[WIP] Coatl Aerospace ProbesPlus Dev Thread [Beta] 10/19/2020 (1.8-1.10)

[akron]

14 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

They seem a bit dark. What are you rendering using? KSP doesn't really go for extreme brights / darks, it only uses ~2/3rds of the value spectrum.

You know, it looked fine on my PC's monitor, but it is looking a bit dark on this one too. It is just a Maya default (I think Hardware 2.0) render. No lights setup on the scene. I've yet to see what it looks like on Unity, but I sampled colors from Squad textures so I think it will be fine.

[akron]

UPDATE!

I did some more model and texture work, including redoing the reaction wheel, because it was ugly. I also worked on the deployable RTG including an WIP animation (@CobaltWolf You had asked me about his, here is what I came up with) I just gotta figure out how to export it to Unity. Next steps are colliders, getting these parts in-game and probably do some scaling.

By the way, can someone point me on how to do non-attachment colliders on animated parts?

 

Edited February 12, 2016 by akron

[CobaltWolf]

brb @akron gotta change my pants. That looks sick!

I think the non-attachment colliders can just be parented under the moving parts.

[davidy12]

OMFG!!! ITS AMAZING WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!! 

 

@CobaltWolf: Thanks for revealing this thread to us. @akron, I CAN'T WAIT to see the Viking lander when it comes around.

[VenomousRequiem]

I um... I made you a thing.

Ignore the spacecraft itself, it's uh... odd looking. It's just to test the plume. Just drop this... literally anywhere in the GameData, or if you'd like include it with the download.

Any other engines you happen to make in this pack, I'll fix you up a plume. Hooray for mod support! I know people like RealPlumes particularly well.

Edited February 14, 2016 by VenomousRequiem

[CobaltWolf]

37 minutes ago, VenomousRequiem said:

I um... I made you a thing.

Ignore the spacecraft itself, it's uh... odd looking. It's just to test the plume. Just drop this... literally anywhere in the GameData, or if you'd like include it with the download.

Any other engines you happen to make in this pack, I'll fix you up a plume. Hooray for mod support! I know people like RealPlumes particularly well.

Doing god's work, Ben.

[akron]

15 hours ago, davidy12 said:

OMFG!!! ITS AMAZING WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!! 

 

@CobaltWolf: Thanks for revealing this thread to us. @akron, I CAN'T WAIT to see the Viking lander when it comes around.

Thank you! I can't wait to see Viking either. I hope I can do it justice without making an exact copy.

5 hours ago, VenomousRequiem said:

I um... I made you a thing.

Ignore the spacecraft itself, it's uh... odd looking. It's just to test the plume. Just drop this... literally anywhere in the GameData, or if you'd like include it with the download.

Any other engines you happen to make in this pack, I'll fix you up a plume. Hooray for mod support! I know people like RealPlumes particularly well.

Awesome! I will do some testing with RealPlumes. I've never used it before, but have been meaning to. I don't have too many engines on my to-do list, but I definitely appreciate it if you can do configs for them!

On 2/12/2016 at 9:31 AM, CobaltWolf said:

brb @akron gotta change my pants. That looks sick!

I think the non-attachment colliders can just be parented under the moving parts.

Hehe. Thanks! but sorry about your wardrobe . You're right, colliders are pretty much treated like any mesh object. Thanks for the plug by the way!

UPDATE!

Guess who's got two very sore thumbs and figured out how to import animations in-game!

All the parts I've previewed before are now successfully working in-game. I'm currently doing some testing and tweaking the parts and textures. I am happy to say that thus far everything is using a single diffuse texture and I expect to need no more than 2 or 3 1024 diffuse textures for the whole mod (Not counting specular and normal maps if I can get around to them). There might just be a dev release around the corner! I have also modeled and added two new parts (see screenshots below):

• Magnetometer Boom for DMagic Orbital Science - Based on Pioneer 10/11
• Advanced Attitude Control System - This is an avionics package that adds advanced SAS options to your probe. I intended it to also be used to retrofit older probes and satellites in orbit when you unlock it.

I think the 'Torekka' Series is pretty my wrapped up. Next are the larger batteries, the stock science experiments, and the Basic Hex ProbeCore (No name for this one yet). 

