Universe SandBox

[Fireproof]

I found this.
It is very fun and free.
http://universesandbox.com/

Tell me if you like it.

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

Nice find! The web installer takes ages to download though (still downloading)..

 

[Quick_Nick]

I'm pretty sure someone posted this a few weeks ago... anyways, I did download it already and it is a very cool simulator!

 

[Linguofreak]

I notice from the site that the install location is apparently pretty much fixed. i.e: "%userprofile%\Local Settings\Apps"

Which indicates a pretty shoddily written program (or at least installer) to me. I haven't seen any program written since the DOS era that has a fixed install location.

Looks at least like neat eye candy...

 

[DanDixon]

Thanks to everyone for checking out my program. I'm the developer of Universe Sandbox.

______________
I appologize to Scrooge McDuck for the slow installation. I trust that it did eventually work. I'm investigating moving to a different hosting provider which may help this problem.

______________
Linguofreak said...
"the install location is apparently pretty much fixed... Which indicates a pretty shoddily written program (or at least installer) to me"

The installer is using Microsoft's ClickOnce deployment technology to make the install and updates as simple as possible for the end user (and for me the developer). So it's unfair to claim that it's shoddily written, but fair to say that the install options are limited (and this is the design of ClickOnce).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClickOnce

______________
I'm working on an update that will let you check out the positions of stars near our sun and see their motions over time. You'll also be able to run simulations of colliding galaxies. This should be out by the end of the month (June 2008). Universe Sandbox checks for updates every time you run it so you'll always have the latest version.

______________
And a correction. Universe Sandbox isn't free but it's not restricted either. If you enjoy Universe Sandbox, please buy a copy for the price you think it's worth.

______________
Thanks again. I hope you enjoy this program as much as I have enjoyed creating it for everyone.

 

[eveningsky339]

Thanks to everyone for checking out my program. I'm the developer of Universe Sandbox.

______________
I appologize to Scrooge McDuck for the slow installation. I trust that it did eventually work. I'm investigating moving to a different hosting provider which may help this problem.

______________
Linguofreak said...
"the install location is apparently pretty much fixed... Which indicates a pretty shoddily written program (or at least installer) to me"

The installer is using Microsoft's ClickOnce deployment technology to make the install and updates as simple as possible for the end user (and for me the developer). So it's unfair to claim that it's shoddily written, but fair to say that the install options are limited (and this is the design of ClickOnce).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClickOnce

______________
I'm working on an update that will let you check out the positions of stars near our sun and see their motions over time. You'll also be able to run simulations of colliding galaxies. This should be out by the end of the month (June 2008). Universe Sandbox checks for updates every time you run it so you'll always have the latest version.

______________
And a correction. Universe Sandbox isn't free but it's not restricted either. If you enjoy Universe Sandbox, please buy a copy for the price you think it's worth.

______________
Thanks again. I hope you enjoy this program as much as I have enjoyed creating it for everyone.

Thank you, Dan. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

Will you be working on anything else in the future?

 

[Linguofreak]

Linguofreak said...
"the install location is apparently pretty much fixed... Which indicates a pretty shoddily written program (or at least installer) to me"

The installer is using Microsoft's ClickOnce deployment technology to make the install and updates as simple as possible for the end user (and for me the developer). So it's unfair to claim that it's shoddily written, but fair to say that the install options are limited (and this is the design of ClickOnce).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClickOnce

Very limited. OK, it's not shoddy programming on your part (sorry for the implication that it was), but it *is* one more of Microsoft's "baby the end user" ideas, which make things easier for the most techno-illiterate 5% of users at the expense of taking away options for the rest.

The majority of the time spent on any install is going to be in download and in the install process, not in the time the user spends clicking on things. The "simplifications" for the end user simply take away useful options (such as install location) that anybody who has performed more than three installs on a normal installer is going to know how to use (and normal installers generally are good enough at guiding the user through that even those who have never used such an installer before have a good chance of figuring it out).

Also, normal installers are much better for the end user security wise. They get downloaded first, then they install, so they can be scanned between download and install. With this installer, download is part of install, so there's no scanning until after the install. I trusted you enough to install first, scan later, but it *is* bad practice (especially given that it auto-starts the program after the install) and someone like my dad probably would have refused to touch this program (and he'd probably have skinned me alive had he seen me doing it. Now that it's installed and scanned he'll probably just lecture me, considering that it turned out well, if he ever finds out, but...)

