What's new for OS X

[Cham]

For comparison, here's what I get on my system (OS X Tiger 10.4.6, dual G5 2.0 GHz), with ATI's x850 XT FSAA (no AA in Celestia).

[dirkpitt]

This is on my machine:
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 64M
(Previously I thought I had smooth lines turned on, but it wasn't. Smooth lines with FSAA are distinctly thicker)

[dirkpitt]

Here is a new build of Celestia:

Download Celestia_(UNOFFICIAL_dirkpitt_build_20060517).zip

Changes:
- Includes recent non-power-of-two texture code by Chris
- Japanese localization by Sui Ota (Hud messages require a separate font)
- Planet labels are localized

[ElChristou]

Cham, Dirkpitt,

I forget to tell about my settings; 2x of course (4x is a bit problematic with hires textures...)

The tricky test is with Celestia AA on (smooth lines) and FSAA in 2x; if both could edit your own messages with new shots this would be cool to really compare... (but at first sight I really have to change my card )

Tx Dirkpitt for the new built.

[nootilus]

Which celx scripts? Please post urls so I can download and test.

Ok. I feel terribly sorry. I tried the following :

http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/creat ... htSlow.zip


And since it's not working, I concluded all CELX scripts aren't working.
Since, I tried several and all the others are running ok.

Please accept my apologies.

Hey Nootilus, (nothing to see with your problem) I see on your Website that you are a 3D master! Good 3D is always welcome in Celestia...

Thanks, man. Unfortunately I'm not sure I can handle this. I'm using Cinema4D and I'm not sure how you work on a model for Celestia nor how you export it. I should have a look...

[dirkpitt]

Ok. I feel terribly sorry. I tried the following :

http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/creat ... htSlow.zip


And since it's not working, I concluded all CELX scripts aren't working.
Since, I tried several and all the others are running ok.

Please accept my apologies.

No worries Thanks for letting me know about the script - I'll try and test it out tonight.

[ElChristou]

...Thanks, man. Unfortunately I'm not sure I can handle this. I'm using Cinema4D and I'm not sure how you work on a model for Celestia nor how you export it. I should have a look...

Nothing really hard indeed; first one must keep in mind Celestia is a 3D real time soft, so meshes with 50000 poly each are not really welcomes...
for the mapping, only power of 2 textures (64, 128, 512, 1024 etc..). You can export in 3DS, if you want a converter is available on XP and osX to convert the 3DS files to Cmod (Celestia native 3D format). Cmod is a bit faster to load than 3DS.

To resume, a clean 3D, optimized (all non visible poly should be remouved), models not too heavy (even if my last one approch the 330000 poly)... that's all

[ElChristou]

BTW, a bug:

The flare around stars disepear at 7 UA of distance when approching... someone confirm?

[Sui Ota]

What about the Japanese translation of the GUI?

Still haven't contacted Sui Ota yet.

Why? any problems? Sui must be waiting to see his good job integrated... he has even translated the help file... (thing I haven't done in Spanish )

No problems - I just hadn't gotten around to writing an email yet (just sent a mail now...). I found a Japanese lproj in my mailbox that's dated February, but I don't know if that's the most current version or not.

OK, I received the mail and replied, with new ja.lproj

...For star labels, try tapping the @ key.

Worked, but not be saved.
To see star labels, I have to tap the @ key whenever launching Celestia...

Evaluation of FSSA:
Smooth lines were shown. As for the lines, no problem.
But in my system, Earth's surfece goes strange when I activated "AntialiasingSamples" term in celestia.cfg(Both 2x and 4x).

Orbits look great for me - must be a subjective thing. I can see the issue with point stars though, but it's probably the same on other platforms too. Not sure yet how it could be fixed.

With Windows XP and Radeon 9600 Pro, similar effect happens by configuration of the driver.

- with iBook G4 1.33GHz, 1.5GB MEM, Mobililty Radeon 9550, OS X 10.4.6

[dirkpitt]

The flare around stars disepear at 7 UA of distance when approaching

This is a "feature" of the new star rendering code I think. At least, I remember reporting it on the developer's mailing list a while back when Chris committed the star stuff.

