List of features for next release of Celestia

[selden]

kikinho,

Yes.

[danielj]

I would like to know why the Open GL 2.0 apparently works in my FX video card,since in the Nvidia site,it says that supports only until Open GL 1.5.
Is the phong specular texture being to be implemented?If so,my present card couldn?t handle this.I saw this shader code in the shade folder of Celestia 1.4.0 pre 1.
And at last,I would like to know why there is no diffrence in the eclipse display,now that we have two eclipse shaders codes eclipse1_nv.fp and eclipse2_nv.fp.
Another thing,will the multiple systems ilumination work,since my Geforce FX 5700 don?t support directional lights and spot lights?
I try this in the Mira system,but I only saw a planet first iluminated by Mira and then by Mira B.There isn?t any moment when I saw simultaneous lighting

[fsgregs]

Hi Chris:

I don't know whether to post a comment here or in the features collecting thread or somewhere else, but ....

Is there any chance that 1.4.0 would finally fix the problem of the sky turning black when you get near a planet surface? We have quite a few spacecraft models sitting on planet surfaces now, and in both my home computer and my school computers (both with Nvidia cards), I cannot get close to those models, particularly from the side, without the sky going black. It is kind of awkward to have to elevate the models in the ssc files so they are hovering above the ground by a good amount before we can look at them from the side.

The second problem I've had in my educational activities has been the fact that orbiting spacecraft still do not get eclipsed as they pass into a planet or moon's shadow. They still show sunlight gleaming off their surfaces, even through the sun is clearly behind the planet. I have to tell my students to ignore that effect in Celestia. It pains me to do so, since the program is soooooooo good.

Anyway, is it difficult to fix these two characteristics of the program in the next release?

Regards,

Frank

[selden]

Note: I've slightly enhanced my original response and fixed a typo in the Castor STC file. It was missing its final "}"

I would like to know why the Open GL 2.0 apparently works in my FX video card,since in the Nvidia site,it says that supports only until Open GL 1.5.

Nvidia's current library contains some of the v2.0 routines. They cannot call it 2.0 because many v2.0 features are missing. Note that it's v1.5.n not just v1.5. (n varies with the version of Nvidia's library. I see v1.5.2 on my system.)

Is the phong specular texture being to be implemented?If so,my present card couldn?t handle this. I saw this shader code in the shade folder of Celestia 1.4.0 pre 1.

The Phong shader routine implements phong shading, it does not use phong shading.

And at last,I would like to know why there is no diffrence in the eclipse display,now that we have two eclipse shaders codes eclipse1_nv.fp and eclipse2_nv.fp.

I don't know Chris' plans for these routines, but I certainly see several different kinds of eclipse shadows on my system, depending on which Render Path I select. The Eclipse shadows cast by "Render path: Basic" are quite different from the shadows cast by "Render path: OpenGL vertex programs" which are quite different from the shadows cast by "Render path: OpenGL 2.0". (The lower rendering paths also require that the object have a surface texture in order for the shadows to be drawn properly.)

Another thing,will the multiple systems ilumination work,since my Geforce FX 5700 don?t support directional lights and spot lights?

It already woks fine. Stars emit light spherically, not directionally like spot lights. Shadows are cast using OpenGL 2.0 shader subroutines created by Celestia, not by special OpenGL light features.

I try this in the Mira system,but I only saw a planet first iluminated by Mira and then by Mira B.There isn?t any moment when I saw simultaneous lighting

Celestia does not yet include any multi-star definitions, so you must have made your own. You will have to provide the STC and SSC definitions so someone can look at them to see what is happening.

Here is a definition which displays a planet illuminated by two different suns at the same time. Despite the name, it is not a valid definition for Castor, it's just a demonstration.

Code: Select all

# STC catalog
Barycenter  36850  "Castor:ALF Gem:66 Gem:HD 60178 J"
{   
   RA 113.649417
   Dec 31.888278
   Distance 51.553
}
Star "Castor A"
{
   OrbitBarycenter "Castor"
   SpectralType "M9"
   AppMag 1.58
   EllipticalOrbit
   {
   Period            467
   SemiMajorAxis      53.7
   ArgOfPericenter   249.5
   }
}

Star "Castor B"
{
   OrbitBarycenter "Castor"
   SpectralType "A2Vm"
   AppMag 1.58
   EllipticalOrbit
   {
   Period            467
   SemiMajorAxis      53.7
   ArgOfPericenter    69.5
   }
}


Here's an SSC for a planet in the same orbit.
It is illuminated by both stars.

Code: Select all

 "PlanetCastor" "Castor"
{
   Class "planet"
   Radius 10000
   Albedo 1.0

# commented out so planet is drawn all white
# and red and white illumination is visible

#   Texture "jupiterlike.*"

   EllipticalOrbit
   {
   Period            467
   SemiMajorAxis      53.7
   ArgOfPericenter   159.5
   }
}

"MoonCastor" "Castor/PlanetCastor"
{
   Class "moon"
   Radius 5000
   Albedo 1.0

   Texture "moon.*"

   EllipticalOrbit
   {
   Period            10
   SemiMajorAxis     30000
   ArgOfPericenter   180.0
   }
}

System:
256MB 512MHz P3, WinXP Pro Sp2
128MB FX5700LE, ForceWare v66.81 (beta)
Celestia v1.4.0pre2

[symaski62]

System:
256MB 1666MHz AMD, WinXP home SP2
128MB FX5200, ForceWare v66.81 (beta)
Celestia v1.4.0 pre 2

OpenGL 2.0

[selden]

symaski62,

This new shader code is not the default.

You must type Ctrl-V twice to select "Render path: OpenGL v2.0".

==========
Ce nouveau code de shader n'est pas le d?faut. Vous devez dactylographier Ctrl-V deux fois pour choisir et voir "Render path: OpenGL v2.0".

[symaski62]

symaski62,

This new shader code is not the default.

You must type Ctrl-V twice to select "Render path: OpenGL v2.0".

==========
Ce nouveau code de shader n'est pas le d?faut. Vous devez dactylographier Ctrl-V deux fois pour choisir et voir "Render path: OpenGL v2.0".

yes OpenGL v2.0 => Ctrl-V

2 sols

"}"