Any LRC V3.0 Suggestions?

[joannaardway]

Well, if you've been following my recent posts, then you'll know that my Launcher Range Calculator is in the final stages of the V3 update.

Now, there will be a beta version in a few days, which will then be improved to become the full version after suggestions, but before then, does anyone have any early suggestions for additions or changes to my old Range calculator? I'm asking now, so I can avoid missing something obvious, then having everyone with the old version missing a really great feature.

Stuff you really hated, or would have preferred to be available?

To save you posting something that is already a cert for the update, the following things are already being implemented:

Full conversion:
The old version worked solely in SI units (probably to the annoyance of many people), but the new V3.0 will be able to handle a whole range of both metric and imperial units. If there is a really odd unit you might want, suggest it. But fairly common stuff like mph, kph, fps, oz., lbs., ft., inches, cm., troy ounces, grains, ft. lbs. - and the like is already mostly programmed in.

Terminal Velocity:
The old version had a mistake that meant that vertical drag didn't apply properly. This has been corrected, and there is now proper drag applied in all the correct directions.

Supersonic effects:
I'll admit it, the early versions of this won't be very accurate, but they will reduce supersonic errors a lot.

Altitude variations:
Air density changes as you go up, so this will be accounted for, as the range is affected by this.

Full weather controls:
Regardless of the weather, LRC V3 will be able to give an answer. Wind speed, direction, temperature, pressure and humidity are all covered.

No more auto calculations:
The old version calculated everytime you changed a box - the new version will only run when it is specifically told to, removing the risk of computer lag.

No more hang time limits:
The old version had a 15 second hang time limit. V3 will be able to calculate for just about any hang time you like.

Excessive calculations curbed:
The new version will only calculate as far as it needs to. Beyond that, it automatically stops, saving processor time. The new timebase settings will also allow people on slower or faster machines to customise the degree of accuracy against the computing time.

Full help guide incorporated into the file:
No more confusion about what the hell Cell F45 does. If you are meant to be able to use it, the guide will advise you on it's proper use.

There are a couple of other minor things that aren't really worth a big mention, but they'll be there none the less. The new version will calculate your local gravity to get you an accurate result.

Well, that's about all I can remember I'm going to be including, but if you have any more ideas, then this is the time to post them.

I'm not going to include weird stuff like the effect of magnetic braking from firing a conductive round through the earth's magnetic field. That's just too silly.

[schismatized]

sounds great! dont got any suggestions but hopefully its out soon!

[Fnord]

Needs a lunar cycle input variable to compensate for the gravitational pull of the moon

Is the altitude a fixed var or is it recalc'd every so often as the projectile goes up? (not that this would make much difference with most guns out there, I'm just curious)

I've never used any of your previous versions, but what is this written in(java, excel, c++)?

[jimmy101]

How about a table listing the diameter, mass and Cd of common ammo? Reliable values for the easy ones like golfballs, tennis balls, basket ball etc. Estimates for the hard ones like a cylindrical spud. Perhaps as a seperate tab on the Excel worksheet? Really wiz-bang would be macros that fill out the appropriate cells for the common ammos.

[VH_man]

ive never seen your first ones, can i have a link to where i can get one? i take it this runs on windows....

also, you should have the impact energy of the projectile at a range set by the user.
such as :12 gram projectile, 500FPS, (some amount)ft/lbs force

and i suppose you can determine the amount the projectile will slow after a certain distance. by entering in numbers like 50ft, 100ft, someone can figure out how well their certain projectile will fare against targets at longer ranges.

anyway, i want a copy of this. i have a cheapy flash-drive i already have every spudgun simulation software on, along with a freeware 2d CAD, and this will get added..... (the reason its on a flashdrive is so that i can use it on ANY computer........ i like being prepared to document and test the random ideas i come up with........)

[joannaardway]

@_Fnord: No lunar cycles on this edition of the system - too much maths to cope with.

The altitude is used to calculate your local gravity, but only once as any changes are miniscule, and it repeating this would eat up processor time for no real gain.
For the air density, this is recalculated as the projectile moves to account for the fairly significant changes in pressure over the hundred metres or so of the projectile's height changes.
The difference from considering this is actually a couple of %, which is fairly important.

The thing runs in Excel.

@jimmy: There is already a table of Cd for various shapes included already, but I hadn't thought of a mass and diameter table - and an autocalculator is also an excellent plan. (I can see people using this for GGDT reference...)
A macro that filled the stuff in automatically - great idea!

@VH_man: There's a link to the old V2.2 in this thread:
http://www.spudfiles.com/spudtech_archi ... calculator
But I am told that the file is dodgy, and I can't upload it again because the original version has been "modified" somewhat.

As I said above, it's an Excel file - so it'll run anywhere where Excel can. If a Mac user has Office for Mac, then they can use it too if they want...

But it's nothing compared to what V3.0 will be - don't get too attached to the old version.

The sheet already calculates impact energies, but only on landing.
I could build in something that would calculate it for some specific range as well.

[TurboSuper]

Man, OpenOffice Calc crashed just trying to open it =/ (the old version, that is).

[joannaardway]

So it seems the file on the hosting is dodgy - crap.

It loaded fine for me... ah well, V3 will be out soon enough.

[VH_man]

you should make the exel spreadsheet an application for Windows. team up with the GGDT guy and make the best GGDT yet..............

complete with 2D and 3D modeling......... hehe.

[schismatized]

you should make the exel spreadsheet an application for Windows. team up with the GGDT guy and make the best GGDT yet..............

complete with 2D and 3D modeling......... hehe.

i would die a happy man if this happened.

[joannaardway]

you should make the exel spreadsheet an application for Windows. team up with the GGDT guy and make the best GGDT yet..............

complete with 2D and 3D modeling......... hehe.

Damn, we've been rumbled...!

Well... it's not going to be done with D_Hall, but there should be something very like that going into production fairly soon, combining a program similar to GGDT (but not GGDT - as that's intellectual property theft) and the algorithm from the spreadsheet, and hopefully steering around some of the small flaws GGDT occassionally displays.

However, I'm not personally going to be making a Windows application, and certainly not of the spreadsheet on it's own. I don't have the required know-how to program Windows programs.
Although an application would (and will, it comes out) be great, the spreadsheet will always have some advantages.

[Gepard]

Well... it's not going to be done with D_Hall, but there should be something very like that going into production fairly soon

Jo,

That the thing I was talking to you about?

Michael

[joannaardway]

Yeah... exactly.

At least if I understood everything right, that's what I understand is to be happening...

[Gepard]

Uh huh - just making sure...

All depends at the moment on whether your brother has/can find the equations (he said something about having them in a notebook somewhere)

Michael

[joannaardway]

He's told me that too. Seems to be half accusing me of stealing/moving the book.
Nothing of the sort... it's obviously mislaid in his room. You could get lost in there even with GPS, it's so damned messy.

To use his own words: "Staten Island would look neater after it had been nuked".
Well, Staten Island isn't entirely correct (Should be "Fresh Kills Landfill"), but for his geography, it's better than usual. Far better than my other brother: "The Great Wall of China? But that's in Japan!"

At the worst, I'll beat him around the skull with a cricket bat until he finds the equations on the interweb again.