Questions and Suggestions

[Bernier77]

So I just got the sandbox a little while ago and have been messing around with it, smashing planets together and such, and there's a few things that I haven't been able to find an answer to in the tutorials, the site faq's or here on the forums.

Just some simple questions:

How do you name your bodies?

How do you add a rotation to your bodies?

How do you change the angle of the rotation axis on your bodies?

How do you change the skin/texture of your bodies?

A few suggestions that could possibly be implemented into later updates.  One would be a dynamic heat transfer system, so that when planets get to a distance proportionate to the mass of a star, they would either become dust or a mini star (or change texture to a magma-like surface).  And maybe a visual heat filter could be added, to show how hot masses were.  I assume such a system might take up quite a lot of processing, and thus maybe there would be an option to toggle the heat system in the settings or something.

Also, I've noticed then when two masses collide, they seem to "pop" together and let off dust as soon as they touch.  I'm not sure how the source code works, but perhaps it could be made so that when two masses collide (assuming bounce is off) their collision frames would intersect until more than 50% of the smaller mass was inside the collision frame of the larger mass (to make it look as if it is actually sinking into the mass) , at which point the current interaction would take place (they would form one mass and let off dust).  It might just make for a more fluid-looking and epic interaction.  Again, I'm not sure how the source code works, and this might take up a lot of processing, so perhaps there would be another toggle setting for it.

Thanks for any help and sorry if any of this is in the wrong section, I have yet to explore all of the forums.

[Bla]

How do you name your bodies?
This picture should be able to show it:


How do you add a rotation to your bodies?
This picture should be able to show it:


How do you change the angle of the rotation axis on your bodies?
I have no idea, don't think it's possible.

How do you change the skin/texture of your bodies?
There is a guide in this thread.

NOTE: The pictures are too big, so use the scroll menu for the post which is under this line!

[Bernier77]

Oh man.  I guess the update problem I'm having is making me miss out on a bunch of stuff.

Check this out:



That's what I get when I right-click (both on, and off of bodies).

And I don't have the dice or pool balls.

 

I really need a manual patch.

[Dan Dixon]

How do you change the angle of the rotation axis on your bodies?

Hover the mouse over a body, press and hold N, drag the mouse, then release the N key.
You can also hold Shift & Ctrl while holding down N to change the rotation axis.
I realize this is not at all intuitive. This will be fixed in a future update.

How do you change the skin/texture of your bodies?

Answered in this thread:
http://universesandbox.com/forum/index.php/topic,302.0.html

A few suggestions that could possibly be implemented into later updates.  One would be a dynamic heat transfer system, so that when planets get to a distance proportionate to the mass of a star, they would either become dust or a mini star (or change texture to a magma-like surface).  And maybe a visual heat filter could be added, to show how hot masses were.  I assume such a system might take up quite a lot of processing, and thus maybe there would be an option to toggle the heat system in the settings or something.

These are totally the kind of features I want to add.

Ideally as the mass of a body grows its appearance would change to reflect what it would really be: a star, black hole, rocky planet, gas planet.

And the heat filter idea is cool...
Does anyone know of any formulas for determining the temperature of a certain mass of a certain density?

Also, I've noticed then when two masses collide, they seem to "pop" together...

Also a good point. The next update is going to focus on improving the interface and then I'm going to focus on making collisions and explosions more realistic and visually satisfying.

Oh man.  I guess the update problem I'm having is making me miss out on a bunch of stuff.

Yeah... You are running an old copy of Universe Sandbox.

If you're having trouble updating, just download the setup file again and reinstall.

Thanks to Bla for the images and arrows.