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Author Topic: changes to the interface?  (Read 12931 times)

FGFG

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changes to the interface?
« on: January 02, 2009, 07:02:18 AM »
I would like to suggest 'some' changes to the interface:

To change the properties of an object you must open the menu by right-clicking on the object; U.S. (Universe Sandbox) shows the menu plus 2 panels related to the object (e.g. "Earth properties" and "Earth commands"): on the first you can change velocity, mass, density, ..., of the object; on the second you can do some nice actions like turn the object to dust and explode it (just examples, not desires...  ;) ).

My idea is to unify these panels, separate them from the menu of the system, and add some other commands:

Changes:

When you click on an object, U.S. shows one menu like this (I will explain the changes later):

e.g. The object is Earth (taken from the system "Our Solar System")

Things between " " are editable
Things between [ ] are buttons
Things like (1),(2),(#) are notes  ;)

  Earth properties:
- Name "Earth"
- Vel "30.3 Km/s"
- Mass "1.0 Earth"         [show KGs](1)
- Diam "12742 Km"
- Dens "5.51 g/cm^3"
- Rot p "23.9 h"
- acc "0.0061 m/s^2"
- g "1 Earth"                  [show m/s^2](1)
- esc v 11.2 km/s
- Hill s 1.47 M Km
- dist from Sun 146 M Km
- dist from "you"(2) 1.25 M Km
- Axis "#°"(3)
- Pos -123 M | 1680 | 80.3 M Km
__________________________________

  Changes to position
- [orbit parent]
- [orbit actual system centre of mass](4)

__________________________________

  Views about Earth
- [set to centre](5)
- [light pulse]
- [comet trail]
- [show relations](6)
- [show lagrange points](7)
- [show forces and vectors](8)
__________________________________
 
  'ADD' menu of Earth
- [add object](9)
- ["2"D grid] "1000"
__________________________________

  'Delete' menu of Earth(10)
  - [explode] "10 Km/s" [escape vel] [zero] "13"
  - [to dust]
  - [delete]

The menu could be put on 2 diffierent columnes and should be big as this one (it doesn't take much space compared to the options inside)

notes:
(1): clicking 2 times it turns normal
(2): you can change "You" in "Mars", "Moon", "Jupiter" ... in order to find the distance between these objects
(3): this is to change the angle of the axis with the orbit; i don't know what is the Earth value of it
(4): this makes the object orbit around the centre of the mass of that moment (it can change).
       it can be simply called [orbit around barycentre].
       I don't know how to determit the velocity and the speed of the object (could the mass of the barycentre be the sum of all the other masses? maybe without the mass of the object? i don't know  :-\ ). I will show the utilities of this comand later
(5): I put this button in this menu because (for mortals and probably not for programmers) it just changes the trails path
(6): it shows just the relations with the selected object.
(7): this would be a nice add: I will return on this later.
(8): shows the forces and the vectors of the object (velocity, acceleration, ...) and the resultant.
(9): this is one of the biggest new feauture ( Dan, don't be angry  ;) ); it adds 'something' in orbit around the Object:
       First: You select the type of the object (dice, Earth, Moon, Sun, Black hole, Rings(this is why there isn't a button before) ...) like U.S. does now.
       Second: You select the orbit type:
       -The medium distance and (again, don't kill me Dan) the eccentricity (how long is the big axis of the ellipse compared to the small) ===> The velocity and the direction would be automatically calulated.  You can choose the position of the planet and the direction of rotation on the hipothetical orbit around the object
       - The inclination compared to the axis of the object
       Third: You click on [launch] and the new object would start to orbit.

       The rings would be a bit different and easier: you choose just the type plus minimum and maximum radius.

(10): this menu changes the object radically, or deletes it.

       I suggest to add this menu closing the previous. i think it would cover the orbit when you have to choose the position...

No, the post isn't finished  :P

What about the Lagrange points, [orbit around the actual centre of mass], and the first menu?

