Re: 3D SJ flow Mapping

In message <LISTSERV%200708060421172500.CBC4@??????.???????.com>
          Blackmaer <cslundy@?????????.net> wrote:

> I just took a look both Celestia and Astrosynthesis, and I've gotta say
> that it looks uber-cool!!!
> 
> If I understand correctly how it works, I can see great potential here.
> Say you've got a 3D image of Toril and Selune.  You could click on the map
> and zoom in on Waterdeep.  Then back out, click on the map again and zoom
> in on Dragon Rock.  Is that how it will work, in theory?

Well, in Astrosynthesis you're limited to looking at planets, you 
couldn't zoom in on cities and such (but you might be able to in 
Celestia if your planet was of sufficiently high resolution - I 
haven't got much beyond downloading Celestia so far).
> 
> So this software could be used to design an entire 3D computer generated
> fantasy solar system map, correct??
> 
> Could you say, scan a 2D planetary map and convert it to a 3D image??
> 
> Ugg...me like!!
> 
> -Blackmaer
> 
Yes, with the proviso that your plants move around each other in 
elliptical orbits, but you can have stars orbiting planets (as in the 
case of Greyspace). Although Astrosynthesis calculates a planet's 
orbital speed based on real world physics, while planets in 
Spelljammer, especially the outer ones, tend to orbit much faster. 
I've handled this by adding a custom 'year length' field, 
unfortunately this does mean that most of the animated orbit displays 
are wrong. The custom data fields, OTOH, are useful for entering 
Spelljammer specific info, such as Planet shape and elemental 
composition.

As to your last question, I have used existing 2D world maps to create 
texture maps for the worlds of Oerth, Toril, and Krynn, which can be 
found here: www.flckr.com/photos/10371694@N06/ I'm not yet happy with 
the Toril one though.

-- 
Charles