Project 1 – Planet Animation

In which I animate the solar system.

Tutorial Animation

First, I changed the orbital speed of the planets to be proportional to their orbits in the real world. My modified animation shows eight Earth years, and all the other planets rotate the same amount (in degrees, anyway) that they would in real life in the same amount of time. For example, Pluto only rotates about 12 degrees in eight Earth years.
To-scale orbital periods
Next, I added more interesting moons to Jupiter. In this animation, the planet has 5 moons of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. I tried to keep the colors realistic, so they are mostly shades of brown and gray. Two of the moons also rotate on the X axis, flipping over and under the planet as it orbits the Sun. I ensured that these never clip through the other moons. I also recolored some of the moons orbiting other planets using the same palette.
Jupiter’s moons
Finally, I added the asteroid belt to the animation. It is made up of 37 groups of 4 asteroids that each take up 10 degrees of space around the sun. The asteroid belt rotates at an arbitrary speed, but is correctly placed between Mars and Jupiter.
The asteroid belt
Additionally, as shown in the images for changes 1 and 3, I also modified the sun to have its own shader and to be incandescent so it doesn’t have any self-shadowing.