Eyes Turned Skywards UPDATE now with Signup Sheet

[wasmic]

Holy [redacted]! Yesterday I found out about Eyes Turned Skywards and surfed through the artwork page like a maniac just before going to sleep. As to be expected, I dreamed I was piloting the Apollo Block III+. I don't remember which rocket we were flying on, but I perfectly remember the moment when the orbital incersion burn was finished and we were weightless. I happened to be the Command Module Pilot, so it was my task to dock to the additional module. In my dream it was supposed to work like Spacelab and it was extracted like the LEM. I turned around, saw the "flower petal" fairings, docked to the orbital module, and then I realised: "We're in [redacted] orbit!" I took a couple of pictures of the Earth with my smartphone (I know, right?), and was so happy we were heading to SS Freedom, that... I woke up at 3:00 AM.

So today I drew some concept art around the Apollo CSM (a tug, an Orion-esque version, one with a habitat for long missions...) while I was in Chemistry class, counting the minutes to get home and recreate that stuff in KSP, and what the hell do I find? A group of the most talented modders decided to make an official mod!

Alright, interrogate this man. If his dreams are so straightforward, it must have been a sign. He might still remember what the IVA looked like!

[NoMrBond]

I'm fine with changes. The "real" parts in the Eyes universe would certainly have had to deploy and such, so if the way they're currently set up won't work, then that's obviously something worth correcting. Can you describe what's up with them?

I'm also thinking about the truss--white that's workable in the real world, I'm wondering how best to get them to align properly. I know even with Navyfish's docking indicators, I'd find lining up two parts in rotation to be a hassle above and beyond basic alignment and velocity nulling. Is there some way to simplify that for play, or do we just require a bit more skill and care to fly that approach?

Here is the freedom truss HRS panels followed by the ISS-HRS panels

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You can see the offset hinges on the ISS panels and their rails, which allow the panels to stow becoming a flat face-to-face pack, while the FT-S1 HRS panels have the hinges straight on meaning they could only fold, at best, 45 degrees before the hinges impinged on themselves, while at full retraction this would place all the panels in the same place in 3D space which just isn't realistic

Essentially I would just be using the same offset hinge implementation from the ISS-HRS panels so that they would operate in a mechanically realistic fashion

[e of pi]

Noted, and yeah, that's a bit of a minor detail that got lost when Nixonshead and I were working on modeling up Freedom's hardware. Go ahead and model it the way you need to in order for it to mechanically work.

[NoMrBond]

Noted, and yeah, that's a bit of a minor detail that got lost when Nixonshead and I were working on modeling up Freedom's hardware. Go ahead and model it the way you need to in order for it to mechanically work.

I can't blame you, it wasn't easy to find shots which actually showed that obscure detail in enough, well, detail to actually work out what was going on at the hinges

The other question is I guess, scale, the panels in the example at 8.6m x 3m which would make the fully extended HRS something like 40m, which is a little big for KSP sizing. Should I bring the panels down to 5.5m x 1.9m (i.e. 0.64 scale)?

[NathanKell]

I'd say model at 1:1 and let the cfg handle any resizing.

Also: apologies. I meant to have the spreadsheet up before I left (I'm away visiting family). I doubt I will have time until I get back Tuesday, though. Sorry!

As for docking alignment: Infernal Robotics can handle precision adjustment after docking, and before docking you can use something like MechJeb's force roll to keep aligned by axis.

[NoMrBond]

Rigging test for HRS panels

Basically confident in being able to produce the mechanics of the animation

[edit] Temp end bars replaced with something closer + axis/end points

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Edited June 8, 2014 by NoMrBond

[e of pi]

NoMrBond, that's looking really pretty! What are the dimensions of the panel set when folded? (I'd like to re-verify that clears the inside fairing--that was a bit of concern when sizing the "keep-alive" radiators and solar arrays for the HSM core module.)

[NoMrBond]

NoMrBond, that's looking really pretty! What are the dimensions of the panel set when folded? (I'd like to re-verify that clears the inside fairing--that was a bit of concern when sizing the "keep-alive" radiators and solar arrays for the HSM core module.)

Thanks e of pi, I am a bit concerned about the face/tri count on the stabilising arms for such small details, but I have some ideas for that which I'll try and implement tonight

It should be 1.62m high when packed I believe (1.62 high x 8.64 long x 3.04 wide when accounting for the stabilising arms etc) , but I'll have to check when I get home from work

[Edit] In game with placeholder texture

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I can see some normals aren't consistent, the base hinges still need doing, then unwrapping/texturing

Edited June 9, 2014 by NoMrBond

[NoMrBond]

Fixed a few things, unwrapped

a) Textures are still potato, and for some reason 100% glossy

Good grief these things are HUGE

c) The actual HRS panels have pipes going panel-to-panel while the ETS-S1 versions do not, there less than 1200 tri's in one rig so there is room to add them if required/requested/suggested

d) I have no idea how to make them 'breakable' and they probably should be

Edited June 10, 2014 by NoMrBond

[Taki117]

d) I have no idea how to make them 'breakable' and they probably should be

It's a config thing.

