Cham wrote:After all the recent developments on Celestia 1.5.0, here's an update to my "wish list". In random order :
1- Better date and time format in upper-right corner. The date and time are actually hard to read and a bit cryptic. The problem is the hour. It's too close from the date and I think it should be printed BELOW the date.
I agree that it would be good to have more space between the time and date. It's a very easy fix. I don't want to have them on separate lines though.
2- More "classes" of objects : three or more custom classes that could be activated with a keyboard shortcut (using numbers with a modifier key ?), especially to use coordinate grids on the fly (graticules) or other informational "layers" (magnetic field lines, for example). We need graticules to help the user, when it comes to orientation in space.
Something like this a very good idea, but it needs to be fleshed out more. I think that custom classes could be added for 1.5.1.
3- More info in the upper-left corner (Ultraverbose mode ?) : kilopsc and Megapsc distances also in LY. SemiMajorAxis and revolution period, if relevant for the selected object. RA and DEC as standard (and not just with LUA)
I'm not sure if RA and Dec belong in the standard interface--it's perhaps too Earth-centric for Celestia. As for orbital parameters . . . maybe.
4- Periodic motions with .xyz files, declared in SSC file with a command like "PeriodicMotion true". Of course, that option should be set to false by default.
It would be good to understand how people want to use this feature.
5- The ability to change the Precession axis. Adding a command line like "PrecessionAxis [x y z]" after the usual command "PrecessionRate". Of course, values by default should be [0 0 0] (present state of the precession axis).
I haven't decided yet if this is best done through reference frames or by adding a new parameter for PrecessingRotation. I also have doubts that specifying precession axis directly is ideal.
6- Star textures. Since the latest version of Celestia, stars lost their "individuality". By default, they are using only one texture. Stars are then very dull to watch. The atmosphere's color doesn't even match that texture in many cases. In some previous version, stars were using four base textures (astar, bstar, gstar and mstar). I want those textures to be back, without having to add a custom texture to all the stars in the database.
I don't think those old star textures looked good at all. What would you replace them with?
7- A scripts menu. Lets remove the "D" binding to the demo, so we could use it for another thing. Lets add a menu called "scripts", associated to a "scripts" folder inside the CelestiaRessources directory. All scripts located in that folder would be listed in the scripts menu. The usual Demo could be the first script in this menu, separated from the others with a separator.
I agree that a scripts menu would be helpful--it should be added to 1.5.1.
8- Better celestial grid. The celestial grid has been updated (more graduations) for 1.5.0. But it's still hard to see the coordinate numbers, since they are placed on two circles only. Could it be possible to duplicate those numbers, and set in red the reference circles ?
I could duplicate the numbers--that would be a good quick fix for 1.5.0. In future versions, I want to do a lot more with the grids. I'd like to show both equatorial and ecliptic grids, with the option to show the ecliptic line. It might also be nice to show the celestial sphere for planets other than the Earth.
--Chris
cel:url 
what an exiting program!! can't wait the next few months!!