 

[CobaltWolf]

4 hours ago, akron said:

Hehe. Thanks! but sorry about your wardrobe . You're right, colliders are pretty much treated like any mesh object. Thanks for the plug by the way!

UPDATE!

Guess who's got two very sore thumbs and figured out how to import animations in-game!

All the parts I've previewed before are now successfully working in-game. I'm currently doing some testing and tweaking the parts and textures. I am happy to say that thus far everything is using a single diffuse texture and I expect to need no more than 2 or 3 1024 diffuse textures for the whole mod (Not counting specular and normal maps if I can get around to them). There might just be a dev release around the corner! I have also modeled and added two new parts (see screenshots below):

• Magnetometer Boom for DMagic Orbital Science - Based on Pioneer 10/11
• Advanced Attitude Control System - This is an avionics package that adds advanced SAS options to your probe. I intended it to also be used to retrofit older probes and satellites in orbit when you unlock it.

I think the 'Torekka' Series is pretty my wrapped up. Next are the larger batteries, the stock science experiments, and the Basic Hex ProbeCore (No name for this one yet).

 

Hey, the more I can get you to do means the less I have to do for BDB. Now anyone that asks for Pioneer over at BDB will just get pointed here.

Try to take at least one screenshot in Unity each time you make something new. It's a pain trying to see stuff in a dark game screenshot.

Note on compatibility for the mag boom, you'll need to make it use your own version of the sciencedefs (ca_magScan or something) and then include a MM config to switch it over if the user has DMagic installed, Are you using his plugin? Also, to ensure compatibility between this and BDB, we could make it so there's a lower priority MM patch that switches it to bd_magScan if BDB is installed, so that players don't get double science, and then switches both to the DMagic experiment of DMOS is installed.

[NateDaBeast]

Love to see the progress, can't wait for the Rovers/Landers pack !

Will the rovers/landers pack be featuring the InSight lander ?

[akron]

15 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

Hey, the more I can get you to do means the less I have to do for BDB. Now anyone that asks for Pioneer over at BDB will just get pointed here.

I am cool with that! If there is anything that overlaps that I can take over so you can concentrate on those awesome launchers (And get to Apollo sooner) let me know!

15 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

Note on compatibility for the mag boom, you'll need to make it use your own version of the sciencedefs (ca_magScan or something) and then include a MM config to switch it over if the user has DMagic installed, Are you using his plugin? Also, to ensure compatibility between this and BDB, we could make it so there's a lower priority MM patch that switches it to bd_magScan if BDB is installed, so that players don't get double science, and then switches both to the DMagic experiment of DMOS is installed.

I do not know how to handle this yet. I would like to have DMagic as a pre-req as it is personally a must-have mod. People who play career probably already have it for science, and those who don't won't need the science defs. I will probably end up cobbling something together before release and use MM to handle whatever mods people have installed, I am just haven't gotten there yet. For right now, it uses DMagic. By the way, some of the experiments you have in BDB would look awesome on a multi-instrument boom like the one on Voyager. Hint, hint (Just say the word, I got you covered)

15 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

Try to take at least one screenshot in Unity each time you make something new. It's a pain trying to see stuff in a dark game screenshot.

Yes. See below. It still bothers me how it looks just fine on my monitors but so dark on other screens. I'll have to do significant playtesting to make sure the textures aren't too dark.

13 hours ago, NateDaBeast said:

Love to see the progress, can't wait for the Rovers/Landers pack !

Will the rovers/landers pack be featuring the InSight lander ?

Thanks! Please bear in mind that I am using real-world missions for inspiration but will not be doing replicas of a lot of stuff. That being said, if there is a good looking or unique lander or rover you'd like to see, let me know. It's early enough in the Mod's life that I can plan to include some of their design features. InSight has some awesome solar panels but the overall design is similar to other landers like Viking, which I think is more iconic. I will probably use elements from both in one craft. InSight might be the perfect way to add compatibility for DMagic's seismic experiments though.

update

I'm gonna write that in lower case because I don't have a lot for today. I modeled the medium and large batteries but I am still not 100% sure on the design. I had some reference photos that I really liked but could not translate to something interesting and low-poly. Let's be honest, batteries are plain shapes. I didn't want to model something super-realistic to end up looking less interesting than Squads quirky models. Also, now that the main batteries are done I can scale them properly. These are already more compact than stock, but the 25i is still too large; it will be shrunk in half length-wise so that 4 match the rough size of the 100i.