In short, it makes things easy for users that don't know their way around a computer at the expense of making things harder for those who do.

Other than the installer, it does look pretty good, and has a few features I've not seen before in a gravitational simulator (I'm going to have fun with the "change gravity" options), although I'd prefer a more typical interface instead of the half-transparent look here, which is both a bit hard on the eyes and uses up CPU cycles that could be used to make the sim run faster.

 

[Fireproof]

Thank you Dan how did you find orbiter
i have a new idea for the new update
how about you make it so that we can create our own earth and moon system bye hitting a planet with another planet making a moon
just like what happen with our moon

 

[Tex]

Hi Dan, welcome to the forum!

I checked out your website and downloaded several of your movie and music projects. I was very impressed, very nice work mate! I especially loved the piece 'July'. Thanks for sharing it and if you need anything feel free to PM me anytime.

Best regards,
-Tex

 

[James.Denholm]

Thanks Dan, it's an awesome little program. If I had a job and a credit card, I'd send you 5 or 10 USD via paypal or something. For now, concider it store credit . Do you have any plans for making a graphical interface for making new systems? 'cause I was planning to make a binary star system travelling towards a black hole, to test something I saw in a Time magazine (One of the stars gets sucked into the black hole, the other slingshots out of the area at a million miles a minute). But with the current system, that's not going to be easy.

 

[DanDixon]

Will you be working on anything else in the future?

Universe Sandbox isn't done and my ideas for new features are never ending... As I said in my earlier post I'm working on representing galaxies to scale and showing the nearest 1000 stars to our Sun. Future improvements will address the graphics (adding light emitting from stars) and the interface.

ClickOnce *is* one more of Microsoft's "baby the end user" ideas

You're right, but I'm not sure that most people care where stuff gets installed, they just want it to work (that may not be true for the more technical crowd on this forum). I do appreciate your suggestion and will continue to consider providing a normal setup file. You make a great point about perceived security issue.

I'm going to have fun with the "change gravity" options.

Totally... the Moons, Small Cluster is fun to play with. You can also turn gravity on and off with the 9 & 0 keys above O & P.

Thank you Dan how did you find orbiter?

One of the interesting things about website logs is that they show where the traffic comes from. It brought me straight to this page.

i have a new idea for the new update
how about you make it so that we can create our own earth and moon system bye hitting a planet with another planet making a moon
just like what happen with our moon

You can do that now with varying results: Open up the program and from the menu select "Fun Things to Do" then select "Cosmic Billiards"
Let the moons collapse and then fire a projectile at the group like the instructions indicate. Then right click on the new object, set its Explode velocity to 0 (click on 'None' near Explode), and then click 'Explode'. This breaks up the projectile into a cluster of moons that will break apart on collision.

I've played around with this idea a little and the results are interesting, but not very straight forward. Adding a feature to break up the object on impact and other adjustments to let one simulate the moon formation is on my list of things to do. Great suggestion.

You can also launch a body toward the cluster, explode the body, and then save the system so that you can replay the results. Let me know if you come up with anything cool.

nice work mate!

Thanks Tex!

Do you have any plans for making a graphical interface for making new systems?

It's on the list, but no promises as to when I'll get to it. You can start with a blank system and add new bodies into it using the projectile controls, but it wasn't really designed for this.

I was planning to make a binary star system travelling towards a black hole, to test something I saw in a Time magazine (One of the stars gets sucked into the black hole, the other slingshots out of the area at a million miles a minute). But with the current system, that's not going to be easy.

You're right. It's not very clear how you might go about getting started on that. This might help:

<System>
    <Body>
        <Object>Sun</Object>
        <Name>Black Hole</Name>
        <Mass>100 Sun</Mass>
        <Diameter>2 Sun</Diameter>
        <PositionX>-40000000</PositionX>
        <PositionY>-8000000</PositionY>
        <PositionZ>0</PositionZ>
        <VelocityX>0</VelocityX>
        <VelocityY>0</VelocityY>
        <VelocityZ>0</VelocityZ>
        <Settings>camera=dist:1181126773km,h:216,v:-28;timestep=1000</Settings>
    </Body>
    <Body>
        <Object>Sun</Object>
        <Name>Star 1</Name>
        <PositionX>-800000000km</PositionX>
        <PositionY>0</PositionY>
        <PositionZ>0</PositionZ>
        <VelocityX>100 km</VelocityX>
        <VelocityY>20 km</VelocityY>
        <VelocityZ>0</VelocityZ>
    </Body>
    <Body>
        <Object>Sun</Object>
        <Name>Star 2</Name>
        <PositionX>-830000000km</PositionX>
        <PositionY>0</PositionY>
        <PositionZ>0</PositionZ>
        <VelocityX>0</VelocityX>
        <VelocityY>0</VelocityY>
        <VelocityZ>0</VelocityZ>
        <Action>orbit=Star 1</Action>
    </Body>
</System>

