Controls

This section describes the controls of Gaia Sky.

Keyboard controls

To check the most up-to-date controls go to the Controls tab in the preferences window. Here are the default keyboard controls depending on the current camera mode. Learn more about camera modes in the Camera modes section.

Keyboard mappings

The keyboard mappings are stored in an internal file called keyboard.mappings (link). If you want to edit the keyboard mappings, copy the file it into $GS_CONFIG/mappings/ and edit it. This overrides the default internal mappings file. The file consists of a series of <ACTION>=<KEYS> entries. For example:

# Help
action.help                                 = F1
action.help                                 = H

# Exit
action.exit                                 = ESC

# Home
action.home                                 = HOME

# Preferences
action.preferences                          = P

#action.playcamera                          = C

The available actions are defined in this I18n file here.

You can find the current keyboard mappings and the actions they are associated with in the controls settings window within Gaia Sky.

_images/controls.jpg

The controls settings in Gaia Sky

Default camera controls

These are the default keyboard controls that apply to the focus, free, game, and Gaia FoV modes.

Key(s)

Action

camera forward

camera backward

rotate/yaw right

rotate/yaw left

Home

back to Earth (or any other home object)

Tab

toggle minimap

Ctrl + r

reset time to current

Num 0 or 0

free camera

Num 1 or 1

focus camera

Num 2 or 2

game mode

Num 3 or 3

spacecraft mode

Num 4 or 4

gaia FOV1 camera

Num 5 or 5

gaia FOV2 camera

Num 6 or 6

gaia FOV1 and FOV2 camera

Ctrl + w

new keyframe

Ctrl + k

panorama mode

Space

pause/resume time

F1

help dialog

F5

take screenshot

F6

start/stop frame output mode

F11

toggle fullscreen/windowed mode

Ctrl + f or f

search dialog

Esc or q

quit application

p

open preferences dialog

h

open help dialog

r

run script dialog

c

run camera path file dialog

-

decrease limiting magnitude

+

increase limiting magnitude

,

divide time warp by two

.

double time warp

*

reset limiting magnitude

Shift + b

toggle constellation boundaries

Shift + c

toggle constellation lines

Shift + e

toggle ecliptic grid

Shift + g

toggle galactic grid

Shift + l

toggle labels

Shift + m

toggle moons

Shift + o

toggle orbits

Shift + p

toggle planets

Shift + q

toggle equatorial grid

Shift + s

toggle stars

Shift + t

toggle satellites

Shift + v

toggle star clusters

Shift + h

toggle meshes

Shift + r

toggle recursive grid

Shift + u

expand/collapse control panel

Ctrl + u

toggle UI completely (hide/show user interface)

Ctrl + d

toggle debug info

Ctrl + s

toggle stereoscopic mode

Ctrl + Shift + s

switch between stereoscopic profiles

Ctrl + k

toggle 360 panorama mode

Ctrl + Shift + k

switch between 360 projections

Ctrl + Shift + g

toggle galaxy renderer

Default spacecraft controls

These controls apply only to the spacecraft mode.

Key(s)

Action

w

apply forward thrust

s

apply backward thrust

a

roll left

d

roll right

k

stop spaceship automatically

l

stabilize spaceship automatically

pitch up

pitch down

yaw left

yaw right

PgUp

increase engine power (x10)

PgDown

decrease engine power (x0.1)

Mouse controls

Here are the default mouse controls for the focus and free Camera modes. The other modes do not have mouse controls.

Focus mode

Mouse + keys

Action

L-MOUSE DOUBLE CLICK

select focus object

L-MOUSE SINGLE CLICK

stop all rotation and translation movement

L-MOUSE + DRAG

apply rotation around focus

L-MOUSE + Shift + DRAG

camera roll

R-MOUSE + DRAG

pan view freely from focus

M-MOUSE + DRAG or WHEEL

move towards/away from focus

Free mode

Mouse + keys

Action

L-MOUSE DOUBLE CLICK

select object as focus (changes to focus mode)

L-MOUSE SINGLE CLICK

stop all rotation and translation movement

L-MOUSE + DRAG

pan view

L-MOUSE + Shift + DRAG

camera roll

M-MOUSE + DRAG or WHEEL

forward/backward movement

Game mode

Use the mouse to look around and wasd to move.