MODULE
	{
		name = ModuleDeployableSolarPanel

		animationName = ExtendPanels

		sunTracking = true
		raycastTransformName = Panel03
		pivotName = pivot
		=>[b]isBreakable = true[/b]

		resourceName = ElectricCharge

		chargeRate = 7

		powerCurve
		{
			key = 206000000000 0 0 0
			key = 13599840256 1 0 0
			key = 68773560320 0.5 0 0
			key = 0 10 0 0
		}
	}

[NoMrBond]

It's a config thing.

I'm assuming there is some demarcation in the Unity scene to say which bit breaks off though?

[Tiberion]

I'm assuming there is some demarcation in the Unity scene to say which bit breaks off though?

Whatever you assign to pivotName = whatever (and anything that is a child of it.) will break off if set true

[Orbital_phoenix]

Just a small progress update.

Modelling and texturing is going well for Spacelab. I should have the Radiator Base part done soon which I'll upload for play testing, I'm going to release it in 2m and 3m versions. On the real Skylab that part housed the nitrogen gas used for the altitude control, so these will contain monopropellant for the RCS on your own space stations.

Also NoMrBond, the HRS panel is looking really nice, I can't wait to see it completed, I think it will be a good addition to the normal game outside of this mod as well. Never can have enough radiator parts .

[okan170]

Fixed a few things, unwrapped

...

c) The actual HRS panels have pipes going panel-to-panel while the ETS-S1 versions do not, there less than 1200 tri's in one rig so there is room to add them if required/requested/suggested

You could try and do the pipes in a normal map. Thats exactly the kind of detail that'd be great to put in one and let the low poly in-game model do the rest!

[nixonshead]

Those radiators are looking good!

Here's the Freedom US Lab Discovery and the Cupola.

[NoMrBond]

Whatever you assign to pivotName = whatever (and anything that is a child of it.) will break off if set true

OK, thanks Taki and Tiberion I'm hopeful I can get that working eventually

Glad you like it Orbital_phoenix, hope your Spacelab is also coming along well!

You could try and do the pipes in a normal map. Thats exactly the kind of detail that'd be great to put in one and let the low poly in-game model do the rest!

Oh, I didn't mean as a surface detail on the panels which are (insofar as I can tell) flat on the faces (I could put a slight surface warp via normal to show the piping under the surface, maybe, if I ever manage to get normal maps working anyway), I meant that there are flexible hoses between each panel that bridge across next to the hinges linking each panel in a chain, which would contain the heat transport medium flowing from the truss out to the end and back in a single circuit

[Edit] Try the HRS test version today (please provide feedback)

Known issues; short mover and backplate are not yet unwrapped / texture is UV island placeholder only

Edited June 11, 2014 by NoMrBond

[Orbital_phoenix]

OK, thanks Taki and Tiberion I'm hopeful I can get that working eventually

Glad you like it Orbital_phoenix, hope your Spacelab is also coming along well!

Oh, I didn't mean as a surface detail on the panels which are (insofar as I can tell) flat on the faces (I could put a slight surface warp via normal to show the piping under the surface, maybe, if I ever manage to get normal maps working anyway), I meant that there are flexible hoses between each panel that bridge across next to the hinges linking each panel in a chain, which would contain the heat transport medium flowing from the truss out to the end and back in a single circuit

[Edit] Try the HRS test version today (please provide feedback)

Known issues; short mover and backplate are not yet unwrapped / texture is UV island placeholder only

Thanks and it's getting there .

I tried out the HRS and it's looking really good, the deployment is nice to watch and the animation is smooth although maybe could be a little bit slower when it speeds up, but that's just my preference.

Only problem I can find so far is when selecting the part in the editor and placing it on a part it is always facing up.

Something to think about when your finished the model is having the panel move according to a sun tracker like the ones used in Near Future Technologies http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52042-0-23-5-Near-Future-Technologies-%2831-05-14-new-tanks-new-curved-solar-panels%29

or having a separate rotation part behind it connecting it to the truss?

[NoMrBond]

Thanks and it's getting there .

I tried out the HRS and it's looking really good, the deployment is nice to watch and the animation is smooth although maybe could be a little bit slower when it speeds up, but that's just my preference.

Only problem I can find so far is when selecting the part in the editor and placing it on a part it is always facing up.

http://i.imgur.com/tTvZWQ7.jpg?2

Something to think about when your finished the model is having the panel move according to a sun tracker like the ones used in Near Future Technologies http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52042-0-23-5-Near-Future-Technologies-%2831-05-14-new-tanks-new-curved-solar-panels%29

or having a separate rotation part behind it connecting it to the truss?

