Universe Sandbox
 | |
|
Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies colliding in 4.5 billion years – A Universe Sandbox screenshot | |
| Developer(s) | Dan Dixon, Christian Herold, Georg Steinröhder, Thomas Grønneløv, Eric Hilton, Naomi Goldenson, Chad Jenkins |
|---|---|
| Initial release | May 2008 |
| Stable release |
2.2
/ October 1, 2012 |
| Operating system | Windows |
| Platform | PC |
| Type | Educational software |
| License | Proprietary commercial software |
| Website |
universesandbox |
Universe Sandbox is an interactive space and gravity simulator. Using Universe Sandbox, one can see the effects of gravity on objects in the universe and run scale simulations of our Solar System, various galaxies or other simulations, while at the same time interacting and maintaining control over gravity, time, and other objects in the universe (moons, planets, asteroids, comets, black holes, etc.).[1] The original Universe Sandbox is only available for Windows-based PCs, but the new version Universe Sandbox² is on Windows, OS X, and GNU/Linux.
Universe Sandbox was designed and developed by Dan Dixon, who worked on this educational project for over fifteen years before launching version 1.0 in May 2008.[2] Universe Sandbox version 2.0 was released on May 2, 2010. Version 2.1 was released on Steam on Friday April 29, 2011.
Dan worked full-time on the project since 2010, and in 2011, he founded the company Giant Army (named after the metaphor of standing on the shoulders of giants). Since then he has hired six additional developers; first Christian Herold and Georg Steinröhder in 2011, then Thomas Grønneløv and Eric Hilton in 2012. Naomi Goldenson joined in 2013 and Chad Jenkins in 2014.[3][4] Christian works on the architecture and user interface, Georg works on the graphics, Thomas works on implementing physics and mathematics libraries and Eric, who is an astronomer, works on ensuring that the simulated universe is plausible. Naomi implements climate modeling and Chad tackles planetary material composition.
As of 2014, the developers are working on a new complete rewrite of Universe Sandbox, called Universe Sandbox ². Some of the new features include atmospheres being shown on planets, dynamic and procedurally generated textures on stars and gas giants, a more realistic and graphic collision system, 3D charts in chart mode, simulation of stellar evolution, procedural detail in rings/particles, visualization of black holes, tethers to build space elevators, simulation of fluid-like objects (such as gas clouds, nebulae and protoplanetary disks, and planetary collisions) and much more.
Simulations
Many simulations are included with Universe Sandbox, both realistic and fictional simulations:
- Our Solar System, which includes the 8 planets, 5 minor planets, 160+ moons, and hundreds of asteroids
- The Andromeda & Milky Way galaxy collision, which will occur in 3.8 or 4.5 billion years
- The 100 largest bodies in our Solar System
- The nearest 1000 stars to our Sun
- The nearest 70 galaxies to the Milky Way
- A visual size comparison of the largest known stars and planets
- The Apophis asteroid passing near Earth in the year 2029
- The comet Shoemaker Levy 9's collision with Jupiter
- 2008 KV42, a recently discovered trans-Neptunian object with a retrograde motion orbit
- Moons converging into a single planet
- The Rho Cancri (55 Cancri) system – a star with 5 known planets
- The Pioneer and Voyager encounters with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, & Neptune
- Visual Lagrange points of the Earth and Moon
- Gamma-ray burst locations
Universe Sandbox ²
 | |
| Developer(s) | Dan Dixon (leader), Christian Herold, Georg Steinröhder, Thomas Grønneløv, Eric Hilton, Naomi Goldenson, Chad Jenkins |
|---|---|
| Initial release | August 24, 2015 (early access) |
| Stable release |
Alpha 19
/ November 2016 |
| Operating system | Windows, OS X, Linux |
| Platform | PC, Mac |
| Type | Educational software |
| License | Proprietary commercial software |
| Website |
universesandbox |
As of 2014, the developers are working on a new complete rewrite of Universe Sandbox. Some of the new features include atmospheres being shown on planets, dynamic and procedurally generated textures on stars and gas giants, a more realistic and graphic collision system, 3D charts in chart mode, simulation of stellar evolution, procedural detail in rings/particles, visualization of black holes, simulation of fluid-like objects (such as gas clouds, nebulae and protoplanetary disks, and planetary collisions) and much more.[4]
The developers demonstrated many of these features at the Unite 2012 conference (for developers using the Unity game engine).[4]
There is no planned release date for the final version of Universe Sandbox ², but in late August 2014 the public alpha version was released for purchase by the public, after having been in closed alpha testing for several months. Purchase of the alpha will give access to continuous updates as well as the final version.
