[1.3.1] Prakasa Aeroworks

[SpaceCommanderNemo]

I'm really enjoying these parts... The only thing I've found odd is that I can't make any power with the hybrids in rocket mode. I just lose speed and never make it to space... Maybe I need to alter my ascent profile; but for the kick those engines have in air breathing mode, they should have more power in rocket mode.

[SpaceMouse]

Just tested the Science lab. Looks awesome! Had a idea you might like, those giant windows would also work great for a hydroponics bay. All you'd need to model is a plant and, remove the desks.
Also, a minor tweak requested to the science lab. Seating positions place kerbals in front of computers first and at the microscope 2nd. that means you have to put about 4 kerbals in it before you can appreciate the view. Perhaps a microscope first? Or just someone to appreciate the view first?

Edited September 24, 2016 by SpaceMouse

[steedcrugeon]

@Balto-the-Wolf-Dog I feel bit more confident about having a stab at the telescope issue. I'm going to try to use as much of the stock dll/cs scripting as possible though. let me have a play about with a dummy 'telescope' part and I'll see what I can come up with.

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

7 hours ago, steedcrugeon said:

@Balto-the-Wolf-Dog I feel bit more confident about having a stab at the telescope issue. I'm going to try to use as much of the stock dll/cs scripting as possible though. let me have a play about with a dummy 'telescope' part and I'll see what I can come up with.

Uhh, actually, how would I give it to you? Unity scene zipped with the necessary resources? Never actually tried to transfer uncompiled excrements out of unity

[steedcrugeon]

does Prakasa Aeroworks have a Git? if so i could grab the unity files from there, i'd need the FBX/DAE/'any-other-3d-file-format-you-are-using-for-sketch-up' that you imported into Unity. FBX is preferred than i can mes about with axis in Blender.

I can grab the existing config file and MBM from my GameData folder.

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

1 minute ago, steedcrugeon said:

does Prakasa Aeroworks have a Git? if so i could grab the unity files from there, i'd need the FBX/DAE/'any-other-3d-file-format-you-are-using-for-sketch-up' that you imported into Unity. FBX is preferred than i can mes about with axis in Blender.

I can grab the existing config file and MBM from my GameData folder.

Git? Not yet, but good idea. I'll set that up. My model process is sketchup -> export 3ds max ->3ds max for UV/normals->Directly into unity via drag and drop of the .max. In earlier pods I exported again from 3ds max as .3ds, but it doesn't seem to make a difference so I stopped bothering. As such, the .Max is the resource the unity file with the telescope prop uses.

 

I could also give it to you inside of the science lab IVA so you have something to export and test with, if that'd help.

[steedcrugeon]

Yeah that's be great. Then i can see how you think it's should sit in it's pivot cradle (which will help determine the axis).

3DS or .max should be okay i think, I can open it in AutoCAD then export as a FBX to do some testing.

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

3 minutes ago, steedcrugeon said:

Yeah that's be great. Then i can see how you think it's should sit in it's pivot cradle (which will help determine the axis).

3DS or .max should be okay i think, I can open it in AutoCAD then export as a FBX to do some testing.

I have it "rigged" in unity with a pair of nesting gameobjects that allow it to pivot properly. That rigging was based on a total guess as to how a script like that would work though. If I give it to you unrigged beware that the model origins, if nested, will not let the cradle sit properly. I should be able to get you the appropriate displacements out of the unity gameobjects though.

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

Raksha

Dark windows are some weird thing that happened with the window material. Probably a quick fix, but it's 4:15 and I really don't feel like pulling unity back up again.

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

0.6.0, The Long and Lazy Summer Update!

Two more cockpits, because we needed more apparently.

 

Side note, how are we embedding imgur albums these days? Can't seen to get it to cooperate.

Side note of the side note, I just realized Prakasa is coming up on its ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! CELEBRATING ONE YEAR SINCE I FIGURED OUT HOW TO UV MAP (MORE OR LESS)!

Edited November 14, 2016 by Balto-the-Wolf-Dog

[Nansuchao]

Congratulations for the update!

On a side note on your side note relative to your side note of the side note, you can't embed anything ATM on the forum, that feature doesn't work.

[steedcrugeon]

Yes! Update time, now to get my 1.2 game back inline with my 1.1.3! Extra pod all the things

[Ohm Machre]

As far as albums go, embedding is a no-go. You just have to insert the media via link, picture by picture... and then, it takes up a fair amount of room. Spoilers solve that problem though lol.

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

15 hours ago, Ohm Machre said:

As far as albums go, embedding is a no-go. You just have to insert the media via link, picture by picture... and then, it takes up a fair amount of room. Spoilers solve that problem though lol.

