ZodiusInfuser

I know you weren't. I just feel its important to keep mentioning that there's no real schedule to the work I'm doing. I don't even try to tie in with IR or KSP releases anymore Thanks. There's a wealth of reference material out there for robotics that has yet to be tapped by the KSP community, and as one of the few roboticists here I feel its my duty to make all these ideas a reality! Plus, modding KSP is a lot easier than my RL robotics work, which I've just heard that I will be presenting both my scientific papers at a conference in September \o/. Is Chicago nice that time of year? Thanks to nli2work over in the Modelling sub-forum, I've managed to get the light controlling correctly for the Grabatron/Attractron/Magnetron (please say which you like best, or suggest others). Still need to tweak some of the KAS stuff, but if all goes to plan I should be able to pre-release that part tomorrow.

I didn't have an animation on my part when I first posted, and I'm not entirely sure on how to set one up in 4.3. In-Game the light responds to the color tweakables in the VAB, but is always on. Oddly both Light On and Light Off appear as toggleables, with exceptions occurring when they're pressed: (Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d3d49558e4d408f4/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 53) NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object at ModuleLight.LightsOff () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at ModuleLight.OnStart (StartState state) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Part.ModulesOnStart () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at Part+ .MoveNext () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 (Filename: Line: -1) IR.EndEffector(Clone) added to ship - part count: 4 (Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d3d49558e4d408f4/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 53) stage count is: 0 (Filename: C:/BuildAgent/work/d3d49558e4d408f4/artifacts/StandalonePlayerGenerated/UnityEngineDebug.cpp Line: 53) NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object at ModuleLight.LightsOff () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at BaseEvent.Invoke () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at UIPartActionButton.OnClick () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 (Filename: Line: -1) NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object at ModuleLight.LightsOn () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at BaseEvent.Invoke () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at UIPartActionButton.OnClick () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 (Filename: Line: -1) My CFG is idential to what you posted (except my light is called Light). And here's my unity scene

I should have mentioned, I have already got the module assigned to the part, but the spotlight and emissive still aren't controllable (will update OP to clarify).

Thanks Master Tao. Let me know when its updated and I'll put a link in the OP. Btw just sent you a PM to address the mass scaling of the Stackable Extendatrons, as it wasn't following the cubed root relation.

Hi, I'm working on a part for Infernal Robotics that among other things will feature a light (see here). So far I've managed to get the part in-game with an emissive and spotlight, but am having difficulty figuring out the next step of actually making it controllable in-game. I presume I need some sort of animation to control the intensity, but can't figure out how to go about this in the current Unity version (4.3), and haven't found any concise guide on the process. Edit: I already have ModuleLight assigned to the part. Could anyone shed some light (pun intended ) on this matter please? Thanks, -Zodius

It's models rather than skins. Provided Infernal Robotics is working well with 0.24, you should just be able to install these and have them work. If you try, please let me know of any oddities you may have, and I'll see about updating.

I added a spotlight into the unity scene. I have no idea what needs to be done to make KSP control it (just adding the modules doesn't seem to work). Also, how should I properly tie the emissive to it?

Wheels are a long way off, as the plugin needs to be developed first. The foldatrons will be sooner, but I can't give an eta. Had a brief moment to get the KAS Magnet/Light, now called Grabatron (better name suggestions welcome), in game. Still don't know how to properly set up the light, so if anyone has any info then please let me know

Appologies . This is what I'm working towards, and now I've got the wheel proportions nailed down it shouldn't be too long before the foldatrons are out in the open. Sure you can! You may not want to get rid of everything though as things like the adjustable rails and gantries aren't in the rework yet, so you'd be loosing that functionality if you just removed the entire folder.

That means a lot, thanks! I will admit for some of the parts I do resort to 3D CAD to help figure out the finer mechanical details. Also, KSP gives the the opportunity to make the robot designs my job doesn't allow, so I tend to apply the same thought processes. They're the lights I mentioned. The idea being they'd be activated to make the whole grabbing procedure easier, or just giving players a directable light source. That's the idea! Originally they were just going to be steerable using rotatrons, but the normal servo window made them tedious to control, so now a plugin solution is being explored. In fact if you look back a few pages there was another wheel design and a video showing some WIP code lo-fi has been developing to allow full 3DOF motion. It's pretty cool!

