TOKYO (MacHouse) – It’s been more than two weeks since we introduced the last software title, hasn’t it? What have we been up to lately? We’ve been learning to use a totally new framework. It’s the Scene Kit framework. This framework lets us work with 3D graphics. Speaking of Scene Kit, we submitted a new software title that implements it to Mac App Store a few hours ago. This new release is called Planet Factory.

Planet Factory is a desktop application that lets you graphically design a solar system of your own. The application implements SceneKit, an Objective-C framework for realizing 3D graphics, so that the user can 3D plot planets on a 2D canvas. You have a cameara that captures the entire scene at a distance involving planets and a light source, the sun. Planet Factory doesn’t just let you plot planets. You can easily save the entire solar system that a camera captures to your disk as a picture. You can of course create a single planet and then save that planet to your disk as a picture as well.  

Available at Mac App Store

Features

1. Add 10, 20, 50 or any number of planets to your solar system.
2. Choose one of 80+ styles or use a solid color to colorize the planet surface.
3. Choose one of 48 maps to make an atmospheric surface of the planet.
4. Adjust camera settings to change planet looks.
5. Adjust sun settings to change planet looks.
6. Save your solar system to a disk as a picture.
7. Save progress as a project file.  Double-click on a project file to reproduce progress.
8. The application supports the fullscreen mode.
9. The application supports the retina screen.
10. Languages: English only.
11. Application file size: 24.7 MB.
12. The application comes with a complete user’s guide written in English. (Choose Help > User’s Guide.)
13. The application comes with a 12-page introduction window, giving the user a quick tour over how it works.

System requirements

1. 10.9 (tested with 10.9.5), 10.10 (tested with 10.10.0)
2. 64-bit system

Limitations

1. The only supported export formats are BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPEG 2000, PNG, TIFF.
2. There’s a limitation on the work area size as the solar system canvas is not put in a scrollview control.  For example, the largest work area for a 27" iMac is 2,518 x 1,176 pts. The minimum work area is 610 x 420 pts.

Version history

1.0.3 (Released on December 29, 2014)

1. Fix: The application could duplicate format names on the export drop-down menu in Preferences.

1.0.2 (Released on October 24, 2014)

1. The deployment target is reset to 10.9, abandoning 10.8.
2. The header labels above the list box could get misaligned to table columns depending on the number of planets.

User’s guide

Application user’s guide is available (only in English). Click here to access it online.






Trial/Demo version

Click here to download a trial version. This trial version will remain fully functional for 7 days, starting from the very moment you first launch it.






Video tutorial

There is no video tutorial at this time.






Planet Factory is a product of MacHouse.
Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Mac App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.