Gamepad controls

Since 2.3.0

Gaia Sky supports Game controllers through SDL. This means that most controllers should just work out-of-the-box. The default controller mappings file, SDL_Controller.controller, should always be used initially. Should this file not work for your controller, you can create your custom mappings easily and interactively by going to the preferences window > controls and clicking on the “Configure” button next to your controller. Then, follow screen instructions.

_images/controls-gamepad.jpg

Configuring gamepad controls in Gaia Sky

User mappings files (see here) can be added manually to $GS_CONFIG/mappings (see folders) folder, or set up automatically from within Gaia Sky. The controller mappings file contains the axis or button numbers for each input type. Below is an example of one such file.

#Controller mappings definition file for Wireless Steam Controller
axis.dpad.h=-1
axis.dpad.v=1
axis.lstick.h=0
axis.lstick.h.sensitivity=1.0
axis.lstick.v=1
axis.lstick.v.sensitivity=1.0
axis.lt=-1
axis.lt.sensitivity=1.0
axis.rstick.h=2
axis.rstick.h.sensitivity=1.0
axis.rstick.v=3
axis.rstick.v.sensitivity=1.0
axis.rt=-1
axis.rt.sensitivity=-1.0
axis.value.pow=4.0
button.a=2
button.b=3
button.dpad.d=18
button.dpad.l=19
button.dpad.r=20
button.dpad.u=17
button.lb=6
button.lstick=13
button.lt=-1
button.rb=7
button.rstick=-1
button.rt=-1
button.select=10
button.start=11
button.x=4
button.y=5

Default camera mappings

Gampead axes and buttons

Gamepad annotated with axes and buttons

The following table lists the actions assigned to each of the gamepad axes and buttons.

Button/axis

Action

R-stick H

rotate around horizontally (focus mode), yaw (free mode)

R-stick V

rotate around vertycally (focus mode), pitch (free mode)

L-stick H

roll

L-stick V

forward/backward

RT (right trigger)

roll right

LT (left trigger)

roll left

Start

preferences

A

toggle labels

B

toggle asteroids

X

toggle minimap

Y

toggle orbits

Dpad up

increase star size

Dpad down

decrease star size

Dpad right

start time

Dpad left

stop time

R-stick click

stop time

Spacecraft camera mappings

In spacecraft mode, the actions mapped to the different gamepad axes and buttons are different. They are listed in the table below.

Button/axis

Action

R-stick H

spacecraft yaw

R-stick V

spacecraft pitch

L-stick H

spacecraft roll

L-stick V

thrust forward/backward

RB (right bumper)

spacecraft roll right

LB (left bumper)

spacecraft roll left

RT (right trigger)

thrust forward

LT (left trigger)

thrust backward

A

toggle labels

B

toggle orbits

X

stop spacecraft

Y

level spacecraft

Dpad up

increase engine power (x10)

Dpad down

decrease engine power (x0.1)

Since 3.0.0

Controller UI

The controller UI allows access to some basic actions and settings directly using a game controller, without need for mouse or keyboard. To access it, press start.

_images/controller-ui.jpg

The controller UI

There are six tabs at the top that can be navigated with LB and RT. The tabs are the following:

  • Search – provides a virtual keyboard to search for objects.

  • Camera – camera parameters like the mode or the field of view.

  • Time – controls to start and stop time, as well as to set the time warp factor.

  • Types – visibility of elements in Gaia Sky.

  • Options – general options like post-processing effect parameters.

  • System – a control to close Gaia Sky.