Lua Edu Tools beta version

[ElChristou]

Hi,

The Tools now also include a Solar System Browser...

Fantastic ... go for a test right now!

[Vincent]

Thanks Chris??.

To go further, I don't think there is a special need to add a star browser to the Lua Tools since the standard one is easy-to-use and quite complete from an educational point of view... at least in the Windows build.

On the other hand, it could be worth adding a galaxy browser/viewer that would also give the possibility to mark galaxies according to their Hubble type, Redshift z...and take the observer to specific locations with a simple click, e.g., to observe the local group or the distribution of galaxies at large scale..., as we did in the recent celx scripts we made about galaxies.

Any other ideas, suggestions ?

[ElChristou]

...On the other hand, it could be worth adding a galaxy browser/viewer that would also give the possibility to mark galaxies according to their Hubble type, Redshift z...and take the observer to specific locations with a simple click, e.g., to observe the local group or the distribution of galaxies at large scale..., as we did in the recent celx scripts we made about galaxies.

Could be really cool, but seems to be a much too specialized feature for an Edu UI; or do you plan to try whatever Lua can give and we will sort features later?

Any other ideas, suggestions ?

See my last mail!

[Vincent]

Could be really cool, but seems to be a much too specialized feature for an Edu UI;

Well, it could simply be a galaxy browser with a filter (slider), along with a few buttons... That could remain quite simple, but still very interesting from an educational point of view.

or do you plan to try whatever Lua can give and we will sort features later?

Not sure this is a good approach, since I only have one single life...

See my last mail!

Here we are... I'm already working on it...

[ElChristou]

See my last mail!

Here we are... I'm already working on it...

Sorry... ... but... Cool!

[rra]

Hi,

I've added an entry in the config file to give the possibility to automatically switch to 'Alt Azimuthal' mode when in Planetarium Mode.

I've also fixed a bug that prevented the observer's view to reach an elevation of 90?°.

Vincent , I presume that setting the option

alt_azimuthal_mode = true

in the config.lua textfile would automatically set the alt-az. mode,
but this doens't seem to work,
at least on my system (windows Vista) using your latest lua-tools.
Is there something I have missed ??

Ren?©

[Sui Ota]

I tried the new version just now... how useful it is

In the Solar System Browser of the Tools, the name of satellite which uses 2byte character is not shown correctly. I made a object whose name is consist of only accented alphabet (?©, ??, ? , etc. It's nonsense string, just for the test). For example, when the name is "?©? ?????????®???»?«?????§?“"(saved with UTF-8 ), there is displayed "?©? ???????" in the list of the Browser. So there is room for 11 characters, but the name is shown properly only 5 (3 in Japanese and Chinese, 4 in Russia. There seems to be difference depending on the language...) characters from the head. Others are shown with only one "?".

[Vincent]

Vincent , I presume that setting the option

alt_azimuthal_mode = true

in the config.lua textfile would automatically set the alt-az. mode,
but this doens't seem to work,
at least on my system (windows Vista) using your latest lua-tools.
Is there something I have missed ??

Ren?©,

You didn't miss anything. It is simply not possible at the moment to turn on/off Celestia Alt-Azimuth Mode from the Lua code or from a celx script. It is not possible either to map the left/right arrow keys to make them reproduce the X axis rotation you get when in Alt-Azimuth Mode.

So, I've added a function in the Lua code that simply prevent left/right arrow keys from rotating the view along the X axis when alt_azimuthal_mode is set to true. This way, the horizont line stays perfectly horizontal, which is very handy when in planetarium mode.

You can still rotate the view along the Z axis using the mouse or the 4/6 keys from the numeric pad. Then, maybe I should rename the alt_azimuthal_mode entry to avoid this kind of confusion. If you have any suggestion...

[rra]

Vincent, I indeed got confused by the name
you used in your config file.
Too bad this option isn't available for changing in LUA or CELX
scripts. I guess this is something Chris has to change in order to
makes it possible. I also guess this won't be on the top-10 list
of actions Chris is working on.

Thanks anyway ,


Ren?©

[Vincent]

I tried the new version just now... how useful it is

In the Solar System Browser of the Tools, the name of satellite which uses 2byte character is not shown correctly. I made a object whose name is consist of only accented alphabet (?©, ??, ? , etc. It's nonsense string, just for the test). For example, when the name is "?©? ?????????®???»?«?????§?“"(saved with UTF-8 ), there is displayed "?©? ???????" in the list of the Browser. So there is room for 11 characters, but the name is shown properly only 5 (3 in Japanese and Chinese, 4 in Russia. There seems to be difference depending on the language...) characters from the head. Others are shown with only one "?".

Sui,

This is because UTF-8 encoding uses from one up to four bytes per character, depending on the alphabet you use. For example, two bytes are needed for a Latin letter with an accent or for characters from Greek or Cyrillic alphabets.

