A preview of WorldWide Telescope Eclipse for the planetarium community
Overview
WorldWide Telescope Eclipse Alpha is a relatively stable, performance tuned, but not yet feature complete preview of the WorldWide Telescope Eclipse release that will be completed in the first quarter of 2013. There are two releases of Eclipse Alpha. The Legacy Release supports Windows XP & Vista and DirectX9.0c hardware running as a 32bit application. The Advanced release runs on Windows 7 or 8, in either 32 or 64bit mode depending on the O/S installed. It also supports Native DirectX11, DirectX10, and has some support for downlevel DirectX9 hardware running thru the DirectX11 API.
Do not attempt to install the Advanced version on Windows XP. It can not be made to run, and can potentially prevent the Legacy version from running.
Special Note: You *MUST* uninstall your existing WWT build before installing the Advanced build of WWT or it Will not run.
About WWT Eclipse Alpha
Key Features
System Requirements
Download Links
Installation Instructions
Ask questions and provide feedback
Releases
Known Issues
About WWT Eclipse Alpha
WorldWide Telescope Eclipse Alpha is a significantly improved release with many new features designed for a first-class planetarium experience. Everything from rendering quality to frame rate to dome and render node management has
been improved to make WWT thrive in a full dome environment. The Alpha release is not a single point release, but will be continually updated with new drops as we add features and fix bugs. We will also be adding new videos, help files,
and operational white papers so please check back frequently for updates. On Feb 14th Legacy Version 3.1.52 & Advanced Version 4.1.17 are current. Please update to the latest build to ensure you have the latest fixes.
Key Features
- New MIDI controller support allows customized control panels using inexpensive but powerful Midi performance controllers
- Mange projector nodes, check status, render performance all from the WWT console
- Screen Broadcast allows any application on the console to be shown as a window in Full Dome
- Support for WMS time Series images
- New atmospheric and lighting shaders give much better realism for Earth and planets
- Tilt and rotate lets you explore planet surfaces in Solar System mode
- Full dome tour authoring, and instant full dome playback of desktop tours with overlays & images
- Highly detailed models of ISS and Gemini Observatory for use in tours
- Support for Earth based visualization as well as sky based visualization
- See a more detailed list of features in this word Document
System Requirements for Legacy version 3.1.52
To run this software, you’ll need the following:
System Requirements for Advanced version 4.1.17
To run this software, you’ll need the following:
Download Links
Installation Instructions
To install WWT Eclipse Alpha, do the following:
- Ensure all the system requirements are installed
- Uninstall WorldWide Telescope if a previous build is currently installed
- Download and launch the setup for WWT (chose Legacy for XP or Vista, Advanced for Windows 7 & 8)
- Download and launch the WWTExcelAddin.msi to install the Add-in(Optional for Excel Support)
Ask questions and provide feedback
We are providing several mechanisms for you to ask questions or to send feedback to Microsoft Research about WWT Eclipse Alpha
- To report bugs and provide suggestions or discuss the Eclipse Alpha and share ideas, please use the WorldWide Telescope Forums. Note that in order to submit bugs or suggestions, you must be a member of the support forums.
- To ask technical questions or to let us know how you are using the software, you can also e-mail us at wwtpage@microsoft.com.
Releases
- 28 Sept 2012 : 3.1.40 Base Eclise Alpha release
- 18 Oct 2012 : 3.1.43 Lunar and Gallelean Moon orbits added. Shader Bugs Fixed
- 11 Dec 2012 : 3.1.52 Legacy Release for XP support
- 11 Dec 2012 : 4.1.5 Advanced Release. DX10/11 Hardware support. 64 bit support for huge data.
- 14 Feb 2013 : 4.1.17 Advanced Release. Significant bug fixes, frame rate targeting, verticle sync, performance and stability improvements. Support for Parallels DX10 mode on Mac.
Known Issues
This area will be filled in with known issues and workarounds as the Alpha progresses. There will be frequent code updates posted with fixes to issues and new features as they are available.
- 3.1.40 : The "Show Earth Sky" option is not being synchronized across the network, this option must be set to use the new sky shader. Set this option manually in each rendering node by either editing the app config file, or using the UI in Master mode. Fixed in 3.1.43
- 3.1.40 : Make sure the "Multi-res Solar System bodies" is check in 3d Solar Systems options. There is an error generating shaders when this option is not checked. Fixed in 3.1.43
- 3.1.40 : Turning Planets off can cause textures in all other features to be missing. Work around is to not turn planets off, and turn them back on after playing tours where they are turned off. This can effect all modes. Fixed in 3.1.43
- 4.1.5 : Asteroids (Minor Planet Center database rendering) displays incorrectly on DX9 hardware or running in Virtual Machines that do not support DX10 or 11. Work-around: Use the Legacy version if MPC is needed. Fixed in 4.1.17