Sushna System [WIP]

[Laura]

I'm working on a system which will use purpose made textures for every object. It's a rather big project, but here are a couple of early results

Sushna is a K9V class orange-yellow star.

The innermost planet Ganyl 349, a massive terrestrial wannabe gas giant, with its thick hazy atmosphere which nevertheless is faintly transparent is shown with its closest moon orbiting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTrOYhgJu0k&fmt=18

A heliocentric motion trace of the outermost planet Sushna VI, a small gas giant, and its moons.
Below that, a closeup of Sushna VI and its ring.
Then, an image of Ganyl 349, and below that its closest moon.

[Naru523]

a massive terrestrial wannabe gas giant

Lol'd.
Can't wait for this system too.

[Laura]

The two remaining moons of Ganyl 349: Yaturpary and Aindima

[Laura]

The orbit of Ganyl 349 is low, at just 30.2 days, yet it maintains 3 moons. The outermost of these, Aindima, is rather large and massive; nearly 6000km diameter and a sixth of the Earth's mass. It is also about 200000km from Ganyl 349. As a result, the local sun perturbs its orbit significantly. With each complete orbit of Aindima, the star tugs at it from a different angle. A plot is attached below.

Below that, the planet Sushna II. Bitterly cold, with half the atmospheric pressure of Earth, it is not exactly a paradise, but over 40% of its surface is covered in water ice, and the atmosphere has free O₂. Not quite enough for comfort, but enough to live. The atmosphere contains nearly 20% CO₂, most of which forms clouds of ice particles during the night and evaporates during the day. Some of it is permanently frozen in the polar icecaps. The rest of the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, but the 5% SO₂ content, as well as the high level of CO₂ makes breathing filters a good idea.

[atomic7732]

The clouds look fuzzy. Awesome. I like that... Wait... How are you making these textures?

[Laura]

The clouds look fuzzy. Awesome. I like that... Wait... How are you making these textures?

I use Fractal Terrains 2, Photoshop, and a plugin called LunarCell. I mix and match as needed and I do some manual image processing until I'm happy with the result.
Gas giants I make entirely in photoshop - no plugins.

[atomic7732]

oh... hmmm... nvm then.

[Laura]

Next out from Sushna II is a small planetary system, consisting of the planet Kodi and its barren moon Nirnflollet.
Kodi, while having a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, it has an atmospheric pressure of only 15% of Earth. This, along with the fact that it is extremely cold and has only 13% Oxygen and 2% NO₂, makes it a less than ideal vacation spot. The thin and sparse clouds are mainly CO₂. There are only trace amounts of water present.

Nirnflollet is entirely unremarkable, having no atmosphere and a composition similar to our own moon.

[Sanduleak]

This looks fascinating. Keep us posted! 

[Laura]

This looks fascinating. Keep us posted! 

I plan to
Here's a pre-rendered flyby of Aindima in glorious HD 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAjnubNv8Io&fmt=22

[Naru523]

Pwetty video.

[Laura]

A flyby of Ganyl 349, which led to the discovery of its sparse ring and the fact of its powerful magnetic field
Evidence of the ring is clearly visible around 0:16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W_-DX6chTs&fmt=22
And a few stills of note from the video (click the images for full size):

[Laura]

The interesting bit of the flyby at a much slower pace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udQJEUDIyx4&fmt=22

And an anaglyph 3D image

[deoxy99]

The interesting bit of the flyby at a much slower pace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udQJEUDIyx4&fmt=22

And an anaglyph 3D image

Anaglyphs are cool.

[Sanduleak]

Very nice video 

It is just a pity that the planet is lacking some colors in my opinion.
Well, mother nature is not meant to please our eyes I guess

[Dan Dixon]

A flyby of Ganyl 349, which led to the discovery of its sparse ring and the fact of its powerful magnetic field
Evidence of the ring is clearly visible around 0:16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W_-DX6chTs&fmt=22
And a few stills of note from the video (click the images for full size):

The ring debris is really cool. What program are you using to create these images and video?

[Laura]

Very nice video 

It is just a pity that the planet is lacking some colors in my opinion.
Well, mother nature is not meant to please our eyes I guess

Indeed
I generated the whole system from an advanced accretion algorithm, and that planet came out with
24.11 atm. density (He 48%,N2 28%,H2O 10%,CO2 5%). It's my best guess as to how it might look

[atomic7732]

I generated the whole system from an advanced accretion algorithm, and that planet came out with
24.11 atm. density (He 48%,N2 28%,H2O 10%,CO2 5%). It's my best guess as to how it might look

How might that work? Is it just a bunch of numbers you put yourself? Or an output of a bunch of numbers you convert? Or something really simple. That'd be interesting.

[Laura]

A flyby of Ganyl 349, which led to the discovery of its sparse ring and the fact of its powerful magnetic field
Evidence of the ring is clearly visible around 0:16
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W_-DX6chTs&fmt=22
And a few stills of note from the video (click the images for full size):

The ring debris is really cool. What program are you using to create these images and video?

It's 3D Studio Max mostly, with some postwork in After Effects.
Consequently, it's by no means a simulator. One has to painstakingly set everything up and make it look like the forces of nature are working properly

[Laura]

I generated the whole system from an advanced accretion algorithm, and that planet came out with
24.11 atm. density (He 48%,N2 28%,H2O 10%,CO2 5%). It's my best guess as to how it might look

How might that work? Is it just a bunch of numbers you put yourself? Or an output of a bunch of numbers you convert? Or something really simple. That'd be interesting.

It's another worldbuilding tool called Astrosynthesis, so it really is quite simple

[atomic7732]

I have that. I did not think of that at all. Did you know you can get textures from there too? I tried. Coudn't find the textures last time. I used to be able... Hmmm...

[Sanduleak]

This Astrosynthesis tool seems to have a lot of interesting features: it nicely complements US: thanks for letting us know.

[Laura]

Yes, it's quite nice
An alternative is http://www.reocities.com/CapeCanaveral/7472/ifos.zip
It's old, but very capable, and also generates entire star systems. Though I have not yet checked that they work in practice in US2, I expect they will.
It's also freeware, which is an undeniable plus

[atomic7732]

Quite poor graphics. But it's way easier than Astrosynthesis. I say we need everything put together in one!

There are always two things and you need them in one. And then people come out with some 2 in 1 thing that you don't need. hahaha

[Laura]

True
Btw, the graphics aren't that bad in it - especially when you make solar systems, they are represented nicer than in Astrosynthesis where it's just a set of orbital paths.

[atomic7732]

Astrosynthesis has real sized objects. You can see in the moon part of it alot better.

[Laura]

I find the oversized objects in IFOS easier to appreciate at a quick glance
I think the two use slightly different accretion algorithms, too, so both are useful for variety.