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/ (if it is not yet there) 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 the following:

  • action.toggle/element.stars – toggle stars

  • action.toggle/element.planets – toggle planets

  • action.toggle/element.moons – toggle moons

  • action.toggle/element.satellites – toggle satellites

  • action.toggle/element.orbits – toggle orbits

  • action.toggle/element.labels – toggle labels

  • action.toggle/element.equatorial – toggle equatorial grid

  • action.toggle/element.ecliptic – toggle ecliptic grid

  • action.toggle/element.galactic – toggle galactic grid

  • action.toggle/element.clusters – toggle star clusters

  • action.toggle/element.asteroids – toggle asteroids

  • action.toggle/element.constellations – toggle constellations

  • action.toggle/element.boundaries – toggle constellation boundaries

  • action.toggle/element.meshes – toggle meshes

  • action.toggle/element.keyframes – toggle keyframes

  • action.toggle/element.recursivegrid – toggle recursive grid

  • action.toggle/element.stereomode – toggle stereoscopic mode

  • action.switchstereoprofile – switch stereoscopic profile

  • action.toggle/element.planetarium – toggle planetarium mode

  • action.toggle/element.planetarium.projection – switch planetarium projection

  • action.toggle/element.360 – toggle cubemap mode

  • action.toggle/element.projection – switch cubemap projection mode

  • action.toggle/element.orthosphere – toggle orthosphere mode

  • action.toggle/element.orthosphere.profile – switch orthosphere profile

  • action.toggle/element.octreeparticlefade – toggle particle smooth transitions in LOD datasets

  • action.toggle/element.debugmode – enable/disable debug information

  • action.toggle/element.cleanmode – toggle clean UI mode (remove the user interface)

  • action.toggle/gui.minimap.title – toggle minimap

  • action.toggle/gui.mousecapture – toggle mouse capture

  • action.expandcollapse.pane/gui.time – toggle time pane

  • action.expandcollapse.pane/gui.camera – toggle camera pane

  • action.expandcollapse.pane/gui.visibility – toggle visibility pane

  • action.expandcollapse.pane/gui.lighting – toggle visual settings pane

  • action.expandcollapse.pane/gui.dataset.title – toggle datasets pane

  • action.expandcollapse.pane/gui.bookmarks – toggle bookmarks pane

  • action.screenshot – capture and save screenshot

  • action.screenshot.cubemap – save 6 current cubemap faces to image files (only in panorama, planetarium and orthosphere modes)

  • action.pauseresume – start/stop time simulation

  • action.dividetime – reduce time warp (x0.5)

  • action.doubletime – increase time warp (x2)

  • action.time.warp.reset – reset time warp

  • action.playcamera – open a camera path file

  • action.decfov – decrease field of view angle

  • action.incfov – increase field of view angle

  • action.toggle/camera.mode – switch camera modes

  • camera.full/camera.FREE_MODE – enable free mode

  • camera.full/camera.FOCUS_MODE – enable focus mode

  • camera.full/camera.GAME_MODE – enable game mode

  • camera.full/camera.SPACECRAFT_MODE – enable spacecraft mode

  • action.toggle/camera.cinematic – toggle cinematic camera mode

  • action.camera.speedup – keep pressed to speed the camera up

  • action.starpointsize.inc – increase star point size

  • action.starpointsize.dec – decrease star point size

  • action.starpointsize.reset – reset star point size

  • action.gotoobject – immediately move to focus object

  • action.home – go to home object

  • action.search – open search dialog

  • action.log – show system log

  • action.preferences – show preferences dialog

  • action.help – open help dialog

  • action.slave.configure – show slave configuration dialog

  • action.loadcatalog – load a dataset

  • action.upscale – debug upscale filter

  • action.keyframe – add new keyframe at the end

  • action.controller.gui.in – show/hide controller UI

  • action.toggle/element.controls – expand/collapse UI controls

  • action.ui.reload – reload user interface

  • action.resettime – reset simulation time to current

  • action.toggle/element.frameoutput – toggle frame output

  • action.exit – quit Gaia Sky

  • action.togglefs – toggle full screen mode

Find the current keyboard mappings associations in the controls tab of the preferences window within Gaia Sky.

_images/controls.jpg

The controls settings in Gaia Sky

Free/focus mode controls

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

Key(s)

Action

↑

camera forward

↓

camera backward

→

rotate/yaw right

←

rotate/yaw left

Ctrl + g

instantly move to focus object

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

Ctrl + o

load new dataset

Ctrl + m

toggle camera mode

Ctrl + c

toggle cinematic camera behavior

hold down z

multiply camera speed

Ctrl + w

new keyframe

Ctrl + k

panorama mode

Space

pause/resume time

F1

help dialog

F5

take screenshot

F6

start/stop frame output mode

F7

save cubemap faces as image files

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

t

toggle time pane

c

toggle camera pane

v

toggle visibility pane

l

toggle visual settings pane

d

toggle datasets pane

b

toggle bookmakrs pane

Alt + c

run camera path file dialog

,

halve time warp (hold for smooth decrease)

.

double time warp (hold for smooth increase)

Ctrl + .

reset time warp to 1

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 + k

toggle keyframes

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 + p

toggle planetarium mode

Ctrl + Shift + p

switch planetarium projections

Ctrl + j

toggle orthosphere mode

Ctrl + Shift + j

switch between orthosphere profiles

Spacecraft mode 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 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 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

rs-left/rs-right

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

rs-up/rs-down

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

ls-left/ls-right

roll

ls-up/ls-down

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

hold to speed up time

dpad-down

hold to slow down time

dpad-right

start time

dpad-left

stop time

rs (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

rs-left/rs-right

spacecraft yaw

rs-up/rs-down

spacecraft pitch

ls-left/ls-right

spacecraft roll

ls-up/ls-down

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

Gamepad UI

The gamepad UI allows access to some basic actions and settings directly using a gamepad. To open it, press start.

_images/controller-ui.jpg

The gamepad UI

There are seven tabs at the top that can be navigated with lb and rb. The tabs are the following:

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

  • Bookmarks – access the system bookmarks (limited to 4 nested folder levels).

  • 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.

  • Controls – gamepad settings and mappings.

  • Graphics – graphics options like post-processing effect parameters.

  • System – system-wide settings. Also a button to quit Gaia Sky.

Close the gamepad UI with b or start.

Since 3.3.1

GUI navigation

Gaia Sky supports the navigation of its GUI windows using the gamepad and keyboard mappings, additionally to the usual mouse clicks. Below are the most common actions and how to achieve them in a keyboard- or gamepad- centric workflow.

Action

Keyboard

Gamepad

Action (click focused button)

Enter

a

Move focus up

↑

dpad-up/ls-up

Move focus down

↓

dpad-down/ls-down

Move focus right

→

dpad-right/ls-right

Move focus left

←

dpad-left/ls-left

Move slider (when focused)

←/→/home/end

rs-left/rs-right

Move select box selection (when focused)

←/→/home/end

rs-left/rs-right

Check check box (when focused)

Enter

a

Cycle dialog bottom buttons

Alt

select

Close current dialog (with accept action)

/

start

Close current dialog (with cancel action)

Esc

/

Tab right

Tab

rb

Tab left

Shift + Tab

lb