Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

Cross Section

Volume 1 (2007)

http://dewey.weber.edu/crossection/

Probing the Effects of Alternate Jupiterson the Inner Planets with Blender 3D

Ron Proctor, Department of Physics, Weber State University

Abstract

: While the consequences of an alternate Jovian position and mass are generallyunderstood, it seems that the nature of gravity on an astronomical scale is not. We believe an improvement in visualization techniques can address this problem. Wepropose the creation of an interactive solution, in which a model of the inner solar systemand Jupiter is simulated. It is believed that, through manipulation of the model(changing the mass, position, and other properties of Jupiter), a learner might gaingreater understanding of gravity on an astronomical scale..

INTRODUCTION

The question, “what happens if we do this?” is best answered with manipulation,exploration, and observation. When given a physical model of a complex system (such as theSun-Earth-Moon System), it has been shown that students are better able to learn correctexplanations for observed phenomena (e.g. Phases of the Moon) (Trundle, et al. 2001). If aconcept can be transformed into something we can touch and see, we stand a much betterchance of understanding the system.It turns out that some systems are difficult to produce as tabletop kits. The gravitationalinteractions of massive bodies is one example. In this case, a virtual model is more appropriate(and safer) for classroom or museum use.Using Blender 3D and Python Scripting, we have produced a model of the inner solarsystem plus Jupiter. Though still under development, our code allows the user to change theorbital properties and mass of Jupiter, run a simulation to find out what happens, record theoutput of the simulation for playback, and does this while visualizing the system in threedimensions as the calculation progresses.

R. Proctor

Cross Section 2007

Introducing Blender 3D

Blender 3D is an open source 3D modeling, animation, compositing and rendering software.Blender contains an impressive feature set that rivals (and in some cases exceeds) the features of leading commercial 3D software titles. Blender provides a handy visualization framework forour project: we need only pass time and position data to the program to receive a dynamic viewof our model.A benefit of using Blender is that the interface is highly customizable. The user can makethings as simple or as complicated as necessary. Blender also offers customizable buttons andmenus that can be declared within a Python script. One of the long-term goals of this project isto create such a graphical user interface (at present, the user must modify the Python script tointeract with the program).

Figure 1.

The Blender Interface. Beginning at top-left and proceeding clockwise: our source code in a ScriptWindow, an orthographic "overhead" view of the system, an orthographic side view, a perspective view, SceneOutliner, and IPO Curve Editor. The timeline spans the main window, below the other elements.

Probing the Effects of Alternate Jupiters on the Inner Planets with Blender 3D

http://dewey.weber.edu/crossection/

METHODS

Our simulation code is written in Python, a high-level programming language (named forthe British comedy troupe, not the snake). Python focuses on being human-readable, meaningthat anyone with a basic understanding of programming should be able to work out what thesource code is trying to do (and fix the various errors features of the code).Although the visual geometry for the system (the Sun, planets, path markers, et cetera) can be defined in the python script, we decided to create named objects in Blender and have thescript reference those. This saves a bit of computation time. Creating our own objects alsogives us flexibility in changing the size, shape, and appearance of the objects.

Figure 2.

Program flowchart.