First Screenshot of Universe Sandbox 3

[Dan Dixon]

This is a first look at one of the many graphical improvements in the the major update due out later this year for both Windows and Mac. This is a full rewrite of Universe Sandbox in a new 3D engine.

This will be a free update to everyone who has ever purchased Universe Sandbox through this website or on Steam.

The controls and icons are all temporary and will change dramatically in the next few months.

More updates coming in a few weeks...

Thanks again to all the hard work of Chris & Georg at IonStar in Solingen, Germany. They're helping make all this possible.

[smjjames]

Is that gravitational distortion? cool.

Also, whats with the money icon? or is that just for those who haven't bought it yet?

[Dan Dixon]

Is that gravitational distortion? cool.

Yes. It's an early pass at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_lens
(and an improved grid)

Also, whats with the money icon? or is that just for those who haven't bought it yet?

That's funny... The icons are totally arbitrary and temporary. The dollar sign actually shows the options. There's nothing to read into the screenshot from the icons.

[smjjames]

I would suggest using a different icon for the options, maybe the gear icon? Perhaps a simple solar system for the simulations button?

A thought, would the simulations we have be compatible with Universe Sandbox 3 or will we have to start from scratch, or at least rebuild from scratch?

[Dan Dixon]

Oh yeah... This is a total work-in-progress. None of those icons will be in the final release.

And the plan is to support reading the v2 file format.

[Naru523]

Looks pretty nice, especially the black hole. What other stuff are in the test build, if they are in?

[Kevin1994]

WOOT!!!

[atomic7732]

In my opinion, it looks... ehhh..., but I assume there will be further major changes in the UI before it is released, so...

[smjjames]

Um hey, I just noticed the 'use squid' text overlaying the FPS bar, what's that?

[Chris]

In my opinion, it looks... ehhh..., but I assume there will be further major changes in the UI before it is released, so...

Just ignore all UI for now. We're only trying different layouts and nothing you see is final.
All icons and fonts are placeholders right now.

[FiahOwl]

Wow. NICE WORK!

[FiahOwl]

In my opinion, it looks... ehhh..., but I assume there will be further major changes in the UI before it is released, so...

Just ignore all UI for now. We're only trying different layouts and nothing you see is final.
All icons and fonts are placeholders right now.

Welcome to the forums Chris!

Um hey, I just noticed the 'use squid' text overlaying the FPS bar, what's that?

Mmm.. Dunno, but it made my day.

We Must Use!

[smjjames]

In my opinion, it looks... ehhh..., but I assume there will be further major changes in the UI before it is released, so...

Just ignore all UI for now. We're only trying different layouts and nothing you see is final.
All icons and fonts are placeholders right now.

Welcome to the forums

[FiahOwl]

This is a first look at one of the many graphical improvements in the the major update due out later this year for both Windows and Mac. This is a full rewrite of Universe Sandbox in a new 3D engine.

This will be a free update to everyone who has ever purchased Universe Sandbox through this website or on Steam.

The controls and icons are all temporary and will change dramatically in the next few months.

More updates coming in a few weeks...

Thanks again to all the hard work of Chris & Georg at IonStar in Solingen, Germany. They're helping make all this possible.

I like the new way time is displayed.

[ShoeUnited]

This is a full rewrite of Universe Sandbox in a new 3D engine.

This will be a free update to everyone who has ever purchased Universe Sandbox through this website or on Steam.

I do not have a reaction image to properly illustrate my jaw hitting the floor.  Thank you so much for your work, sir.

[Kepler-22b]

WoW! Ein deutsches Entwicklerteam. Ich hab mal eure Webseite (www.ionstar.org) besucht um euch etwas näher kennenzulernen. Ihr 3 seid ja alle C# Spezialisten, und da ich in diese Sprache auch schon mal reingeschnuppert habe, weis ich wie nervenaufreibend das programmieren sein kann. Ihr habt mir jetzt den Anstoss gegeben weiter an meinen Fähigkeiten zu arbeiten und endlich C# bzw. C++ und Englisch zu lernen.

