Community Idea List

[Feldruam]

I have a question, will there be a feature that allows you to position objects in 3 dimensions instead of a 2d plane?

[unl0cker]

Sorry for not researching this (I don't know if it is already been discussed), but what if we had an option to choose from two kinds of projected paths. One absolute related to the biggest mass (as is now) and another relative to the body with the biggest gravity influence over it.

In short, relative and absolute projected paths.

So in the case of moons for example, we would see the lines relative to the planet they are orbiting, showing round circles around the planet, resembling rings.

That would be visually cool.

[vh]

I have a question, will there be a feature that allows you to position objects in 3 dimensions instead of a 2d plane?

there already is actually, you can exactly control the x, y, and z coordinates of any object

[unl0cker]

there already is actually, you can exactly control the x, y, and z coordinates of any object

He probably mean using the mouse. A nice idea is to have modifier key for z axis. Like moving with the mouse will move you x/y and pressing say shift you move in the z axis.

[Dan Dixon]

In v2, as you're placing a new planet or star, hold down Ctrl to place the body along the vertical axis.

[unl0cker]

Thats new!! I've miss the manual class.

Maybe is time to read it.


Thanks!!!

[Dalehasfriend]

Could we please have an option when turned on would display in some sort of hear map style the effect of gravity from bodies? This way I could see where to drop my earth around jupiter then my moon just between the two? Or something like that at all. Or even really dumbed down or something maybe even just a view of gravity affected with a .5 AU diameter?

[unl0cker]

I did not understand what you said there Dalehasfriend, so I don't know if is this what you are asking, but that fabric effect of a body orbiting another is really cool.


Like this:

http://astrobob.areavoices.com/files/2011/04/Gravity-warps-space-400x267.jpg

[unl0cker]

It just occurred to me that a very nice and apparently easy to implement feature would be the possibility to lock bodies either to the whole scene as it is now but also to a specific body. So if I lock a satellite to Earth, wherever Earth goes, that sat will be locked to a position relative to Earth. Indeed a very useful and cool feature to build systems.

[karakris]

I have not used Universe Sandbox for quite a long while -

The Problem for me is that Simulating Star Systems ( Stars and their orbiting  Bodies ) is a small part of my self-imposed "Job".

I am the Game Master of a Sci-Fi Game set in 2130's - where we have Very Fast FTL Drives.
And virtually unlimited Power from Safe Hydrogen Fusion Powerplants - we still have to Find Resources like Metals and Minerals, in order to build all sorts of stuff.

We Discover new Star Systems, Colonise Planets - Terraform Planets.

We currently have some 44 Star Systems which we have Colonised or which are the Homes of Allied Intelligent Species - and we have reached out to some 90 Light Years from Sol.
There are currently some 160 Billion Intelligent People in the Alliance - called The Phoenix Confederation.

We now have Advanced Wormhole Technolgies - so we can start to move Planets.
This also allows us to move vast quantities of Water - to create new Hydrospheres.

So - back to Universe Sandbox.  As I understand it - some of the following Features have been Added, or will be Added in Version 3.

1) Placing Objects in 3 dimensions - x,y,z
I do all my Star Locations by Distance from Galactic Centre - "clockwise / anticlockwise" from Sol - Above / below the Galactic Mean horizontal centreline.

2) Changing Water Levels on Earth - maybe other Planets - Mars ?? Venus ??
We have Fully Terraformed Mars, with a Hydrosphere - but I would like to be able ot show it as we now have it.
We are Terraforming Venus - and it will have a Hydropshere of around 70%.
Other "Fictional" Planets - ?
We have three Planets in Omega System - Arrakine 50% Water, Panthalassa 99% Water, Piscemund 95% Water.
We are gonna move a lot of this Water - so that we will get -
Arrakine 70% Water, Panthalassa 70% Water, Piscemund 70% Water - the remainder will be an Ice Moon around the Fourth Planet ( Gas Giant ).

3) One of the Clever People here did a Sim with an Aurora Borealis - which is something fundamental to any Habitable Planet, which must have a Megnetic Field to block Cosmic Rays and "Solar Wind".
Could this be included ??

4) Will we ever be able to combine all of the "Real" and "Fictional" Star Systems - into a single Sim for our area of "Local Space".
For us this is basically a globe 300 Light Years across - centres on Sol.  That is where our "Detector Globe" had been placed.

Finally - I would be interested to know if there are any other Useful Features which I might be able to use - my interest in Universre Sandbox is the creation of a "realistic" ( according to Astrophysics ) Model ( maybe a Static Sim ) of all the things in our "Local Space".

Just one last question - how much is Universe Sandbox 3 ( Update ) likely to Cost ??

