[1.12.x] RetractableLiftingSurface Module released

[Kurld]

This is the same basic approach I took with the canards on my LES parts.

I'm having a long-running issue with the orientation of the part and the direction of lift.  Do you know if there is a way so that the direction for the lifting surface can be rotated 90 degrees (to part's x axis instead of z)?

As it is now, there's no way I can see where the part can be oriented correctly to the command pod and have the lift generated in the correct direction without requiring the user to rotate it manually 90 degrees when they attach the part.

[linuxgurugamer]

Your LES parts was part of my inspiration.

I'm not sure, and it's been a little while.  I'll have to take a look this evening

[Jahulath]

Man I want to have some inflatable wing systems, this mod would make the following possible and realistic due to the ease with which such a thing could be packaged and inflated around a craft! I'm just putting this out there in case I enflame some modder into making em...

 

 

like seriously how is no-one already making these beauties!

[steedcrugeon]

I've just being toying with a part form scratch that uses this little plugin heavily. I like it very much i must say! Pictures will follow when i have finished the IVA.

PS. do you know how would i add a control surface in Unity?

[linuxgurugamer]

17 hours ago, steedcrugeon said:

I've just being toying with a part form scratch that uses this little plugin heavily. I like it very much i must say! Pictures will follow when i have finished the IVA.

PS. do you know how would i add a control surface in Unity?

Nice, let me know when it's ready.

I don't know how to add a control surface in Unity, sorry

[steedcrugeon]

A few teasers for now (still having issues with the IVA)

Few more images of the testing can be seen here: http://imgur.com/a/YnQaS

Needless to say that at the minute (without control surfaces) its a bit of a pig to fly. I'm toning down the reaction wheels next and adding a bit more mass.

However the bit that makes it work at (and work well) is the retractable wings plugin!

[steedcrugeon]

So still no IVA yet but thanks to hraban i have managed to add a little control surface

 

And i managed to land it (ignore the drogue i deployed that at 16000 by accident and had to cut it). the splash down came after a terrible low altitude flat spin. i think the control surfaces need fettering and the center of mass might need to be pushed a bit further forward. but the retractable lifting surface makes a hug difference!

[steedcrugeon]

@linuxgurugamer I think I'm experiencing a bug but I'm not sure if its as a result of your plugin or some other factor. in the two images above you can see the horizon is dimmed and a bit hazy. now this isn't because of my graphics settings. when I press 'Deploy Aero' the animation will start but also the game view will change to the this dimmed hazy view as though I'm looking through a filter.

Now if I leave this instance (and go to the space centre or another vessel) the filter disappears. Even if I come back to this craft again the filter is gone but as soon as it is toggled again (irrespective of deploy or retract) the filter (dimmed and hazy) comes back. If I come back to the craft and fly it without interacting directly with the retractable lifting part (i.e. I can play with any of the control surface functions or SAS) there is no change to the view.

Peculiar no? I'll try some more targeted testing and pull some logs tonight to see if it gives any clues.

[linuxgurugamer]

3 hours ago, steedcrugeon said:

@linuxgurugamer I think I'm experiencing a bug but I'm not sure if its as a result of your plugin or some other factor. in the two images above you can see the horizon is dimmed and a bit hazy. now this isn't because of my graphics settings. when I press 'Deploy Aero' the animation will start but also the game view will change to the this dimmed hazy view as though I'm looking through a filter.

Now if I leave this instance (and go to the space centre or another vessel) the filter disappears. Even if I come back to this craft again the filter is gone but as soon as it is toggled again (irrespective of deploy or retract) the filter (dimmed and hazy) comes back. If I come back to the craft and fly it without interacting directly with the retractable lifting part (i.e. I can play with any of the control surface functions or SAS) there is no change to the view.

Peculiar no? I'll try some more targeted testing and pull some logs tonight to see if it gives any clues.

Well, I can't see it in the images above, but I just looked at the code, and really, all it is is a line of code referencing ModuleAnimateGeneric and ModuleLiftingSurface, it doesn't really do anything on it's own other than change the deflectionLiftCoeff and controlSurface.deflectionLiftCoeff (which are in the ModuleLiftingSurface).

Try the same vessel using another part with animation and see what happens.

Also, are you running 1.1.3 or 1.2?  Make sure you have the right one for which you are using.  0.0.1 is for KSP 1.1.3, and 0.0.1.1 is for KSP 1.2 pre

[Van Disaster]

This doesn't currently support FAR, if I'm reading correctly? the pWing mods all pass calcs to FAR telling it what shape the wing is & there's a way of asking FAR to recalc the geometry - so there'd need to be some additional data in the PartModule setup / it'd need to somehow get geometry data, but making this FAR-compatible should not be impossible.

