One of the items in our roadmap has long been the re-implementation of the speed scaling algorithm. This algorithm is a function that, given the current state of Gaia Sky, returns a number by which to scale the camera speed.
So far, we have used a pure function that only takes into account the distance to the focus object when the camera is in focus mode, or the distance to the closest object to the camera when it is in any other mode. This does not work very well in many situations. In this post, I explore the new developments in Gaia Sky that enable smoother interstellar trips by means of the camera speed scaling.
📢 We are happy to announce the release of Gaia Sky 3.6.7. This release comes with a few minor features and many important bug fixes, especially related to VR and scripting.
We’d like to announce that we just published a new virtual texture dataset. This dataset is based on NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio CGI Moon Kit. Constructed from the DEM (Digital Elevation Map) in LRO/LOLA, it contains a 32K virtual texture for the Moon topography (elevation). When you have tessellation activated, this represents elevation in the Moon by vertex displacement and subdivision.
The new 32K topography virtual texture applied to the Moon in Gaia Sky.
Our Flatpak package, published via Flathub, has been updated to a new app ID space.gaiasky.GaiaSky. This has been done to match the domain of our new website gaiasky.space. Additionally, this has enabled us to verify the application, which was impossible with the old de.uni_heidelberg.zah.GaiaSky ID, as we did not control that domain.
Gaia Sky is now verified on Flathub.
Essentially, I needed to contact the uni-heidelberg.de domain owner and ask them to add their domain to a PSL (public suffix list). They were initially cooperative, but after a few department redirections my requests must have fallen down the bureaucracy cracks, for they stopped being responsive. If you want the full story, check out this issue, and this one.
Today we publish the new Gaia Sky web site. If you are reading this, you obviously know it. I’ve been working on this for a while, and, even though it is not yet finished, I think it is now ready to be deployed. Until now, we have used the website of our institute, which uses the Typo3 CMS, as our home page. In a few days, I’ll make it point to this new site.
📢 Today we publish the version 3.6.6 of Gaia Sky. This is a small update focused on fixing some bugs and improving performance. Also, it comes with proper handling of depth for volumes!
The Trifid nebula (NGC6514) rendered as a volume with correct usage of the depth buffer.
📢 Today, coinciding with the end of the sky-scanning phase of Gaia, we publish GaiaSky 3.6.5. The most noteworthy addition is the introduction of the volume rendering infrastructure.
