Trouble with Creating a Solar System

Support Basics & Interface
1

Hello all! I have been working on a demonstration for my kids in my 3D club here at my school involving a solar system. I have been using the tute on solar systems from Geno Ruffalo that was once on Blendermania. It involves parenting planets to bezier circles to control orbital rotation.

Now the problem, this only works for perfectly circular orbits. How does one get a ellipitical orbit? I thought of using curvepath/curvefollow but can’t seem to get the orbits to work correctly. Mercury completes her solar orbit in 88 frames and sits there waiting for everyone to catch up instead of continuing on repeatedly.

What am I missing here? Do I have to use the IPO to get the orbits to spin in the correct timing? How do I get them to move more elliptical instead of circular?

How do you get the planet to tilt at the correct angle and stay ay that angle al the way around a orbit?

HELP ME PLEASE :stuck_out_tongue:

thanks in Advance!!!

Cujo31

2

Hi!

Great project… I would do like this, Use CurvePath on a Bezier ellipse then:

1 - select the bezier,
2 - open an ipo window
3 - select ‘curve ipos’ button
4 - There is only one possible IPO, ‘Speed’
5 - Place two points there CTRL LMB twice, random
6 - TAB to editmode,
7 - with ‘N’ button edit the coordinates of the nodes so they are (1,0) and (88,1) for mercury (if you want 1 orbit=88 frames around 3 secs or any multiple you like
8 - Press the ‘Sets Extend mode to ciclic’ button (the one resembling a ‘W’)
9 - your Speed IPO becomes a sawy thing…
10 - You’re done

Good luck

Stefano

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: S68 on 2002-03-28 00:19 ]</font>