RELEASE: Beta Hydri v2

[RHAS]

Beta Hydri v2 has been released.

Beta Hydri v2 is a fictional solarsystem based around Beta Hydri.

Changelog:

Beta Hydri Version 2.

- Added a small moon orbiting the planet Marduk.
- Added atmosphere for the moon Yukatan.
- Complete rebuild of the moon Ninurta.
- New texture and bumpmap added for planet Veleda.
- Fixed planets obliquity settings.
- Added new celurl`s.
- Some minor texture improvements.
- Some minor .ssc improvements.

Beta Hydri v2 can be downloaded here
http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/creators/rsanders/Beta_Hydri_v2.zip

Rob Sanders Productions
http://members.chello.nl/r.sanders20/productions/

[ajtribick]

I haven't downloaded any files, but from the screenshots I notice that there appears to be major distortion at Yukatan's pole, and the rings of Marduk look suspiciously similar to those of Saturn.

[RHAS]

I haven't downloaded any files, but from the screenshots I notice that there appears to be major distortion at Yukatan's pole, and the rings of Marduk look suspiciously similar to those of Saturn.

You cant see yukatans poles in the screenshot because this picture was taken at a funny angle.
Its northpole is below left in the dark area and the south pole is above right behind the horizon.
As far as the rings goes i can only take that as a compliment.
Better download it first!

[Cham]

Yucatan has a real problem that the authors doesn't seems to be aware : the "pinch effect". The texture you are using is inadequate at the poles. It has nothing to do with the viewing angle.

Planet texture editing is hard, on a planet, because of the poles. You need to use some Photoshop plug-ins. Lunar Cell does a good job on the poles. However, it's doing the same kind of textures again and again, which is boring in the long run.

I downloaded your addon, and to be perfectly honest with you, I don't like it at all. You're using some old and well known textures. Changing colors isn't enough.

[RHAS]

Yucatan has a real problem that the authors doesn't seems to be aware : the "pinch effect". The texture you are using is inadequate at the poles. It has nothing to do with the viewing angle.

I am aware of it and i kinda like it that way, how would you know what my fictional planet should look like?
Besides i never said it had anything to do with the viewing angle i just stated that he couldnt see the poles from the screenshots.

Planet texture editing is hard, on a planet, because of the poles. You need to use some Photoshop plug-ins. Lunar Cell does a good job on the poles. However, it's doing the same kind of textures again and again, which is boring in the long run.

I know but im learning, this is my 3th celestia add-on ever. I keep learning new stuff during the production process, wich i implement in the next add-on and so on.

I downloaded your addon, and to be perfectly honest with you, I don't like it at all. You're using some old and well known textures. Changing colors isn't enough.

Fine by me.

[Cham]

Besides i never said it had anything to do with the viewing angle i just stated that he couldnt see the poles from the screenshots.

Well, actually we CAN see the pole on your Yucatan picture above. At the bottom left corner, the pinch effect is clearly visible. This IS a pole.

And this is because your texture doesn't have any special stretching to be properly mapped on a sphere. I know, because I inspected the texture used in your addon.

By the way, Yucatan uses a texture made for the "Tatooine" planet from Star Wars. Only the colors are a bit different. It's a bad texture because it lacks the proper stretching.

[Cham]

Again, i like the way it looks.
Im starting to care less and less what you think of it.

Well then, why do you ask for opinions ? This is a sign that you don't accept crittics. If you want to get better, you have to listen to crittics.

As they are right now, your planets aren't looking credible or realistic. You need to work harder on textures and pay more attention to the poles.

[RHAS]

Well then, why do you ask for opinions ?

I never did.
But that shouldnt suggest they are not welcome.

This is a sign that you don't accept crittics. If you want to get better, you have to listen to crittics.

Thats what all people say who are always want to be right.
You had your critism at first i replied normally telling about this being my 3rd add-on and so on.
You told me you didnt like it , wich was fine by me, but you just keep going on and on and on, like you have some point to prove.

As they are right now, your planets aren't looking credible or realistic.

