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<h1 align="center"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><img src="cyclo.gif" height=125 width=180><br>
<img src="title.gif" height=80 width=450></font></h1>
<h1 align="center"> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="5" color="#006699"><i>The
offline user manual</i></font></h1>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000"><b>NOTE:
This manual is under construction. Some sections might be missing
or incomplete. </b></font> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#000000"><b>OU
is in beta so there're a few unresolved issues and we're sure there'll
be a lot of bugs waiting to show up. If you think you've found a bug
double check BUGS file first before reporting it to <a href="#contact">us</a>.</b></font></p>
<h2><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i><br>
Introduction</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">This
is the users's manual for OpenUniverse (OU) , a fun, fast and free
OpenGL space simulator. It currently focusses on the Solar System
and lets you visit all of its planets, most major moons and a vast
collection of smaller bodies in colorful, glorious and realtime
3D. If you've ever had a chance to visit Mercury or asteroid Geographos,
here you'll find them looking exactly the same way, following exactly
the same path as when you've left them.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>So
what exactly is OpenUniverse?</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Strictly
spoken it's a piece of software, simulating the Solar System's bodies
in 3D on your Windows or Linux PC (will work in most *NIX's as well).
In difference to quite a few other programs it does so in realtime.
Meaning you can view all the planets, moons and spaceships <i>move</i>
along their paths, trace them, follow them, orbit them and even
control them (time and spaceship contol). And you won't have to
fight your way through hordes of green, slimey and one-eyed aliens
for that ;-) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">If
you ask what it is besides a piece of software, we'd like to ask
you a few questions first: </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Are
you one of those people who always wondered how it would be to live
in the year 2000? Do you think you have a human right to know how
it's to be orbiting around Uranus? Do you support the search for
<i>terrestial</i> intelligence? Are you dissapointed with the progress
on interstellar space drives lately? Did you always wonder how it
would be to find people just like you? Do you want to explore and
expand the known space at home? </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">If
you answered a few of these questions with yes, then this is exactly
the right stuff for you. Try it, use it and visit it at <a href="http://www.openuniverse.org">www.openuniverse.org</a>.
You will find new stuff, new ideas and nice people all over the
place. And <i>you decide</i> whether OpenUniverse is just very asthetic,
purely fun, rather scientific or educational for you and your friends.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font color="#006699" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><i>System
requirements for Windows</i></font><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><i>:</i></font></h2>
<ul>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Windows
9X or NT (The Windows package contains all the stuff you need to
run OpenUniverse)</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">A
working hardware accelerated OpenGL driver</font></li>
</ul>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>System
requirements for Linux / *NIX:</i></font></h2>
<ul>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Linux
/ *NIX</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> OpenGL
library (Mesa 3.2 recommended,<a href="http://www.mesa3d.org"> www.mesa3d.org</a>)
</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> GLUT
Library (v3.7 or higher required, and included in MesaDemos package)</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="http://www.cs.unc.edu/%7Erademach/glui/">GLUI
2.0</a> if you want the GUI (currently in beta). See GUI section.</font></li>
</ul>
<h2> <font color="#006699" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><i>System
recommendations:</i></font></h2>
<ul>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> This
program <i>really</i> benefits of a 3D accelerator graphic card.
It's the only way to ensure a decent framerate (speed). OU has been
tested on the following 3D chipsets: <br>
<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Voodoo 1/2/3 (under Windows 9X and Linux)</font><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
RIVA 128 (under Windows 9X)</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
RIVA TNT/TNT2 (under Windows 9X)</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Permedia (under Windows 9X)</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Savage 3D (under Windows 9X)</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Nvidia GeForce 256 (under Windows 9X)<br>
<br>
</font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">If
your card's chipset is not listed here that doesn't mean OU will
not run on it. There's simply no chance to test all chipsets.
Try it out for yourself and test a few different resolutions,
colordephs and refreshrates. OU won't run on all of their combinations
on your card. But it's likely it will run if you have an fully
OpenGL driver for it. Note: An socalled Mini OpenGL driver as
provided by some companies (e.g. 3dfx) will not do it. It's soley
purpose is to run a few games like Quake and Unreal which use
only a subset of the full OpenGL. If you have such a driver, go
to your 3D chipset's manufacturer's (not the card manufacturer's)
website and download the full OpenGL driver if available. (For
3dfx a socalled Beta OpenGL driver is available, you just have
to accept an online license agreement). </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">If
you do not own a 3D card yet, then it's simply time to get one.