I started work in organizing the UV layout of the texture to have similar color-parts together and to save space. I should've done that in the beginning but, like I said, I'm super-rusty. What is the general opinion on the textures so far? I think I found my style, but there are things I am not sure on yet, like the foil texture. Should it be orangier?

Anyway, here is the current roster of parts minus the Torekka probe core:

Edited February 15, 2016 by akron
derp grammar

[CobaltWolf]

Are you using the version from his mod or the generic version that BDB and SEP use?

EDIT: Looking great btw was just in a rush to post. Tag me later and I'll have a longer reply.

EDIT2: I spy something with your textures that I'd like to fix. Would it be possible to PM me your work files? I'd have to try it to see if I'm crazy or not, and then if I'm right I'll explain.

Edited February 15, 2016 by CobaltWolf

[drekerb42]

Oh my gosh. This is godly. I love it!

[NateDaBeast]

Update looks great ! I hope this mod turns one of the best out !

I've been waiting for a lander/rovers pack for so long and thanks to you its happening !! Thank you so much.

[akron]

On 2/15/2016 at 0:53 PM, NateDaBeast said:

Update looks great ! I hope this mod turns one of the best out !

Thank you! No pressure, right?  

update

First of all, let me give a huge shout out to @CobaltWolf for helping with some UV and texture critique as I began looking at my texture cleanup pass!

Like I mentioned on my last mini-blog, I started working on texture cleanup and have come a very long way. I mostly just moved things around to make better use of the space and made some UV improvements under Wolf's advice. It was a lot of work but it doesn't give me a whole lot to show, hence the lowercase "update" again. I also did some tweaking on the batteries to reduce some polys on the large battery by reducing the number of faces on the little cables from 6 to 4. Maya didn't like doing it the quick way so I ended up doing the cables over again.

I am planning to move forward with the science parts and do some more texture tweaks as I go, but any big changes or updates will likely wait until all the other parts are done. I didn't get a chance to export out any of the new tweaked parts except for the updated Torekka. I concentrated mostly on the probe body panels and have not gotten to the caps or structural pieces yet, still WIP. The colors were lightened, and I added some light wear on the edges. I don't think I will be adding any more wear than this to parts. I do not think that it or grunge really fits this part pack. Maybe on the engines. I also added some color to the grey to improve the palette. Let me know your thoughts!

Edited February 17, 2016 by akron

[CobaltWolf]

Looks awesome! It'll look amazing once the structural bits have a bit more detail - just enough that they aren't solid colors.

Also, I just realized that your AACS is a star tracker. I never made the connection before. Very cool idea for a probe control part.

EDIT: Pretty pretty please do the RTG from Voyager? @VenomousRequiem really wants one.

Edited February 17, 2016 by CobaltWolf

[VenomousRequiem]

1 hour ago, CobaltWolf said:

EDIT: Pretty pretty please do the RTG from Voyager? @VenomousRequiem really wants one.

Yeah, I do. I want one but I don't know how to animate the truss.

[akron]

2 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

Looks awesome! It'll look amazing once the structural bits have a bit more detail - just enough that they aren't solid colors.

Also, I just realized that your AACS is a star tracker. I never made the connection before. Very cool idea for a probe control part.

EDIT: Pretty pretty please do the RTG from Voyager? @VenomousRequiem really wants one.

I'll get to to those other bits pretty soon. I've got the spot for them in the UV now.

Hmm, I wonder if there is something I can do to make the Star tracker more obvious from looking at the part rather than the VAB description.

1 hour ago, VenomousRequiem said:

Yeah, I do. I want one but I don't know how to animate the truss.

I don't mind making one, it should be pretty easy. I just can't figure out how it's supposed to fold though! I haven't found good references on the folding mechanism.  

Option 2 would be to help you animate yours. Don't you work in Maya as well? 

[CobaltWolf]

1 minute ago, akron said:

I don't mind making one, it should be pretty easy. I just can't figure out how it's supposed to fold though! I haven't found good references on the folding mechanism.  

Does this help? I recommend you making it, since if Venom makes it I'd have to UV unwrap it, texture it, etc.