[Sui Ota]

BTW, a bug:

The flare around stars disepear at 7 UA of distance when approching... someone confirm?

I confirmed it. Certainly, the flare disappears and appears around 7 AU.
And with newer star rendering (activated with @), the flare isn't shown from the first (I think this is specification as for new rendering).

[dirkpitt]

I tried the following :

http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/creat ... htSlow.zip

It's indeed a problem with the script itself, not Celestia. Try editing MarsFlightSlow.celx - on line 7, where there is a "", try changing that to a "/" (two backslashes -> one forward slash).

I imagine the script won't run on Linux either - the script is assuming it'll be run on Windows, where the backslash character "" is a path separator while on Unix-based platforms like Mac OS X and Linux it is "/". I don't know if Lua gives you a platform-neutral way to specify paths.

[dirkpitt]

And with newer star rendering (activated with @), the flare isn't shown from the first (I think this is specification as for new rendering).

Yes, I think that's intended behaviour. Anyway, the flare was really a hack from the start to make stars appear really bright - I think Chris has in mind a better way to implement "super bright" objects and eliminating the flare texture is just a start.

[Cham]

Dirkpitt,

we really need the menu bar to reappear, while in full screen mode, by placing the cursor next to it. It's very annoying to have to go out of the full screen mode, just to select a menu item. I tested this feature on the Windows version today, and it's really a usefull one. Some Mac programs are doing something similar.

[ElChristou]

Here is a new build of Celestia:

Download Celestia_(UNOFFICIAL_dirkpitt_build_20060517).zip

Changes:
- Includes recent non-power-of-two texture code by Chris
- Japanese localization by Sui Ota (Hud messages require a separate font)
- Planet labels are localized

Dikpitt, just a confirmation, the labels localization is not in cvs yet, right?

[nootilus]

MarsFlightSlow.celx - on line 7, where there is a "", try changing that to a "/" (two backslashes -> one forward slash).

Thanks, it did the trick and the script is running well now. Many thanks for the... errr... debug ? :)

-----

Nothing really hard indeed; first one must keep in mind Celestia is a 3D real time soft, so meshes with 50000 poly each are not really welcomes...
for the mapping, only power of 2 textures (64, 128, 512, 1024 etc..). You can export in 3DS, if you want a converter is available on XP and osX to convert the 3DS files to Cmod (Celestia native 3D format). Cmod is a bit faster to load than 3DS.
To resume, a clean 3D, optimized (all non visible poly should be remouved), models not too heavy (even if my last one approch the 330000 poly)... that's all

Sounds nice... So all I need now is an export plugin for C4D to Cmod. I'll watch after this, even if I don't have a clue where I can find this and even if it exists :)

[ElChristou]

...Sounds nice... So all I need now is an export plugin for C4D to Cmod. I'll watch after this, even if I don't have a clue where I can find this and even if it exists

No, I don't think such plugin exist; just export in 3DS, then download the CmodTool (you can find it here: http://www.stevenbinder.net/) to convert the 3DS file.

(note that Steven's page is not really up to date, but...)

[nootilus]

No, I don't think such plugin exist; just export in 3DS, then download the CmodTool (you can find it here: http://www.stevenbinder.net/) to convert the 3DS file.

Great. I tried to model a simple boolean shape and exported in 3DS file, and used the CmodTool. Obviously CmodTool didn't disagree to do the job and confirmed 1 object with no error.

Second part of this mistery... How do I put my object in orbit?
I checked Nasa's website. I can't afford the payload, so I'm looking for another solution... :)

[dirkpitt]

Dikpitt, just a confirmation, the labels localization is not in cvs yet, right?

Correct, the issue is with the cross-platform code so it needs to be reviewed first. I posted a patch on the developer's mailing list FYI.

[dirkpitt]

we really need the menu bar to reappear, while in full screen mode, by placing the cursor next to it.

I seem to remember ElChristou making this exact same feature request
Off hand, I'm not sure how to do it. Perhaps another Mac coder would like to try implementing this feature?