Then, since I've limited the lenght of objects' name to 11 bytes, 11 characters or less are displayed, depending on the alphabet that is used.

However, I might be able to solve this issue by limiting the width of the string (= number of pixels) instead of its lenght (number of bytes) . I'll let you know when the fix is ready.

[Vincent]

In the Solar System Browser of the Tools, the name of satellite which uses 2byte character is not shown correctly.

I might be able to solve this issue by limiting the width of the string (= number of pixels) instead of its lenght (number of bytes) . I'll let you know when the fix is ready.

The display of objects' name in the solarSystem browser should be fixed now.
http://vincent.gian.club.fr/celestia/Lua_Edu_Tools.zip

Too bad this option isn't available for changing in LUA or CELX scripts. I guess this is something Chris has to change in order to
makes it possible. I also guess this won't be on the top-10 list
of actions Chris is working on.

I'll have a look at the code and I'll let you know if something can be done...

[steffens]

Looking at the speed of development of this great project, maybe it would be a good idea to add the Lua-Edu-Tools to the official Celestia CVS?
Revision control is always a good thing, just have a look at what happened to ElChristou and his Apollo 11 mission reconstruction

steffens

[Vincent]

Looking at the speed of development of this great project, maybe it would be a good idea to add the Lua-Edu-Tools to the official Celestia CVS?
Revision control is always a good thing, just have a look at what happened to ElChristou and his Apollo 11 mission reconstruction

steffens

Steffens,

Chris also made this suggestion a few monthes ago. Personaly, I'd have no objection. But Hank, who initiated the Lua Tools project, prefered to wait since the code was still at an experimental level of development. Though, I don't know Hank's opinion about the current development.

Anyway, don't worry, I systematically upload my changes to my FTP, where I also keep the 3 latest versions of the Lua_Edu_Tools.

[Sui Ota]

The names of the objects are shown correctly with the latest version.
Thank you very much

[selden]

Vincent,

An alternative would be a completely separate project on SourceForge. That way it wouln't be tied so tightly to Celestia's release schedule.

[Vincent]

Vincent,

An alternative would be a completely separate project on SourceForge. That way it wouln't be tied so tightly to Celestia's release schedule.

Yes, I already thought about that alternative. But the project would still closely depend on Celestia's 1.5 advancement since some of the Lua Tools features do use the latest CVS checks in...

[Vincent]

Hi,

ElChristou and I have been thinking about merging the 'infoText' and 'infoImage' features into a single one called 'info+'. Then, rather than being a 'simple' Ultra Verbose Mode, 'info+' would switch the view into a real information Mode, i.e., all other buttons and windows would be disabled to allow user to concentrate on the reading of the information window.

You can test this feature from the usual link:
http://vincent.gian.club.fr/celestia/Lua_Edu_Tools.zip

Your opinion and feeling about this 'special' feature will be really appreciated...

Thanks.

[ElChristou]

Yes, more opinion would be welcome because there is so much use for such an info windows that it's not easy to determinate the best way to go.
Here the idea is to present text (articles etc), graphics, images (could be diaporama), why not video about the object previously selectioned without the distraction of the whole UI. Once the close box clicked all the UI return to normal...

[Adirondack]

ElChristou and I have been thinking about merging the 'infoText' and 'infoImage' features into a single one called 'info+'.

Yes, I think this is a good idea. But I'm not sure whether I like the way it is displayed.

I would like to see the info+box on the left upper corner (where it will not overlay the entire object or one can move the object farther to the right).
Vincent, is there any chance to display two boxes (as the infotext and infoimage features did [info text centered on the left hand, infoimage on the lower right corner])?
Maybe that would be the best solution since the object will be still visible.

Adirondack

[Vincent]

Too bad this option isn't available for changing in LUA or CELX scripts. I guess this is something Chris has to change in order to makes it possible. I also guess this won't be on the top-10 list of actions Chris is working on.

Ren?©,

I've checked in a change that adds the setaltazimuthmode / getaltazimuthmode commands to Lua/celx scripting.
(see: http://celestiaproject.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=87720) If you don't compile your own version of Celestia, you need to wait for the 1.5pre3 release (coming very soon).

So, setting alt_azimuth_mode to true in config.lua will force the Lua Tools to automatically switch to Celestia Alt-Azimuth Mode. Please note that in that case, it won't be possible to disable Alt-Azimuth Mode with CTRL+F while the Lua Tools are running (forced mode).

Vincent, is there any chance to display two boxes (as the infotext and infoimage features did [info text centered on the left hand, infoimage on the lower right corner])?
Maybe that would be the best solution since the object will be still visible.

For a better testing, the 2 versions (fullscreen + the one you've described) are available now. You just have to rename the infoBox.lua and infoBox2.lua file to switch from one to the other.