Not only OU but the majority of todays multimedia applications
and games simply won't run without. If you go out and buy one
try to go for one with a full OpenGL driver in the box and go
for a fast one (around 100...150 Euro / $, as of May 2000). </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">If
you didn't heard about <img src="OGL_sm.gif" width="68" height="32">yet
I suggest you take a look at <a href="http://www.opengl.org">www.opengl.org</a>.
Basically it's a 3D programming API. If you ever saw a Windows
NT screensaver (rotating time or text) you've seen a basic example
of an 3D OpenGL application. That's why Windows 9x / NT comes
with a socalled software OpenGL driver. It will run OU just fine
but very, very slow (we call it slideshow mode :). You can compare
OpenGL with DirectX, except it's supported on a vast variety of
computer platforms.</font></p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>Installation
under Windows 9X / NT / 2000:</i></font></h2>
<ul>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> As
simple as running openuniverse.exe (the package you just downloaded).
It will ask you for a destination folder, just select it and click
extract.</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Create
an shortcut for OU on your desktop or in your startmenu to run OU.EXE
from the directory you created above. To do so, simply drag the
OU.EXE with pressed right mouse button from the explorer to your
desktop. Select 'shortcut' when asked. (If you use a Voodoo1, 2
card, please use ounogui.exe instead. This is just OU without it's
grafical user interface. You will still be able to see the full
potential of OU, but the complete control is done with keystrokes.)</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Double
click the OU shortcut / icon left to start OU. (please read 'Running
OU for the first time' and eventually 'The main screen' before doing
so.)</font></li>
</ul>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><i><font color="#006699" size="4">Installation
under Linux:</font></i></font></h2>
<ul>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Uncompress
the distribution file (i.e. "tar -xzf openuniverse.tar.gz")</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Run
the configure script ("configure")</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Run
"make"</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Install
it ("make install")</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Run
openuniverse (usually /usr/local/bin/openuniverse)</font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">NOTE:
Before you try to compile OU just make sure you have installed Mesa
3.2 (or any other OpenGL compliant library + headers), glut 3.7 and
(optionally) GLUI. Please, make also sure all those libs are working
(run test and examples supplied with them) before you proceed to compile
OU. Read the INSTALL file in the root directory of your Linux distribution
for further assistance. </font></p>
<h2> <font color="#006699" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><i>Running
OU for the first time</i></font><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">:</font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">To
run OU you may directly go ahead and simply double click on it's
shortcut / icon you just created on your desktop (or run the binary
under Linux). This will work right away on most systems. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Only
if you really can't get it up and running, we now suggest to take
a look under the 'Tuning OU or command line parameters made simple'
to switch to a combination of <i>resolution, colordeph</i> and <i>refresh</i>
rate your card and your OpenGL driver will support. You can of course
pay a visit to that paragraph later all the time to improve these
3 important settings for your system.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font color="#006699" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><i>The
main screen:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">When
OpenUniverse starts up we suggest to simply lay back for a few seconds.