Thats just a matter of opinion.

You need to work harder on textures and pay more attention to the poles.

Will you shut up then?

[Cham]

You need to work harder on textures and pay more attention to the poles.

Will you shut up then?

Only if you don't publish bad taste fantasy worlds.

[Rassilon]

You know I started out with colorising Mars, Io and well just about everything under the sun....or around it so to speak.....Everyone has to start somewhere....

Quite frankly it could be possible RHAS is aware of the polar coordinates plugin in Photoshop but refuses to use it because well its crap....I leaves artifacts in the image...and this could well be because the polar coordinates system in of itself is incapable of NOT producing artifacts....I still use it but with a few modifications....

I duplicate the texture in a new layer and sharpen the image a bit before I do a polar coordinate and when that is all done apply a third layer gradient mask and delete everything but the poles....

What I would like to know is how in the hell does NASA do thiers so perfectly? or is it Ive overlooked the obvious once again?

[RHAS]

You know I started out with colorising Mars, Io and well just about everything under the sun....or around it so to speak.....Everyone has to start somewhere....

Thank you.

Quite frankly it could be possible RHAS is aware of the polar coordinates plugin in Photoshop but refuses to use it because well its crap....I leaves artifacts in the image...and this could well be because the polar coordinates system in of itself is incapable of NOT producing artifacts....I still use it but with a few modifications....

Hmm, i just learned about that a few days back, i read it in a post by Michael killdery somewere.
I was about to look for it, but if you say its crap ..... , is there anything better available?

I duplicate the texture in a new layer and sharpen the image a bit before I do a polar coordinate and when that is all done apply a third layer gradient mask and delete everything but the poles....

ok, ill remember that.

[kikinho]

Someone know if there's a manual that explains to use polar coordinates? Or there's another plugin for Photoshop? And if there's another plugin, what's the name of that?
It's because I'm trying to do better poles in my Xen add-on.

[Cham]

I suggest to use Lunar Cell, but just for the poles. IMHO, Lunar Cell does a very good job at the poles. You could paste the poles from that plugin, with some feather selection, on your favorite texture. I've tried it and it works very well.

[jestr]

There is a plugin for Photoshop called spherical Mapping corrector,by Richard Rosenman which you can find here
http://photoshop.pluginsworld.com/plugin.php?editor=adobe&software=photoshop&plugin=224
It is not ideal but it can help to reduce the pinch effect.Jestr

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

I suppose one alternative would be to just not have much detail in the top and bottom few pixel rows of the texture map. The "pinch effect" is noticeable when you have lots of variation at those areas - if you just had a smooth region (like say, a uniformly white icecap) then it wouldn't be so visible.

[Cham]

Evil Dr Ganymede,

I've tried your suggestion before. It's only satisfying for gas giants. On a rocky planet, it feels blurry and incoherent with the rest of the planet.

The poles are really an hard problem to solve. The only satisfying trick I've found yet is to use Lunar Cell and cut the poles it gives to use them as a layer on another texture.

[Beowulf01]

I have been using lunar cell to do my icecap. but for planets and moons that don't have them.......it is very fustrating...


but i also found this nugget.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~arcus/mmps/mmps.html
It claims to be a map projection software, however it meant for Linux, I'm a windows person and not experienced at porting software.
any want to try it?

[Rassilon]

Well I think I might have a stab at writing my own at some point...I need something better than the above mentioned....

[kikinho]

Jestr,

Is this the program you use for your planets? It's very good and solved my problem. I recommend for all people that have Photoshop to use this plug-in. It's fantastic. Now the poles seems to be normal. Instead of copying the poles of Lunarcell maps with layers, why not use this plug-in, that is very easy to use?

[jestr]

Hi Kikinho,yes I use this plugin the most.However,lately I have found it more convincing if I split my texture up vertically into say 4 or 8 strips and use the Spherical Mapping Corrector filter to stretch each of these strips (one at a time) and blend them together again.Its a bit awkward but this way the stretching is applied more evenly across the whole texture.Hope this helps,Jestr