SpeedSix.NightSky   (Discreet Box19)



PURPOSE

The night sky as viewed from a given location on Earth. The star positions, magnitude and spectral properties are taken from public databases. Graphic twinkles can be added.

nightskya.jpg nightskyb.jpg



INPUT CLIPS

 1: Background



NightSky   CONTROL PAGE

Longitude D  (Number  Min: -180, Max: 180, Default: 0)
Longitude M  (Number  Min: -60.0, Max: 60.0, Default: -10.0)
Latitude D  (Number  Min: -90, Max: 90, Default: 51)
Latitude M  (Number  Min: -60.0, Max: 60.0, Default: 30.0)
     If you know the location required in Degrees and Minutes, Longitude and Latitude on the Earths surface, enter them here. These values will be overwritten when you enter a text location.

Altitude  (Number  Min: -90.0, Max: 90.0, Default: 0.0)
     The distance an object appears to be above the horizon. The angle is measured up from the closest point on the horizon.

Azimuth  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 360.0, Default: 0.0)
     The Azimuth of an object is the angular distance along the horizon to the location of the object. By convention, azimuth is measured from north towards the east along the horizon.

Location  (Text String)
     A string representation of the location in terms of the major cities in the world. Enter Country:City (usually) in here if you do not know the exact longitude/latitude co-ordinates. For example UK:London. The major cities in the world have been included, although there are some odd omissions and inclusions. Not to mention mis-spellings.Here is the full list of valid values:

Year  (Number  Min: 1900, Max: 2297, Default: 2001)
Month  (Number  Min: 1, Max: 12, Default: 1)
Day  (Number  Min: 1, Max: 31, Default: 1)
Hour  (Number  Min: 0, Max: 23, Default: 0)
Minute  (Number  Min: 0, Max: 59, Default: 0)
     Enter the time and date of when you want to look at the sky.
Note: You can determine the end of the world with this effect.

UT Offset  (Number  Min: -12, Max: 12, Default: 0)
     Universal time Offset, the time given in the Year, Month, Day, Hour, Minute fields is the time relative to the Prime Meridian running through Greenwich, England. If you have entered a location city and it has been accepted, then this value will be adjusted automatically.

Magnitude  (Number  Min: 1, Max: 16, Default: 16)
     Stars smaller than the magnitude setting will not be drawn. The stars database includes stars from magnitude 1 [biggest] to magnitude 16 [smallest]. Smaller stars are not normally visible to the naked eye and you have not got a telescope in this effect.

MagScale  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 10.0)
     This scales the range of the magnitude. At 0.0 all the stars will be drawn at the same size. At the maximum of 100.0 the smallest stars will be much smaller than the largest. The higher the value the more difference in size between the smallest and the largest. The star size can then be scaled by the global Scale value to suit your desires.

VField  (Number  Min: 0.5, Max: 179.0, Default: 50.0)
     The field of view; the bigger the value the wider the angle of view.

IgnoreMag  (Checkbox  Default: Off)
     This is only active in points mode. All the stars will be the same intensity.

IgnoreSpec  (Checkbox  Default: Off)
Off: the stars use their given spectral value to given them colour.
On: all the stars are white.

Scale  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 10.0)
     Globally scale the soft stars from their magnitude value.

Sharpen  (Number  Min: 1.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 20.0)
     Sharpen the bright cores of the Bright Point stars.

Demos  (List Box  Options: Plough Bold | Plough Subtle | Pole Bold | Pole Subtle | Max Angle | Wide Angle | North Pole | South Pole | Gentle | Bolder | Bright | Wild, Default: Plough Bold)
Select a preset to get you going.
DrawStyle  (List Box  Options: Points | Soft Stars | Bright Point, Default: Soft Stars)
Styles of rendering of the star field.
Points: are literally a single pixel representation of the star. The intensity and colour are controlled by the Magnitude and Spectral settings. Animation of the movement of the stars with this setting will result in the stars stepping along the lines and pixels rather than moving smoothly; but it is fast.
Soft Stars: are drawn with an aliased brush, the size and colour determined by the Magnitude and Spectral settings. These move smoothly.
Bright Point: stars are similar to the Soft Stars but a central pure white core is added.


Twinkle   CONTROL PAGE

Add Twinkle  (Checkbox  Default: Off)
     Turn on some twinkles for the stars.

Twinkles  (Number  Min: 0, Max: 8, Default: 8)
     Points on the star.

Streak Length  (Number  Min: 0, Max: 1000, Default: 14)
     Maximum length of the twinkle shards.

Streak Str  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 100.0, Default: 25.0)
     Brightness of the twinkle.

Syncronise Orientation  (Checkbox  Default: Off)
Off: the twinkles are orientated differently.
On: all the twinkles are at the same angle.

Streak Rot  (Number  Min: 0.0, Max: 360.0, Default: 3.0)
     Angle of rotation for all twinkles.

Range  (Number  Min: 1, Max: 16, Default: 4)
     Remember reading about Magnitude? Only stars with a magnitude smaller than the value will get a twinkle.

Index