Alpha releases
| Version[5] | Date[5] | New features / Notes[5] |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha 1 | December 4, 2013 | |
| Alpha 2 | December 13, 2013 | Improved ring particle collisions |
| Alpha 3 | December 24, 2013 | |
| Alpha 4 | January 22, 2014 | |
| Alpha 5 | March 6, 2014 | Improved stellar flares, graphing tools |
| Alpha 6 | March 22, 2014 | |
| Alpha 7 | June 20, 2014 | Overhauled collision system, improved climate modeling |
| Alpha 8 | August 6, 2014 | Save and load simulations. |
| Alpha 8.3 | August 11, 2014 | |
| Alpha 9 | August 22, 2014 | Bug fixes and minor improvements. New logo |
| Alpha 9.1 | August 23, 2014 | |
| Alpha 9.2 | August 24, 2014 | |
| Alpha 10 | August 25, 2014 | Game made available for purchase |
| Alpha 10.1 | August 28, 2014 | |
| Alpha 11 | September 18, 2014 | Shockwaves on collisions, improved supernovas |
| Alpha 12 | October 30, 2014 | UI improvements |
| Alpha 13 | February 5, 2015 | Overhauled collisions, Mars climate, planetary cutaways |
| Alpha 13.1 | February 6, 2015 | Bug fixes |
| Alpha 14 | March 1, 2015 | |
| Alpha 15 | June 19, 2015 | New UI, including screenshot preview abilities. New magnetic field, etc.[6][7] |
| Alpha 15.1 | March 1, 2015 | Reedited texture of Ceres, new random asteroid feature, etc. |
| Alpha 15.2 | July 9, 2015 | The Pluto Encounter update.[8] |
| Alpha 15.9 | August 21, 2015 | Alpha 16 Preview with rewritten rendering. |
| Alpha 16 | August 24, 2015 | Universe Sandbox ² is now Early Access on Steam |
| Alpha 16.1 | September 12, 2015 | |
| Alpha 16.2 | October 12, 2015 | |
| Alpha 17 | November 17, 2015 | Stars Glows & The Likelihood of Life update |
| Alpha 18 | December 23, 2015 | Much Faster Physics update |
| Alpha 18.1 | January 8, 2016 | Faster Physics for Mac & Linux |
| Alpha 18.2 | January 22, 2016 | Planet Nine update |
| Alpha 18.2c | April 5, 2016 | Universe Sandbox ² is now in VR for the HTC Vive |
| Alpha 19 | November 9, 2016 | Disintegration update |
Features
Key features of Universe Sandbox as of version 2.0:[9]
- Interactive n-body gravity simulator
- Simple tutorial introduction
- Several step-by-step activities included
- All physical quantities are measured in real units: kilograms, meters, seconds, etc.
- User control of the speed of time, gravity and other factors
- Simulation files are editable
- 3D Mode for use with red and cyan 3D glasses (anaglyph stereoscopic)
- Support for 3D DLP HD televisions[10]
- Multiple color modes to help visualize and differentiate speeds and accelerations
- Two collision modes, bounce and combine
- Scaled ring systems of Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, and generate rings around bodies
- Particle grids can be used to create 2D computer graphics or 3D computer graphics particle grids, which warps/distort the grids and causes gravitational effects by adding in moving planets or other objects (not in version 2)
- "Line-up/chart" mode option shows a visual size comparison of the stars and planets
- Includes the full sky panoramic view of the Milky Way from Axel Mellinger's photography of the Milky Way
- Can capture high resolution screen shots
In the media
Universe Sandbox was used for several of the gravity simulations of galaxies colliding in a galaxy series special, "Cosmic Collisions", which first aired on January 28, 2009 on the Discovery Channel. (The second animation in this particular video was created using Universe Sandbox.)[11]
See also
- List of PC titles
- List of PC exclusive titles
- Celestia
- Digital Universe
- Google Sky
- RedShift
- Starry Night
- Stellarium
- Worldwide Telescope
References
- ↑ "Universe Sandbox". Universe Sandbox. Giant Army. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ↑ Alex Cox (2008-10-05). "How one man created his own universe - How Dan Dixon fashioned a whole universe out of mere bytes". PC Plus, Issue 274 and techradar.com - computing news. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
- ↑ "we make Universe Sandbox". Giant Army. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
- 1 2 3 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 14, 2012. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
- 1 2 3 http://universesandbox.com/forum/index.php/board,13.0.html
- ↑ "New UI Screenshot & Alpha 15 Update". Universe Sandbox. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- ↑ "Alpha 15 Now Available". Universe Sandbox 2. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ↑ "Universe Sandbox ² Alpha 15.2 - The Pluto Encounter Update". Universe Sandbox. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ↑ "Universe Sandbox ²". Universe Sandbox. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ↑ http://www.dlp.com/hdtv/dlp-features/3d-hdtv.aspx
- ↑ Dan Evans (2009). "Cosmic Collisions". Discovery Channel. Retrieved 2010-01-10 – via Vimeo.