Questions about modeling

[nimaroth]

Hello guys,

I've made my resolve to start modeling a few days ago. After searching for tutorial and all, I was able to make some simple parts.

Now, I would like to make something a 'lil more difficult and have some questions about that.

I've searched for tutorials but there isn't any who could really help me understand what I wanted.

Since it's more easy to answer while knowing what I'm using, I'm doing modeling on Blender then I'm using Unity to finish the part (and export it as .mu)

The first question is more for information. It's about colliders.

I've seen that you can either add one when modeling (calling it node_collider) or applying one in Unity.

What's the difference between the two method ? it seems for me that the two method worked ... so I don't really know which one is better and above all, why.

For reference, I've imported some parts in Blender to see how they were made.

With this, I'm now wondering another things about collider. I've seen somes with a totally different name and well ... I don't know if it was done in the modeling program or in unity but ... what I want to know is how the game know that it is a collider ? From what i can tell, I think when you use a mesh for collider, you need to call it a special way, but you don't care if it's done with a collider object.

And lastly for now, I wanted to make a simple wheel but ... I don't understand how you add an axis of rotation >.<

I searched on the web but couldn't find a tutorial for this. Could someone redirect me on a tutorial for this, or explain me how it works please ?

(if possible, not a video so that I could print it or at least follow it without having to rewind the video X times when I don't understand something =p)

Thanks in advance !

[AndyMt]

About colliders, the way I do it (I'm not at my KSP PC, so this is from memory):

- model part in Blender, including the collider object, the name actually doesn't matter

- importing in Unity

- remove the mesh renderer on the collider object

- add component "physics > mesh collider"

- select "convex" for the collider

By adding the physics, the KSP part tools do the right thing and know that the collider is a collider...

I haven't tried wheels yet. The maximum I achieved was an animated cargo bay part which was difficult enough...

[NecroBones]

About colliders, the way I do it (I'm not at my KSP PC, so this is from memory):

- model part in Blender, including the collider object, the name actually doesn't matter

- importing in Unity

- remove the mesh renderer on the collider object

- add component "physics > mesh collider"

- select "convex" for the collider

By adding the physics, the KSP part tools do the right thing and know that the collider is a collider...

Yep, this is what I do too. If you want complex colliders that conform to your model nicely, this is the way to do it.

Sometimes it's advantageous to add some in Unity though. The situations where that's useful are ones where you only need the primitives it provides (boxes and capsules), and you can save yourself the trouble of removing the renderer and adding the physics, when rebuilding the part repeatedly while testing it. For instance, they're perfect for adding the airlock and ladder "part triggers" and the like.

[AndyMt]

Yep, this is what I do too. If you want complex colliders that conform to your model nicely, this is the way to do it.

Sometimes it's advantageous to add some in Unity though. The situations where that's useful are ones where you only need the primitives it provides (boxes and capsules), and you can save yourself the trouble of removing the renderer and adding the physics, when rebuilding the part repeatedly while testing it. For instance, they're perfect for adding the airlock and ladder "part triggers" and the like.

I second that! It's much easier to do these things in Unity.

A trick I also use for colliders in Blender: I change the "max rendering" of the object to "wireframe" and make sure no material is associated with the object. This way the collider doesn't show up as a massive object in Unity right away in the "Models" preview.

You still have to remove the rendere component, though.

[nimaroth]

Thanks all for your answer, I'm starting to understand differences about each method.

For wheels, I still need to make some tests but I think I've found out what was missing.