The Solar System - An educational program using UDK

[seescruffyrun]

Hello everyone.

This is a project i have been working on in my spare time, an educational program that can be used at home or in schools regarding the solar system and space in general.

Please forgive the lack of audio in the video. This is a work in progress, and having not touched on the audio side of things yet so i decided to just keep it out entirely. The video is a quick 6 minute fly through of the project as of January 2012.

Edit: This is an updated video as of March 31


The project consists of:

The sun, 8 planets and all their moons. The time and positions of these are all accurate, and with the time function you are able to fast forward or rewind time to your desired date and see where the planets lie in relation to one another.

The 88 Constellations are also included, allowing the viewer to see them all in relation to one another. By double clicking one of them, the camera will fly to a location with the constellation centered and information on the side. Exiting this menu will fly the viewer back to the original planet you left.

One of the newest features (not shown in the video) is an option to turn on all the worlds countries. With this function, an outline of the countries borders will be shown, and when the viewer puts the mouse over a specific one, it will lift out, showing the location shape and name. This is a GREAT way to help kids learn about the countries of the world.

Each planet can be viewed freely, zoomed into and out of, scaled up for easy viewing or scaled down for accurate viewing.

The planets and Sun have a “Gravitational well” option illustrating the pull it has on the bodies around it.

There is also a cross section option illustrating the inner layers to each planet.


(Update)
There is now a Facebook page and Website for 'The Solar System'.

http://www.explorethesolarsystem.com...ar_System.html
http://www.facebook.com/Explore.The.Solar.System


I would love to hear what you all think of this project and how i can expand on what i already have.

Many thanks to everyone who has already helped me with its growth thus far. It's truly appreciated.

[Prea]

Looks really great. Keep it up.

[micahpharoh]

My mind has been blown. I was thinking about making something like this... until I realized what a huge amount of work it would be. Great job, it's looking fantastic.

[stevelois]

Amazing work

A little classic or space music track & this will be a damn huge WOW !

[McTune]

Wow Time well Spent I wanna see more !
let us all know when your done man.

[SantoToribio]

This is nothing less than astonishing - tremendous job good sir!!

[TheAgent]

Very detailed and informational. Great Job.

[seescruffyrun]

Thanks everyone!

I'm not entirely sure when it'll be ready, however i have completed a new feature for it. Now when you're viewing earth you'll be able to turn on 'countries'. In this mode the country will pull out from the planet when you place your mouse over it.

I'll be posting back within the next week or so with an update, until then any critique is appreciated. Hopefully this next one will have sound, maybe not a finalized version, but at least some reasonable 'place holders'.

[bobtheturtle]

Really cool, and this would look good in mass effect!

keep it up, music should be added

[skwisdemon666]

I can't wait to see it when it is finished, It already looks so good.

[foxrenderfarm]

Very good work,that I have seen your strong patience when doing this!

[seescruffyrun]

Hey everyone.

I have been frantically at work on getting this thing done, and it's nearly there.

This video is similar to the first one, but more complete and with more features. The main one would have to be the addition of Earths Countries (2:52 in the video)

[seescruffyrun]

There is now a Facebook page and Website for 'The Solar System'.

http://www.explorethesolarsystem.com...ar_System.html
http://www.facebook.com/Explore.The.Solar.System

[Jetfire]

Really superb.
(I still refer to your tutorials, thanks!)

[Private Tux]

This is really awesome, you really made a strong recommendation here (eventually a good practice), I guess all of young children gets ready to explore the power of science! And also stickied.

[ZeJudge]

This is very good! Well done!

[stevelois]

The previous vid was wow but the new one is really awesome !

Superb project, hope you reach your donation goal & more

[box-0]

this is really an amazing job, i made something like that awile ago but was pre rendered and integrated in flash(but turned out too heavy anyway for a website :P).

[Supercokis]

Very nice job seescruffyrun.

You made everything looks so smooth that it almost feels like I was flying on space

Keep it up the amazing work!

[seescruffyrun]

Just a friendly neighborhood update.

The 'game' has been polished, tweaked and updated, and will be ready for sale on May 21, 2012.

You will be able to pick it up directly through the website at:
www.ExploreTheSolarSystem.com

I just want to give a quick thanks to everyone who's given input and offered assistance throughout the project, it's been greatly appreciated!

[Icemopper]

What's the price? This looks incredible!

[seescruffyrun]

Thanks 'Icemopper'!
It's available for download with a Creditcard or Paypal for $5.99.
http://www.explorethesolarsystem.com/Purchases.html

[Hotshot]

astonishing

Can you see how the moon is making the tide?

[KazeoHin]

Thanks 'Icemopper'!
It's available for download with a Creditcard or Paypal for $5.99.
http://www.explorethesolarsystem.com/Purchases.html

The only thing that could make this better would be narration by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

I'm not joking, send him an email.

[Jacky]

Beautiful work!
I was wondering, are the asteroid belt and comets included in the finished version?

[emraldis]

I can has?

[C0l3]

Wow, that was well worth having a look at. My kids love looking at the stars in the evening, I'll have to buy this now so I can be a smarty and tell em which ones they are.

[LordNelson7]

Really cool!

[lebaje]

The only thing that could make this better would be narration by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

I'm not joking, send him an email.

LOl, forget Neil DegrasseTyson, bring morgan freeman !!!

Amazing quality!

[Kelt'ar]

Very noice. Excellent

[Winwarproductions]

By far--the best thing I have ever seen--ever within UDK. I couldn't even finish the video, I just had to comment on how cool this video is, and inspirational as well.
I thought it was going to be simplistic, but there was a lot of interaction with the environment and in depth navigation as well. I've always been intrigued with space and this just really revved up my interest.lol. Thanks.

[Brandywine]

I think this is my first ever comment on these forums - just happened upon this topic by chance in my google reader. I had no idea this was finished and available! I'd subscribed to your youtube channel purely out of interest in this project, but you never added any more videos! Well done, looking forward to the iOs version.

[seescruffyrun]

I am happy to announce that the iOS version of 'The Solar System: Explore your Backyard' is now available for purchase on iTunes.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sola...1182?ls=1&mt=8

Further details and my personal contact can be found at the projects homepage.
http://www.explorethesolarsystem.com

[FraktalZero]

Really beautiful project.

[Gaara]

Awesome!
Keep up the good work!

[serranovfx]

Love it!

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk 2

[Sixoul]

Why is the PC version taken off? I'd much rather see this on my PC than my iPad. I might end up buying the iPad version just because this seems so nice.

Does anyone know how accurate this is? Like if I take this to an astronomy professor would they end up pointing out a lot of inconsistencies with what is true?