[akron]

I actually just found a picture of a model craft that helped me understand how I think it's supposed to fold. The only things that has me thinking is that Voyager has her Magnetometer and RWPS antennas mounted on that same assembly. I wouldn't mind placing the two science parts together, but I wouldn't want the RTG mixed in.

Edited February 17, 2016 by akron

[CobaltWolf]

1 minute ago, akron said:

I actually just found a picture of a model craft that helped me understand how I think it's supposed to fold. The only things that has me thinking is that Voyager has her Magnetometer and RWPS antennas mounted on that same assembly.

I think you could safely ignore the mag+RPWS and just have the RTG. Makes it a lot more useful - players could clip the magnetometer and RPWS antennas into it. Are you planning on doing your own variant of those as well? @DMagic did a great job but one of the cool things is that there are a lot of different variants of designs for those.

[VenomousRequiem]

22 minutes ago, akron said:

Option 2 would be to help you animate yours. Don't you work in Maya as well? 

I do work in Maya, but I'm still kinda getting used to all the mechanics, with Cobalts help. I don't think I'll be able to pull something any more elaborate than a Castor 120/30 just yet. 

Also Cobalt has a point. I doubt he wants to deal with the messy texture work.  

[akron]

1 hour ago, CobaltWolf said:

I think you could safely ignore the mag+RPWS and just have the RTG. Makes it a lot more useful - players could clip the magnetometer and RPWS antennas into it. Are you planning on doing your own variant of those as well? @DMagic did a great job but one of the cool things is that there are a lot of different variants of designs for those.

The only issue with clipping the parts in like that is that it makes it hard to get the right-click menu, at least until you unlock Action groups. I was planning a RPWS based on Cassini, that one has the three antenna. Voyager mounts the third sensor on the MG boon, iirc, so it would look wrong if they're not together. I am debating about whether or not to do a Voyager/Cassini inspired magnetometer boom because it would pretty much just be DMagic's with a different texture.

[akron]

Update

I got sick. I've just today been getting a little better so I did some work. Because I am sick, I think I got "uninspired" so I am not very sure about the designs I did for the science experiments. Please chime in and let me know what you think if you have some suggestions for improvements. I didn't wanna go too crazy so I could keep the poly count low. I am also now using a 512 texture shared for all these experiments, so texture space is getting tighter. Below are two screenshots of my progress, first are the minor texture and model tweaks I've been doing on the batteries. You see the new adorable 25i model and the minor texture update on the rest.

This following pic shows the new science parts. Again, I've been feeling a little bleigh, so I don't fell as if they are up to par. Then again, they do use a lower-res texture. Let me know what you guys think. First on the left is the new thermometer (Measure in Kelvin, of course), then the new barometer which is now animated but I didn't know how to screen cap it from Unity. Trust me, it's there, the door opens and little probe comes out. Lastly, is the new Gravioli detector. I made it larger because detecting gravity waves not easy nor accurate and currently requires a huge facility. Just ask these guys. This model is inspired by the main instrument inside LISA Pathfinder, which is a first-step by ESA to test technologies that will hopefully lead to the creation of a larger space gravity wave detector made up of a network of satellites maintaining a precise distance from one another. Each "cylinder" houses one of two identical gold-platinum cubes that the probe maintains in a near perfect free-fall using very accurate micro-thrusters. An optical system uses lasers to detect any movement of the object in one cylinder in relation to the one on the other. Cool stuff!

[akron]

Update

Still sick.

So, I've looked at the road map again and did some minor revisions. I've taken Rosetta-related stuff off my drawing board , at least for now. Venera also got canned because @Beale already has one in Tantares. Lunokhod and Luna are still on my list, but he may have something related already or in the works, It's been a while since I've played with Tantares. Hyugens will take Venera's place as my lander probe body, along with some heatshield parts. As such, I've been looking at what design elements and parts I can take from Cassini to have a close pair of the famous mission. 

Moving on. I think I have artist block when doing textures/UV so I am changing my workflow a little. I will be doing a set of models and then textures. So far I've been trying to finish a part before moving to the next. I just really like seeing the finished product, but I'm trying something new. Unfortunately I also think that being sick is making me very unconservative when it comes to polygons; I've been throwing around more geometry than Pythagoras . I think KSP handles higher poly count better than high-res textures so we'll see.

Because @tygoo7 got me inspired, I did some model work on the New Horizons/Cassini RTG. Texture is temp just for color direction. I'll see if I can reduce the poly count and texture it later on. I think I will make the heatshield a fairing so you can toggle it on/off.

