11-09-2025, 03:51 PM
I am working on a 3D program of the Sun, Earth & Moon system in the _MAPTRIANGLE(3D) space. The Sun, Earth & Moon are 3D objects. The Sun spins on its axis. The Earth spins on its axis once per day and orbits the sun every 365.25 days (motion determined by gravitation from the sun). The Moon orbits the Earth every 27 days, travelling in a circle with its orbit tilted at 5.15° and keeps a constant face to the earth.
That's all very simple geometry to handle in the program.
The more complex part is getting the 3D spheres to look exactly like the Sun, Earth & Moon.
To do this, I took NASA 360° images, and on their website each object can be stepped by 22.5° giving 16 different views which I've incorporated.
The picture (demonstration for here only) shows that it is not quite giving correct joins at the 16-image edges - look at the Earth.
I remember for the old .org forum that blus did a very nice rotating globe. @blus do you remember that program, and if so can I get hold of it? Thanks.
Notice that the objects are not perfect circles - this is because of the perspective in the _MAPTRIANGLE space.
That's all very simple geometry to handle in the program.
The more complex part is getting the 3D spheres to look exactly like the Sun, Earth & Moon.
To do this, I took NASA 360° images, and on their website each object can be stepped by 22.5° giving 16 different views which I've incorporated.
The picture (demonstration for here only) shows that it is not quite giving correct joins at the 16-image edges - look at the Earth.
I remember for the old .org forum that blus did a very nice rotating globe. @blus do you remember that program, and if so can I get hold of it? Thanks.
Notice that the objects are not perfect circles - this is because of the perspective in the _MAPTRIANGLE space.