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submitted 2 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] Venat0r@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago

I think it's also that we choose the most photogenic angle for earth, if you pick a random angle of earth it sometimes doesn't look as good.

e.g. 638

do you have an algorithm for picking a photogenic angle for your game?

[-] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

do you have an algorithm for picking a photogenic angle for your game?

Nah, the planets are just shown as 3D objects in the game.

The little icons as the one I linked were made by a special game mode for development which I call the PlanetPhotoStudio that just lets me manually rotate the planet 3D object and take a snapshot. Since the planet surfaces are pre-generated using an external program ("Grand Designer", highly recommended) and only some results are chosen, it's fine to also make those icons during development time.

It's actually less hassle to create a "photo studio" (especially since most of the work for it is also used in the main game) and do it manually for each planet like that than to try and come up with an algorithm for "how photogenic a 2D view of a planet looks".

[-] grozzle@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

i love the Himalaya doing a cute smile

[-] texture@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

looks like a baby elephant

this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2026

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