sumghai Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 In parallel with dev work on Fustek Station Parts and maintaining SDHI SMS, I've started yet another project, this time in collaboration with the immensely talented @Starwaster. This add-on aims to provide a range of airbags and flotation devices for cushioning terrestrial landings or splashdowns, with the following features: Balls, bags, logs and rings for round fuselage diameters of 0.625, 1.25, 2.5 and 3.75m Manual or automatic altitude-based deployment Possibly even inflatable lifeboats for individual or groups of Kerbals In addition to providing its own set of parts, the plugin can be used to power similar devices included in other add-ons, such as the SDHI SMS heat shield's flotation device. Starwaster will develop the plugin and corresponding PartModule, while I will be working on models, textures, animations and documentation. To start off, I've tossed together a quick Blender mockup of some of the parts - the balls and logs are designed to be surface-attached via small "blisters", while the rings are a set of logs or bags that can be stack-attached to the bottom of a pod or a lander. Fig 1 - Concept models for airbags and flotation devices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornholio Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 (edited) Could you make some anti-flotation parts in this pack too? Parts that are very heavy, yet small enough so that they aren't out of place. From what I understand, the new buoyancy allows for full ore containers and some structural parts to help sink craft, but those are large, tedious, and overall impractical. Parts designed to help sink would open up many underwater worlds. Edit: Good luck! Edited March 8, 2016 by Cornholio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumghai Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 18 minutes ago, Cornholio said: Could you make some anti-flotation parts in this pack too? Parts that are very heavy, yet small enough so that they aren't out of place. From what I understand, the new buoyancy allows for full ore containers and some structural parts to help sink craft, but those are large, tedious, and overall impractical. Parts designed to help sink would open up many underwater worlds. Unfortunately, that's outside the focus of this add-on, so I won't be pursuing that suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornholio Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Just now, sumghai said: Unfortunately, that's outside the focus of this add-on, so I won't be pursuing that suggestion. Too bad. Good luck with your progress! Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starwaster Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 (edited) 45 minutes ago, Cornholio said: Could you make some anti-flotation parts in this pack too? Parts that are very heavy, yet small enough so that they aren't out of place. From what I understand, the new buoyancy allows for full ore containers and some structural parts to help sink craft, but those are large, tedious, and overall impractical. Parts designed to help sink would open up many underwater worlds. Edit: Good luck! Have you checked out RoverDude's submersible pack? It has ballast parts and ballast tanks... Edited March 8, 2016 by Starwaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornholio Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 I saw that mod, haven't tried it though. I felt it wasn't too stockalike from the one picture. I may give it a shot when I get home... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hieywiey Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 (edited) Will the airbags in question be bouncy (perhaps using the ancient World Cup Mod plugin?) and crushable? I wonder if a very basic target deformation could be used to make them appear to "squish", kind of like the ball in the gif below (except the deformation wouldn't be as extreme). One thing I've found difficult with other airbag mods is making a Mars Pathfinder/MER-like landing system, if airbags are in a clustered formation like seen below, they collide with each other (usually ripping themselves off or even destroying the entire craft). The large number of airbags needed also increases part count. I think 1.25m & 2.5m downward-facing airbags, along with a 1x1m square one (to fit the 1x1 Structural Panel, I personally use it as a baseplate for delivering rovers) would make incorporating airbags into landers easier. ⟵Notice how the airbags are joined together in sets of six. So about the floaties, would they always want to be as close to the water as they can (i.e. flipping my capsule upside down when I just have the little uprighting bags), like with the USI airbags? Edited March 8, 2016 by hieywiey Grammatical Changes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumghai Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 1 hour ago, hieywiey said: Will the airbags in question be bouncy (perhaps using the ancient World Cup Mod plugin?) and crushable? I wonder if a very basic target deformation could be used to make them appear to "squish", kind of like the ball in the gif below (except the deformation wouldn't be as extreme). That would be nice, although I'm not sure how doable that is plugin-wise or what modifications are needed to make my models deform appropriately when crushed at any angle. 1 hour ago, hieywiey said: One thing I've found difficult with other airbag mods is making a Mars Pathfinder/MER-like landing system, if airbags are in a clustered formation like seen below, they collide with each other (usually ripping themselves off or even destroying the entire craft). The large number of airbags needed also increases part count. I think 1.25m & 2.5m downward-facing airbags, along with a 1x1m square one (to fit the 1x1 Structural Panel, I personally use it as a baseplate for delivering rovers) would make incorporating airbags into landers easier. With the exception of the "ring" parts, I'm going to avoid pre-made composite parts - the balls are there to provide the flexibility of covering any oddly-shaped payloads. Also, from what I've heard, moving colliders within the same vessel can safely intersect. 1 hour ago, hieywiey said: So about the floaties, would they always want to be as close to the water as they can (i.e. flipping my capsule upside down when I just have the little uprighting bags), like with the USI airbags? Hopefully not like that, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hysterrics Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Sounds like a promising project. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starwaster Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 1 hour ago, sumghai said: That would be nice, although I'm not sure how doable that is plugin-wise or what modifications are needed to make my models deform appropriately when crushed at any angle. With the exception of the "ring" parts, I'm going to avoid pre-made composite parts - the balls are there to provide the flexibility of covering any oddly-shaped payloads. Also, from what I've heard, moving colliders within the same vessel can safely intersect. Hopefully not like that, no. That's usually true but maybe not always.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumghai Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 10 minutes ago, Starwaster said: That's usually true but maybe not always.... Yes, more experimentation would be needed to confirm/disprove this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieC Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Is this slated to allow for a flotation ring that automatically inflates upon contact with water a-la the old SDHI heat-shield's flotation ring? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumghai Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 4 hours ago, StevieC said: Is this slated to allow for a flotation ring that automatically inflates upon contact with water a-la the old SDHI heat-shield's flotation ring? Short Answer - Yes Long Answer - The SDHI SMS's built-in flotation ring will be powered by this plugin, but will be modified so that it inflates at a set altitude before splashdown. Automatic inflation upon water contact would be more useful for the lifeboats from this pack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieC Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 ahh, that makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatOneBritishGuy... Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Any indication on what artstyle the parts will follow? Will they be more stockalike or similar to the Fustek Parts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumghai Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 15 minutes ago, ThatOneBritishGuy... said: Any indication on what artstyle the parts will follow? Will they be more stockalike or similar to the Fustek Parts? I'm aiming for stockalike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumghai Posted March 29, 2016 Author Share Posted March 29, 2016 Progress Report, 30 March 2016 I haven't done much specifically for Hanbart-Thompdrin as I've been bouncing between a few other projects, but I took the opportunity to rework the SDHI SMS heatshield airbag model. I'm treating this as a practice run to determine the aesthetics of the HT airbags: Starwaster has also been refining the test plugin, mainly looking at fixing persistence issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumghai Posted September 25, 2017 Author Share Posted September 25, 2017 As the third-party Comfortable Landing mod already provides most of the proposed functionality, work on this is no longer necessary. Closing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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