PANGU v7.01 was first released on 2023-Nov-23 followed by a new installer on 2024-Mar-30 which had additional support files and a minor bug fix for the surfacemodeller Java GUI. The new version includes new models using high resolution LROC/NAC stereo DEMs and the huge combined LRO/Kaguya SLDEM, adds feature-related albedo for craters and dunes, and includes a prototype OBJ/ICQ importing facility. The renderer has been updated support separate VIS/TIR materials and textures, gamma correction, texture filtering to avoid the aliasing/”gridding” effect, and the ability to load the top-level pangu.ini file automatically. New TCP/IP methods and flight file commands have been added for camera/detector model configuration and querying.
The LROC/NAC example model uses a 5m grid resolution DEM covering a 14km by 53km strip of the Moon close to the equator which includes the site of the Apollo 12 Ascent Stage impact. Since the DEM covers a strip that is not aligned to the DEM grid, a large area around the DEM data is undefined. The PDS import facility has been extended to provide several ways to treat undefined values such as replacing them with the minimum valid height of the DEM. A multi-resolution model is defined reaching 15 cm/pixel in the selected landing site.
The SLDEM example uses the combined LRO/Kayguya 46080×15360 pixel SLDEM covering the 60S to 60N latitude range of the Moon at 128 pixels/degree or about 237m grid resolution at the equator. The generated model uses 32GB of disk space and requires at least 40GB or RAM for rendering. However, a reduced resolution version can be generated by reducing the DEM to 23040×7660 pixels resulting in an 8GB model which can be used in a PC with at least 16GB of RAM.