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2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY

"2001 a space odyssey" is the really inspire adaptation for the cinema of a Arthur Stanley Clarke novels by Stanley Kubrick in 1968. At that time, it is a major event with its extraordinary realistic scenes in space and it will last more then 10 years to see the same realism in the space vessel mock-ups and special effects (Star Wars). Besides, the philosphic aspect developped by the film raised numerous questions adding a magisterial dimension to the pictures. A lot of analysis and descriptions are available on the Net.

1968 is the time of the Moon raceand it is the first time that very nice pictures of both the Earth and the Moon are displayed. No doubt the the film boosted a bit more the competition for the Space control. In perfect harmony with the film the music adds a intense emotion to the intrigue.

Each sequence of the film which lasts about 3 hours let us the time to integrate them and sense their philosophical implication. The story relates the discovery by the Americans of a monolith digged under the Moon surface and which is sending data to Jupiter. This discovery is kept secret due to the consequences resulting of its revelation to the general public. Indeed, the monolith datation brings back to the humanity eve and raise some troubling questions on extra-wordly civilization along with the origin of humanity. The "Discovery 1" vessel is then launched towards Jupiter with a scientific crew on-board. Most of them are hibernating when both doctors Dave Bowman and Franck Poole are operational.. The vessel is under the total control of a super computer named HAL 9000 which talks and plays chess with the crew.

The key question now is to know if the computer is going to bugg ???

Some pictures from the film

Dave Bowman's helmet

The computer eye is everywhere (pod)

HAL 9000 eye

Stanley Kubrick

A film poster

MY CELESTIA ADDON

When I found the Max Grueter creation which are very nice 3d models of the 2001 astronauts, I could not resist to decide to use them in my new add-on on 2001. The add-on reuse some existing vessels for Celestia along with the Tycho and Clavius models coming form the Orbiter add-on.

I textured and redesigned the Discovery and Aries vessels keeping just a few original pieces. All other things have been re-modelling to obtain a better balance between the fims rendering and the smoothness on the screen. A recent computer with a good graphic card with dedicated memory is required for a proper running.

The design work being very long, I decided to issue a testing pre-version to get some reaction ahead of issuing the final work and optimize the add-on. I'd like to thank Runar who authorized me to use the smoke of the Buran add-on. The test version is working under Celestia 1.4.1 or 1.5.0 final version. Thanks to advise me about possible encountered problems.

My production for the 2001 add-on : Just click to display the pictures in 1280 x 755. For additional picture in 1920 x 1200 go to 2001 Gallery

The Clavius base opens its panels

Orion reaches the station V

Dave Bowman inside the Pod

My Aries model with control center

The Clavius lunar base

Franck Poole in the Discovery Cockpit

PROJECTS:

Besides the difficulty to position properly the hatchways, I'd like to design the opening of the Clavius base panel and the Franck Poole corps recovery in the arms of the pod. Several orbits are to be modified. The
moonbus lift-off to Tycho, a rendezvous orbit for Aries and may be its lift-off towards the Station V are still to be designed. I'd like to model the station interior (Hilton lounge) and Discovery circular part where Dave makes his training.

(most of this is done in the new version now availlable)

INSTALLATION AND OPERATION

Unzip the pack into "Extra\Addons" or "Extra" directory which will create a "2001JM space odyssey"s subdirectory. Then launch Celestia and open the scipts in "...\program files\Celestia\Extra\Addons\Scripts". The best is to start with the "The blues danube cel script by earing "the bue danube" from Johann Strauss. Those who watched the film will appreciate when the others will discover it... IT IS COMPULSORY TO LISTEN THE MUSIC SIMULTANEOUSLY !

Please read the file SCRIPT.txt and launch the others script

It is nearly necessary to use the scripts to arrive at the right time. Store your preferred sequences as bookmarks/url in Celestia. In this new release you can use the 2001 url page on my site or in the html folder in thid addon

PS:

Using the toilets in empty space requires some training.
Read carefully the user manual ici to avoid any bad surprise...

Here you can find some video:

ADD-ON VIDEOS AND MOVIES

The Danube script full with music