The lagrange points could be shown as... points: Instead of adding a real object (like in the systems "Lagrange points - ..." U.S. could simply add a mark (with a trail) ===> they would not change position (in my pc the lagrange points L1 and L2 aren't very stable). If you want a real object on their positions you can right-click on the mark and choose an object that starts orbit in that position with same direction and velocity. The comand [orbit around barycentre] could be usefull here:
e.g. In the System "Lagrange points - Earth & Moon" you could add in L4 or L5 position a big object ( like Mars or anotherEarth) ==> It wouldn't be so stable, but if the 3 objects orbit the barycentre (with the same angular velocity) they would remain in orbit. I've read this in a wikipedia article about lagrange points or about the problem of the 3 corpes. Now i don't have time to add a link, maybe later... sry :-[


The last change: the first menu

Surprise: it doesn't change  ;D. Simply the object menu opens alone: it would be to big in my opinion.
The "New Bodies" menu in would need for the classical start (obviously possible)


Please post your opinions about the changes. Dan, again, don't kill me  :P


I think this is the longest post I ever made  ;D

FGFG



P.S. as usual sry for my bad English
P.P.S. I've used a lot the simple present in order to not make much errors (probably I made errors even in this line :-X )
« Last Edit: January 02, 2009, 07:18:50 AM by FGFG »

Thot

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2009, 08:27:59 AM »
sound wonderful

especially your thoughts about these orbit-options. i have to say i missed this a bit, because i thougt that this would be neccessary for a correct calculation of orbits.

Just one more suggestion: It would be nice if when i am clicking on a planet I could also see its orbit data.
Like: Perihel, Aphel and so on (Just like in wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_(planet))

hope you got my point

FGFG

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2009, 08:46:41 AM »
The problem is that U.S. is a simulation, so the objects doesn't follow a predetermined orbit  :)

Try to rise the Jupiter's mass to 0.8 Sun and stay to see... (again not desire ;D )
or try to speed up the simulation: at one point Mercury will be pulled out from the system (just a precision issue)
« Last Edit: January 02, 2009, 08:50:45 AM by FGFG »

FGFG

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2009, 09:04:10 AM »
I've looked for the wikipedia article and i noticed that it was in Italian  ;D so i looked around a bit and i found this:

"In 1772 Lagrange discovered some periodic solutions which lie at the vertices of a rotating equilateral triangle that shrinks and expands periodically. Those solutions led to the study of central configurations , for which  for some constant k>0 ."

taken from n-body problem page of wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_body_problem#Sundman.27s_theorem_for_the_3-body_problem

Thot

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2009, 09:31:33 AM »
ohh^^
a bit confusing
Yes i think on that point you are right. Without completely stable orbits it isnt possible to show up those informations. I also understand that it isnt possible to change this because the calculations in US do completely base on the rules of newton. But maybe it would be possible to analyse only one ecliptic (one rotation of a planet around its star) and give the correct data.
For example:
I have a planet wich has a distance of circa 1.25 AU from its sun and earthmass.
I want to know how long a year on this planet would be. So I need the time of one complete rotation around the star. So this is maybe different from rotation to rotation, but when you are comparing the times of different trys, then you are getting an approximate value.
I hope again this was understable  ;D

FGFG

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2009, 09:54:14 AM »
You need and know also the mass of the star, but you don't know where the planet would go: You need also velocity and direction.
You could have the right orbit time just if the system is made by 2 objects and one is orbiting the other. If there are 3 bodies there would be perturbations of the orbit and the time would be approximated (however the system must be quite stable e.g. Sun - Earth - Moon)

Thot

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #6 on: January 02, 2009, 10:19:08 AM »
Yeah I only meant stable systems. You are right; unstable systems would give to imprecise results, but maybe it would also be interesting  to see how different the results are.

FGFG

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #7 on: January 02, 2009, 10:28:32 AM »
if you know the mass of the star and mass, direction and velocity of the planet,then you could know how long does it take to complete an orbit, but i think that it's more fast to calulate it yourself that insert it into Universe Sandbox (remember that it isn't useful in all the situations).

i think this is one of the worst post in English...

atomic7732

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #8 on: January 02, 2009, 11:04:15 AM »
NICE! I klike the "show lagrange points" so you can put an objec there or something. I made a trojan comet on U.S.

atomic7732

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #9 on: January 02, 2009, 11:08:03 AM »
The problem is that U.S. is a simulation, so the objects doesn't follow a predetermined orbit  :)
It could still show the data changing.

Thot

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #10 on: January 02, 2009, 12:58:24 PM »
You mean the data of the current orbit? Would be cool too.

if you know the mass of the star and mass, direction and velocity of the planet,then you could know how long does it take to complete an orbit, but i think that it's more fast to calulate it yourself that insert it into Universe Sandbox (remember that it isn't useful in all the situations).

i think this is one of the worst post in English...

yeah I know that it isnt difficult to calculate this manually, but you have to know that I am a bit lazy^^
It was just a suggestion, maybe those data could be displayed by the users own choice.

