Celestia 1.5.0 prerelease 4

[chris]

Finally!

Here's the Windows build:
http://www.celestiaproject.net/~claurel/celest ... .0pre4.exe

There have been a lot of bug fixes since prerelease 3:

Code: Select all

Mac:
- Mac: implemented tabbed browser interface
- Mac: fixed crash at startup on multicore machines with Lua edu tools
- Mac: fixed cmd+arrow infinite spin
- Mac: made DSOs localizeable
- Mac: fixed a crash when app is hidden at splash screen on multicore configs
- Mac: added multibyte console input
- Mac: minor fix for favorites bug
- Mac: implemented star orbits toggle
- Mac: removed Show Clusters menu item
- Mac: fixed crash on text enter after exiting full screen

Data files:
- Modified the visualbin and spectbin databases to allow selection of the
 barycenters throughout. Commented out a number of binaries in spectbins that
 were also included in visualbins
- Added Orion's belt to constellation diagrams
- Orbit determination for Dysnomia
- Updated Ceres rotation period from Icarus 2007, 188(2):451
- New names for Saturnian satellites: Greip, Jarnsaxa, Tarqeq
- Switched to equatorial coordinates for Charon and Pluto orbits, to match Nix
 and Hydra
- New extrasolar planets: HAT-P-4 b, HAT-P-5 b, HAT-P-6 b, HS 16175 b,
 HD 167042 b, HD 74156 d, HD 285968 b, V391 Peg b,
 HD 132406 b, HD 43691 b, NGC 2423 3 b, Gliese 317 b & c,
 TrES-3, HD 155358 b&c, HD 5319 b, HD 75898 b; removed HD 33636 b
- Set up transit of Gliese 436

Scripting:
- Added setradius method for solar system objects to celx
- Added script commands to set label and line colors
- Added get/setgalaxylightgain functions for celx scripting
- Added gl.LineWidth function

- Eliminated 0.1 second delay in script startup, allowing scripts to run before
first frame is rendered.
- Rewrote orbit cache for efficiency
 - Avoid unnecessary recaclulation of orbits
 - Prevents thrashing with multiple views
  Added function to invalidate orbit cache
- Improved celestial grid
 - More meridians and labels shown
 - Better label formatting
- Added code to catch and report circular reference frames in ssc files
- cel: URL fixes:
 - Added support for location selections
 - Fixed omission of star name in path for some objects
- Changed SSC parser to allow OrbitFrame for ReferencePoints
- Fixed small FOV bug when using Shift+Left button to zoom
- Removed extra debug trace
- Translation updates
- Display ambient light level when adjusted with { or }
- Improved star radius display
- Don't show irrelevant text for invisible objects
- Fix depth sorting code to never produce a near plane distance of zero (fixes
 disappearing stars with some graphics cards)
- Implemented adaptive tesselation for comet tails based on the size on screen;
 makes comet tails appear smooth when seen up close
- New label and line colors
- Fixed depth sorting problem for stars that covered less than a pixel
 in the view
- Added translations for some console messages
- Fixed bug with bookmarks when selection is a DSO
- Centered constellation labels
- Added checkbox for star orbit rendering (all platforms)
- Added Scripts menu to quick launch scripts in the scripts directory
- Fixed index out of bounds error in SampledOrbit, SampledRotation
 (crashing bug)
- Added adaptive sampling for rendering elliptical orbits (more samples in
 regions of high curvature)
- Select the system barycenter when a component of a distant multistar system is clicked.

- Windows: fixed movie recording rate
- Windows: fixed unitialized variable that could cause wrong
translations to be used


--Chris

[BobHegwood]

Not Found

The requested URL /~claurel/celestia/files/celestia-win32-1.5.0pre4 was not found on this server.
Apache/2.0.51 (Fedora) Server at http://www.shatters.net Port 80

Sorry...

That's okay though. I'm just getting to the point where I can use Pre3!

Sheesh!

Thanks, Bob

[tech2000]

Not Found

The requested URL /~claurel/celestia/files/celestia-win32-1.5.0pre4 was not found on this server.
Apache/2.0.51 (Fedora) Server at http://www.shatters.net Port 80

Sorry...

That's okay though. I'm just getting to the point where I can use Pre3!

Sheesh!

Thanks, Bob

Hey Bob... add .exe to the link.

