Visualizing an FTL drive
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oh no not again
The only thing unpredictable about me is just how predictable I'm going to be.
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For the physics folks: If you wanted to create a cool animation of a ship with an FTL drive, specifically something like an Alcubierre drive[^], what visual cues might you use? Trying to keep things a little bit based in reality (yes, I'm aware the drive doesn't really exist, and due to certain annoying laws of physics probably never will) would the ship simply disappear? Would there be any weird light artifacts (i.e. GLows, streaks, distortions) from the POV of the camera viewing the departing ship?
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One option: I recommend breaking from the norm and make any tracer effects non-linear... Have a light trail (a la contrail) follow some bizarre looping curves. A released air balloon is kind of what I have in mind. Skip some frames like a strobe effect. Maybe there is some sort of quantam effect. Make loud "blatting" noises on each pulse. (I know sound does not travel in space!) If you are going faster than light, the chance that you will follow the same line as a light beam should be about zero. Another option: This fits more with the warp bubble. Just make a huge fish-eye view of the ship and accelerate it in a non linear path. *Have some "heat ripples" that distort the background star field but quickly dampen as normal space recovers. I like this idea, you could combine it with any other imagery. Just make sure you give us a sneak peek!
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For the physics folks: If you wanted to create a cool animation of a ship with an FTL drive, specifically something like an Alcubierre drive[^], what visual cues might you use? Trying to keep things a little bit based in reality (yes, I'm aware the drive doesn't really exist, and due to certain annoying laws of physics probably never will) would the ship simply disappear? Would there be any weird light artifacts (i.e. GLows, streaks, distortions) from the POV of the camera viewing the departing ship?
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Jim Crafton wrote:
create a cool animation of a ship with an FTL drive
Skip the physics, its probably going to be visually boring, and stick with the standard visual indicators of sub-light fast motion -- quick acceleration, light smears, sonic booms, forward skew. Maybe substitute a burst of Cherenkov radiation in place of the sonic boom. You want to make it look like its going fast, not try to actually show it going so fast the human eye can't actually see it :)
patbob
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For the physics folks: If you wanted to create a cool animation of a ship with an FTL drive, specifically something like an Alcubierre drive[^], what visual cues might you use? Trying to keep things a little bit based in reality (yes, I'm aware the drive doesn't really exist, and due to certain annoying laws of physics probably never will) would the ship simply disappear? Would there be any weird light artifacts (i.e. GLows, streaks, distortions) from the POV of the camera viewing the departing ship?
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I'm no physicist, but I would expect a combination of red and blue shifting: any object which was directly across from the Alcubierre bubble whould have equal shifting toward one, then the other - balancing out & appearing undistorted. Any object which was less than perfectly centered would be shifted by the sum of the red shift at the rear and the blue shift at the front. Any object inside the Alcubierre bublle would be shifted either red or blue depending on vector from the generator's centerline - and proportional to the angle of difference from that centerline. So - if one was directly behind the ship as the Alcubierre bubble is generated, the ship would appear to get redder and darker until it disappears - presumably in about a microsecond or so (between the redshift of the bubble and the redshift of apparent acceleration away from the camera, the observer probably would see little). Similarly, if one was directly ahead of the ship, it would appear to shift blue until disappearance. Directly to port or starboard (assuming one could keep pace) one would see almost no distortion - for the observer would be at just that point where space compression becomes space expansion. Of course this is all conjecture, but I hope that it is useful ...
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As an alternative to the Infinite Impossibility Drive (which has a nasty tendency to create and then assassinate sperm whales), you might consider Harry Harrison's Bloater Drive (from "Bill the Galactic Hero") - this instantly bloats the ship to fill the whole universe and then instantly de-bloats it to a different point from its original position. (Do NOT forget your towel!).
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For the physics folks: If you wanted to create a cool animation of a ship with an FTL drive, specifically something like an Alcubierre drive[^], what visual cues might you use? Trying to keep things a little bit based in reality (yes, I'm aware the drive doesn't really exist, and due to certain annoying laws of physics probably never will) would the ship simply disappear? Would there be any weird light artifacts (i.e. GLows, streaks, distortions) from the POV of the camera viewing the departing ship?
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I liked the idea of the destination racing in and suddenly stopping in front of the ship. But to top it off, I would have the ship fire it's sub-light engines, move forward a small amount, then the destination and ship both go suddenly racing away again.
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Chris Losinger wrote:
you'd see the destination approach the camera, then zip away, taking the ship with it.
That's actually a cool idea - I don't think I've ever seen that done before.
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Well there are a couple options... you make a warped space time bubble around the ship the ship doesn't move and the bubble does. see star wars / star trek You make a Einstein-rosein Bridge(sp?) in which case the two local space times would appear roughly like an hourglass and you may or may not be able to see through to the other side. if you make the event horizon sufficient negative in curvature you could create a ball inside a ball in which case you would most likely see a either distorted view of both spaces superimposed, or the momentary formation of something resembling a black hole. in which case a camera pointing out would see the entire ship(think super fish-eye lens inside out..?) and a camera facing in would see the event horizon of a black hole(and probably get destroyed in the tidal forces)... the Light (if any ) is a show of energy traveling back through the distortion, and cooling as it re-expands/contracts(into a different local curvature).. or at least that is what I would say if asked...
I'd blame it on the Brain farts.. But lets be honest, it really is more like a Methane factory between my ears some days then it is anything else...
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that would be an infinite probability drive not an FTL, since using infinite probability you may go forward and backward in time... at least that could be slightly improbable in which case you wouldn't travel faster then light...=)
I'd blame it on the Brain farts.. But lets be honest, it really is more like a Methane factory between my ears some days then it is anything else...
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I think that behind and beside the ship would be utterly black, but in front a white disc of starlight, microwaves and CMB, massively blue-shifted into the far gamma regions, which along with the interstellar dust being hit at ludicrous speeds, would instantly vaporise the ship, drive and everyone in it.
it depends I think on the spacetime curviture, if sufficiently bent(to or past 0) the high energy froth at that point in the energy spectrum could be swept aside around through(perhaps a hole in the middle) similar to one of those special rain tread tires...=)
I'd blame it on the Brain farts.. But lets be honest, it really is more like a Methane factory between my ears some days then it is anything else...
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For the physics folks: If you wanted to create a cool animation of a ship with an FTL drive, specifically something like an Alcubierre drive[^], what visual cues might you use? Trying to keep things a little bit based in reality (yes, I'm aware the drive doesn't really exist, and due to certain annoying laws of physics probably never will) would the ship simply disappear? Would there be any weird light artifacts (i.e. GLows, streaks, distortions) from the POV of the camera viewing the departing ship?
¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow
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For the physics folks: If you wanted to create a cool animation of a ship with an FTL drive, specifically something like an Alcubierre drive[^], what visual cues might you use? Trying to keep things a little bit based in reality (yes, I'm aware the drive doesn't really exist, and due to certain annoying laws of physics probably never will) would the ship simply disappear? Would there be any weird light artifacts (i.e. GLows, streaks, distortions) from the POV of the camera viewing the departing ship?
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I'm not exactly a physics expert, but I think I more or less get how this drive works, i.e. it does not move the ship itself, but rather moves (or distorts) spacetime around it. In that case, my question is: what would happen if two ships pass each other close enough so that their "bubbles" would intersect?