Do you know the simulation Orbiter?
larsalt : Egads, that takes the wind outta ones sales doesnt it? I have to admit that a few minutes on that sight was quite disheartening to my little project.
Then I have to remember that I'm not being quite as ambitious as that project. I started working a 3d model of the Solar System for my daughter to be able to explore it and understand the concept of distances/sizes and to gain a visual representation of things she learns (she's 6 years old and is fascinated by astronomy).
There's also the side effect of me actually learning more of the Blitz language and techniques while doing it ;)
Malice : As I mentioned, the Tan(Theta)=y/d formula doesnt take into account where along the orbit the planet is so the value that produces is actually the planets Y value at its aphelion (furthest point in orbit from sun).
I have to take into account where along the orbit the planet is at any given time. The Y value at aphelion will be greater than if at perihelion (closest point in orbit to the sun).
Now to determine this I need to take into account on how I'm moving my planets. Realistically I would calculate the orbital velocity and move the planet ahead in its orbit. Since this would require another series of formula I chose to skip this and go with realistic LOOKING rather than MODEL. I take the average orbital speed and figure out how many degrees along the orbit the planet would move in a specific slice of time and update the X and Z coordinates.
Phew, what a mouthful heh ... my sollution was to go for a way to distribute the Y value from aphelion to perihelion. So far the best sollution I found was to add a Sin(deg) to the formula to work in where along the orbit the planet is
Y = (Sin(Degree) * (Tan (Inclination) * Distance))
This matches the orbits up perfectly with their orbit lines. Using Dragon57's Torrus creator code I've created Torruses to represent the orbit lines and have tilted those Torruses to represent inclination. My math isnt far off as the planets ride exactly on top of those "Orbit Lines". The only deviation is the height in which the planets sit above their orbit lines. It appears that the greater the inclination the greater the deviation (Mercury and Pluto have the largest inclination values of 7 and 17 degrees repspectively).
So ... right now I'm plugging in various ideas to work out that deviation. At this point the simplest sollution would be to hard-code-adjust the planet's Y coordinate to place them on the line, which I've actually done and all the planets orbit pretty as pie. However, I still need to solve this deviation because I plan on plugging in the moons of these planets, various Major and Near Earth asteroids, and a few comets or whatever else might come to mind for someone to go explore.
larsalt : Thanks for the link to that sight. I'll definatly post a question there if I cant figure out the right sollution here. I'm not sure if they can help as that site is dedicated to very realistic mathmatics and such and I'm trying to merely LOOK authentic ;) I feel like a guy who draws a stick figure and asks an artist if the proportions of the fingers are correct.
Thanks for the help everyone!