[1.4.x] Buckminster Kerman's Grand Designs v1.0

[Lefe]

Buckminster Kerman's Grand Designs

One of the more serious problems facing the Kerbals as they voraciously continue to explore their cosmic neighbourhood, has been that of aesthetics. Happily, one Buckminster Kerman found himself able to kill two birds with one stone: having invested heavily in building simple geometric shapes from discarded construction supplies in an attempt to build gigantic footballs (an enterprise which was largely unsuccessful as the public simply were not interested in anything which did not involve rockets in some shape or form) he seized the opportunity to pitch a novel idea to several leading spaceflight organisations.

This idea can be summarised in the words of Wernher von Kerman: "Why don't we fly one of these to the Mün?"

There was much rejoicing, and so Buckminster Kerman's Grand Designs was born.

Download: https://spacedock.info/mod/1913/Buckminster Kerman's Grand Designs

Spoiler

• Currently includes two domes, each available in different sizes (from 12m to 48m diameter)
  • to do: improve geometry, texture mapping, and add switchable? geometry
• Future parts planned:
  • airlocks capable of allowing access to rovers
  • airlocks for kerbal accessibility
  • base plates with surface attachment and multiple nodes
  • connecting tunnels
• Planned functionality:
  • provide bonuses to connected parts (not sure how to go about this, but I plan to learn)
  • life support bonuses for USI-LS and other such mods 

This was partly inspired by RoverDude's MKS mod suite, with which I built many bases and with which I first wished for domes to enhance their awesomeness; and partly by Thrimm's Planetary Domes  mod. My requirements for much, much larger domes provided the perfect excuse to fire up Blender and get busy...

Released under MIT license.

That's about it I guess. Any constructive feedback greatly appreciated as this is my first mod. Enjoy!

 

Edited July 25, 2018 by Lefe
Finally figured out adding images.

[Gordon Dry]

Add some screenshots first ...

[JH4C]

Looks interesting, but how do I get it off Kerbin? I don't fancy trying to fit boosters to a 48m dome...

[theJesuit]

5 hours ago, Lefe said:

• airlocks capable of allowing access to rovers
• airlocks for kerbal accessibility
• base plates with surface attachment and multiple nodes
• connecting tunnels

That would be awesome and it's what I'm waiting for. 

Perhaps, rather than the domes having holes for airlocks to walk through, a separate piece that is a short wide cylinder that is underneath perhaps with the base plate that has an airlock component in it.

[Lefe]

14 hours ago, JH4C said:

Looks interesting, but how do I get it off Kerbin? I don't fancy trying to fit boosters to a 48m dome...

Well, I can confirm that you can get a 48m dome into LKO with stock boosters... with that said, it is very much not ideal. I'm currently looking into ways to unfold the domes via animation; while possible, it looks to be a lot of work (most of it learning, as I'm not very skilled in this area). In my own personal game, I heavily use Ground Construction to build complex bases, and that was the use case I originally envisioned. But I am keen to make them practical as a stand-alone parts add-on. Just fair warning that it probably won't be a quick process. 

 

14 hours ago, theJesuit said:

That would be awesome and it's what I'm waiting for. 

Perhaps, rather than the domes having holes for airlocks to walk through, a separate piece that is a short wide cylinder that is underneath perhaps with the base plate that has an airlock component in it.

I think I can make something along those lines. I'm aware that they're not currently very functional, so thanks for your input! I hope to make some more progress this week. 

[theJesuit]

8 hours ago, Lefe said:

Well, I can confirm that you can get a 48m dome into LKO with stock boosters... with that said, it is very much not ideal. I'm currently looking into ways to unfold the domes via animation; while possible, it looks to be a lot of work (most of it learning, as I'm not very skilled in this area). In my own personal game, I heavily use Ground Construction to build complex bases, and that was the use case I originally envisioned. But I am keen to make them practical as a stand-alone parts add-on. Just fair warning that it probably won't be a quick process. 

 

I think I can make something along those lines. I'm aware that they're not currently very functional, so thanks for your input! I hope to make some more progress this week. 

Recommend epl or GC for deployment eveevery dome part mod has the same questions. Good questions mind.

Also thrimm has some ssto videos sending domes into orbit and landing them.

I just think the open cylinder with a hole in side with attachment node is the easiest solution... but I ain't a coder or module designer.

Then a part to sit in the gap that opens either end at a time for the airlock.  Or tubes... or another dome A base plate and dome finishes off the look.

But you have then sorted already.  What would be nice is to have a series of small flat plates and pedastalls to have levels off the ground given that your domes are big.

Peace.

[That_Other_Guy]

On 7/23/2018 at 12:35 AM, JH4C said:

Looks interesting, but how do I get it off Kerbin? I don't fancy trying to fit boosters to a 48m dome...

EPL, Ground Construction, USI, OSE. lol