Thanks . Those wheels turned out rather well in the end. Not sure how useful they'll be, given the existence of the other wheels, but maybe people will like the variety. Of course, the wheels and any other utilities will be offered as a separate download for those concerned with the number of parts in this mod Speaking of other utilities, I had chance to update the magnetic grabber I modelled a while ago, as well as make it fit within the athlete proportions. Since the wheels are modelled, the foldatron dimensions are close to being finalised. You can see how both fit below: One thing I'd like to do with the grabber is give it a toggleable light source. Does anyone know of a good tutorial I could follow for this, or provide advise on the setup needed? Thanks

It's by invitation only at the moment IIRC

I have an idea of how they could be done in the game, but we'll have to see. Btw, for those wondering, this is (one of the reasons) why wheels need to be created before the Foldatrons are finished

And now for something HIGHLY experimental, Omni Wheels! I'm not even sure if they'd be possible in KSP, but I'm hoping some of lo-fi's repulsor tech will help. They were fun to model at least If people are not familiar with these, in the real world they allow for movement in any direction by having very low friction in the direction perpendicular to the wheel motion. Here's some videos:

Thanks. I'm not fully back yet, but have enough free time atm to work on some of the model ideas I've been meaning to do. If you could pull off a compound part that would be amazing! That's not currenly possible with the plugin at the moment, so I've been making models with just a single joint, hence the whole telescopic piston setup. Most certainly! I wish you luck -------------------------------------------------- The height off the ground is 1.325 at full compression and 1.875 at zero compression. I should make it clear that unless these can be made to be tweakscale compatible (so a half scale version can be made), they are not intended as landing gear for aircraft. Instead they are for mobile bases and vessel transporters. Of course, I can't stop people from making a monster 3.75m craft with foldeable landing year made with this

Myself and sirkut are always open to new ideas. If your contribution is code side then I'd suggest popping a message to sirkut. If its model side then there's this tutorial on how to create your own IR parts. If you were thinking something particularly IR Rework themed then I'm a bit more picky as to what ideas I accept, but I'm more than happy to hear them

Not sure where you got 60 from. No, if you install all the packs this adds 40 parts to the game. As ObsessedWithKSP said, this mod is no where near the number of stock parts, and even with all my planned additions in the future, would unlikely exceed 80. If you're concerned with memory usage use the Active Texture Management mod. I have roughtly 600 parts in my install using this, with no stability issues. I would like to have the robotics parts share the same texture, but whatever I try causes the IR joint to stop animating . Never did figure out why. -------------------------------------------------- You'd be best to post this in the main thread, since that relates to the plugin. This thread is purely about the modelling side of IR.

As a teaser, here is a new wheel design I've just finished mocking up: (thats a 2.5m tank btw, for size comparison) This is my take on the wheel used on Self-Propelled Modular Transporters like this: The wheel is designed to fit within a 1.25m cylinder, which means its tyre size is just under that of the stock rugged wheel. You may notice that the top looks a lot like an Rework Rotatron. Well, originally I was going to have it so that you could use rotatrons to turn the wheels, but when testing the athlete wheel a while back I found out this just wasn't precise enough. So, after discussion with lo-fi the idea of creating a crawler plugin emerged, allowing for the wheel angles to be automatically adjusted based on user input. That's all I have for now. I'll be revisiting the athlete wheel next, when I get time.

Hi All, I just want to say: Apologies for neglecting this mod over the past month or so. Real life robotics work, and other commitments got in the way. On the plus side, I do get to present my research at IROS 2014, so it was time well spent I'm slowly going to be returning to this over the next few weeks, figuring out where I left off and what I still want to achieve. Until I'm back up to full speed, I ask that you be patient. It seems that Master Tao has been going a good job of entertaining the masses, so I'm sure you can survive for a bit longer without me Thanks, -Zodius

I'll try to clarify things from the model point of view Here is what the Unity scene for the two parts looks like: As marce noted, the part is oriented along the -x, which makes it match the orientation of stock struts. The first part shown (Grappler) consists of the main GameObject and several meshes: Anchor - The base of the part and is the only one with a mesh collider Grappler - The end point of a strut connection, used when performing free attach or connecting with another active strut Hooks - A child of the grappler, that are only shown when a free connection is made Lights Bright - A cylinder around the strut with a green emissive to indicate docked state. This is offset in unity so it appears hidden on the part icon Lights Dull - A cylinder around the strut for when a normal connection is made. This is not offset in unity Strut - The strut cylinder, which in this case is 0.25m long so the part icon isn't too small The second part shown (Fixture) consists of the main GameObject and two meshes: Anchor - The base of the part and is the only one with a mesh collider Grappler - The "fake" end point of a strut connection to avoid clipping when several struts connect. Is offset in unity so it appears hidden on the part icon I am sure there is a better way to do the Lights Dull/Bright transition but my knowledge on this matter was limited, and we were already using the scaling solution for the hooks and other parts so it made sense to apply the same technique. Hope that helps in some way

From my understanding of what marce explained to me, I don't think you can have a strut that helps make a connection stronger whilst also allowing for movement. Seems like a "have your cake and eat it" sort of thing (which as a phrase never really made much sense ). One possible alternative, since this seems mainly focused on IR parts, is to actually have then unable to move if a strut is connected to them in any way, like engaging the lock button on them. This would avoid issues with hinges etc fighting with struts, and be useful for both this and stock struts. No idea how this could be implemented though.

If you have issues with QS, you may want to try the newly released Active Struts. Has a few more features, but is in early development so will likely have a few bugs.

\o/ Glad to see this finally out for people to play around with

For those that were asking for re-useable struts, I encourage you to check out Active Struts

Yay! Someone who actually uses the IR struts! Is that the large or small version, can't tell.