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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
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<TITLE>Xplanet Frequently Asked Questions</TITLE>
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<ol>
<li><a href="#newversion"> None of my scripts work with the new
version.</a></li>
<li><a href="#config"> Why is there a configuration file now? I want
to specify everything on the command line.</a></li>
<li><a href="#multiple"> How do you show multiple bodies? I want to
see the moon when I draw the earth.</a></li>
<li><a href="#starmap"> I used the -starmap option but I don't see any
stars.</a></li>
<li><a href="#rings"> I don't see Saturn's rings.</a></li>
<li><a href="#kde"> How can I get xplanet to work with KDE?</a></li>
<li><a href="#gnome2"> How can I get xplanet to work with Gnome2?</a></li>
<li><a href="#clouds1"> Where can I get higher resolution cloud maps?</a></li>
<li><a href="#clouds2"> Why are the top and bottom of the cloud maps a
reflection of the area below/above them?</a></li>
<li><a href="#runonce"> How can I get Xplanet to draw an image once and exit?</a></li>
<li><a href="#animate"> The -animate option doesn't work any more.
Will it be back in a future version?</a></li>
</ol>
<hr>
<h2><a name="newversion"> None of my scripts work with the new
version.</a></h2>
<p>The 1.0 version of Xplanet is a complete rewrite of the pre-1.0
version. Many of the old options work differently, or not at all. I
really should have named the 1.0 version "Xplanet2" to make this
clear, since a lot of people were inconvenienced by upgrading. I
apologize for this. The old version is still available <a
href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2970">here</a>,
although I will only make bug fixes on this version from now on.
</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="config">Why is there a configuration file now? I want
to specify everything on the command line.</a></h2>
<p>Xplanet now draws multiple bodies. By using a configuration file, you
can specify things like marker or arc files for each planet. Doing that
on the command line would be a pain.</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="multiple"> How do you show multiple bodies? I want to
see the moon when I draw the earth.</a></h2>
<p>Xplanet draws multiple bodies by default. Multiple bodies are not
drawn if the -projection option is used. If you only see one body in
the image, then it means there aren't any other bodies (that xplanet
knows about) in the field of view.</p>
<p>The moon orbits at 60 earth radii. You won't often see it in
the field of view if the earth is drawn at any appreciable size.
</p>
<p>You can modify the magnify parameter in the configuration file to
make the earth and moon bigger so that they do fall in the same
field of view more often. It won't be accurate, but it might be
what you want. See <a
href="http://xplanet.sourceforge.net/Gallery/20031202_earth/">this</a>
image in the gallery for an example.</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="starmap"> I used the -starmap option but I don't see any
stars.</a></h2>
<p>You probably have a small field of view, and there just aren't any
stars that fall inside your image. By default, xplanet places the
observer at 1000 planetary radii.</p>
<p> Try this:<br>
<pre>
xplanet -num_times 1 -label -radius 10 -range 1000
</pre>
<p>Notice the "fov" line in the label. Decrease the range, and the
field of view will get larger and you will start to see stars and
other planets in the image. You won't see much until the fov gets
to be a few tens of degrees.</p>
<p>Another thing you can do is set the "magnify" option inside the
configuration file. See the <a
href="http://xplanet.sourceforge.net/FAQ.php#multiple">"multiple
bodies"</a> question above - it's really the same question as this
one. You might want to use a magnify value of 100 or more to see a
lot of stars.
<hr>
<h2><a name="rings"> I don't see Saturn's rings.</a></h2>
<p>Saturn's rings are in the plane of its equator. If the observer
is at latitude 0, you won't see anything.
<p>Try this:<br>
<pre>
xplanet -body saturn -latitude 25
</pre>
<p> The rings are not drawn if the -projection option is used. Rings
for the other planets are not implemented. </p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="kde"> How can I get xplanet to work with KDE?</a></h2>
From Jeremy Sonander <Jeremy at saros dot com>:<br>
- Right click on the backdrop, and select
"Configure desktop"<br>
- Select Background<br>
- Go to the Wallpaper tab and select no
wallpaper<br>
- Go to the Background tab and select
Background Program from the Mode tab<br>
- Click Setup<br>
- There should already be an Xplanet entry.
