[WEB] KSP Transfer Illustrator

[theAstrogoth]

I've added sliders and vessel markers to plots in the Trajectory Illustrator that should work similarly to those in the Transfer Illustrator. The way they're implemented now, they can have less-than-ideal behavior with multiple vessels that enter and leave a system at different times, since most of the slider is taken up by time when no vessels are actually in the plotted system. I might try to come up some sort of scaling that mitigates this, but for now, you can define custom bounds on times with the "Start Time" and "End Time" inputs that can give you better slider control.

Edit: I also added a text input where you can enter the UT in seconds to set the plot/slider time, to serve as a way to have really fine control over the slider. It also displays any time chosen by moving the slider

Edited October 14, 2020 by theAstrogoth

[theAstrogoth]

I've finally added a way to read .sfs files! You should now be able to upload your savefile and select a spacecraft/asteroid/comet to add to your plots. Both apps have a new box for uploading your files that looks something like this:

To test it out, I placed a spacecraft in an orbit around Kerbin and uploaded the persistence file to the Transfer Illustrator, calculated a trip to Eve, and created a maneuver node to get an Eve intercept. I added a few extra nodes in-game in Eve's SoI to try to get an intercept with Gilly. Then, I uploaded the persistence file to the Trajectory Illustrator and plotted the craft's path. As seen below, the plot generated by the propagator app wasn't perfect! It actually missed the Gilly encounter, maybe because Gilly has such a small SoI. You can see how close it got in the image on the left. 

 

For now, savefile reading only works for the stock Kerbol system. My next goal is to figure out how Kopernicus stores planet information and add a similar feature for uploading modded solar systems. 

Please let me know of any bugs or strange behavior when trying to upload a savefile.

Edited October 16, 2020 by theAstrogoth

[theAstrogoth]

Small update: savefile loading should now support Real Solar System and Outer Planets Mod saves. 

I'm working toward adding a UI element that will let you upload configs from any Kopernicus planet pack, but still need to account for a few things like post-spawn modification. 

Edit: This was too ambitious, I think. It turns out that reading the configs is mostly straightforward for RSS and OPM, but other planet packs like New Horizons or the Galileo Planet Pack are a bit more complicated. I can cheat by generating bodies.ini files with the KSP Trajectory Optimization Tool and reading those, but it doesn't seem like I (with my very limited skills) will be able to read the Kopernicus configs directly in most cases. 

I've added a way to upload .ini files generated by KSPTOT Connect. Unfortunately, it is only helpful for those who already have KSPTOT installed (and probably won't be as inclined to use the Transfer Illustrator), but I'm at a loss for other ways to reliably get planet info from modded games. 

Edited October 19, 2020 by theAstrogoth

[theAstrogoth]

Small accuracy improvement: I had been using gravity parameters and radii for planets/moons from the KSP wiki, but I noticed the ones used by the KSPTOT had higher precision, so I've switched over. 

I'm at the stage where starting tidying up the UI, which has become rather cluttered as I've haphazardly added things. So far, I've managed to figure out how to do a bit of styling with CSS and switched the UI to a darker theme to try to make things easier on the eyes. I'm open to suggestions for alternative color palettes. 

Next I'll further compartmentalize the input fields to make it easier to find/adjust settings. I plan reorganize I've also reworked the UI to include tabs like "Basic Mission Parameters", "Parking Orbit Parameters", "System Settings", "Date Settings",  and an updated "Instructions." I would also love to hear any suggestions for UI changes! It's easy for me as the creator to know where things are and what they do, but it may not be so clear for users.

Another useful change: When you click and drag a box on the Porkchop plot and it zooms in on the area you've selected, the points on the plot are now resampled within the new bounds. This way, you don't have to manually type in custom bounds to sample more points in a smaller region.

Edited November 6, 2020 by theAstrogoth

[theAstrogoth]

Unfortunately, it seems that allowing embedding HTML plots in forum posts would be a security issue. The HTML files can still be shared (via Dropbox, Google drive, etc.) and opened in any browser. 

