Screenshot of work-in-progress UI overhaul - June 22

[Dan Dixon]

Here's a work-in-progress screenshot of the upcoming UI overhaul.

Starting in the top left and moving counter clockwise:

• Play/Pause button next to gravity & time controls with an accuracy slider. The highlighted link icon show which time variable is fixed (time step, real time, or accuracy)
  
• Unfinished camera control panel (bottom left)
  
• Early placement of move and rotate buttons, these will be joined by other tool controls (like new body and action controls)
  
• The three buttons labeled 'o', 'ilI', and '...' will become two (normal mode and chart mode, the 3rd will move the far lower left)
  
• Unfinished new body panel. Choose a tab to select a category. Want to make a Mars? Click on the planet tab (currently 'Pla', will become an icon) then the Mars button.
  
• Early body properties panel showing a live view of the Earth (currently there are no properties visible). You'll be able to change the body's properties and then add it as a preset in the new bodies list (the row of planet icons).
  

[SuperNova]

waaaaaa! to cool! can't wait until NEXT release  

but is the comet future update added???  
the new 3D models?   (about the impact update i don't care much)

[Bla]

Fantastic! It looks very good! Pictures are much better at explaining than text, I think it's a great improvement with all these pictures in the menus instead of the old text, it makes it much easier to everything.

[Chaotic Cow]

Yet no one asks about the GIANT EARTH IN THE BACKGROUND.

but I will assume this is the "live view" ?

Lovin' the new UI!

[atommo999]

that looks really good! i like the way you can look at the planet before you add it. it also looks more simple to use and i'm looking forward to it! P.S: it might look even more cool if you added the body of a realistic black hole instead of a star...

[Naru523]

AWESHOME!

[Bla]

Yet no one asks about the GIANT EARTH IN THE BACKGROUND.

but I will assume this is the "live view" ?

Lovin' the new UI!

I think the reason nobody mentioned the Earth was because it's in the foreground, not the background.
I also wondered in the start, but look how it is in front of the particles. There is actually no reason that it shouldn't be in the foreground, but I guess it's because it's a little bit out of the picture and doesn't have noticeable things in front of it that it looks like it's in the background.
But, it's also possible that it's in the background. We can just adjust the size of the planet. Though it's very unlikely and would be unlogical.

[Dan Dixon]

Yet no one asks about the GIANT EARTH IN THE BACKGROUND.

I think the reason nobody mentioned the Earth was because it's in the foreground, not the background.

The position and size of the live preview will likely change. I just got the tech working and haven't worked through the details of integrating it with the properties window. The view shows the Earth (or whatever planet you have selected) rotating as it rotates in the scene. Either way... The image is simply a texture so the placement and size are very easy to change at this point.

but is the comet future update added???  

I don't want to promise this feature for the next update (I've got so much planned already). But I can see this being included in a subsequent follow up. (do me a big favor: spec out exactly what you expect out of the comet feature. What does it look like? How does it work?)

(about the impact update i don't care much)

I suspect that you'll feel differently once you try out what I have in mind.
(although this will not be part of the next update)

it might look even more cool if you added the body of a realistic black hole instead of a star...

I'm a little torn on what to do about this. The long term plan is to make black holes actually distort the visible space around them (but this involves shader work which isn't a main priority right now). I'm afraid that if I make them black you won't be able to see them and they'll be confusing. Thoughts?

Fantastic! It looks very good! Pictures are much better at explaining than text, I think it's a great improvement with all these pictures in the menus instead of the old text, it makes it much easier to everything.

All of the tool icons and main controls will become icons. I hope this will make the program more accessible to those who don't understand English (which is the only language I understand). I'm hoping to also add multi-language support in the next release (maybe).


And in case it wasn't clear... The right-click control panel will be gone in the next release. All of its functionality (and more) will be part of the new interface.

[Bla]

Okay, if you send me the text that needs translating (how much it ever is), I can try to translate it into Danish (my normal language) and/or German (though I've only learned that for two years... But a bad translation is better than no translation I guess ).

[atomic7732]

I'm gonna like this! Dan, any idea when it will be released?

[atommo999]

maybe you could have some sort of light ray that is a few kilometres away from the black hole just to show you that its there and also if the labels are on, it will say "black hole" and follow it around wherever it goes.

[Chaotic Cow]

If you did the blackhole thing my first idea would be to make some kind of indication its there.

Like an Icon or maybe a effect like a spiraling down effect. ( i.e.   http://tinyurl.com/l22l2m )

Doesn't have to be crazy huge but noticeable for someone to go "That's a blackhole"

[Dan Dixon]

I can try to translate it into Danish...

Thanks for the offer. It will be some time before I'm ready for this. My plan is to run the English text through Google translate as a 1st pass and then correct and improve quality of the translation after that.

any idea when it will be released?

I'm hoping to release the new update in the next few months. There's still lots to do.


Thanks for the comments on the black hole issue. In the update you will be able to change the color and texture of bodies, so worst case you'll be able to make them black.

[Baleur]

How about removing the star mesh alltogether from the black holes, and instead represent them as a circular transparent "donut" plane facing the camera at all times?
Sort of like, a black opague core so you notice that something is there if its in front of stars or a planet, while zoomed in on the black hole. Then gradually more transparent but perhaps a soft white "halo" or whatever before the transparency drops off to 100%?
A distortion effect would be suuper though when you have time to code it

And a question, could the Bloom option be moved to the general settings window, thereby making it "stick" with scene changes or app restarts?