StarTraX Blog

I am constantly looking for ways to improve the realism of the replay and to walk the tightrope between  the desire to display a great deal of detail and at the same time provide a smooth animation – both of which put enormous  loads on the computer processor to perform immense numbers of calculations a blistering speeds. The fact that a domestic desk-top computer can come close to achieving this is a constant source of amazement and awe!
This release, StarTraX 3.6.2, contains further enhanced the replay mechanism which have yielded a further major step up in replay smoothness. You can now zoom right into the cockpit of your fast moving aeroplane or hover 50 metres from your skier carving down a back run. You can follow your paragliders from a distance, or close in as they tightly circle in the thermal.
It’s not perfect, we know – but given the practical limitations of the processor in your desktop PC or laptop and your broadband internet connection, it’s pretty good (even if  I do say so myself!).
These improvements apply both to the Standard and the Premium Edition. Experimenting continues with coding techniques to deliver even more realistic replays.
Some major improvements have also been made to the multi-tracking feature (in the Premium edition), providing a simpler method of loading multiple tracks by making multiple selections from the Windows File open dialog box instead of having to load each track separately. The details are explained in the User Notes installed with the program update.
Also a fix to the bug that prevented it running on older versions of Google Earth (sorry about that).

You can now get a fifteen day trial of StarTraX Premium edition providing a swag of features to improve your replay experience from our website

Multi-tracking

Track Profiling

Scenery import

Local files

Track smoothing

Track Coloring by speed or VSI

Fast Forward display speed

Smoke trail

StarTraX can now animate multiple simultaneous GPS tracks. If you share your activity with GPS-equipped friends (or competitors), you can now display all your tracks simultaneously.

We have also undertaken a major re-write that delivers a far smoother animation experience.

AND…now that Google Earth has fixed the “Near Clipping Plane” bug, you can zoom right in to you plane or  hanglider without it disappearing!

Check out the new version 2.2 from the download page.

Today’s release of version 2.1.0 contains a library of 3D models to excite your imagination and make your StarTraX experience even more entertaining.

Download your free copy today.

This is a “point release” with a few user enhancements but a major back-end rebuild of the way it reads GPX files and writes KML to Google Earth, providing long-term stability and industry standard technology.

There is a new “Follow/Observe” button that improves viewing of paragliding tracks, where the pilot has followed tight circles to stay in lift - give it a try. It’s also fun for snow skiing, allowing you to position yourself away from the track and watch the skier perform!

With Google’s announcement mid last year of a new Web-based interface to Earth, we embarked on what turned out to be a long journey to re-engineer StarTraX to take advantage of this new technology.

What we have delivered in StarTraX Version 2 is a more tightly integrated application - The controls and the display appear in the same window, but more importantly StarTraX is now based on the latest GE technology so is poised to take advantage of all the new features as GE delivers them.

The previous version was based on what turned out to be an obsolescent technology - the COM API, which had severe limitations with no upgrade path.

So, download StarTraX 2.0.1 and enjoy the new features.

This update simplifies the registration procedure. No longer do you have to send us your MAC address, just complete the registration form with your e-mail address, home country and some optional details of how you found us and we’ll send you a registration key.

It only works from Version 1.6.1, so make sure you have downloaded the latest version.

StarTraX now reads GPS data in NMEA format. Just add a .nmea extension to your NMEA data file and StarTraX will see it in the GoTo option.

Check the User notes for details.

Check the website for the new version of StarTraX. Apart from a number of small cosmetic changes we have added a sharp on-screen display of useful animation information:

Camera data - current range, heading and tilt angle of the camera from the target point

Segment Data - Current time (file time and local time), speed, VSI (if you’re flying with “clamped” un-checked) and next point number.

Registration is still free, so get in and register your copy before it’s too late.