Planet Filter's Planet Tab
This tab allows you to customize the underlying planet. Settings include: size, shape, quality, and viewing controls for the planet.
Size - a slider control whose range is from the smallest on the top end to the largest on the lower end of the slider. This control determines the size of the planet within the preview window and ultimately the size of the planet where it will be rendered.
Shape - a slider control whose range is from the most spherical (ball shaped) on the top end to the most elliptical (oval-shaped) at the lower end. Since most planets aren't perfect circles, this gives you control to determine its shape.
Quality - Low quality has more of a jagged outline of the planet and any color variation of the texture. However, it takes much less time to render. The high quality provides 16 times better quality but also takes 16 times longer to render the image. You may want to use the low-quality mode when determining the general appearance of the planet and then switch to the high-quality mode for the planet's final rendering.
Viewing Section
This section has many controls:
- Define where the axes of the planet is. We recommend you try this out with a planet that has distinguishable poles. It will be easier to understand how the axes changes when the X, Y, & Z coordinates are changed.
- Define the position of the planet in the preview window. You can move the planet out of the preview window in order to view part of the planet instead of its entirety.
- Define the Field of View for the planet. This is explained below.
- Define the viewing distance of the planet within the preview window. This is another way to push the planet far back within the viewing window or "zoom" it up close.
Axes Control
X - horizontal axes. Imagine a line slicing directly through the planet's middle like an equator. However, when the X value is changed, it actually rotates the planet around this middle line. Values range from 0 to 360 where 0 is no rotation at all and 360 is complete rotation (basically the same as 0). If you wanted to view the north pole, you would place 90 in the X field. The planet appears to turn +90 degrees southward. To completely flip the planet and make it appear upside down, X needs to be set to 180 which means you have flipped the planet halfway. To view the south pole, X should be set to 270 degrees. We recommend you try these controls out on a planet that has distinguishable poles and planet surface to get an idea of how it works. Note: the examples above are assuming a Y=0 and Z=0.
Y - vertical axes. This works the same as the X-axes except the planet is rotated to the right by the number of degrees specified. For instance 180 degrees shows the back side of the planet. We recommend you try these controls out on a planet that has distinguishable poles and planet surface to get an idea of how it works. Note: the example above assumes that X=0 and Z=0.
Z - viewing axes. Imagine a line drawn from your view directly through the middle of the planet. When the planet spins around this axes, it rotates it similar to a hand on a clock. Imagine the north pole located at 12 o'clock. When Z equals 90 degrees, the north pole is placed at 3 o'clock. At 180 degrees, it has flipped completely upside down and appears at 6 o'clock with the south pole appearing at the top. When Z = 270, the north pole appears at 9 o'clock. We recommend you try these controls out on a planet that has distinguishable poles and planet surface to get an idea of how it works. Note: The example above assumes that X and Y both equal zero (0).
Position Planet in View
This is a powerful setting. It allows you to move the planet partially out of the viewing area. For this control, X represents a horizontal line in the viewing area, which moves the planet sideways (left or right) with 0 being the center of the viewing area. The range is -100 to +100 where the farthest to the left is -100 and the farthest to the right is +100. Y represents a vertical line within the viewing area where +100 places the planet in the top portion of the viewing area where only the bottom of the planet is displayed. -100 displays the top of the planet. When Y=0, the planet is displayed in the middle of the imaginary vertical line of the preview window. If you want the planet to be displayed in the center of the preview window, set X and Y to zero.
Note: Several other settings can be used with this control to position the planet within the viewing area and ultimately the area for the planet to be rendered. Try using the "Size" setting and "Viewing Distance" setting to manipulate the exact placement of the planet within the preview window.Field of View
Values for this setting range from 10 to 75 degrees. Imagine you are looking out a window at the planet. If you set this value to 10 degrees, your viewing window of the planet is from the center of the viewing area to 10 degrees above and below that point. So, if your planet is centered within the window, you will be looking at the middle of the planet as if you are zoomed in. When "Field of View" is set to 75 degrees, the "viewing window" is larger, that is, from the middle to 75 degrees above and below the planet which is a much larger viewing area.
Viewing Distance
The range of values is "Near" to "Far". This is another way of adjusting the location of the planet within the preview window and ultimately on your image.
PREVIEW WINDOW: As you change the different parameters, the preview window is updated so you can see the effect that the changes made to the planet. If you choose "OK", this planet* will be placed in your pre-selected area in your image editor. If no pre-selected area was chosen, it will be centered in your entire image area. The planet can also be placed on a transparent layer.
* The planet created is based on random number generators, so the planet placed on your image may not be exactly the same as in the preview window, but it will be very similar.
Copyright © 2005 to Diard Software, All Rights Reserved.