Because you have just reached Earth! </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">OU's
main screen with it's helpful information shows up now and the blue
planet will slowly rotate in front of you, while you have a moment
to enjoy it's beauty and fragility. If you pay a close look, you
will see the sunlight reflect from the oceans and clouds drift along
with the trade winds...</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Hold
your breath, because we haven't started yet at all! Because now
OU will send you on your first interplanetary voyage... You might
call it simply amazing, we call it:</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>OpenUniverse's
demo mode:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Demo
mode is activated when you start up OU for the first time. It can
allways be switched on and off by simply hitting the '<b>d</b>'
key. You can also leave OU by hitting the '<b>ESC</b>' key at any
time. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><i>While
in demomode</i>, OU will not follow any fixed path on it's way around
the solar system. It will find it's way on its own and it will not
follow a shortest line from A to Z. Since it will visit some places
quite often and others rather seldom, it may actually take a while
before you've seen only a part of it's beauty. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">When
you're then ready to take control of the ship, disable the demo
mode with the '<b>d</b>' key and prepare to take the rudder in your
hands with...</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font color="#006699" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><i>OpenUniverse's
command keys:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">After
you have ensured you've switched off the demo mode as described
above, we'll now confront you with a list of the keys you can use
to pass your commands to OU's built in navigational computer. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">If
you notice a grey bar on the right side of OU's window, then you're
using the GUI version of OU. <b>Please note that you for the key
strokes to work the graphical, left part of the OU main window has
to get the focus</b>. To ensure this, simply leftclick on the left,
the black part of the window :)</font></p>
<p align="center"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">To
the keys: Granted, this list will apear not too short at first glance,
but you'll remember the important ones after a quite short time
of usage. <b>Please note however that uppercase and lowercase is
important here.</b> <br>
</font></p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div align="center">
<table BORDER width="90%" height="424" >
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
<blockquote>
<h4> Open Universe - general functions</h4>
</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top" align="center">
<td width="14%">
<blockquote><b>Key</b></blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><b>Function</b></blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote><b>Remark</b></blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>d</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><i>D</i>emo mode</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Switches demo mode on / off.</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>h/H</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Online (quick) <i>h</i>elp</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Displays a short list (two pages) of key commands.</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>i</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Onscreen <i>i</i>nfo</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Enables / disables the on screen display of additional
info. (E.g.: active modes and physical variables as speed, time,
time factor...)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>1</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Camera mode <i>1</i> - 'linked'</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Camera direction follows the selected target body.
(Note: If the target body is far away, you might no see it at
all this way.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>2</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Camera mode <i>2</i> - 'body to body'</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Camera views target body A as seen from observer's
body B.</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>3</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Camera mode <i>3</i> - 'orbiter'</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Camera orbits target, allways pointing towards target
body.</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>4</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Camera mode <i>4</i> - 'free'</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Use your cursor keys, your mouse or your joystick
to guide the camera.</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>w</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Camera "follow mode"</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Camera follows selected spaceship to enable it's contol
/ navigation. (Current target must be a spaceship.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p align="center"> </p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div align="center">
<table BORDER width="90%" >
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
<blockquote>
<h4> OpenUniverse - action keys</h4>
</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr align="center" valign="top">
<td width="14%">
<blockquote><b>Key</b></blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><b>Function</b></blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote><b>Remark</b></blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>Arrow keys</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Camera/Spaceship control</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>As in most 3D programs, the arrow or cursor keys control
the direction you're facing.
<p>(CTRL key hold down while hitting an arrow key will control
the ships role movement.
<p>Booth actions are only available in 'free camera mode' (1)
or 'follow mode' (w).)
</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>Page up / down</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Increase / decrease speed</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Accelerates the camera / spaceship along the z-axis
(simply put: into the monitor). (Useful in free camera or spaceship
camera mode.)
<p>(If you press CTRL simultaneously the spaceship / camera
will match the current target's speed.)
</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>+ / -</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Increase / decrease time factor or compression</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>The more time compression is increased, the faster
the objects around you will move. A negative timefator will
move everything backwards! A timefactor = 0 is excellent for
positioning for a screenshot while all other objects stand still.
<p>(Simultaeneousy presses SHIFT key allows faster change of
time factor.)
</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>Home / End</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Select previous / next target body </blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>You can change the object you'd like to view with
this key when in camera mode 1-3. (Cycles trough <b><i>all</i></b>
objects within OU.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>SHIFT Home / End</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Select observer's body</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Useful, when in camera mode 2 - 'body to body' or
to select a reference body for navigation</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>n</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Move camera <i>n</i>ear target object</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Useful in camera mode 1 and 2</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>p</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><i>P</i>ause</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Go, get a snack. OU will wait for you. (At least for
the next 5 billion years ;-)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>S</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><i>S</i>creenshot</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Takes a screenshot of the complete current scene in
JPG format and stores it in the scrshot folder in your OU directory.
