Making Movies with Rendezvous
There are three views in Rendezvous which have the capability of creating movies in QuickTime or .anim format: the GroundTrace Map, the Telescope Inspector, and the SolarSystem Inspector. The first frame of the movie is generated at the date and time specified in the Start text field in the Ground Trace Control area of the main window. The last frame is generated at the time indicated by the End text field. Each frame in between will be generated using the time interval contained in the Delta T text field. Each of these fields is an offset measured in seconds from the Epoch Date and Time shown in the calendar and clock.
Telescope Inspector Movies The process of making a movie is the same regardless of which Inspector is generating the contents. We'll illustrate the process by making a movie using the Telescope Inspector. This movie will depict the field of view of MIR as it flies over the earth. We'll see the satellite SPOT1 rising over the horizon, the Earth below us as we orbit, and the stars moving in the background. Begin like this: Load the sensor into the main window: |
o | Click the Constellation : Open Sensors... button in the main menu | |
o | Click the Platform pull-down menu at the bottom of the Open panel, and select the either of the entries labeled AutoDetect or SGPOrbiter | |
o | Navigate to the Rendezvous.app/STATES/sat329.tle file and click the OK button | |
o | Click the sat329 entry in the first column of the Sensors browser of the main window | |
o | Double-click the MIR entry in the second column of the Sensors browser of the main window |
Load the target into the main window: |
o | Click the Constellation : Open Targets... button in the main menu | |
o | Click the Platform pull-down menu at the bottom of the Open panel, and select the either of the entries labeled AutoDetect or SGPOrbiter | |
o | Navigate to the Rendezvous.app/STATES/sat329.tle file and click the OK button | |
o | Click the sat329 entry in the first column of the Targets browser of the main window | |
o | Double-click on the SPOT1 entry in the second column of the Targets browser of the main window |
Load the Star database into the Star browser of the main window |
o | Click the Constellation : Open Stars... button in the main menu | |
o | Click the Platform pull-down menu at the bottom of the Open panel and select the SAOStar entry | |
o | Navigate to the Rendezvous.app/STATES/SAO55 and click the OK button | |
o | Double-click the SAO55 entry in the Stars browser of the main window |
Set the Date, Time, and the time control text fields: |
o | Set the Calendar in the main window to January 20, 1999 | |
o | Set the Clock in the main window to 22 : 21 : 10 | |
o | Enter the value 0 in the Start text field of the Ground Trace Control area of the main window, and press the TAB key on the keyboard to move to the next field | |
o | Enter the value 600 in the End text field, and press the TAB key | |
o | Enter the value 10 in the Delta T text field, and press the Carriage Return key on the keyboard |
Bring up the Telescope Inspector, set the Field of View parameters, and make it track SPOT1: |
o | Click the Inspectors : Sensor... button in the main menu | |
o | Click the Attitude Processor pull-down menu button in the Sensor Inspector panel which just appeared, and select the TrackingAttitude entry | |
o | Select the Telescope button in the Detail area of the Sensor Inspector panel | |
o | Enter the value -20 (that's negative 20) in the Az Min: text field of the Field of View Extent area of the Telescope Inspector panel, then press the TAB key on the keyboard to move to the next field | |
o | Enter the value 20 in the Az Min: text field, and press the TAB key | |
o | Enter the value -20 (again, negative 20) in the El Min: text field, and press the TAB key | |
o | Enter the value 20 in the El Max: text field, and press the Carriage Return key | |
o | Double-click the SPOT1 entry in the Targets browser of the Telescope Inspector panel. Notice this action is performed in the Telescope Inspector panel, NOT the main window. | |
o | Select the Labels button in the Display Options area of the Telescope Inspector panel | |
o | Select the Earth button in the Display Options area of the Telescope Inspector panel |
You must have the High Resolution databases to perform the last step in the above sequence. If you don't have the high-resolution databases, you can either download them here, or you can instead select the Outline button in the Display Options area of the Telescope Inspector panel to get a simple outline of the Earth's horizon line instead of the high-resolution color topographic display.
At this point, we're ready to actually make the movie. |
o | Press the Create a Movie : Telescope button in the main menu | |
o | Select your preferred format using the Radio buttons in the Movie Format area of the Save panel | |
o | Navigate to the directory in which you would like to store the movie file, enter a filename, and press OK. |
Note: | "Anim" movie format can be opened and played with either Movie.app or TIFFany.app. QuickTime movies require NEXTIME to be installed. |
Rendezvous will now begin making the movie. With all the options we have chosen above, this will be a relatively time consuming process. It took about fifteen minutes to generate the movie described above using a 200 MHz Pentium. As the movie is generated, a "temperature" gauge in the main window displays the completion status. The system beep will alert you when Rendezvous has finished processing the frames.
When complete, play the movie using one of the applications mentioned in the Note above. Included below is a sample frame from the movie at time 22 : 25 : 10. The data the top of the display indicate these parameters: |
First column: | Date Time |
Second column: | Boresight Right Ascension (hours, minutes, seconds) Boresight Declination (degrees, minutes, seconds) | |
Third column: | Boresight Azimuth (decimal degrees) Boresight Elevation (decimal degrees) | |
Fourth column | Roll angle (decimal degrees) Tangent height (kilometers) |
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