Please convert OpenRocket or Rocketsim to IPad.

Both products are ideal for the launch site, so you can input the exact meteorological data. An iPad is far more convenient to bring to the launch site than a PC. It seems like a natural tie in.

Thanks
Andrew

Unfortunately for iOS users, OpenRocket is entirely Java-based, so unless someone wants to rewrite OpenRocket in a statically compiled language, it won't be coming soon to any iOS devices. You're free to if you want.

It is, however, already ported to Android, which is largely based around Java.

Neither will likely see an ipad anytime soon. Rocksim is too large.

CarVac said:

It is, however, already ported to Android, which is largely based around Java.

Click to expand...

Not quite. Android is based around Linux, an operating system. Java is just a programming language, Android developers have access to a native SDK (C++/assembly), a Java SDK, a scripting SDK for several different scripting languages... The Android port of OpenRocket is off to a good start, unfortunately you can only view simulations with it currently, you can't actually perform new ones. I'm interested to see how they get the 3D rendering working for Android, that's going to be tricky.

cwbullet said:

Neither will likely see an ipad anytime soon. Rocksim is too large.

Click to expand...

No. Rocksim consumes less than 100MB of RAM when it's simulating, even the 1st gen iPads (discontinued in 2011) had 256MB which is more than enough to handle this. The sticking point with RockSim will be porting the user interface to Apple's Cocoa Touch framework - this is a substantial amount of work.

Spurkey said:

Not quite. Android is based around Linux, an operating system. Java is just a programming language, Android developers have access to a native SDK (C++/assembly), a Java SDK, a scripting SDK for several different scripting languages... The Android port of OpenRocket is off to a good start, unfortunately you can only view simulations with it currently, you can't actually perform new ones. I'm interested to see how they get the 3D rendering working for Android, that's going to be tricky.

Click to expand...

Of course Linux is written in C, but my understanding was that Android's Java SDK was particularly commonly used, making porting relatively simple. Not that it changes my point that porting it to iOS is difficult.

Conversion to a mobile, touch-based platform is difficult, not just in having to possibly port to a different language, but UI requirements are much different. I would hate to have to deal with all the input fields of the desktop versions of RockSim and OpenRocket (though OpenRocket does have a tiny head start with the larger buttons on the component selection) unchanged on the iPad. On the other hand, I need to install RockSim on my Windows 8 tablet to see just how difficult it might really be.

RoyAtl said:

Conversion to a mobile, touch-based platform is difficult, not just in having to possibly port to a different language, but UI requirements are much different. I would hate to have to deal with all the input fields of the desktop versions of RockSim and OpenRocket (though OpenRocket does have a tiny head start with the larger buttons on the component selection) unchanged on the iPad. On the other hand, I need to install RockSim on my Windows 8 tablet to see just how difficult it might really be.

Click to expand...

I think that most people don't want to do major changes to structure on a mobile device - they want to load up pre-defined rocket profiles and run simulations on those. At the field this could really be helpful to adjust for certain factors you might not have known before getting to the site (wind speed and motor availability, for instance). Now I am not entirely sure what practical use this would have other than assisting in delay selection and possibly verifying predicted altitude at the field. There is a program called "Smart Launch" that I have on IOS which gives you a decent, if not simplistic, view of altitude and delay estimates for your airframe, but it uses simple settings like mass, diameter and length. For on the field I have found it gets reasonably close for altitude and delay so it is better than nothing but you still need to know some vital stats. Chances are good if you have the vital stats, you have run a few sims on OR or RS and you already have a good idea of the performance you're looking at along with a guideline for delay settings.

Spurkey said:

Not quite. Android is based around Linux, an operating system. Java is just a programming language, Android developers have access to a native SDK (C++/assembly), a Java SDK, a scripting SDK for several different scripting languages... The Android port of OpenRocket is off to a good start, unfortunately you can only view simulations with it currently, you can't actually perform new ones. I'm interested to see how they get the 3D rendering working for Android, that's going to be tricky.
No. Rocksim consumes less than 100MB of RAM when it's simulating, even the 1st gen iPads (discontinued in 2011) had 256MB which is more than enough to handle this. The sticking point with RockSim will be porting the user interface to Apple's Cocoa Touch framework - this is a substantial amount of work.

Click to expand...

Actually, in the latest (though old) Android OpenRocket port, you can do new simulations with new motors. However, it does not support the new fangled "flight configuration" stuff I introduced in OR 13.05.

Kevin

Ah, cool. Thanks for the update!

Well.... there is always the Microsoft Surface Pro!

I believe that should run Open Rocket out of the box

Hi,

Actually there are a few solutions that allow writing iOS application in Java, which compile to native code. With just a quick googling I found these:

https://www.robovm.org/
https://code.google.com/p/j2objc/
https://www.codenameone.com
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/adf-mobile/overview/index.html

Anyone interested in trying? Join the dev mailing list and give a holler.

Cheers,
Sampo N