How does clipping parts into each other affect *things?

[Watoh]

2 parter...

Bit of a novice here.. seen a lot of very cool craft made by others where parts are heavily clipped inside each other. All parts imaginable.. how does this affect their function? For example fuel tanks clipped into each other, are either's capacity affected? Air intakes clipped into wings, is their intake capacity affected? Or is nothing affected at all?

Also...I put some winglets halfway up a rocket, in an attempt to help with stability, but it brought the lift too far up, so I tried reducing their profile by embedding them with the offset tool. However this did not affect the lift profile at all (the lift indicator in the building area). Got me thinking how clipped parts are modelled for aerodynamics (drag & lift)?

Excuse my laziness of asking over testing all myself. But I'm sure this is old hat for most...and it can be answered a lot easier than me testing it. (I did a search, but came up blank)

Thanks for any help.

Edited May 14, 2015 by Watoh

[Geschosskopf]

Clipping doesn't affect anything about how the part functions in the game. For instance, a radially attached part is still treated for game purposes as if it's stuck out the side even if you move it inside, so no drag savings, it's still exposed to reentry heat, etc. So in this regard, clipping is just for looks.

HOWEVER, clipping DOES affected how parts interact with each other during animations and also with EVA Kerbals, and this can invoke the Kraken. Animations in KSP are irresistible forces capable of pulling ships apart so it's always best to give them enough elbow room to do their thing.

Example: You have a Mk 1 airplane fuselage. Somewhere in this fuselage you have the 1.25m service bay. You attach the NBS ore scanner (the "hexagon on a stick") to the INSIDE of the service bay. It's too long to fit completely in there so clips into whatever part you attach to the outside of the service bay. All is well until you turn the scanner on, at which point it starts rotating. And when it starts rotating, it tears the ship apart.

[michaelsteele3]

and this can invoke the Kraken.

In case you're wondering, the Kraken is this god-like mysterious thing the community made up. What the "Kraken" does is glitch your parts and makes things go bizarre, flinging them unrealistically.

Be careful when part clipping

[Geschosskopf]

In case you're wondering, the Kraken is this god-like mysterious thing the community made up.

Heretic! Blasphemer! The Kraken is the One True God. The Kraken is the Lord of Chaos, the embodiment of the Formless Void which existed long before anything else, and shall continue to exist forever after all else has passed away. The Kraken allows Kerbals (and humans) to carve out small enclaves in his Chaos, where they think their so-called Laws of Physics work and where they feel safe. And then the Kraken periodically manifests there to remind them of how things really stand. It is thus a good idea always to carry a few extra Kerbals to sacrifice to the Kraken, to prevent him from attacking even ships without clipping .

[Roflcopterkklol]

Clipping just takes patience, its easy to summon the kraken when clipping parts, heck i have a few craft that you load and they instantly just blow up on the runway for no reason, its quite funny.

[Watoh]

Ok thanks.

So off-setting is just for 'looks' and has no real world effect. Great to know. Ta.

[RoboRay]

I put some winglets halfway up a rocket, in an attempt to help with stability

It's not the question you asked, but FYI...

Putting fins halfway up a rocket does not improve stability. In fact, it does pretty much nothing for stability. Putting fins near the back of a rocket adds positive stability (meaning, the front wants to stay out front). Putting fins near the front of a rocket adds negative stability (meaning it wants to fly tail-first). Fins in the middle don't contribute to either condition.

Look at an arrow that's shot from a bow. Where are the fins? At the back, for positive stability.

[Wanderfound]

Ok thanks.

So off-setting is just for 'looks' and has no real world effect. Great to know. Ta.

...unless you have the FAR mod installed, in which case clipping functions exactly as you first intended. Voxel-based aero for the win.

[Awaras]

Ok thanks.

So off-setting is just for 'looks' and has no real world effect. Great to know. Ta.

Well, off-seting wings forwards or backwards will move your center of lift so there is SOME effect...

[Watoh]

It's not the question you asked, but FYI...

Putting fins halfway up a rocket does not improve stability. In fact, it does pretty much nothing for stability. Putting fins near the back of a rocket adds positive stability (meaning, the front wants to stay out front). Putting fins near the front of a rocket adds negative stability (meaning it wants to fly tail-first). Fins in the middle don't contribute to either condition.

Look at an arrow that's shot from a bow. Where are the fins? At the back, for positive stability.

Thanks, yeah I do (kinda) know this.. the fins would have been at the back of my 2nd stage... I was hoping some small fins embedded would minimise the negative effect on the 1st stage and get some beneficial effect on 2nd stage. But alas...

...unless you have the FAR mod installed, in which case clipping functions exactly as you first intended. Voxel-based aero for the win.

Hmmm nice, i was using FAR before 1.0.. think i'll be checking it out again. Thanks

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Well, off-seting wings forwards or backwards will move your center of lift so there is SOME effect...

makes sense.. I think its really clipping that was unclear. I assume if i had used the off set tool to move the fins up and down it would have altered the point of lift, same as placing them up & down.