Thursday, June 02, 2011

Spinning Globe Map Followup


I got an email about yesterday's Spinning Hex Globe map.  As the answers might be useful and/or of interest to others as well I thought I would answer them here. 

The Jump 
The first question is about the "jump" in the spinning globe.  If you look at the globe posted yesterday there is a bit of a little glitch on every rotation.  That is because the two ends of the map to not match up perfectly.  It is possible with a little trial and error to loop your map correctly so that you don't experience the jump.  You need to create a map so that both ends match up, much like creating a seamless texture. 

Slow Rotation
The second question was whether the speed at which the globe is spinning is alterable.  The one I posted was fairly slow, and the reader was looking for a lot more speed.  This is easily doable through the animation menu.  All one need do is turn the animation time down.  The lower the animation time (the amount of time between the two points) the faster the globe will spin. 

More Map
The final question of interest was whether one can add more to the map.   The answer again is, yes.  You can create additional art around your globe and create a number of really cool effects. The only thing that will limit you is time and imagination. 

Example
To demonstrate the answer to all three of the above questions I have created a little example using the same globe I used yesterday.  I messed around with the edges to make it seamless and eliminate the jump, I turned down the animation time to make the globe spin much faster, and I created a little space scene.

This is just a quick example, but if there is interest I can make a more complex one. I'm always happy to share my fledgling knowledge so if anyone has any additional questions please do not hesitate to leave it in the comments section, or email me.

1 comment:

logischdede said...

well done.
the final result looks pretty fine.