FGFG

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #11 on: January 02, 2009, 02:39:21 PM »

... but i think that it's more fast to calulate it yourself that insert it into Universe Sandbox (remember that it isn't useful in all the situations).

yeah I know that it isnt difficult to calculate this manually, but you have to know that I am a bit lazy^^
It was just a suggestion, maybe those data could be displayed by the users own choice.

Sry, with my post i meant that Dan would need some time to inser it in Universe Sandbox   :)

Dan Dixon

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2009, 04:50:50 PM »
Awesome suggestions; what a great post.
I'll post more of my thoughts on this soon.

Dan, again, don't kill me  :P

Not at all. This post makes me happy. I love feedback and discussion.

P.S. as usual sry for my bad English

And no need to ever apologize again for your English since it's better than many people who only know English. :)

FGFG

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2009, 05:15:08 PM »
And no need to ever apologize again for your English since it's better than many people who only know English. :)

 :o  .....  O_O .....  ;D
« Last Edit: January 04, 2009, 05:24:50 PM by FGFG »

FGFG

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #14 on: January 05, 2009, 08:37:05 AM »
       -The medium distance and (again, don't kill me Dan) the eccentricity (how long is the big axis of the ellipse compared to the small) ===> The velocity and the direction would be automatically calulated.  You can choose the position of the planet and the direction of rotation on the hipothetical orbit around the object
       - The inclination compared to the axis of the object
       Third: You click on [launch] and the new object would start to orbit.

The quote is from the first post of this thopic; it's about the orbit creation

forgot this:
         There should be an indicator of stability (like the time step one) that show how stable is the orbit (Trying to make mars orbit moon would be red  ;) )

Dan Dixon

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #15 on: January 08, 2009, 09:36:18 PM »
I keep waiting for a large chunk of time so I can comment on all of these points.

Here are a few quick comments:

- These are all really good ideas and I like how you've organized the existing commands and suggested a few new ones that are missing.
- I like the Add object command for rings or moons. Great idea.
- I also like the idea of changing the interface so that any adjustable # is editable right there.

Updating the UI is the next major goal that I have for Universe Sandbox. I have no doubt you will see many of your suggestions implemented in a future release.

Dan Dixon

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #16 on: May 14, 2009, 04:32:00 PM »
FGFG:

I wanted to thank you again for all the thought you put into this post. I've referred back to it a number of times during the process of reorganizing and rethinking the UI for Universe Sandbox.

I'm really excited to share the UI changes that I'm working on with everyone. I suspect you'll discover new features that you didn't know existed and that by making so many of the variables directly editable (and adjustable with a single click and drag) you'll find that experimentation is more fun than ever.

FGFG

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #17 on: May 15, 2009, 09:53:01 AM »
FGFG:

I wanted to thank you again for all the thought you put into this post. I've referred back to it a number of times during the process of reorganizing and rethinking the UI for Universe Sandbox.
I'm very glad that it has been an useful topic, and i thank you :)

I'm really excited to share the UI changes that I'm working on with everyone. I suspect you'll discover new features that you didn't know existed and that by making so many of the variables directly editable (and adjustable with a single click and drag) you'll find that experimentation is more fun than ever.

I'm looking forward your next update even more now!!!  ;D

P.s: I changed my coumputer and, i'm sorry, but i can't remember how can i reactivate U.s. :-[ You should send me something however...  ::) P.p.s: The old pc is still working and if I remember well it have universe sandbox installed..

Chaotic Cow

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #18 on: May 15, 2009, 10:47:23 AM »
Yes. Some great ideas FGFG. I can't wait for the next update!

FGFG

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #19 on: May 17, 2009, 02:31:33 AM »
Another idea: it would be cool if, clicking on a button, you can see a grid that shows the distorsion of the space(-time) maybe floating on a date level, or at the ceneter of mass'.

Chaotic Cow

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #20 on: May 17, 2009, 04:15:37 PM »
Another idea: it would be cool if, clicking on a button, you can see a grid that shows the distorsion of the space(-time) maybe floating on a date level, or at the ceneter of mass'.



AWESOME~!

Naru523

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #21 on: May 17, 2009, 04:32:43 PM »
Another idea: it would be cool if, clicking on a button, you can see a grid that shows the distorsion of the space(-time) maybe floating on a date level, or at the ceneter of mass'.

Yes. Just like a black hole and the grid shapes like a gamma ray jet.

monmarfori

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Re: changes to the interface?
« Reply #22 on: May 17, 2009, 04:38:10 PM »
if a galaxy collides when there is a ray jet what happens?