I want to make a virtual simulation of some planets in our solar system. Our current generation might miss out on the chance to walk on the surface of the moon or mars and as such have to rely on scientific accounts and visualisations.
If I could make an intractable 3D environment, then it would make these planets explorable to everyone.
The simulation can be done in fairly low 3D, as long as it is geographically correct, it would still serve its purpose.
Depending on the planet you are on, the gravity would be different, thus changing how fast your character can walk and jump around in.
This could be achieved by making a sphere in Cinema 4D and wrapping a high quality moon texture round it. I can then import this to unity and blow it up so I have a reference of where the craters / sea’s / points of interest are.
Using data from google I can determine relatively how high/wide these are. Once I have built this on my sphere in Unity, I can then delete my imported C4D sphere and add faux gravity so my player can run round the planet.
Alternatively I could do a flat map (as we don’t know whats on the dark side of the moon) and apply the moon texture. This will then give me a reference of where the craters are placed on the moon and then downloading them from NASA’s assets library could import them into the scene. This would then give me the right scale.
To do:
– Get orthographic maps of the moon
– Mark out important locations
– Make simple unity planet with first person controller so can walk around
– Make models of things (Apollo landings), Mars Rover etc
Drawings/IMAGES:
Important Locations
– 6 Appollo Landings
– American Flag in ground
– Placque
– Tycho Crater
– Copernicus Crater
Models:
http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/models
Walkable Unity Planet: