Part Fabrication

[Gnoyze]

I had this idea while at work. While having nothing relating to my job it seemed like a brilliant idea. Almost everyone who plays KSP one time or another uses the offset tool to embed parts into what they attach to, or turns on part clipping so that they can build complicated rockets or aerospace craft. However, clipping parts into each other does not take into account that the part mass and volume should be reduced, because part clipping does not work with real physics. This is where my idea comes in, Fabricating new parts that are already in the game.
DISCLAIMER: You could say this is another welding mod, but I am making no attempt to discredit UbioZur, Alewx, or girka2k. I simply wish to work in a different direction. They had an amazing idea and are the father to my brainchild here. Credit goes to them for the Original Concept. Here is also my request to ask both @Alewx and @girka2kfor assistance and advice.

♦Fabricated parts list: Yes I know, your first question is how to save or remove a fabrication you made. There will be a button on the stock toolbar/blizzy's toolbar that allows you to view that vessel's fabricated parts, and undo the fabrications. You may them remove the individual part without damaging your whole ship beyond repair.

♦ Part Embedding: In a pickle...?
This involves embedding the child part into the parent part.
Say you want to take that monopropellant tank and embed it halfway into the surface your fuel tank, well, you have just lost some of the available volume of that tank, and the mesh is pushed inward as you embed the monopropellant. When/if the monoprop tank is removed/destroyed, a divot still remains. Want to put a mk0 reserve tank into your main tank? Sure, you can do that too in exchange for sacrificing some volume of the main tank. This of course will result in a realistic net total of less volume than both tanks separated. (subtracting gross volume of the Mk0 from the internal volume of the Mk1)

♦ Part Cutting: Health hazard
Now those fins on your rocket. They're a bit too big yes? but you like the way they look. Well, just push them into your fuel tank. You wont lose any fuel, but you will lose a little bit of mass as the root of your fins are sawed off.

♦ Part Welding: Say "Goodbye" to Wibble Wobble Jack!
Have parts that pass through each other such as wings, fixed landing gears, etc, but dont want to use endless struts? Select the two intersecting parts and click "weld". This essentially will attach the two parts where they intersect, allowing chain-body physics to still be in use but keeping them intersecting at the same point. An invisible strut if you will. Note: This will not reduce nor increase part count. It is simply a way to add stability without the need for struts. It is still possible to break the weld in flight by collision or other such damage.

♦ Part will [Not] be clipped: Yes.
Ever Enabled part clipping to use the same node for more than one child part, but hated that you couldn't cut back on dry mass? (Yes I know, it goes Parent part, child part, where the 2nd child part attaches to the node that the first child part shares with the parent part.) This will take the child parts, find the common line of intersection, cut away the clipping area and reduce the dry/wet mass and volume of the remaining parts. These parts can still break off in individuals and you will see the cut away (or rather smoothed in) area where the parts met together without(or with minimal, since you dont want air going between) clipping. Imagine taking two Curvy's and attaching them to a Mk3 part. However attach them both so that the mk2 attachment necks are separate. Select the funtion and then the two parts and the clipping areas will be removed, reducing the dry mass and decreasing the internal volume of the parts. This will also attempt to link both parts to the parent node so that breaking one will not cause the other to be lost. As a stability measure, the parts will weld(refer to Part Welding section) at the intersection to provide stability.

 

These were the only ideas I have so far. More suggested would be awesome, as well as anyone willing to take on this project will be thanked, and anyone willing to teach me how to mod and write code will have my special thanks for life.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Gnoyze

[Alewx]

That is pretty ambicious, do you have and prototype or testing area?

Welding during flight sounds great, might maybe even be good to separate such a feature. That will be a lot of math to calculate the volumes and masses correct at runtime.