Friday, December 26, 2008

Gifts

Last year. for Christmas, I mostly gave my SL friends framed pictures of images I took in RL. This year, since I was in full creativity wave, I decided to make something that I could give as a present.

I have had in mind to create the mechanical model of the solar system for some times and so I did, trying to give it a steampunk look. You can see the result in the picture.

Mechanical Solar System

I tried to keep the ration between the distances and between the speeds realistic, even if that forced me to limit to four planets, since Mars it is already far enough from the Sun. I think it is okay. Beside the distances, Jupiter would have been so big that the inner planets would have looked invisible.

I am quite happy with the result. One of the friend I gave it even asked me to purchase a few more items to give in turn to her friends. I was happy she liked it that much ! :)

Danielle and few others tell me that the rotation of the Earth and Mars is too fast. Despite the fact that I maintained the correct ratio between rotation and revolution I quite agree with them and I am working on a more heavily scripted version where the different speeds can be set by the user.

I would also like to add the Moon. After all it is just slightly smaller than Mercury, but it is going to require some work to create the movements of a satellite.

I think it is going to be fun! :)

Happy Holidays

W

3 comments:

Camilla said...

It was a wonderful gift! Very cool steampunk gears. But impossible to move easily after it is rezzed! Ours is in the middle of the living room. One of the planets periodically visits our bedroom during its orbit. And the particle comet (also tres cool!) is exploding in the center of the solar system. It is even visible OUTSIDE our house, blasting through the wall. What's that you say? This was supposed to be an OUTDOOR gift? Nope. Mine's in the living room, and that's where it will stay! Or, hey, here's a great idea! I will put it on the top of Alph's writing tower, like a weathervane! I'll bet it will look great with the exterior design of the tower!

Off to play soon in SL now! Must try it out.

Wildstar Beaumont said...

Princess,
actually moving it is not that difficult. You have just be careful. The planets are not linked, so either you move the entire set using the "position" button on the menu, or you "clean" the planets, move the cone and then "build" the planets again. Not straightforward maybe but easy enough, I think :)

AuroraSkye said...

It is such a wonderful gift! I have it in my "livingroom" too. I am not sure mine has a particle comet -- I have to re-check -- I HOPE it does -- that sounds so neat!

This is such a great gift, Wild!!! :-)

TY TY TY TY