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After launching the application, select one of the
following topic:
Display Options
Extended Display Options
Computations Options
Preset
Epheremis
Local Sky
Space
View
Software update
Credits
System
information
Display
options
Renderer: Change from OpenGL or Direct3D 9.0.
Screen
Resolution: Change resolution in full screen mode (recommended
resolutions : 1440x900 or 1280x1024)
Display: Choose between full screen
or windowed.
Colors: Change between Standard or Night theme. The Night
theme is suited for using SkyORB in dark
environment.
Language: Select between different language. (This is not
displayed in the MacOS X version)
Audio: Enable or disable sound
effects.
Extended
Display Options
3D Extensions - for OpenGL or Direct3D, uses multitexturing
and pixel shaders if available. In OpenGL, disabling the
option will avoid the OpenGL 'extensions'
usage
Multisampling : Change the multisample level .
Shaders - Enable vertex shader usage for rendering the
planet.
Filtering : enable texture filtering (slower when using the
software renderer mode).
Quality : change this mode to enable texture
compression on the textures map. Medium and Lod modes enable
texture compression on normals maps as well. The Low mode
also uses smaller textures
Planets details: change planets tessellation
for smoother rendering.
Point sprites: change the way the star are rendered (simple
point or using a sprite).
Sun flare : enable or disable sun lens flare
effects.
Shadows : enable shadow rendering of the planet on the rings
(see Saturn).
Bloom : Enable fullscreen effects bloom.
Computations Options
Refraction : Enable atmospheric refraction
correction.
Location : Select which planet/satellite you are viewing
from.
Topocentric : Compute topocentric instead of geocentric
position.
Time Display : Display format in 24 or 12 hours
format.
Max Stars magnitude : Select max star magnitude to display
(up to 8.5).
Preset
Planet : Pick your world from a list (ie Earth, Mars
etc..)
Country and town: Pick your location from a list. You
can modify this list by changing the LOCATION.XML
file.
Custom position: Click on the world map. Fine tune with the
mouse wheel or up and down to fine tune the position
(longitude, latitude and altitude if known). Use left shift
to speed up fine tuning.
GMT: Display time offset between the
Greenwich Mean Time. GMT+1.00 means 1 hour ahead the
Greenwich Mean Time. You can modify this value (if wrong) by
changing the 'tz' value in the LOCATION.XML file (can
be edited by using the SkyORB Location Tool (Windows only or
compatible .NET platforms))
Real-Time: change the date and hour. Use
real-time' in order to use the system clock.
Custom
Time: Enter the year, month, day, hour, minute and
seconds of the observation day. To change the date and time,
be sure that the preset is ' unlocked' (lock at the
upper right corner) and the Custom Time is enabled. Then
changes the day / month / year with mouse wheel or keyboard
up / down, or by clicking on the field and enter the values
by using the keyboard. Valid years are - 3000 to
+3000
Atmospheric parameters : if you have enabled the
'Refraction Adjustment' settings, you can change the
current local temperature and barometric pressure.
SMT or WNT means Summer Time or Winter Time.
Sun and Moon
icon button display sunclock and moonclock. Sunclock
displays on the worldmap in dark shading the region where the
sun is set. And the moonclock display in white the region
when the moon has risen.
? and + button display
? display all
available locations and + let you have a bigger map. You can
change the current site (viewing from the Earth by changing
in the display setttings (Main Menu, Computations
Options).
Ephemeris
The Sun ephemeris (on the
left).
display the rise time and set of the sun and the transit time
(time when the sun is the highest). Also display time
remaining before the next event (rise or set).
The
Civil/Nautical/Am.twilight/Ast.twilight display different twilight
times
The Moon and lanets and Moon ephemeris (on the right).
display the rise time and of the of the moon and others
planet. Click on the title to change.
Local
view
The local view page display the current of the
location defined in the preset page.
During the day, Sun and moon position is displayed, and if an
solar eclipses are simulated.
During night, star map is displayed and constellation
charts.
If the COMETS.XML is updated (Using Auto Update and MPC
Update), the comets and minor planets are displayed too.
Use the mouse to rotate the head up, down and left, and use
the left mouse button to pick up a body (planet or stars).
Use middle mouse button and move up and down in order to zoom
in/zoom out.
Use the Starmap button in order to hide/display constellation
chart and celestial grid.
Space
View
Use the Target button in order to select the body to visit
and will be able to travel from planet to planet. (Use the
mouse wheel or up and down and press ENTER).
Use the mouse to rotate around the planets and use the middle
button and move up and down to zoom/in out.
The mouse wheel let you go far/away from the selected
body.
Next the target button, you change between the Orbit view and
the Real view. Orbit view shows the whole solar system (size
of the planets has been exagerated). You can go back to the
regular view by pressing the button again.
Software
update
Let you check if you are running the latest version of the
program. You can also get the latest MPC data. The program
will then download the latest MPC data, update the software
without the needs of restarting
System
information
Display information on your system like video card
information, processor.
Customization
You can get the latest MPC data directly from the
application. Go to Software Update and Update MPC. Press
'tilda' key in order to show the console and see
where the files are copied from.
You can add your own location and change it (if wrong).
You need to edit the LOCATION.XML file. You can opening it
from the Start Menu, Programs, Realtech VR, SkyORB'05,
User Location or using the SkyORB Location Editor (requires
.NET framework 1.1 installed).
Under MacOS X, it is location in your Library, Preferences,
Realtech VR, SkyORB.
The format is pretty simple. First locate the
'planet' name (Earth), the country, the place name.
Then change the longitude (lon) in degrees and the latitude
(lat). you can set the elevation by using 'alt'.
Change the time zone in hour by modifying the 'tz'
value of the country. You can also change the daylight saving
time by adding 'dsl' with value of 60 for 60 minutes
when using daylight saving. time.
<planet name="EARTH"> <country
name="Sweden" tz="1.0"> <place
name="Stockholm" lon="13.750"
lat="61.883"/> </country>
Search
Engine
There is an icon at the left right corner of the screen which
is a powerful search engine, quite similar to the MacOS X
10.4 'Spotlight' feature.
Click on it and type a few letter. It will displays the
closest match of your query, sorted by type : Location,
Country, Star, Nebular, Constellation, Comet, Asteroid, Moon,
Planet, Preset and Setting.
If you the current page is the Preset page and you are
selecting a Town or Country or Preset in the search result,
the preset will change accordingly.
If you the current page is the Local View, select a star in
the search results, will select and target automatically to
the one elected. You can also changes preset and location as
well.
Credits
Most of the planet maps are from David Seal's site.
The Mars, Moon, and Pluto textures and bump maps are all from
James Hastings-Trew's collection. Some of the prettiest
planet maps around are at http://apollo.spaceports.com/~jhasting/
The Earth texture was created by NASA using data from the
MODIS instrument aboard the Terra satellite. Further
information is available from
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/
Vislimit by Project Pluto.
HYG Database from David Nash.
Comets, Asteroids, and Planetary positions, rise and set
times algorithms based from Paul Schlyter, Stockholm, Sweden
and Steve's Moshier epheremide (for Moon and Planets
positions).
Accurate planets positions using Plan404 by Steve
Moshier.
Messier database from SEDS.
Accurate Saturn and Jupiter moons positions using LunarCPP by
Project Pluto.
Special
thanks
The Celestia project, an other real-time space
simulation project, which was our reference during this
project development.
MoonCalc for computations verifications.
Thanks for Alexel, Arekkusu, Ralf for MacOS X test. German
version by Otto Schmaelzle. Russian version and beta testing
by Roman Riapolov.
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