Cheers, Anders

[ANDREA]

Finally!
Here's the Windows build:
http://www.celestiaproject.net/~claurel/celest ... -1.5.0pre4
-Chris

Sorry to correct you, Chris, but to avoid problems to some of Celestians, the right address should be:
http://www.celestiaproject.net/~claurel/celest ... .0pre4.exe
Simply you forgot the .exe extension.
Very happy to see the new Celestia 1.5.4 prerelease, I'm going to test it immediately.
Thanks a lot!
Bye

Andrea

[BobHegwood]

Hey Bob... add .exe to the link.

Cheers, Anders

Okey-dokey... Thanks very much from the Brain-Dead.

Take care, Bob

EDIT: Never mind... The Man has repaired that oversight. Thanks again.

[Cham]

Very happy to see the new Celestia 1.5.4 prerelease

Beware to not confound this prerelease with version 1.5.4. It's still 1.5.0 only, and just beta version number 4. Maybe the file should be called Celestia 1.5.0beta4.

[ANDREA]

Very happy to see the new Celestia 1.5.4 prerelease

Beware to not confound this prerelease with version 1.5.4. It's still 1.5.0 only, and just beta version number 4. The file should be called Celestia 1.5.0b4

Correct, Cham, sorry.
But the file name is not 1.5.0b4, but 1.5.0pre4.exe, just for precision sake.
But it's equally very welcome.
Bye

Andrea

[BobHegwood]

BEFORE I even install this thing, let me be the first to say "Thank You" to
Mr. Laurel for the update. Goodness knows that this has required a LOT of
work from the Man, and methinks some appreciation is in order.

Thanks again, sir...

[selden]

Being a prerelease, it still has problems. One of the new features is that it has a revised color palette for lines and labels. On my Windows system the new "Celestial Grid" and constellation border colors are much too dim.

Fortunately, however, one of the new features is that you can use a CELX script to load your own set of colors.

I've posted a script in the Scripting Forum which sets colors more to my liking. It's avaliable in the thread http://celestiaproject.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=94653#94653

[BobHegwood]

Okay, first impressions from the Brain-Dead...

Specularity is still a problem, but not on Earth or the ISS. I see the default
Earth with a VERY nice display of specularity. When I go to Mars, however,
it looks as if the entire planet is covered by a thin cloud of smog. This is due
entirely to the specularity. If I remove all specular shaders as discussed in
other threads, then this problem does not occur.

For Vista owners only, there exists a REAL problem which must be dealt
with every time you wish to change one of your SSC files in the data
directory. Since - when installed with the default options - Celestia takes
ownership of the directory, you simply CANNOT make any changes to the
SSC files in the data directory. Oh, I mean that you CAN make the changes,
it's just that you simply cannot SAVE the changes to the data directory. This
problem can be overcome by some work with permissions and security within
the Vista O.S., but - believe me - it is NO fun to do. At any rate, I guess
I'll have to go through all of that crap AGAIN because it's the only way
you can allow yourself to make any changes to Celestia. Oh Brother...
You cannot change the celestia.cfg file, by the way. VERY irritating.

Although I have enabled "Cloud Shadows" on the render/view options,
I simply cannot see any cloud shadows. Is there something I'm missing
here? I researched the SSC files and the textures, but I can find no
hint of why cloud shadows aren't rendered. Are they supposed to be?

Just one more note... The start.cel has NOT been modified. In other
words, you'll STILL have to modify the code yourself if you wish to
enable automag and other render settings and have them applied
correctly. I care not, since I already have a modified script for myself,
but others of you may wish to note this fact.

All in all, a VERY nice incremental update. Don't mind my comments
above. I'm just getting tired of Vista and its peculiarities. Also, I've
had to install - and modify - 3 different versions of Celestia within the
last week, so I'm getting tired of messing with it.

Again, thanks VERY much to Mr. Laurel for the continuing improvement
in this spectacular program.

That's it from the Brain-Dead - For NOW!

[selden]

Bob,

At an altitude of only 7 km, the shadows are hard to see. If you put the clouds at a much higher altitude and look near the sunset or dawn terminators where their shadows are cast farther away from under the clouds, the clouds' shadows should be much more obvious when you toggle them off and on again.