[vh]

1) Placing Objects in 3 dimensions - x,y,z
I do all my Star Locations by Distance from Galactic Centre - "clockwise / anticlockwise" from Sol - Above / below the Galactic Mean horizontal centreline.

you can convert those coordinates to x, y, and z:
if your coordinates are d,r,v
(distance from center, rotation, vertical from plane)

the galaxy is centered on 0,0,0
and the sun is 0 rotation
then x coordinate is d*cos(r)
and y coordinate is d*sin(r)
and z coordinate is just h

for example if there is an object 10 parsecs from galaxy center
0.4 radians clockwise from the sun
and 0.1 parsecs above the galactic plane
then it's x,y,z coordinates would be
10cos(-0.4), 10sin(-0.4), 0.1
which is about
9.21, -3.89, 0.1
(all units in parsecs)

keep in mind clockwise is negative rotation and counterclockwise is positive rotation

[blotz]

not sure if it's already on the list, could we have some kind of text box? that would be hand for presentations or teaching or explaining the simulation if it's really confusing.

Also Dan, this:

Universe Sandbox 3.0 is a major update due out later this year (2012). Anyone who's ever purchased (v1 or v2 on Steam or via this website) will be able to update for free. I've marked a few of the ideas that will be in this next version (or subsequent minor updates as v3.x).

Is incorrect, as you mentioned you would have to pay to update.

[unl0cker]

I am the Game Master of a Sci-Fi Game set in 2130's - where we have Very Fast FTL Drives.
And virtually unlimited Power from Safe Hydrogen Fusion Powerplants - we still have to Find Resources like Metals and Minerals, in order to build all sorts of stuff.

I'm still waiting on the detailed instructions to make the textures.

[karakris]

I am the Game Master of a Sci-Fi Game set in 2130's - where we have Very Fast FTL Drives.
And virtually unlimited Power from Safe Hydrogen Fusion Powerplants - we still have to Find Resources like Metals and Minerals, in order to build all sorts of stuff.

I'm still waiting on the detailed instructions to make the textures.

Hmmm - you gave me an E-Mail - My Friend.

And - I sent you the full Geography of the Planet Ithica ( Attica I ) in a Word File, by E-Mail.

Did you not get this ??

[FiahOwl]

(I don't know if this has been discussed before because I haven't read this thread or checked the spreadsheet in a while but here we go!) What about some sort of ability to set a "wall", like say at 20 AU. So when a planet gets ejected and gets sent out of the system, when it hits 20 AU from the centre of the simulation it bounces back into the system.

This can be useful with smaller things too, like you could simulate popcorn! How cool would that be?!

[blotz]

not very useful for practical purposes, but

[karakris]

Riight -
I just saw that it is likely that the Version 3 will have an option for Fast Rotating Planets to turn into Oblate Spheroids, caused by the Centripetal Accleration of their own rotational velocity.

Question - could we include an Option to make a Planet into a PROLATE SPHEROID ??

The Planet "Jinx" in my "Game" which is already in an Unlikely ( some say Impossible ) Star System - was very definitely "Engineered".
"Jinx" is a lot like the Planet "Jinx" in the Stories by Larry Niven -
Our Planet "Jinx" is a Prolate Spheroid, with a ratio of 1.2 North to South against 1.0 Equatorial Diameter.

The Poles stick out of the Atmosphere - there is a single Equatorial Ocean, with a massive Mid-Oceanic Ridge which includes Volcanic Islands ( active Volcanoes ).
The Ocean floor is spreading North and South, quite rapidly - whilst the two masses of Dry Land ( "Continents" ) are pushing towards the Equator.
The Planet is TRYING to acheive a slight Oblate Spheroid form, in equlibrium with its Mass and Gravity - but this could take many Thousands of Years or a Million.

Somehow - we do not know how, it has a Fully Evolved Eco-System on the two Continents and in the Ocean - Equivalent to Earth in present times.  It has four separate Bronze Age Civilisations ( almost exact Humans ) - we do not know how come.
"Jinx" and the Stigma System are a BIG Mystery.
But we have built some Colonies here - well aways from the areas occupied by the Bronze Age Peoples.

"Jinx" is lit be a Dark Red coloured Brown Dwarf,  AND a White Dwarf Star.

[Hellpotatoe]

Riight -
I just saw that it is likely that the Version 3 will have an option for Fast Rotating Planets to turn into Oblate Spheroids, caused by the Centripetal Accleration of their own rotational velocity.

Question - could we include an Option to make a Planet into a PROLATE SPHEROID ??

The Planet "Jinx" in my "Game" which is already in an Unlikely ( some say Impossible ) Star System - was very definitely "Engineered".
"Jinx" is a lot like the Planet "Jinx" in the Stories by Larry Niven -
Our Planet "Jinx" is a Prolate Spheroid, with a ratio of 1.2 North to South against 1.0 Equatorial Diameter.

The Poles stick out of the Atmosphere - there is a single Equatorial Ocean, with a massive Mid-Oceanic Ridge which includes Volcanic Islands ( active Volcanoes ).
The Ocean floor is spreading North and South, quite rapidly - whilst the two masses of Dry Land ( "Continents" ) are pushing towards the Equator.
The Planet is TRYING to acheive a slight Oblate Spheroid form, in equlibrium with its Mass and Gravity - but this could take many Thousands of Years or a Million.