(You might want to disable OU's on screen info text 'i' first!)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>j</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><i>J</i>oystick control on /off</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%"> </td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p align="center"> </p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div align="center">
<table BORDER width="90%" >
<tr>
<td colspan="3">
<blockquote>
<h4> OpenUniverse - visual toggle keys</h4>
</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top" align="center">
<td width="14%">
<blockquote><b>Key</b></blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><b>Function</b></blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote><b>Remark</b></blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>Insert</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Trail on / off</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Toggles current target orbit trail. (Applies to planets,
asteroids and comets, only.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>b</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Labels on/off</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>(Useful to locate and distinguish remote bodies.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>B</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Stars labels on/off</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>(This aplies to Messier object's labels as well.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>e</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><i>R</i>eal time on / off</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>(OU time will become equal to your current local time.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>G</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Display logo</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>(Logo will fade out in a few secs, again.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>t</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><i>T</i>exture on / off</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Detailed / uniform object surfaces.</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>l</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><i>L</i>ight on / off</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Object shading on / off.</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>f</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><i>F</i>lat / smoothed surfaces</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Object smoothing on / off.</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>a</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote><i>A</i>tmosphere on / off</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>(Currently available for Earth, only.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>r</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Top view map on / off</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Displays an overwiew map of the solar system as viewed
from above. (See below.) </blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>s</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Stars on / off</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Hides / unhides stars.</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>m / M</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Increase /decrease stars' brightness</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>o / O</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Increase / decrease FOV</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>Field of view. (Much like an optic camera's zoom.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>u / U</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Wider / narrower range in top view map</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>y</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Gravity on / off</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>(Affects spaceships only at this time.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14%">
<blockquote>z / Z</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="38%">
<blockquote>Increase / decrease zoom factor (camera distance from
target)</blockquote>
</td>
<td width="48%">
<blockquote>(Only available in camera modes 2 and 3.)</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
<br>
To make life a bit easier for you, we suggest you simply print
out these short lists and place them near to your keyboard or
monitor. As we mentioned above, after a very short period of time
you won't need them anymore. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>In
case you need to know a single command, simply press 'h' anywhere
in OU to display the quick help on the screen.</b></font></p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>Spaceship
control:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Once
you're in follow mode with an spaceship you'll be able to control
ship with the arrow keys (see previous section). You'll notice there're
some "X"s on the screen in diffenrent colors: </font></p>
<p><font color="#FF3333" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>X</b>
</font><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">:
Where the gravity pulls the ship to. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b><font color="#00CC33">X</font></b><font color="#FF3333">
</font>: Where the ship's nose is pointing towards. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b><font color="#CCCC00">X</font></b><font color="#FF3333">
</font>: Where the ship is moves towards (this is not necessarily
where its nose is pointing :-). </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b><font color="#FF00CC">X</font></b><font color="#FF3333">
</font>: Where the ships is comes from. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>GUI,
the User Interface:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">If
your 3D card supports OpenGL in a window then you're lucky as you'll
be able to run the GUI version of OU (ou.exe). If you're getting
weird colors or it simply won't work don't panic, we've included
the non-GUI version for those of you with older 3D cards (ounogui.exe
or see INSTALL under Linux). </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">This
is our first GUI version and while we know it's still incomplete
we think is quite useful, especially for selecting bodies (no more
painful bizarre keystrokes). The GUI is very simple, just a frame
on the right side of the screen and a couple of pop-up windows (used
mainly for runtime options). But it allready get's the job done
quite perfect :-) Because we believe an image's worth a 1k words:
</font></p>
<p>
<center>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="shot1.jpg"><img src="shot1.jpg" border=0 height=253 width=338></a>
</font>
</center>
</p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">This
is what the GUI looks like when you run OU for the first time. Depending
on the active camera mode some controls may be disabled. </font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
'Source' and 'Target' allow a quick body selection (note that
'Source' also sets current reference body and thus both distance
and speed will be relative to the source body you have selected
at the time).</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">The
'Go There!' button is very useful in Free and Linked camera modes.
