Basic Space-Themed Visualization

Inspiration

After doing several HTML and Python projects

Still wanting to do a computer science project but with objects, not just outputs on consoles.
Already did a very basic tutorial in Unity and found it interesting, wanted to keep building off it.
Interest in astronomy, wanting to create comparisons to better understand the vastness of space. ## What it does Helps visualize the speed of light and its speed relative to massive objects
Speed - Adjustable speed of camera.
Free Movement - Camera can move in all axes and rotate.
Size - Two adjustable planets with radius inputs.
Orbits - Circular orbit around each planet, uses speed as input. ## How we built it ###Planning and General Setup
Going for a space theme with planets.
Thinking about equations for circular orbit.
Finding space-related assets to download and import for the sky and planets (asteroids came later). ###Unity ####Unity Setup
Important space-related assets, making the skybox.
Creating 3D Game Objects: Creating two spheres to serve as planets, asteroids, and a line to keep track of the two planets.
Creating UI: Adding a pair of orbit buttons and radius text boxes, as well as one distance and one speed text box. ####Coding
Scripts (Part 1): Initializing individual scripts for the camera, planets, and asteroids.
Event Triggers/Input: Creating event triggers for the orbit buttons and InputFields for the radius, speed, and distance text boxes, which are connected to the planet and camera scripts.
Scripts (Part 2): Incorporating camera movement, speed, and radius to create orbits. A script for one planet contained the distance information and radius, and the initial planet used radius to change the size and gap between the planets.
Testing and Cleaning: Tested the inputs on the first planet, then applied them to the other. Abstracting the code: using more variables and making sure inputs make sense.
Finalizing + Extra Touches: Creating additional scripts for the asteroids to rotate, making adjustments to equations, and adding instructions + key. ## Challenges we ran into ### Unity Itself
Crashed Twice and resultantly lost progress.
Heavy battery consumption, limited my workspaces to areas near outlets.
Errors clogged the console, sometimes annoying to get useful information. ### Coding
Finding the right equations for the circular orbit. I accidentally used derivates of the orbit instead of basic trigonometry and lost a lot of time because of my mistake.
Code took longer than expected due to the number of connections between UI and GameObjects. ## Accomplishments that we're proud of ### Ascetics
Nice assets, asteroids added an extra appeal. ### Organization
Although the buttons are not very abstract, they are organized in a logical way and all work as expected. The controls are cohesive as well. There are no detrimental glitches found so far. ## What we learned ### Inspector in Unity
Better understanding of event triggers.
Knowing better how to connect something to code.
Using the inspector to better monitor positioning. ### C#
How to add inputs directly from scripts.
Transform: learning how to rotate, change size, and change the position of an object.
Syntax: learning the types of variables and functions, math, and concatenation. ### Ascetics
Using skyboxes ### Dedication
Working on a single project for many hours this weekend helped improve my mental and physical endurance. ## What's next for Basic Space-Themed Visualization
Built-in Stopwatch: A stopwatch that measures time elapsed between distances covered.
Better Buttons/UI: Buttons that end the function when clicked again and that don't overlap. Condensing and simplifying the interface, as well as improving its overall style.
Option to add any number of planets.
Elliptical instead of circular orbits.
Fitting project to any screen.