Somehow - we do not know how, it has a Fully Evolved Eco-System on the two Continents and in the Ocean - Equivalent to Earth in present times.  It has four separate Bronze Age Civilisations ( almost exact Humans ) - we do not know how come.
"Jinx" and the Stigma System are a BIG Mystery.
But we have built some Colonies here - well aways from the areas occupied by the Bronze Age Peoples.

"Jinx" is lit be a Dark Red coloured Brown Dwarf,  AND a White Dwarf Star.

Karakris, can I participate of your roleplay? It looks VERY good

[karakris]

Riight -
I just saw that it is likely that the Version 3 will have an option for Fast Rotating Planets to turn into Oblate Spheroids, caused by the Centripetal Accleration of their own rotational velocity.

Question - could we include an Option to make a Planet into a PROLATE SPHEROID ??

The Planet "Jinx" in my "Game" which is already in an Unlikely ( some say Impossible ) Star System - was very definitely "Engineered".
"Jinx" is a lot like the Planet "Jinx" in the Stories by Larry Niven -
Our Planet "Jinx" is a Prolate Spheroid, with a ratio of 1.2 North to South against 1.0 Equatorial Diameter.

The Poles stick out of the Atmosphere - there is a single Equatorial Ocean, with a massive Mid-Oceanic Ridge which includes Volcanic Islands ( active Volcanoes ).
The Ocean floor is spreading North and South, quite rapidly - whilst the two masses of Dry Land ( "Continents" ) are pushing towards the Equator.
The Planet is TRYING to acheive a slight Oblate Spheroid form, in equlibrium with its Mass and Gravity - but this could take many Thousands of Years or a Million.

Somehow - we do not know how, it has a Fully Evolved Eco-System on the two Continents and in the Ocean - Equivalent to Earth in present times.  It has four separate Bronze Age Civilisations ( almost exact Humans ) - we do not know how come.
"Jinx" and the Stigma System are a BIG Mystery.
But we have built some Colonies here - well aways from the areas occupied by the Bronze Age Peoples.

"Jinx" is lit be a Dark Red coloured Brown Dwarf,  AND a White Dwarf Star.

Karakris, can I participate of your roleplay? It looks VERY good

I sent you a Message - with a Link to one of the Threads in the Game - in P.M.

[APODman]

Dan, will be incorporated into the US3 a system for insertion of artificial satellites?

It would be interesting could import the updated satellite TLEs from a text file. The TLEs can be acquired from Celestrack:

- http://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/

Some softwares can made previsions of satellites flares of a satellite to a determinated point of the globe, I suppose it can be done in US3:

- http://www.satflare.com/track.asp?q=fitsat
- http://www.satflare.com/download.php

Yet some software can forecast the date of re-entry of a satellite, just need to inform some parameters easily available.

The AGI's STK software provides good visual simulations of reentries but it is little intuitive, it would be of great interest that one software with graphics capability and accuracy of US3 could accomplish this task.

- UARS satellite reentry simulation by AGI (software STK):
NASA UARS Satellite Reentry

- Another satellite Reentry simulation by AGI (by STK software)
Satelite Re entry simulation by AGI

The STK software:
- http://www.agi.com/products/stk/modules/default.aspx/id/stk-free

There is a large community of satellite observers (that actually use some simple and not graphic softwares to make this previsions), who would be potentially very interested in these features:

- http://www.satobs.org/orbsoft.html
- http://www.satobs.org/seesat/
- http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html

Regards !

[Darvince]

Dan, I came up with an idea that you should split stars into many points of equal mass that interact between stars, and with the new feature where a bunch of faraway objects near to each other are calculated as a single point, this would have negligible effect on the lag of the sim.

[vh]

but..what would that accomplish?

[Darvince]

Stars merging would be much more realistic as they would draw out into a raindrop shape and absorb the other star.

[Hellpotatoe]

Stars merging would be much more realistic as they would draw out into a raindrop shape and absorb the other star.

^This would be very cool

[tuto99]

Dan, I came up with an idea that you should split stars into many points of equal mass that interact between stars, and with the new feature where a bunch of faraway objects near to each other are calculated as a single point, this would have negligible effect on the lag of the sim.

I think I get your idea. Would that allow the star to be stretchable?

[Darvince]

Yes the stars would be able to strech and also fast-rotating stars would be oblate.

[FiahOwl]

Does that mean we could finally play interstellar frisbee?

[luxfaros]

LUX FAROS VOTES:
10. Actual Blackholes -epic
31.3D Terrain Generator for Mountains, Craters, Valleys and Canyons
33. Circumbinary Orbit calculator _YES YES YES
39   More options for "make binary orbit" feature

[jjake1245]

just added a request, because I wasn't sure how customizable the planets will be

[radyenginer]

i was thinking if the planet have landscape wen we trow a celestial body it will do no damage unless the planets have voxels.