It will move the camera to a position nearby the selected target
body.</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Guess what camera mode does?</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
FOV is the control for Field of View (much like an optical zoom)</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
ZOOM is used for camera distance adjust in B2B and Orbiter camera
modes (also plays its role in Follow mode, see below)</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Options pops up a window with several (hopefully self-explantory)
runtime options. Click on Trails button to enable/disable orbit
trails for all major bodies.</font></li>
</ul>
<p align="left"><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Just
play around with the available options here. You will soon have
a feeling for each and every of those tiny boxes and how they combine
:)<br>
</font></p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div align="center">
<table border=0 width="400" >
<tr>
<td>
<blockquote>
<center>
<img src="shot2.gif" height=383 width=178>
</center>
</blockquote>
</td>
<td>
<blockquote>
<center>
<img src="shot3.gif" height=346 width=125>
</center>
</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
<br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">As
mentioned above in the Keystroke department:<b> If the current body
is a spaceship</b> (recognize that one? =) <b>you'll be able to
check the 'Follow' box and enter the Follow mode. </b> Now you're
able to control the ship's movement:</font></p>
<p>
<center>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="shot4.jpg"><img src="shot4.jpg" border=0 height=253 width=323></a>
</font>
</center>
</p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Use
Heading and Roll/Speed to control the ship (tip: if you hold ALT
pressed you'll be able to adjust one parameter at a time). Use CTRL+PageUp/PageDown
to make the ship match current source body speed (not very realistic
but fun and useful :-).</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font color="#006699" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><i>Camera
movement with the mouse:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Besides
GUI navigation you can use the mouse to move the camera when in
<b>free</b> camera mode. Just left click over the rendering window
and drag the mouse while you keep the left button down.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>Closing
the OpenUniverse:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Just
press the 'ESC' key when you'd like to leave OU at any time, in
any situation. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">We
hope though, you have enjoyed you stay and will come back as you
like. Please don't hesitate to tell your friends about OpenUniverse
and <a href="http://www.openuniverse.org">www.openuniverse.org</a>.
You're welcome and thank you for joining us ;-)</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font color="#006699" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><i>Tunining
OU or command line parameters made simple (WINDOWS ONLY):</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Command
line parameters are quite important if you want to squeeze the best
possible picture, the highest possible speed out of your system
and your graphics card. Remember, the better your configuration,
the better OU will look. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">We
recommend however that you write down the settings you started with
(eg. no settings, meaning default settings) as a save base before
you tweak the following parameters: </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">ou.exe
-fullscreen 640x480:32@70 </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Where
the first parameter 640x480 is one possible resolution, the second
one is one colordepth and the last one is one refresh rate. This
command line will run OpenUniverse in an resolution of 640x480 pixels,
a colordeph of 32 bit (truecolor) and at a refreshrate of 70Hz.
Please note that the characters 'x' and ':' are important and can't
be removed (you don't have to suppy refresh rate if you don't want
as it'll use default refresh rate for the supplied resolution).
Note as well that a lot of 3D cards are only capable of resolutions
up to 800x600 and colordepths up to 16bit.</font></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
You can easily use the command line option when you right click
the shortcut on your windows desktop we created in the last step.
If you then select 'properties' an dialog box will pop up. Behind
'target' it will display the complete path actually it points
to. In this case the field may look much like </font>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">C:\programs\ou\ou.exe.
</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">To
use the comand line parameters, place the cursor behind the
...ou.exe and type your parameters. Keep in mind that the whole
line often can't be displayed in that field, so it may only
show a part of it. The whole line may then look much like: </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">C:\programs\ou\ou.exe
-fullscreen 640x480:32@70 </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">But
your milage may vary ;-)</font></p>
</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>Performance
tweaking:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">We've
tried to make OU run as fast as possible (there's still a lot of
room for improvements and optimizations though) but as there're
so many different system configurations you'll have to help OU to
run as fast as possible with the nicest visual quality. So, edit
the ou.conf file located in the program root directory (windows)
or conf subdirectory (Linux, most likely /usr/local/share/openuniverse/conf).