Thanks for the heads-up. Know if that's a temporary condition?

 

Edited November 15, 2016 by Balto-the-Wolf-Dog

[smurphy34]

1 hour ago, Balto-the-Wolf-Dog said:

Thanks for the heads-up. Know if that's a temporary condition?

 

 

It's an HTML injection issue and the powers that be are waiting on a forum software upgrade before working on it more.

This mod (and your skills) have really progressed, and the Imgur pics are awesome.  Do you have those craft files to share?  Or better yet post them to KerbalX? 

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

15 minutes ago, smurphy34 said:

It's an HTML injection issue and the powers that be are waiting on a forum software upgrade before working on it more.

This mod (and your skills) have really progressed, and the Imgur pics are awesome.  Do you have those craft files to share?  Or better yet post them to KerbalX? 

Some of them may be lost to history. I build very abstractly normally, so even my 5 minute test aircraft are pretty weird. Most of them can probably be scrounged up, but for the most part they don't really have remarkable dV on account of being 5 minute test aircraft. I thought about including some with the mod but didn't bother because I design them for FAR, but if there's interest maybe I'll release a pack of them for the lulz.

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

 

Just moved back to Alaska and into new apartment. Forging friend and I challenged ourselves to design knives using various random implements found around the kitchen as French curves. My second design employed a box cutter in the role of the curve (the first was based on a Pepsi can) but it transformed rapidly into a 2.5m pod and Asima's rightful 2.5m successor.

I give you Kal Ke'Setshan, hand drawn with only a box cutter. I'll let you know when/how well it makes the transition into model.

See? The forging escapade wasn't completely useless to Prakasa. Mostly. Alaska ought to turn my production rate back up again.

 

 

 

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

A much earlier offering from Prakasa Aerosworks (Then Prakasa Aircraft Company), coming to a KSP snap-together and hopefully an FSX near you provided I can figure snap togethers out and/or have any luck with FSX.

An odd choice, I know, but that model was important to a bit of a narrative I've been putting a lot of work into, so that's what got made.

 

Edit:

My texture work is getting a little better; been trying out a new workflow based around Viewport Canvas instead of Unwrap/Photoshop. Note the presence of livery lines that don't necessarily follow polygonal seems, a first for me.

 

 

A quick Unity test; does a lot more justice to the bumpmaps:

Progress has been fairly smooth, absent the hangups in some of my much more bad habit laden work. No in-congruent polygons and lazy texturing here; I haven't had to fight with normals at all! On the same note, this model also weighs in at only about 2000 polys, despite considerably more topographic detail than predecessors. It was still produced in SketchUp, but without the spline/loft approach I used for most of PA pods (except for the wing coverings). I've known that was a bad practice for some time, and so far trying to beat it seems to be paying off.

 

In other news, I've also been trying to break my way into working in 3ds max for geometry as well as texture work. In the process I took a stab at organic models:

 

Kal Ke'Setshan is presently slated to be the first Prakasa pod made mostly in 3ds max. I may still do the interior in SketchUp, as it eases the alignment process considerably, and is what SketchUp is actually for. Regardless, expect much better topography than previous work.

 

I wish I had more to show you guys. I know I turned out a much higher volume in the early days, and I regret falling off so sharply, but this semester has been a busy one, and I'm not unemployed anymore. Thanks for the patience, and let me know if I need to do anything fancy to bring what's there up to date.

Edited April 12, 2017 by Balto-the-Wolf-Dog

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

Good news everyone!

Balto's back baby. This time with more than sketches and other projects.

Behold Asima's rightful 2.5 successor, Kal Ke'Setshan.

Now with 50% more 3ds Max, 100% more responsible polygons, and at least 80% fewer training wheels. No splines and lofts, just a side view reference and vertex manipulation. I haven't even touched SketchUp yet! I'll probably still do the IVA in SketchUp since that's what SketchUp is actually for, but hey, check out all those decent normals. So far the polycount is much better too. At a mere 384, Ke'Setshan dwarfs even Asima's record for geometric simplicity.

I appreciate how patient you guys have been with me. Hopefully this marks a new era of actually decent, responsible modeling; I hope the wait will be worth it!

 

Progress:

Turns out the scale breaks if you build in 3ds and import to SketchUp, so I guess we're forcing the issue. Training wheels off.