Ich wünsche euch viel Spass und viel Erfolg beim programmieren, aber klebt eure Tastaturen am Schreibtisch fest. Das wird immer sehr teuer.

Ausraster vorm Pc

PS: Der Linseneffekt ist euch schon mal sehr gelungen und freu mich schon auf weitere Screenshots.

Edit by Dan - Adding the text above in English via Google Translate

Wow! A German team of developers. I once your website (www.ionstar.org) visits to get to know you a little. Your 3're all C # experts, and as I have in that language as purely sniffed before, I know how nerve wracking that can be programmed. You have now given me the impetus to continue working on my skills and finally C # or C + + and learn English.

I wish you much fun programming and much success with, but sticks firmly on your desktop keyboards. It is always very expensive.

[Bla]

That is an epic light distortion effect.

[Chris]

A thought, would the simulations we have be compatible with Universe Sandbox 3 or will we have to start from scratch, or at least rebuild from scratch?

We intend to support old system formats.
However, we're also aiming to improve UniverseSandbox in such a way that it will be easier and more fun to create systems in the application instead of having to edit XML manually.

[smjjames]

A thought, would the simulations we have be compatible with Universe Sandbox 3 or will we have to start from scratch, or at least rebuild from scratch?

We intend to support old system formats.
However, we're also aiming to improve UniverseSandbox in such a way that it will be easier and more fun to create systems in the application instead of having to edit XML manually.

I wouldn't be the only one who would want to keep simulations that we have now that we made, so I was just wondering if it would be relatively easy to make the conversion.

@miros: You mean look at, but videos to watch would be awesome, especially when showing the collisions since stills won't do justice. The new collision system is probably the most exciting thing (if not the top 5) for all of us.

@Kepler: English please will ya? Although that post seems to be aimed at the guys over at IonStar and I get the gist of it anyway.

[Kepler-22b]

@Kepler: English please will ya? Although that post seems to be aimed at the guys over at IonStar and I get the gist of it anyway.

I just said, that the guys are a great team and that i know how difficult programming is. I wished them good luck and fun and made ​​a joke.

[smjjames]

Now I get what the 'insert squid' refers to, it's their SDK GUI, program, not exactly sure what it's suppoused to be.

[Chris]

Now I get what the 'insert squid' refers to, it's their SDK GUI, program, not exactly sure what it's suppoused to be.

Squid is our user interface programming framework for realtime applications.
When you check the credits sections of your current UniverseSandbox installation, you'll see that
it already uses Squid.

[vh]

cool distortion; does it affect labels and trails, that might be bothersome. maybe an option to switch it on and off.

[dhm794]

My response:

M. Bison "Yes Yes!" Widescreen HD reupload


Only concern is how advanced the new engine will be.  What if I can't play it anymore?  Will I be able to use the old version?

[Dan Dixon]

In my opinion, it looks... ehhh..., but I assume there will be further major changes in the UI before it is released, so...

No worries... We're aiming to make the UI better than the current version.

Only concern is how advanced the new engine will be.  What if I can't play it anymore?  Will I be able to use the old version?

No worries. If you can play the v2, you'll be able to run v3. In fact, it's possible people that can't run v2 may be able to run v3 (although not all of the effects may work on older video cards).

[smjjames]

What about multithreading? That's probably pretty high on the wishlist. Although I've heard that doing multithreading can be tricky because if you have multithreading for windows 7 64 bit, those running 32 bit won't be able to run it or at least not be able to use multithreading. I know nothing about how multithreading is applied, so maybe it is possible to have multithreading for all.

[Dan Dixon]

The engine we're using, http://unity3d.com/, has just released a new version with multithreaded rendering and we already have the core computation working on multiple threads.

So no worries... that feature is already in and working.

[Kepler-22b]

The engine we're using, http://unity3d.com/.

That answered my question.  


Hmmmmmmm!

http://unity3d.com/unity/licenses (1500$)

vs.

http://www.conitec.net/english/gstudio/order8.php (900$)

Edit:

I think unity3 has a better Workflow and is a bit more pro.

[phinehas]

<censored>

[smjjames]

Uh, the update is free for everybody, Dan said so himself.