So, I played the game this weekend. I'm building a space station and I decided to assemble a re-supply vehicle and have it saved in the VAB so it's ready to go when I needed it. I just could not assemble a good looking Cargo Transfer Vehicle that was not humongous (I don't have any realistic cargo vehicle mods currently installed). I had nothing that I could use to carry KIS storage/LS supplies in a smaller diameter than 2.5m and have it look the part. Cargo transfer vehicles are like probes, right?

TL;DR How about some HTV love! 

Here is my "round" 1.5m probe core/avionics module flanked by a HTV-inspired Propulsion module. This will be my project to learn RCS, though I'm still debating whether to make the RCS system built-in or separate.

@CobaltWolf Does Maya look at RCS transforms along the Y-axis like Blender?

HTV is now on the parts list. I will have a pressurized KIS/LS cargo carrier. Not sure how to make the HTV unpressurized cargo bay. Is there even any demand for that? Texture is mostly placeholder.

Comments and smart remarks welcome. Save me from getting banned by double and triple-posting all the time. 

[CobaltWolf]

18 minutes ago, akron said:

Update

Still sick.

So, I've looked at the road map again and did some minor revisions. I've taken Rosetta-related stuff off my drawing board , at least for now. Venera also got canned because @Beale already has one in Tantares. Lunokhod and Luna are still on my list, but he may have something related already or in the works, It's been a while since I've played with Tantares. Hyugens will take Venera's place as my lander probe body, along with some heatshield parts. As such, I've been looking at what design elements and parts I can take from Cassini to have a close pair of the famous mission. 

Moving on. I think I have artist block when doing textures/UV so I am changing my workflow a little. I will be doing a set of models and then textures. So far I've been trying to finish a part before moving to the next. I just really like seeing the finished product, but I'm trying something new. Unfortunately I also think that being sick is making me very unconservative when it comes to polygons; I've been throwing around more geometry than Pythagoras . I think KSP handles higher poly count better than high-res textures so we'll see.

Because @tygoo7 got me inspired, I did some model work on the New Horizons/Cassini RTG. Texture is temp just for color direction. I'll see if I can reduce the poly count and texture it later on. I think I will make the heatshield a fairing so you can toggle it on/off.

So, I played the game this weekend. I'm building a space station and I decided to assemble a re-supply vehicle and have it saved in the VAB so it's ready to go when I needed it. I just could not assemble a good looking Cargo Transfer Vehicle that was not humongous (I don't have any realistic cargo vehicle mods currently installed). I had nothing that I could use to carry KIS storage/LS supplies in a smaller diameter than 2.5m and have it look the part. Cargo transfer vehicles are like probes, right?

TL;DR How about some HTV love! 

Here is my "round" 1.5m probe core/avionics module flanked by a HTV-inspired Propulsion module. This will be my project to learn RCS, though I'm still debating whether to make the RCS system built-in or separate.

@CobaltWolf Does Maya look at RCS transforms along the Y-axis like Blender?

HTV is now on the parts list. I will have a pressurized KIS/LS cargo carrier. Not sure how to make the HTV unpressurized cargo bay. Is there even any demand for that? Texture is mostly placeholder.

Comments and smart remarks welcome. Save me from getting banned by double and triple-posting all the time. 

Pah, actually playing the game? What blasphemy is this!

Re: Venera, Beale made a Venera 11/13 lander but there is a lot more to those probes. The Venera 1 solar panels and dish are somewhat unique, as are the course correction engines of the later models, among other things. Perhaps a minimod addon for Kerbaloons as well?

Generally speaking, with KSP, I always will sacrifice polygons for the sake of textures. Whether that means adding an extra edge loop to make the UV unwrap significantly easier, or figuring out a way to make something take up less space in a texture sheet. I didn't see anything in your models that seemed like it was pushing the polygon limits, but then again I used I think 6k polygons for ALL the juno engine parts (4 in total) put together.

RTG looks nice but it's no Voyager RTG

What do you even bring up with the KIS storage? I've never found something I've felt a need to bring up in a CTV type vessel.

Yes, you use the Maya object transforms. I usually do it with nulls. Name them all the same and the game figures everything out automatically.

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by CobaltWolf