Merge Galaxies is a little annoying!

[rscuti]

Whenever I go to Merge Galaxies, it is a little bit annoying to move the distance and time and depth and stuff. It is very painstaking and I cannot quite figure how to evaluate my simulation either. Any help on evaluating?

Pranav Sivakumar

[echo-lily-mai]

Hi Pranav, thanks for posting it’s always good to get feedback. 

Well one of the reasons that I enjoy this zoo, is the fact there is a sort of creative process in being able to enhance the sims. Yes it can be painstaking I spend more time on a few then I do on matching many, but that is personal choice

Here’s some that made it into the gallery . Not all the sims you work on will ever look like that though! It may be worth reading the tutorial again

The fact is “The human eye is better than the computer at deciding when a simulation matches reality”. The best advice is to try your best, trust your judgement and enjoy. Feel free to share any merger news or comments over here.

If you still find this process a bit frustrating you may also want to try other zoos they are all very different.

Let us know how it goes. 

[Nitram5]

I agree with Pranav

It is quite hard to know which "knobs" to turn - I guess you need a lot of experience to do that efficiently.

The whole goal is to narrow down the range that the perameters can lie within. Why not make make several "steps" of "explore" iterations. In the first "step", you by chance hit the parameters such that the result remotely resembles the real image. You pick the best picture, and move to the next "step", where you let the simulation chose the parameters randomly - but this time within a certain range around the parameters in the first "step". You choose your favorite simulation, and move on to the next "step" etc.

Do you understand what I am saying?

Martin

[ElisabethB]

Hi Martin,
yes, I understand what you are saying. 
But I think at this stage in the project that such major changes will not be implemented.
What I do is choose a couple of sims that (vaguely) ressemble the merger, with at least the rotation correct (if there is one) and then try out the different parameters. The thing is if you improve a sim, even only a little bit, save that one too.
I know it looks a bit trial and error, but after a while you get a feel for it.
Hope you enjoy it and have fun !
Els