Solar System Simulation

A real-time 3D solar system simulation built in C++ with OpenGL as a final project for MSU's CSE 472 (Computer Graphics) course. All eight planets orbit the sun with accurate relative speeds, axial tilts, and texture mapping.

Features

• All 8 planets with real surface textures, orbital speeds, and relative sizes
• Saturn's rings rendered as a separate textured torus mesh
• Animated star field background with particle-based rendering
• Shooting star effects
• GLSL vertex and fragment shaders for lighting and materials
• Skybox with cube-mapped texture
• Real-time animation loop at ~60fps

Tech Stack

C++14, OpenGL, GLSL, GLEW, glm, MFC (Windows)

Build from Source

Requirements: Visual Studio (Windows), OpenGL, GLEW

1. Open StepTemplate.sln in Visual Studio
2. Set build configuration to Release or Debug
3. Build and run

Authors

Charles Cicchella, Alex Simon, ELi Gudeman, Ethan Tunney