 

 

Edited July 8, 2017 by Balto-the-Wolf-Dog

[Kommodore]

Hi guys! I have an issue with the Chikna engine. It doesn't work. When I ignite them, it shows air combustion failed. 

http://imgur.com/gallery/FhAeR

Edited July 15, 2017 by Kommodore

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

14 hours ago, Kommodore said:

Hi guys! I have an issue with the Chikna engine. It doesn't work. When I ignite them, it shows air combustion failed. 

http://imgur.com/gallery/FhAeR

You're too low and/or too slow. The chikna is a single-mode SCRAMjet and can't provide stable combustion at subsonic speeds or in dense air. Try again at mach 1.5-2, and about 10,000 meters. Alternatively, the 2.5m SCRAMjet (legitimately forgot what I called it) is bi-modal and can provide a turbofan setting for subsonic speeds and then transition to SCRAM manually once at speed and altitude. If you want to use the chikna as a general purpose engine for aesthetic reasons (looks like you're doing a concorde thing), you'll have to edit the thrust and fuel curves in the config. That image does give me an idea for a raked engine/intake combo that mounts radially though.

Edited July 15, 2017 by Balto-the-Wolf-Dog

[Kommodore]

I really want to keep these engines.  But which atmosphere curve can I write?

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

9 hours ago, Kommodore said:

I really want to keep these engines.  But which atmosphere curve can I write?

You care about these two:

velCurve
		{
			key = 0 0 0 0
			key = 1 0.3 0.3967512 0.4424855		
			key = 2 1.007905 0.6413132 0.7933329		
			key = 3 2 0.4324458 0.5870321		
			key = 4 1.5 -0.7005689 -0.6572402
			key = 5 1.2 -0.6146706 -0.6450593
			key = 6 0.8 -0.1121028 -0.1604403	
			key = 7 0.5 0 0
			key = 7.9 0 0 0
		}
atmCurve
		{
			// Slope up for thinner air and then sharply down.
			key = 0 0 0 0
			key = 0.005 0.4 4.989324 6.277892
			key = 0.02 0.7 4.989324 6.277892
			key = 0.05 1.2 4.989324 6.277892
			key = 0.1 1.4 4.35445 6.242705
			key = 0.2 1.2 0 0
			key = 0.5 0.4 -2.419767 -2.428926		
			key = 0.9 0.07401567 -0.9374784 -1.09819
			key = 1 0 0 0
		}

Its been awhile since I've done this, so I don't promise I remember the relationships perfectly.

Now, IIRC, the vel curve keys are: Mach number | Thrust Multiplier | values defining tangents for the curve

and the atmCurve is: Point value of pressure (1 being standard atmo) | thrust multiplier | tangent info

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on any of that. It's been about a year since I last did jet curves and I always used the unity tool and worked with a graphical jet curve.

 

All in all its not as bad as it looks, and you can safely ignore the tangent info if you're not really into getting smooth jet curves. If you that is important to you, I recommend using the tool I mentioned. It's provided in the KSP unity package (I think, unless I got it from somewhere else), and allows the drag-edditing of jet curves for export to config. Look for it in the KSP dropdown in unity, or give "KSP unity curve editor" or something to that effect a google. If you don't want to worry about editing the curve itself or don't have any luck doing so, the easiest thing to do would be to replace the curves presented here with curves from a stock engine (or other modded engine) with the performance you're looking for. You could even go as far as to replace chikna's config with another config altogether, and simply edit the names and model definition back to chikna's.

Configuring jets, heat, or really any config-based data is an accessible process, but it tends to involve a lot of trial and error to get everything set just how you want. The easiest way to figure it out is to start messing with it and seeing what does what.

 

Edited July 16, 2017 by Balto-the-Wolf-Dog

[Bluastrid]

Love, love, love your mod, can't wait for new updates!!

[Balto-the-Wolf-Dog]

On 9/15/2017 at 11:42 AM, Bluastrid said:

Love, love, love your mod, can't wait for new updates!!

Awesome. Luckily I'm gradually getting back into the swing of things, now with much better modelling practices that don't result in terrible normals, shoddy geometry, and far more polygons than necessary.

Here's a Mk2 (Finally!) That's coming along very nicely if you ignore the crappy WIP textures. Notice how much more reasonable it is!

I decided I wanted another Flying Boat fodder cockpit. This wound up with higher doses of B1 lancer than I meant for it to have, but does the trick.

 

Also my side project, for those of you who recognize it:

It's actually for VRChat, but since Unity is Unity is Unity, it would be easy to make a KSP-optimized version if there are many MST3k fans floating around here. I'll do that if there's any interest, or possibly regardless if I'm bored enough. (Separate release, presumably, since Prakasa has a sort of loose canon)

 

 

Update: Much better!

Forgot to grab a pic without the emissive, but you get the idea

 

Update: I'm on a roll, but I have to go to work in the morning tomorrow. She's coming together though.

 

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by Balto-the-Wolf-Dog