Summary
This sketch simulates the Solar System, showcasing the Sun, planets, moons, and asteroid belts. The animation provides a dynamic experience, allowing users to interact with the scene using keyboard and mouse inputs. It captures the essence of space through lighting, orbital mechanics, and rotational control, bringing the cosmos to life.
Purpose
To implement a 3D sketch, animating and lighting the scene.
Highlights
This project includes a welcoming screen that provides instructions on how to interact with the scene. Users can zoom in and out using the UP and DOWN arrow keys, adjusting the camera distance in 25 unit steps. Additionally, the view rotation is controlled by the mouse for full scene exploration, with fine-tuned speed control to avoid over-rotation.
The planets and moons are textured and labelled, though initialized with non-realistic sizes, distances, and orbital speeds. The scene features twinkling stars randomly positioned in the 3D space, each with dynamic brightness for a more realistic look. The planetary orbits are circular (not elliptical) and lack tilted angles for a simplified representation. Moons orbit their respective planets: Earth with its Moon, Mars with Phobos and Deimos, and Jupiter with its four major moons (Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa).
The simulation also includes textured and labelled asteroids with irregular shapes created by scaling spheres along random axes, forming belts like the Asteroid Belt and the Kuiper Belt. Finally, the lighting setup features ambient and point lights to enhance realism.