 

I've added a way to define custom planets/moons in-app, as well as a way to export the .ini file with the info for all bodies in your custom system that could be loaded by the app in the same way as one from KSPTOT connect. The new UI with these features looks like this:

When you type something into the "Body Name" field, if your entry matches the name of an existing body, its information will be pulled up in all other fields. If the "Add/Edit Body" button is pressed, an existing body is updated (if there is already one with the name in the "Body Name" field) with any new parameters you've entered or a new one is added (if the name is unique) to the system. Modifying any of the built-in systems (Stock, OPM, or RSS) automatically overwrites and switches to the custom system option, leaving the built-in options unchanged.

 

With that, I think I've implemented all the features I had originally planned. I might explore adding gravity assist planning (since I'm not aware of a web tool that does it), and otherwise I'm happy to add new features upon request!

 

[garwel]

Hi, it looks like a very useful tool for quickly plotting or checking some maneuvers. But I don't understand how to upload custom systems and savefiles. I've tried to drag & drop both a KSP TOT's ini and a persistent.sfs, but nothing happened. Clicking "Plot!" also doesn't seem to make it. Can it be a browser issue? I use Chrome for Windows 10.

[theAstrogoth]

1 hour ago, garwel said:

Hi, it looks like a very useful tool for quickly plotting or checking some maneuvers. But I don't understand how to upload custom systems and savefiles. I've tried to drag & drop both a KSP TOT's ini and a persistent.sfs, but nothing happened. Clicking "Plot!" also doesn't seem to make it. Can it be a browser issue? I use Chrome for Windows 10.

Thanks for asking! I'm realizing that I need to have some clearer instructions for this part. I also use Chrome for Windows 10 so I don't think it's a browser issue.

It'll be slightly different for each of the apps, but for both you need to upload the ini file first and make sure the "Custom System" radio button is selected (which should happen automatically upon upload in the Transfer Illustrator). If ini file reading succeeds, all starting/ending/reference body dropdown fields should now be populated by names from the ini file. 

Then you can upload your savefile. Doing it in this order is important, since savefile reading will fail if the names/reference IDs of the bodies don't match your between your savefile and selected system. After a few seconds, the dropdown should be populated with crafts from your savefile. If savefile reading fails, the dropdown stays empty (I should probably add a warning message if this happens).

Then, for the Transfer Illustrator, you can set the orbit of the selected object to be either your starting or ending orbit by pressing one of the two buttons, set up the remaining starting/target orbit info, and hit "Plot!".

The Trajectory illustrator UI still needs some more work, but should be funcitonal. In the Trajectory Illustrator, delete all vessels that don't match your selected system by setting "Number of Vessels" to 0. Then, pick an object or objects from your savefile and press the button below the upload box to add a vessel with all of the object's flight info. Then you can click the "Plot!" button to display the trajectories for the selected objects.

I've only tested this out with my own saves, which are only lightly modded (OPM or stock systems). If you continue to have trouble, would you mind sending me your ini and sfs files?

Edited November 8, 2020 by theAstrogoth

[garwel]

It worked in Transfer Illustrator, but not in Trajectory Illustrator: I set the system to "Uploaded", dragged & dropped the ini file, but the list of bodies hasn't changed.

[theAstrogoth]

7 hours ago, garwel said:

It worked in Transfer Illustrator, but not in Trajectory Illustrator: I set the system to "Uploaded", dragged & dropped the ini file, but the list of bodies hasn't changed.

Thanks for pointing this out. There was an issue with some of the dynamic UI fields updating. I think it should be fixed now.

[theAstrogoth]

I've made some progress on a (single) gravitational assist flyby finder. I'm having trouble getting the optimization to work consistently and quickly, so at this stage it works but does not provide low-Δv flybys most of the time. I've put together new options for flybys in the Transfer Illustrator, but I won't update until I've improved the speed/accuracy of the Δv minimizer.