For example, you might use an SSC like this:

Code: Select all

Modify "Earth" "Sol" {

Atmosphere { CloudHeight 100 }

}


[BobHegwood]

Bob,

For example, you might use an SSC like this:

Code: Select all

Modify "Earth" "Sol" {

Atmosphere { CloudHeight 100 }

}


Yes, that would be easy to do if I COULD change an ssc file. Damned
$%&*()#@! Vista... I'll get to it again, Selden. It's just going to take a
little while to set up my permissions again.

Thanks, Bob

[Hungry4info]

Glad to see some new progress!

bug hunting...

Some initial issues I see:

1) The stars look good from a distance (multiple LY) but upon close inspection seem to have been replaced with a dull glowing embers. Pehaps higher flare opacity and atmospheric rendering could solve the problem.

2) Mie works better, but still has issues. Here's a planet I placed ~half way between Sirius A and B (Sirius is my general-use testing ground lol).
Here's Sirius c, a planet orbiting the barycentre...

I saved it in JPEG, so it detracted from the quality of the image, but as you can see, on the planet's night side limb, there's still some glitchy things. It's still a thin red line in Celestia.

Also, thank-you for allowing ring-shadows on mie planets. That wasn't possible on 1.5.0pre3. As you can see from the picture, the mie is still somewhat buggy. Also, there used to be a problem to where if you were a significant distance from a mie-planet and viewed it with a narrow FOV, the mie fluctuated a lot. The problem seems to be gone for Earth, but for Sirius c, it's still existant, with the appearance of little white flares.


Edit:
Lookie' them there planet temperatures! I reckon a planet between them two stars should surely be mighty warm!

[selden]

Are you sure those flares aren't lightning storms?


(Yes, I know they're not, but being able to show random lightning flashes through Jupiter's clouds is a feature I've wanted to see for a long time.)

[Adirondack]

Although I have enabled "Cloud Shadows" on the render/view options, I simply cannot see any cloud shadows. Is there something I'm missing here? I researched the SSC files and the textures, but I can find no hint of why cloud shadows aren't rendered. Are they supposed to be?

Make sure that you have enabled renderpath OpenGL 2.0!

Adirondack

[Hungry4info]

Cloud shadows work for me.

[phoenix]

If someone wants a faster download from europe try my mirror

http://www.purebytes.de/stuff/celestia/ ... .0pre4.exe

[t00fri]

If someone wants a faster download from europe try my mirror

http://www.purebytes.de/stuff/celestia/ ... .0pre4.exe

Indeed, it takes 1/10 of the time compared to ChrisL's line (700KB/sec)

The only drawback is that I HAD downloaded it already ....

Bye Fridger

[BobHegwood]

[
Make sure that you have enabled renderpath OpenGL 2.0!

Adirondack

Well, thanks for that, Ulrich... My problem though is that I can't use anything
other than "Multi-texture." That IS OpenGL right? In the OpenGL path itself,
I see only a VERY fuzzy ball. It's probably just Vista again, but I'll play with
it for a while.

EDIT:
Okay here's the deal:

With OpenGL 2.0 I CAN see the cloud shadows. Or at least the changing
grey stuff that's supposed to be cloud shadows. I can also view the
night textures and other stuff, but I decided earlier NOT to use this
mode because it screwed up specularity something awful.

With Basic, I see no changes in the display while I'm rendering shadows
on and off, but I also can't view multiple textures (Like Night textures.)

With Multi-Texture, I thought I WAS using OpenGL, but apparently I'm
NOT. I can see night textures now, but no cloud shadows.

With OpenGL vertex program, I can see multiple textures, but NO
cloud shadows. I think this will be my pick... Mars looks like it's okay.

With OpenGL vertex program/Nvidia Combiners, I STILL see No cloud
shadows and Mars looks as if it's covered in clouds even when there
are NO cloud textures rendered - or even available on the machine.

ALL of this has something to do with specularity. It's been bugging the
hell out of me, and I still can't figure it out. The new version certainly
made specularity behave more like I thought it should, except that it
REALLY screws up Mars surface texture for some reason.

To Hell with it... I just wiped ALL of my Celestia stuff OFF of my disk
and I'm going to start over once more. 'Tis the only way I can get
straight in my mind what works and what doesn't. Thanks for your
help my friend.

Take care, Bob <Flush>

[MKruer]

Slightly off the current thread,
Weren?€™t we going to implement additional class for objects Dwarf Planets, KBO. Right now both or using the asteroid check list, as soon as we check the box, the system fills up a lot with orbit lines.