Select this and click Modify<br>
- The Command and Preview Command should be<br>
xplanet --num_times 1
--geometry %xx%y --latitude 20 --output %f.png && mv %f.png %f<br>
<br>
<hr>
<h2><a name="gnome2"> How can I get xplanet to work with Gnome2?</a></h2>
Modify the following script to suit your preferences, from <a href="http://stef.tvk.rwth-aachen.de/~nazgul/linux-hacks.php">http://stef.tvk.rwth-aachen.de/~nazgul/linux-hacks.php</a>:
<pre>
#!/bin/bash
#xplanet-gnome.sh shell script v0.2
#shows Earth on your Gnome desktop with current lighting conditions,i.e. day and night
DELAY=30m
PREFIX=/multimedia/wallpapers/
OUTPUT=xplanet.png
APPEND=2
GEOMETRY=1024x768
LONGITUDE=15
LATITUDE=30
#default is no projection,i.e. render a globe
#rectangular is the flat world map. also try ancient, azimuthal, mercator,..
#PROJECTION=rectangular
#rename background image so Gnome realises image has changed - thx to dmbasso
if [ -e "$PREFIX$OUTPUT" ]; then
rm "$PREFIX$OUTPUT"
OUTPUT="$APPEND$OUTPUT"
else
rm "$PREFIX$APPEND$OUTPUT"
fi
if [ -z $PROJECTION ]; then
xplanet -num_times 1 -output "$PREFIX$OUTPUT" -geometry $GEOMETRY -longitude $LONGITUDE -latitude $LATITUDE
else
xplanet -num_times 1 -output "$PREFIX$OUTPUT" -geometry $GEOMETRY -longitude $LONGITUDE -latitude $LATITUDE -projection $PROJECTION
fi
#update Gnome backgound
gconftool -t str -s /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename "$PREFIX$OUTPUT"
sleep $DELAY
exec $0
</pre>
Make sure this script is executed at Gnome startup. There are several ways to do this:
<ul>
<li><b>Using Gnome session manager</b>. Select <b>Applications</b> (the Footer menu) -> <b>Desktop
Preferences</b> -> <b>Advanced</b> -> <b>Sessions</b> and hit the <b>Startup Programs</b> tab.
Click <b>Add</b> and
browse to where you saved the above script and select it. Click <b>OK</b>. Hit the
<b>Current Sessions</b> tab and
click <b>Apply</b>. That's it. Remove this entry
if you don't want XPlanet backgrounds any more. </li>
<li>Call the script in an X11 startup script like <i>/home/nazgul/xplanet-gnome.sh &</i> . Do not omit
the & .</li>
<li>Invoke the script in a terminal :)</li>
</ul>
Also have a look at this <a href="http://xplanet.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9">post</a> in the <a href="http://xplanet.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/">forum</a> for a script written in <a href="http://www.python.org/">Python</a>.
<hr>
<h2><a name="clouds1"> Where can I get higher resolution cloud maps?</a></h2>
<p>I don't know of any other real time global cloud map sources. The ones I create are based on infrared images from geostationary satellites. The resolution of my maps are constrained by the resolution of the original images, so I can't make bigger ones. If you want higher resolution maps, try launching your own network of weather satellites!</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="clouds2"> Why are the top and bottom of the cloud maps a
reflection of the area below/above them?</a></h2>
<p>The cloud maps are generated from geostationary satellite
images. These satellites cannot see to the poles, so I had to do
something to fill in the unobserved area.</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="runonce">How can I get Xplanet to draw an image once
and exit?</a></h2>
<p>The default behavior is to run indefinitely. Use -num_times 1 to
draw once and exit.</p>
<hr>
<h2><a name="animate">The -animate option doesn't work any more.
Will it be back in a future version?</a></h2>
<p>No. Getting this to work on multiple platforms was difficult.
It generated a lot of complaints and I didn't like it much anyway.
If you want this capability, <a
href="http://celestia.sourceforge.net/">Celestia</a> is a much
better OpenGL planet viewer than Xplanet ever was.</p>
<hr>
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