SolarSystem, 2014

Unity3D Experiment, programmed in C#.

A prototype / experiment for making a “solar system” videogame main menu in the videogame engine  Unity3D.
I wanted this menu to feel like a spinning-top/globe that the user can interact with by click-dragging or swiping the mouse in all directions. When the user drags the mouse up or down the spheres wil move up or down to a certain degree without tipping over. When the user releases the mouse button the spheres gently lerp (linear interpolation) back into normal rotation.
I had the vision to do this because it seemed like a good experiment and programming practice (C#). It was more difficult then I expected because in order to overcome gimbal lock I had to use a dummy object to contain the ‘planets’ so I could split the horizontal and vertical rotations. That totally worked so it feels very natural and lerps smoothly now.(see 3:26)

(Sorry for the awful framerate! I’m using a very old laptop that doesn’t like screen recording one bit)