[WIP] Blue Origin BE-4 Engine

[YANFRET]

From a practical point of view, as a first stage, especially in x2 config, it most likely would have some kind of Atlas or Delta style thermal protection structure which would sadly hide your magnificent turbo pump details. However, I like the idea of having the details on the part because you never know when there would be a brilliant upper stage application and that's when engine details really shine, at that stage of flight the engines are much more visible to the player etc.

Considering the announced (and ambitious) oxygen rich staged combustion design I think it could be a very interesting upper stage product with a fairly high vacuum ISP if optimized for that.

[GusTurbo]

I was thinking about doing a version with a vacuum optimized nozzle, so there's an option.

[GusTurbo]

Texturing is underway! I've baked the AO and tried some normal mapping using the height map->normal map function in xNormal. Here's what I've got so far:

No AO (top)/AO (bottom)

[CaptainKipard]

Good so far. I usually start with a photograph of some flat metal (maybe with some scratches) just to have some realistic noise (something like this), and put a colour layer on top of that in multiply mode.

[GusTurbo]

I actually started with the metal texture from your texturing tutorial and have everything over it in multiply mode. It's not very visible, is it?

[CaptainKipard]

Well that particular one had its contrast drastically reduced because the texture was supposed to look painted. It was there just for a bit of noise. That's probably not true in this case, so it'd be more appropriate to use an actual photo texture, with the colour layer being used to make it look like different types of metal. The carbon(?) nozzle would need a different background.

[GusTurbo]

I'm still working on this! Learning how to texture has been a painful process. I had to redo the UV map because certain parts were too small to have any detail on a 1024x1024 texture. On a positive note, I've been playing around with specularity to get metal (particularly the pipes) to look more metallic.

I ended up using a different metal texture. I think it looks better.

I'm hoping that some of my most recent difficulties will give way to a finished product.

Edited December 9, 2014 by GusTurbo

[CaptainKipard]

It still looks grey to me. I think it may be because you're using the mockup as reference? Real rockets don't look that smooth. There are sometimes discolourations, and metal-working artefacts. You might be well off using a much higher contrast photos of metal. I would combine for example this slightly corroded texture, and this image of galvanised steel. You can put one over the other in "overlay" mode. Make sure you can see the detail when the texture is on the model. 100% authenticity is not important in this case, as long as you have some visible organic noise. You can add that other image I posted earlier on top too, just clone over the dots.

Specularity should be done last, at about the same time you do your normal map, because both of those work best when they use elements of the finished colour texture.

[GusTurbo]

Thanks for all your feedback, I really appreciate it. I've tried to incorporate your suggestions.

Progress:

[CaptainKipard]

Excellent! That's what I'm talking about. Look almost real. GJ

edit

Do you have a sketchfab account?

Edited December 11, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[GusTurbo]

I don't right now, but I will. Seems like a good way to show models on the forum.

[NathanKell]

Looking *very* nice!

[GusTurbo]

Test of Sketchfab:

BE-4 by gusturbo on Sketchfab

Still not finished with the texture, so ignore the visible seams.

Edited December 11, 2014 by GusTurbo

[RobotsAndSpaceships]

This looks really nice! I happen to know an individual who is currently working on the actual project at Blue Origin. Interesting stuff, what they're doing.

[Reblobic]

Looks very good Looking forward to using it!

[CaptainKipard]

When you're ready to make a specular mask (if you're making one) have a look at some photos of rockets in sunlight. People have a tendency to misjudge the shininess of the metal parts.

[GusTurbo]

I've now got the engine into the game! I hit a few snags with Unity, but I overcame them, so at this point I think I've got the basics down.

The challenge now is to do the cfg files. I've copied one of Squad's engine cfg files, the big NASA advanced engine and used the top and bottom nodes from the Mainsail. I still need to tweak the nodes to get them lined up, but that shouldn't be too bad. Oddly, while I was able to get it in-game, it didn't show any thrust from the engine, and it couldn't lift off, though I could hear the engine sounds. Not sure what that's all about, but I'm trying to troubleshoot that.

[Scarsz]

The problem your having is with you thrustTransform. If you don't have one:

1)make an empty in unity and change its name to thrustTransform

2)make it a child of the engine model

3)rotate it so the blue arrow is facing down

4)move its inside you engine bell

hope this helps

[CaptainKipard]

Why no base?

[GusTurbo]

Why no base?

Didn't realize how naked it would look. I'll have to be imaginative, since I have no real reference for this actual engine.

[NathanKell]

NOOOOOO! Tankbutt BAAAAAD.

If you do make a "base" (which is actually a tankbutt) please, please make it a separate part. Or just make some generic 1.25, 2.5, and 3.75m boattails.

[GusTurbo]

Ah, forgive me. I am still new at this. Is this picture a good reference for what I should shoot for?

Also, I'm not sure I know what you mean by "boattails"

[NathanKell]

Ah, sorry, I just overreact at the threat of tankbutt.

A thrust frame makes perfect sense (here's another view of the RS-68), but please don't, as many KSP engines do, add the lower dome of the tank to your engine part.

By boattail, I mean the fairing that covers the exposed parts of the engine pumps/tubing/etc. You can see here in this drawing of the Jupiter how there's a fairing around the top of the engine. On Delta IV it's that white cone they place around the RS-68's upper parts. While that can be made with Procedural Fairings, if you want one that will match your engine, you might consider making it yourself.

[GusTurbo]

Got it, thanks! I'll get rid of the lazy tankbutt thing put on there.

I'm not sure if I want to make a boattail for the engine, since it would hide all of the detail-work I did on the upper part of the engine. I'm definitely open to suggestions though.

[NathanKell]

Cool

I mean, I'd never use the boattail probably, so I wouldn't recommend it for me. Just tossing it out there as it may have been what Cpt. Kipard meant.