WHO AM I?
SPACE FX
SPACE FX TUTORIAL
PLANETS IN STEREO
LINKS
CONTACT ME
CREDITS
IT'S HERE!! SPACE FX 3.0!
DOS protected mode and Win9x versions.
CLICK HERE to see a 640x480 screen shot of the
new version which will run in truecolour modes up to 1024x768.
Requires 486++, SVGA card and at least 8M RAM.
There are more than 30 planets to play with,
and RINGS!
NOTE: THIS IS A BETA COPY: There
will be some unfinished business!
Spacefx is now FREEWARE for Alpha/Beta version testing!
DOS | Win9x | File Name | Size | Stage/Build | Date and description |
X | spfxdos3.zip | 260k | Alpha 11 | 24 June 1999: DOS program and Docs. | |
X | X | spfxtop3.zip | 1.8M | Beta 11 | 24 June 1999: Planet Topology database. |
X | X | spfxsup3.zip | 345k | Beta 11 | 24 June 1999: Support files and images. |
X | spfxwin3.zip | 378k | Alpha 11 | 24 June 1999: Windows 9x program and Docs. |
SPACE FX allows every man and his
dog to make up realistic "outer space" type animations using
real images of planets, moons and spacecraft. This can be used for a neat
intro to your own program or for educational purposes.
Why not use it to generate a nifty image for your web page?
In order to make up an animation (a movie), you need a way of generating
the individual "frames". A 10 second movie displayed at 24 frames
per second requires 240 separate images. That's a lot of work!
If only someone could come up with a program to generate those images automatically...
SPACE FX version 1.0: has the following helpful features:-
Just press the DO-ALL button to generate up to 1000 true-colour images!.
STEREO
IMAGES can also be generated with this unusual package.
(View this image with a "cross-eye" technique)
The old version (spacefx2.zip) is still available from here.
I recommend getting the latest version 3.0
(See above table for the files to download). Version 1.0 is
available from SIMTEL as a shareware
version (1.4M) (yes!)
which includes the planets out to Jupiter and its major moons as well as
a couple of sample spacecraft images I found. If you find that this link
is busy, try firing up WS_FTP, point it at
ftp.cdrom.com and go to the pub/simtelnet/msdos/graphics
directory.
SPACE FX Version 3.0 uses protected
mode (DOS) or Windows 9x. It requires at least a 486DX to support the large
file sizes, preferably a pentium class machine to cut down on the coffee
breaks. If all you have is a 386SX16 and no copro, well, a run around the
block will do you good! Take in the stars, breathe the fresh air!
If you get no joy from the links above, please leave an email message and
I'll try to send you a copy as an attachment. As long as your email host
puts up with 1.8meg attachments, that is!
Version 3.0 contains additional planets and moons (out to Pluto) and a few extra features that I could not squeeze into the the older versions (such as Saturn's rings and increased resolution).
To see the capability of SPACE FX
why not download a sample animation?
(182k) created with version 1.
It shows a comet and a near-Earth asteroid narrowly missing a spinning
satelite (Commsat1) in high Earth orbit as two spacecraft whiz by! (Hey!
It's dangerous up there..) Note that this is a "zipped" archive
and will need to be UNZIPPED to extract the animation (spfxdemo.fli).
On my 486, the 60 frames in the demo animation took only 6 minutes to generate! DTA compiled the FLI animation in just one minute. Imagine what a faster computer could do...
To convert the animation frames to an animated GIF, I use Paintshop Pro to reduce to 256 colours and then Animagic to put the animated Gif together. The spinning Jupiter in the top RHS of this page is an example.
To convert the animation frames to a proper animation FLIC you really need DTA (Dave's Targa Animator). It works like a treat and is cheap as well. You also need FLI player such as AAPLAY. In Windows 3.1, the Multimedia Player should also display FLI files.
Many graphics/paint programs will convert individual TGA files to 256
colour images.
I have used Paint Shop Pro, but there are many similar programs around.
You might also look for some Ray-tracing software to generate some nifty
spacecraft of your own. I've tried both POVRay
and VIVID and liked them both.
A good 3D modeller to try is MORAY.
You can make models of everything from spacecraft to teacups and pass the
files to POVRay to render.
Net-surfers stuck on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (Australia,
New Zealand etc.) can use ARCHIE.AU to obtain VIVID
and DTA
programs.
Hardware:
SPACE FX requires a 486 or better
IBM-compatible at least 4-8 Meg RAM, 5Mb hard disk space and an SVGA card
with a minimum of 640x480 256 colour display. Since a 320x200 true-colour
file takes up 192k disk space, you will need plenty of hard-disk real estate
for your space epic!
Contact
yours truly:
For further information about my work or the items mentioned above,
please email
me!
SPACE FX Version 1 has been accepted on the SimtelNet archive
for download. Check local mirrors under the directory: msdos/graphics/spacefx1.zip
The next update (Version 3.0) is now here!
Who am I?
I am a Professional Electrical
Engineer and sometime programmer with an interest in animation graphics,
raytracing and astronomy. I do most of my programming in C and a little
asm when necessary. I have also used Visual Basic and am currently trying
out C++.
These days I make myself busy looking after my wife and three children who all have chronic asthma and other assorted medical conditions. Check out the alt.support.asthma newsgroup for discussion about this disease. The children do home schooling with the Brisbane School of Distance Education.
I am always on the lookout for some part-time work, having worked in the engineering field for nearly 30 years. So if you have a Power station on the blink, an Electric Locomotive that just wont go, or need someone to do a little CAD work on a home computer, give me a call!
I'm a member of the Institution of
Engineers, Australia. My last employment covered many diverse areas
of engineering such as Automated Test Equipment for PCB analysis and Quality
Management to AS/ISO/9001,9002.
I live on the beautiful Mt. Tamborine in the Gold Coast hinterland in sunny
Queensland, Australia.
Visitors since July 1999
The Fine Print !
This HTML page and all contents, text, graphics
etc, (exept geocities material) is the sole property of Anthony M. Hugo
MIEAust CPeng, copyright 1997 - 2001. Permission is hereby granted to copy
this material for personal use or educational use if the teacher isn't
looking. Commercial use by corporate entities, colourful sporting identities
and all you rich folks requires specific permission from me. So there!
Credits
This HTML page contains images directly or indirectly
derived from NASA/JPL/Hubble/Telescope/voyager/spacecraft data suitably
modified for use in SPACE FX by the author. If you use such material in
your own creations, please credit their use in the absence of specific
permission.
Warbird.gif and xwing.gif derived from scene files at the POVRay web site.
Jupiter.gif Sunrise.jpg Spfx.jpg and ship.gif are my fault.
Copyright symbols, logos and abbreviations are owned by copyright owners,
logo designers and Abbr. Co. ppl. Whatever happens, happens. But only sometimes!
I always wondered whether anybody ever reads the fine print at the bottom
of documents like this. My advise is to use an electron microscope. Cheers!