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Celestia and Babylon 5
If you've never used the freeware program [url=http://www.shatters.net/celestia/index.html]Celestia[/url], you should try it. It's a very accurate and nicely designed .... "Galaxy browser". It contains data on every planet (including extrasolar ones) and known star, and you can browse the entire known galaxy in real-time.
The program includes nice textures for all planets, and you can download even more detailed textures.
Today, I was checking the site to see if there were any updates, and I found a link to the [url=http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/]The Celestia Motherlode[/url], a repository for lots of Celestia extras like high-res planet textures, planet normal maps, and even Babylon 5 models!
Now you can fly to Epsilon Iridani and check out Babylon 5. There's even a maintenance bot and Thunderbolt outside the station. The Motherlode site also has lots of other B5 models to download and install.
Here's a screenshot:
The program includes nice textures for all planets, and you can download even more detailed textures.
Today, I was checking the site to see if there were any updates, and I found a link to the [url=http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/]The Celestia Motherlode[/url], a repository for lots of Celestia extras like high-res planet textures, planet normal maps, and even Babylon 5 models!
Now you can fly to Epsilon Iridani and check out Babylon 5. There's even a maintenance bot and Thunderbolt outside the station. The Motherlode site also has lots of other B5 models to download and install.
Here's a screenshot:
Comments
Looks like Celestia has really improved since the last time I looked at it, too. It's a great little program.
just...wow
Oh, and visiting Eps Eri too :D
-Φ
[B]*jaw drops* ok, maybe I'm the only one who hasn't seen Celestia before... :eek: Saturn so pretty, zooming between stars is [b]fun[/b], the tour is really neat. I wish I had this back when we were doing the solar system in class.
just...wow
Oh, and visiting Eps Eri too :D
-Φ [/B][/QUOTE]
I remember when i downloaded this a while ago i went a checked out Epsilon Eridani, and there was no b5 there, i was most upset!. lol.
-Φ
samuelk: NEAT!!!! :) :)
[URL=http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/fic_babylon5.html]B5 Plugin[/URL]
Coolness...
Might be the folder I put it in...
One says in the extras folder, and the next says the main folder...
:confused:
I remember and old Space Art book that I have in my library that showed the constellations from a ficticious planet around Proxima Centauri. Our star (SOL) was now part of the "W" of Cassiopia (SP?)
cool! :cool:
-Φ
[B]This would be a DAMN useful tool for someone writing Sci-Fi that needs to visualize their star systems and navigation between them, not to mention vantage points from alien worlds where you could see how the stars look.
I remember and old Space Art book that I have in my library that showed the constellations from a ficticious planet around Proxima Centauri. Our star (SOL) was now part of the "W" of Cassiopia (SP?)
cool! :cool: [/B][/QUOTE] That's exactly what I thought of when I heard this. This is such a useful program for stuff like that, it boggles the mind. :eek:
A screeny! :D
[B]Is the source available? [/B][/QUOTE]
For linux it is. The [URL=http://www.shatters.net/celestia/download.html]downloads[/URL] page says they're still working on a windows source code package.
There's also this under the FAQ:[QUOTE]How can I contribute to Celestia?
There's much to explore in Celestia, but it's nowhere near being complete. If you're a programmer and would like to contribute code to Celestia, you should sign up for a free [URL=http://sourceforge.net/]SourceForge[/URL] account. All source updates to Celestia are made through SourceForge's CVS server. The project page is
[URL=http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/celestia/]here[/URL]. If you've got 3D modeling skills, Celestia needs some high-quality models of spacecraft, as Viking, Voyager, Apollo, Giotto, and many others are still missing from Celestia's universe. [/QUOTE]
-Φ
[B]Thanks, Φ! I'll check it out in a month or so (currently on vacation very far away from my own machine). [/B][/QUOTE]
Please don't say Fresno... :p
[B]Nope, Michigan. But I'll be back in Fresno come Saturday, and I'll be there for a couple weeks at least before heading back down south. [/B][/QUOTE]
Supposed to be back down to ~95 F by this weekend...
*gag*
these 100 + temps are draining our life force...
:D
Celestia = awesome.
Here is a fun thing to try too...start at earth, and turn on the constellation lines, then pick some really distant star at the point of one of the constellations and go there...then turn around and look back at Sol.... it's almost like a huge "YOU ARE HERE" thing ;)
Cool that someone put in B5 stuff, the rendering engine in Celestia has always impressed me, espcially since they use shaders for atmospheres and such which makes them look very realistic..
By the way, have you stopped by river park lately? CompUSA has one of the new Apple Cinema Displays (23") on... erm... display. I spent some time gawking at it earlier today; it's hooked up to one of their Macs in the store, and you can play around with it.
[B]Jack: agreed.
By the way, have you stopped by river park lately? CompUSA has one of the new Apple Cinema Displays (23") on... erm... display. I spent some time gawking at it earlier today; it's hooked up to one of their Macs in the store, and you can play around with it. [/B][/QUOTE]
Actually I was there (what is now yesterday) after work around 5:30 pm Fresno time... I took a friend, who can't drive because he is Legally blind, there to shop etc...
I noticed the monitor, and I also noticed the line behind it to play with it... hah hah! :p
Well, my monitor just died today, guess I'm in the market....
My sister can get me a teacher's discount, though, so I probably won't be getting it through CompUSA. Which means I'll have to wait. Oh, well.
[B]Heh... I was there just a couple hours later. I think I was seeing [i]I, Robot[/i] when you were there.
[/B][/QUOTE]
Ah bummer... Woulda been nice to catch ya and window (not M$) shop a little...
;)
How was the movie?
[B]I wish my monitor would die so I had an excuse. [/B][/QUOTE]
Yeah, you can see just how broken up I am about it.
Jack: Surprisingly good. More action than Asimov would have put in, obviously, but the concepts involved are true enough to the feel of Asimov, even if the story has little to do with Asimov's book. It wasn't over-acted, there was no hackneyed romance... and the zeroth law actually comes into play. The comedy doesn't always work, but I tend to think it works better as a serious film than a funny one.
Oh, yeah... and the robots look really, really neat.