 

[taio]

What I'd love from the trajectory illustrator, and would use constantly, is integrating biome maps, and plotting orbital trajectories projected against the central body's surface for n orbits forward. Either 3d or 2d view would work, but I think 2d would be best. For aid in collecting science or otherwise planning being over a certain piece of land.

It would even be good without the biome maps, just plotting on an undifferentiated lat-lon grid. Ideally, on hover of the plotted line, it'd give some indication of time when/until that point is reached by the craft.

Edited December 17, 2020 by taio

[theAstrogoth]

17 hours ago, taio said:

What I'd love from the trajectory illustrator, and would use constantly, is integrating biome maps, and plotting orbital trajectories projected against the central body's surface for n orbits forward. Either 3d or 2d view would work, but I think 2d would be best. For aid in collecting science or otherwise planning being over a certain piece of land.

It would even be good without the biome maps, just plotting on an undifferentiated lat-lon grid. Ideally, on hover of the plotted line, it'd give some indication of time when/until that point is reached by the craft.

Thanks for the suggestion! Is this the kind of thing you had in mind? 

I'll have to verify with SCANsat that I'm hitting the right latitudes/longitudes for an orbit at any given time. I saw from KSPTOT ini files that planets have an initial rotation angle, and I'm assuming that the 0° rotation angle corresponds with the reference direction.

I have yet to add any of the UI options or hover info, but I think I'll have time over the weekend. Things that I plan to add include:

• color-coded markers for the plotted crafts that move when you adjust the time slider
• option to set number of orbit periods plotted before/after the current time (only for the last orbit after all maneuvers are executed)
• hover info showing coordinates and times for each plotted point
• option to enter coordinates and display the location of a target on the surface

Eventually, I think it would be neat to add a couple of extra things that might take a little more time to implement.

• biome/height maps (using data from Sigma Cartographer?)
• surface collision (landing) location

Let me know if you have any other ideas for this. I'll update the app when the new feature is ready to use.

 

Edited December 17, 2020 by theAstrogoth

[theAstrogoth]

@taio I think I've got the surface projections to the point where they're usable, and I've updated the Trajectory Illustrator.  They're toggleable via a checkbox at the top right side of the page with the other display options. You can hide/show each trace in the surface projection by clicking on its name in the legend. There are a couple of options you can set under the "Time Settings" tab as well. 

 

[taio]

Perfect!  damn with service this fast i owe you a donation, do you have any link for that?

also can you make the longitude axis labels go by multiples of 45 or 30

Edited December 24, 2020 by taio

[theAstrogoth]

On 12/24/2020 at 1:53 AM, taio said:

also can you make the longitude axis labels go by multiples of 45 or 30

Sure, that's a good idea. I set the tick marks every 30 degrees, and changed the labels a little.

 

On 12/24/2020 at 1:53 AM, taio said:

Perfect!  damn with service this fast i owe you a donation, do you have any link for that?

That's really kind of you to offer! I set up a Ko-Fi account here. 

[taio]

it seems to be just a display issue but latitude in the hover tooltip is being reported as m/s instead of degrees

[theAstrogoth]

47 minutes ago, taio said:

it seems to be just a display issue but latitude in the hover tooltip is being reported as m/s instead of degrees

It should be fixed now

[theAstrogoth]

In addition working on getting map images for the surface projection plots, I saw that planet textures were recently added to KSPTOT recently and wondered if I could do something similar. It turns out that putting images over 3D surfaces is rather painful using Plotly, but I think I have it mostly working and will update soon (I still need to generate and add maps for the stock system).  This is implemented now in the Trajectory Illustrator, but showing surface textures in orbit plots can be quite slow, and may cause the app to timeout until I make some changes. 

 

Edited January 4, 2021 by theAstrogoth

[Arrowstar]

23 hours ago, theAstrogoth said:

In addition working on getting map images for the surface projection plots, I saw that planet textures were recently added to KSPTOT recently

Glad I could provide the inspiration.