The animation is done by constant angular change of the short mover and propagates via mechanical constraints so it should be constant, is there a way to affect the speed of the animateGeneric module to slow it down? Maybe I can change the angular change from linear X degrees per second to something else

The attach rules must have the variable in the wrong position, that should be an easy fix, I hope

Not sure about a sun tracker so they stay edge on as the panels in question don't seem to have that kind of functionality. Can always make panels which do have this ability later

[e of pi]

NoMrBond, that's some really nice looking panels. As far as sun-tracking...it occurs to me that basically what we want is to keep the side of the panels (the thin side, the "edge" of the flat panel) pointing roughly at the sun, to keep the maximum panel area perpendicular to the sun for radiating heat. Say we define this as a 3-axis system, with X being the "width" of the panels, Y being the length of the extended panel set, so that the extended panels basically form part of the XY plane. The Z axis is normally what we'd want to point at the sun for a solar array like that code is set up for, but if you instead adapt it to point the X axis at the sun, wouldn't that roughly achieve the goal? Would that be viable?

That question aside, the part looks good--could somebody record a video or GIF of the part in-game articulating? I'm curious, and don't really have time until this weekend to start sorting out what to do to get it installed and running on my own, mostly-stock install.

[NoMrBond]

NoMrBond, that's some really nice looking panels. As far as sun-tracking...it occurs to me that basically what we want is to keep the side of the panels (the thin side, the "edge" of the flat panel) pointing roughly at the sun, to keep the maximum panel area perpendicular to the sun for radiating heat. Say we define this as a 3-axis system, with X being the "width" of the panels, Y being the length of the extended panel set, so that the extended panels basically form part of the XY plane. The Z axis is normally what we'd want to point at the sun for a solar array like that code is set up for, but if you instead adapt it to point the X axis at the sun, wouldn't that roughly achieve the goal? Would that be viable?

That question aside, the part looks good--could somebody record a video or GIF of the part in-game articulating? I'm curious, and don't really have time until this weekend to start sorting out what to do to get it installed and running on my own, mostly-stock install.

Thanks e of pi, I can add the sun tracking as I'd talked about earlier, I was only hesitant to add the functionality because I couldn't see it in the example or on the real HRS panels themselves. I would need to add a pivot mechanism (well, the appearance of one since the module{} does the actual turning) behind the backplate and the suncatcher transform on one of the edges

I've tried to capture a video of the open/close animation several times so I can post a video but my shadowplay recording software and KSP don't seem to be getting on, I just keep getting empty directories with no video output. I'll see if I can get it working, find something else, or just make a .gif

Blender 2.7 supports different interpolations for the animation curves as well now, so I've adjusted it to use a smooth curve over twice the original time for the travel which might help with the sense of deploying too fast

[Edit] Couldn't get recording software to work so here's a GFY HMTL5 video of HRS panel animation

Actual animation time is ~15 seconds to fully deploy or stow

Edited June 12, 2014 by NoMrBond

[sirkut]

I made this video with the original part you provided if it helps:

[NoMrBond]

Thanks sirkut, still not having any luck with shadowplay, everything seems to work and then it just doesn't write the output file even though the flag pops up saying it is, will give it another go tonight when I have some time

I'd rather work on finishing the upwraps, textures and butt heads with my old foe normal baking first though, maybe I can stream it to twitch and link that instead, whatever works

The new animation is a smoothed curve which is slower at each extreme and about half the speed (on average) as the test one

[Kerbal01]

Nice to see this coming together, good work!

[wasmic]

NoMrBond, that's some really nice looking panels. As far as sun-tracking...it occurs to me that basically what we want is to keep the side of the panels (the thin side, the "edge" of the flat panel) pointing roughly at the sun, to keep the maximum panel area perpendicular to the sun for radiating heat. Say we define this as a 3-axis system, with X being the "width" of the panels, Y being the length of the extended panel set, so that the extended panels basically form part of the XY plane. The Z axis is normally what we'd want to point at the sun for a solar array like that code is set up for, but if you instead adapt it to point the X axis at the sun, wouldn't that roughly achieve the goal? Would that be viable?

That should work, according to my limited knowledge of how KSP works. However, if it does not work, KSP Interstellar has heat radiators that work that way, but I'm not sure whether it's hardcoded or a partModule.

[Orbital_phoenix]

Just a update on Spacelab, texturing is almost done for the Radiator Base, just needs some touching up in parts. I'll upload the 2m and 3m versions of this later tonight.

My current plan for Spacelab development is:

- Radiator Base - almost done

- Orbital Workshop - Modeled, just needs texturing and exporting

- Instrument Unit - Modeled, just needs texturing and exporting

- Multiple Docking Adapter

- Solar Arrays

- Airlock Module

- European Research Module

- Scientific parts/ Antennas

- Interiors

Steadily getting through it all, shouldn't be a epic amount of time to do this all, but if anyone needs my help with anything let me know.