten to that point
yet, but ALL is possible as far as I can tell now.

Take care, Bob

[don]

Howdy Bob,

Congrats on your continued success!

Is this gonna be worth the effort just to display additional (and already publicly-available) information to enhance a tour?

Probably only if it's something you really want to do and are enjoying learning it all.

You could probably do it for one tour and see what kind of feedback you get before doing it for any of the others.

[maxim]

This assumes, of course, that Maxim doesn't mind me modifying his infoplugins.

No, I don't mind. You can do whatever you like.

Is this gonna be worth the effort just to display additional (and already publicly-available) information to enhance a tour?

I think so. Even if it's already available somewhere, adding it at the proper point makes it instantly available in the apropriate context.

I interpreted the JavaScript coding enough to be able to add another option to Maxim's base menus so that I can now give the user an option for use in displaying HTML screens which would be dedicated solely to the enhancement of whatever tour happens to be running at the moment.

The infoplugin design also allows you to replace existing informations by you own ones. This may be usefull if you want to add a complete own set of informations that are special to a certain tour or a certain purpose. Or if you want to provide a complete own design for the displaying HTML pages for some reason (you may tell a little fantasy story embedded in it's own fantasy design for teaching children about astronomy).

To do so, just follow this explanation:
The default info windows (usually) reside in 'html/info/default/'.
In the configuration file located at 'html/info/js/pluginConfig.js', you will find the line

Code: Select all

var path =    "default/";  // starting path of actual info deployment

If you comment this line and insert another one, for example

Code: Select all

var path =    "mydir/";  // starting path of my own info deployment

you then can put your own set of HTML files into 'html/info/mydir' without affecting the default implementation. This does of course mean that you don't have access to the default info windows as long as you keep your path changed (you can copy parts of the default into your own if you like).

This way you can provide multiple info windows with different data on the same object for different tours without affecting each other. All you have to do is telling the user that he has to change this path setting before he starts a certain tour - ok, this is still handwork, not automatable by a script, but we have a kind of weak external synchronisation here, so currently no way to improve that.

Was this unterstandable?

maxim

[Bob Hegwood]

This assumes, of course, that Maxim doesn't mind me modifying his infoplugins.

No, I don't mind. You can do whatever you like.

Thanks very much, Maxim... I'd like to add a complete package
to my site at some point, so that the user could add a single package
in order to display info windows for ALL of my tours. As I always
do, complete credit would be given to you for the package.

The infoplugin design also allows you to replace existing informations by you own ones. This may be usefull if you want to add a complete own set of informations that are special to a certain tour or a certain purpose.

Yes, I was aware that I could do that, but the pages you supplied also
provide a great deal of interesting information about each of the objects
that they reference, so I simply wanted to add another link to a window
which would be designed for each object of interest in a tour. There's
no reason to throw away the good information you've already provided.

You then can put your own set of HTML files into 'html/info/mydir' without affecting the default implementation. This does of course mean that you don't have access to the default info windows as long as you keep your path changed (you can copy parts of the default into your own if you like).

Like I said earlier though, there's no reason to remove the good
information you've already provided.

Was this unterstandable?

Piece of cake, sir... Thanks *very* much for the help. This capability
should add a LOT to a tour. Now all I have to do is find the time
to do it all. Sheesh!

Take care, Bob

PS - Jeam? I still haven't heard from you? Is this what you were after?

[Jeam Tag]

PS - Jeam? I still haven't heard from you? Is this what you were after?

Hello, Bob, this is absolutely what i've in mind where I've read your question about registering more informations in scripts. Because I try to follow (as i can do!) improvements to update my catalog, it was seemed to me that this way may be a good solution: glad to see that it is.
Thanks Maxim and Yourself for these nice improvements which make Celestia increasingly informative! With the Great Educational Activities by Frank Gregorio, this is another formidable use of the extraordinary Chris' program.
Jeam, waiting for these completed addons

[Bob Hegwood]

Brain-Dead Bob again...

Just added a larger Uranus Touring package to my website on the second download page.
This package is virtually the same as the first package, except that I've managed to
add a larger, better texture for Uranus' moon Titania. My site can be accessed HERE.

By the way, if anyone knows where I can find better resolution images for Oberon,
or Umbriel, I'd appreciate the information.

Thanks, Bob