The biggest problem I ran into is the time step. There's an auto time step feature that would make sense for this simulation, but it needs better tuning (this will be improved in a future release). In order to get Star 1 to to hit the Black Hole (and not jump over it because of the high timestep) I had to make the blackhole much larger than it actually would be.

But this should demonstrate the point and get you started, although I probably need to address the auto time step feature before you'll get good results (although you can decrease the time step manually as they bodies get closer together.) I imagine the Time article might have been talking about super massive black holes at the center of galaxies in which case my 100 sun black hole is too small.

Let me know if you come up with anything cool or have problems. You can send the system to me from inside Universe Sandbox with the 'Send System' link in New.



Thanks again to everyone for your interest.

 

[James.Denholm]

Thanks for that Dan, I'll give the thing a shot.

EDIT: Just from looking at the code, I noticed something: In the Time article, the diagram made it look like both stars orbited each other (Sort of like Pluto and Charon, I think?). I haven't run it yet, but it seems that only one of the stars orbits another, probably much bigger one.

EDIT: Ignore that. Interesting simulation, made me think a bit.

 

[DanDixon]

James,

I'd be interested in checking out this Time article and trying to more accurately set up the situation it describes. Is the article online?

And you're right... Pluto and Charon totally orbit each other (and you can see this in Universe Sandbox, load the system: Pluto & Moons.

The code I posted appears to only have one star orbiting the other, but the action sets up a velocity that results in a binary orbit.

Thanks for checking it out...

 

[DanDixon]

A new version of Universe Sandbox with galaxy collisions is now available:

Download it now...
http://universesandbox.com/
If you've already installed it, just run it again to update.

The latest version of Universe Sandbox has a number of new features and improvements including:

• Visualize galaxies and nearby stars in 3D and to scale
  • View the nearest 1000 stars to our sun and see their motion over time
  • View the nearest 70 galaxies to the Milky Way
  • View the 200 brightest galaxies
• Collide galaxies together; watch gravity rip them apart
• Loads faster than previous versions
• Auto time step and auto orbit features improved
• Enhanced introduction to the program
• Basic HUD now always visible

Let me know what you think of the new version... I like constructive criticism.

 

[tl8]

A new version of Universe Sandbox with galaxy collisions is now available:

Download it now...
http://universesandbox.com/
If you've already installed it, just run it again to update.

The latest version of Universe Sandbox has a number of new features and improvements including:

• Visualize galaxies and nearby stars in 3D and to scale
  • View the nearest 1000 stars to our sun and see their motion over time
  • View the nearest 70 galaxies to the Milky Way
  • View the 200 brightest galaxies
• Collide galaxies together; watch gravity rip them apart
• Loads faster than previous versions
• Auto time step and auto orbit features improved
• Enhanced introduction to the program
• Basic HUD now always visible

Let me know what you think of the new version... I like constructive criticism.

Performance has improved considerably. Any thoughts about integrating it into Orbiter, or vice versa?

 

[DanDixon]

Performance has improved considerably. Any thoughts about integrating it into Orbiter, or vice versa?

That's a cool idea. The basic concept of simulating gravity is the same in both programs (although I believe Orbiter's algorithm for handling changes in the time step is more advanced). Unfortunately I doubt that there would be much opportunity for code sharing between the projects. I would imagine that any integration would require writing lots of new code.

I have thought about adding a simplistic rocket ship feature, but if that happens it will be a while.

Thanks again for your interest.

 

[DanDixon]

I just posted a 75 second video that shows Universe Sandbox in action.

View the video now...
http://universesandbox.com/



I also moved the hosting of the software (not the website) to [ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=16427261"]Amazon's Simple Storage Service[/ame]. This should make installs and updates much faster.