Look for the LOD tag (level of detail) and select the value best
fitting your 3D card. You may also want to adjust the color depth
(just below LOD), font tags and texture compression (if your card
supports it, read GeForce family). Just play around with these three
config parameters until you're happy with performance/quality. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">It
can be helpful to change the resolution for performance reasons
as well, as quite a few old 3D cards are limited on that. See 'Tuning
OU or command line parameters made simple' on how to achieve that.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><i><font color="#006699" size="4">Useful
Tips :</font></i></font></h2>
<ul>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> When
controlling a spaceships you can match current source body speed
by pressing CTRL+PageUp.</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> If
you're looking for something set time factor to 0, camera mode to
free and use the mouse to move the camera (see mouse section above).</font><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Hold
SHIFT to accelerate spaceships way faster.</font></li>
<li><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> Hold
SHIFT to allow a much faster increase/decrease of timefactor (both
in GUI and keyboard commands).</font><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
</font></li>
</ul>
<h2><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>History:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">OpenUniverse
(OU) was formely known as Solar System Simulator (Ssystem). It was
initially released on Nov 1997 with the intention to create a rotating
Earth display on a main stream PC. Since these early roots a continuing
development and expansion has taken place.Was version 1.0 only aware
of the major bodies (planets), version 1.2 added a whole bunch of
moons. Solar System v1.6 then added more ways of movement for the
user's eye (camera) within Solar System's virtual universe and last
but not least better textures for a lot of bodies. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">This
version, called OpenUniverse (OU) finally has been renamed to underline
the concept behind the further development of the program: Open
for the whole Universe, not just the solar system. Open to use,
extend and change. Finally open for all users, programmers and for
<i><b>you</b></i>. :)</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Programming
OU has allways been a process of merging new creative concepts with
physics, art and code. An expansion of frontiers bringing together
quite different people with their own ideas, backgrounds, questions
and abilities.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>Future:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">This
finally is the paragraph to philosophate a bit, don't you think?
We are all interested in the future, all the time. Whether it's
the job, friendship or the complicated and often confusing live
in general - why should OpenUniverse make an exception?</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Considered
all that, to what it boils down to here is amazingly enough rather
simple: We are continuing the development of OpenUniverse, so you'll
see future versions pop up at <a href="http://www.openuniverse.org">www.openuniverse.org</a>
as soon as they'll get available. The progress will of course depend
on all those people willing to support and contribute to OpenUniverse
in the future. So if you think you've got an bright new idea, if
you've got new material (eg. good textures or 3D models) about planets,
moons, spaceships and such or if you even program with OpenGL please
don't hesitate a single second. Check our site or look under 'First
contact' in this manual. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Since
OpenUniverse's needs will certainly shift over time, we will continually
post our new ideas and our kind requests for especially needed resourses
on our OU discussion forum. Please read 'our' as in 'we and you'
;-) </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">To
wet your mouth here's finally a little bit of info about our ideas
for the next months: We'll of course try to complete the collection
of larger bodies. Expect to see a lot more moons of Saturn and Uranus
pop up, whether they are spheric or irregular. That means we have
to come up with quite a few new textures based on the official NASA
images. Since these images are often just b/w and or incomplete
quite some ammount of work and 'guess how' will flow in this. The
next issue will be the improvement of OU's usability. That will
be the simplification of controls, user keys, camera modes and an
even more improved GUI (Graphical User Interface). The last big
bang will be the expansion of OpenUniverse to our galactic neighborship.
The surrounding solar systems will be included, hopefully featuring
their already proposed planets. How we'll reach these new frontiers?
That is exacly one of the challenges ahead of us. And we love it!
=)</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>First
contact<a name="contact"></a>:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">If
you feel interested in OpenUniverse and like to make any sort of
contribution, whether it is a hello, a suggestion, a mirror to download
it, to spend a few nice and new textures, 3D objects or even to
participate in it's further programming and documentation. You are
welcome. </font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Just
give <a href="mailto:ami@las.es">Raul Alonso</a> a short mail. <br>
<br>
</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>Authors:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="mailto:amil@las.es">Raul
Alonso</a>: Programming, textures and 3d models tweaking.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="mailto:axel_groll@engineer.com">Axel
Groll:</a> Documentation, artwork (splash screens, logo).</font></p>
</blockquote>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="4" color="#006699"><i>Acknoledgements:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">A big
THANK YOU to all the people who helped since Raul started this little
project (in late 1997), go to <a href=http://www.openuniverse.org>www.openuniverse.org</a> for an up to date list</font></p>
<h2> <font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#006699"><i>Quote
for the day:</i></font></h2>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">There
<b>is</b> such a thing as a free lunch. You can't buy it though
:)</font></p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h1 align="center"> </h1>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>
