A Map Plane for Celestia

Archive:  MAP-PLANE.ZIP
  Length     Date   Time    Name
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        0  02-01-04 09:09   map-plane/models/
     1116  02-01-04 12:34   map-plane/models/plane.3ds
     3091  02-01-04 14:34   map-plane/placeplane.ssc
     1126  02-01-04 14:53   map-plane/plane-readme.txt
        0  02-01-04 09:09   map-plane/textures/
        0  02-01-04 09:09   map-plane/textures/medres/
   171049  02-01-04 13:41   map-plane/textures/medres/ncna-aerial-1k.jpg
   165994  02-01-04 13:42   map-plane/textures/medres/ncna-geology-1k.jpg
   113705  02-01-04 13:41   map-plane/textures/medres/ncna-overview-1k.jpg
     2559  02-01-04 12:32   map-plane/textures/medres/plane.an8
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   458640                   10 files

This Addon provides a plane that can be oriented north-south and tangent to a spherical body. It should be easy to place a map on this "3D" model. For small maps, a flat plane can be a reasonable approximation to the local topography.

Restore this Zip archive into your Extras or Addons folder. It'll create appropriate sub-directories and put the necessary files in them.

The enclosed model is intended to be used with an SSC catalog file. You can place any image on the model that you can specify in a Texture declaration within the SSC catalog file.

As an example, this Addon uses a JPG image that is an aerial view of Cornell's "North Campus Natural Areas." "Overview" and "geological" maps are provided as alternate surfaces. These images are specified within the SSC catalog "placeplane.ssc" using filenames which have a prefix of "ncna". Replace the names of these NCNA map images by the names of your own maps.

For proper positioning and orientation in the desired location, either model your SSC file on the one provided, or use Grant Hutchison's "panorama" spreadsheet.

For more information, please read the Web page panoramas.html. The visible surface in this object corresponds to the "bottom" or "south pole" plane of the panorama cubes described there.

North Campus Natural Areas The map square is 1km wide, for a nominal resolution of about 1 meter/pixel. The blurred blue area to the left is the southern end of Cayuga Lake.

Here's a Cel:// URL to take you to this viewpoint. North Campus Natural Areas

• Selden's List of Resources for Celestia
• Panoramas for Celestia
• Placing objects at defined locations on planetary surfaces
• Grant Hutchison's Spreadsheets

A.1: Signature.

This Web page is maintained by Selden Ball at Wilson Lab.

Please send any questions, comments or corrections to seb@lepp.cornell.edu
Alternatively, you can post a message (anonymously or otherwise) on Celestia's Web Forum or use its Private Message page.

If you don't tell me that something's missing, unclear or wrong, I can't improve it.

The author disclaims all liability and endorsement.
Copyrights may apply.
For details, please read the full text of his disclaimer.