[linuxgurugamer]

29 minutes ago, Van Disaster said:

This doesn't currently support FAR, if I'm reading correctly? the pWing mods all pass calcs to FAR telling it what shape the wing is & there's a way of asking FAR to recalc the geometry - so there'd need to be some additional data in the PartModule setup / it'd need to somehow get geometry data, but making this FAR-compatible should not be impossible.

Correct, it does not support FAR at this time

[linuxgurugamer]

46 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Correct, it does not support FAR at this time

Actually, I should say that FAR support is dependent on you.  This mod doesn't do anything other than access other modules

[steedcrugeon]

I pulled the logs and other than recalculating the dragcubes (as you say) there are no clues as to why my visual are going funny. more investigation required!

[linuxgurugamer]

Try adding another part with a similar animation, such as solar panel, and see if it happens with that

[steedcrugeon]

Okay so solar panel deploying etc does not induce the dimming effect. I built a quick rocket with the pod on and launched it. Extended a few solar panels and nothing. I deployed the pods aero and immediately the dimming occurred.

I'm going to comment out modules on teh pod and see what happens.

[steedcrugeon]

well commenting out the retractable surface does not do anything but commenting out the module generic animation does not allow me to deploy the aero (but of a catch 22)

[steedcrugeon]

@linuxgurugamer during some of my testing I have tried using the RetractableLiftingSurface module in 1.2 pre (copy and pasted the gtihub soruce file into VS and rebuilt using the 1.2 Pre CS assembly and Unity Engine bits) it works as expected so I think it's pretty safe.

Also I can confirm that when I was testing this on a fresh part using your module did not cause any untoward visual affects so I think it must just be part specific to the bodged part.

[linuxgurugamer]

2 hours ago, steedcrugeon said:

@linuxgurugamer during some of my testing I have tried using the RetractableLiftingSurface module in 1.2 pre (copy and pasted the gtihub soruce file into VS and rebuilt using the 1.2 Pre CS assembly and Unity Engine bits) it works as expected so I think it's pretty safe.

Also I can confirm that when I was testing this on a fresh part using your module did not cause any untoward visual affects so I think it must just be part specific to the bodged part.

Ok, thanks

[Ninjadude501Alt]

So, I'm confused slightly.

1. This does or does not add any retractable wings on its own?

2. So all I do to make a wing able to retract is replace that bit in the config? Or is there more to it, like making the animations for retracting?

[steedcrugeon]

@Ninjadude501Alt his plugin is an enabler for a mod with retractable lifting surfaces. He's made the underlying part which will allow modelers to make a part which would have a lifting surface that is changed by its position (think swing wing fighters). There are no mod releases yet which incorporate this function (that i know of).

[Ninjadude501Alt]

Just now, steedcrugeon said:

@Ninjadude501Alt his plugin is an enabler for a mod with retractable lifting surfaces. He's made the underlying part which will allow modelers to make a part which would have a lifting surface that is changed by its position (think swing wing fighters). There are no mod releases yet which incorporate this function (that i know of).

Dang. Thanks!

[Foozle]

4 hours ago, steedcrugeon said:

@Ninjadude501Alt his plugin is an enabler for a mod with retractable lifting surfaces. He's made the underlying part which will allow modelers to make a part which would have a lifting surface that is changed by its position (think swing wing fighters). There are no mod releases yet which incorporate this function (that i know of).

The newest version of Contares has a "paraglider" part (deployable parafoil) that uses the module.

I've been playing around with that a bit, and it's great fun--  Works flawlessly, turns your capsule into a fully-controllable glider (or plane, if you have an engine)

 

[linuxgurugamer]

17 hours ago, steedcrugeon said:

@Ninjadude501Alt his plugin is an enabler for a mod with retractable lifting surfaces. He's made the underlying part which will allow modelers to make a part which would have a lifting surface that is changed by its position (think swing wing fighters). There are no mod releases yet which incorporate this function (that i know of).

I initially wrote this for SXT, which I'm working on, but it is usable by any mod which wants to incorporate it.  I believe that Contares includes it already

[KSPNerd]

Contares does use it for flyback boosters for the River(Angara) and the parasail for the ESA IXV

[Darkstar One]

On 29.9.2016 at 1:59 AM, steedcrugeon said:

So still no IVA yet but thanks to hraban i have managed to add a little control surface

 

And i managed to land it (ignore the drogue i deployed that at 16000 by accident and had to cut it). the splash down came after a terrible low altitude flat spin. i think the control surfaces need fettering and the center of mass might need to be pushed a bit further forward. but the retractable lifting surface makes a hug difference!

Gahh!  Want! Have! Love the design. Small RCS in every direction would be nice to include *hint*