FW Editor: What are your plans or objectives in the near future?
Alexis Brandeker: We intend to support the new 3D technologies that are emerging - see below.

FW Editor: How and when did you start writing the code for StarStrider? What inspired you the most? Do you plan to develop new software, or are you more focused on optimizing the current ones?
Alexis Brandeker: Me and Markus Dimdal (from FMJ-Software) started working on StarStrider in 1998, when I just had started studying towards a PhD in astronomy. I had played around with the idea ever since high school, when I wondered what the stars would look like from a different location in the universe. I made some primitive software back then to compute it, but the computers, my skill, and the available data were not mature enough to render interstellar travel in real time. We have many ideas on new features for StarStrider, as well as ideas for new unique software. The problem is that I now, as an astronomer, have so many interesting research projects competing for my time.

FW Editor: StarStrider is one of the best planetarium applications from the market. What is the secret?
Alexis Brandeker: Our advantage is that we have a solid background in physics, astronomy, as well as computer science/engineering. From the start our goals have been to make StarStrider as efficient as possible in terms of resources. The fact that we were able to get decent framerates back in 1999 means that even an entry level notebook should be able to run StarStrider smoothly today. We have spent a lot of effort into making StarStrider photo-realistic.

FW Editor: Can you tell us more about differences between trial and full versions?
Alexis Brandeker: For the trial version we have limited each session to 10 minutes (although multiple sessions can be started after each other) and a trial period of 30 days.

FW Editor: What are your plans for StarStrider? How do you want to improve this application?
Alexis Brandeker: We intend to support the new 3D technology that has emerged lately, with 3D screens becoming increasingly popular. StarStrider has always been about 3D, but the technology has so far been limited to enthusiasts with fringe hardware or anaglyphic red/green glasses. Now, after more than 10 years, 3D finally seems to become more main stream.

FW Editor: What are the advantages of using StarStrider over any other similar product?
Alexis Brandeker: StarStrider has some unique features unavailable in other software, such as the 3D modes and space travel with relativistic effects (which is a great way to demonstrate special relativity).

FW Editor: What is your favorite StarStrider feature and why?
Alexis Brandeker: One of my favorite features is the ability to write StarLua-scripts for StarStrider. StarLua is an incredibly powerful scripting language that enables the user to control StarStrider.

FW Editor: Can you tell us more about this feature? Why it is so important? Is StarStrider the same without it?
Alexis Brandeker: StarLua is extremely useful for demonstrations and lectures, where the speaker wants to focus on the audience rather than piloting a spaceship to the correct planet. There are many other applications as well, as e.g. the possibility to communicate with other software. One application is to let StarStrider show the field of view a telescope in real time. At one exhibition they set up fake telescopes with StarStrider providing the field of view though a flat screen at the end of the scope. By moving the telescope you could watch the sky in different directions.

FW Editor: Now, to end our small interview, is there any message you would like to send to StarStrider users?
Alexis Brandeker: Explore the local universe and have fun!