AZ_Cowboy wrote:Chris etal:
I have recently posted under 'education' that I AM currently working on an application that will 'translate' 2-D texture images into 3-D models. The end result will work for producing landscapes, gaseous nebulae, and galaxies. I hope to have it finished some time this summer. Upon completion, I will, of course, submit the source to your project here.
I will need some info on how to do this. Also, it would be nice if I had a copy of the cmod structures that you have developed. You could e-mail them if there are 'issues'.
thanks
Whatever you are planning, any core applications e.g. to galaxies and other DSOs should be based uniquely on the data that the professional DSO catalogs (like the revised NGC/IC 2006) provide! This also implies that any code you plan to include here should tackle 10000+ of DSO objects at once and of course, use advanced culling techniques, to be fast enough. /Individual/ DSO renderings (requiring human interactions), will always remain add-ons.
Moreover, one main reason why we have not yet tackled a manifest 3D rendering of DSOs is the POOR scientific knowledge about the 3 dimensional shapes. This applies particularly to diffuse nebulae where a 3D rendering implies ~100% /artistic phantasy/.
Finally, a main design principle of Celestia is that we essentially model the Universe according to naked eye vision (allowing at best some additional light amplification, say). This means that those completely exaggerated colors one can see on popularized galaxy imaging is NOT what is desired for the core distribution. People having looked through even large telescopes know very well how pale the coloration of DSOs tends to appear to the human eye.
Of course, such restrictions do not apply to "educational" ventures, like Frank's Celestia-ED or similar.
Bye Fridger
I await a decent response!
