Camera as first Science item

[manaiaK]

The right-click menu would have "take snapshot" on it, which, when clicked, would take a screenshot (without the right-click menu in it).  Would add to those grindy "go to a waypoint" contracts in career, and be a bit of fun for new players.

(Then of course we need somewhere to look at the snapshots. Cue my two-year-old "mission museum" idea.)

Edited September 22, 2016 by manaiaK

[Wjolcz]

Any kind of camera/telescope would be great. I think each camera should have a set of filters, so there's not a from-worse-to-better type of progression. Itbwould be more like "OK, so last time we gave you a visible light cam, now take this UV one and take pictures of the sun".

[NotAgain]

I second @Veeltch's idea and love the idea of a camera in the stock game. perhaps implement two cameras, on which must return to Kerbin, or at least have its film removed on EVA by a scientist using the 'take data' function and a second, digital one.

[monstah]

I like it as posted on the OP (and I like your 2 year old museum idea, too!). I just think it shouldn't be a screenshot, but an actual picture from the camera's perspective, with perhaps a preview and the ability to zoom/pan before making the picture.

Veeltch's idea of filters is cool, too. There's little variation in the experiments as they are now; the other day I was reading about Rosetta and all the choices they had to make, not only in design time, but during mission, such as which settings to use in the experiments this time. I miss that in KSP...

[HalcyonSon]

I agree with all of the above suggestions!  The Visible / IR / UV mechanic is sort-of there with the various types of scanners, but cameras would be awesome.  Everyone already takes screen caps, why not make it an in-game  reward mechanic?  

Just tweak the flyby/orbit/landing/plant flag contracts to require a picture with a specific type of camera.  A new class of contracts could even be added: take pictures of specific ship around specific body, and take picture of specific ship to inspect for damage.  Do that, and now there's a reason for EVAs, and to bring more than one Kerbal on long-term missions (to take pictures of the other Kerbals).

[monstah]

21 hours ago, HalcyonSon said:

A new class of contracts could even be added: take pictures of specific ship around specific body, and take picture of specific ship to inspect for damage.  Do that, and now there's a reason for EVAs, and to bring more than one Kerbal on long-term missions (to take pictures of the other Kerbals).

Fantastic  

[manaiaK]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions, everyone!

IANAGD (I am not a game developer) but it seems to me that the basic idea should be quick to do, and so should @Veeltch's pseudo-color filters, @NotAgain's 'take data' and perhaps @HalcyonSon's contract ideas. @monstah's pan-and-zoom with preview sounds like perhaps release 2.0. (But, IANAGD, so maybe that's the second easiest thing to do? I don't know.)

Perhaps I'll have to learn Unity and make a mod. (Expect a report back in 7.66 years... )

[klgraham1013]

Yes.  Real science over goo.

[klesh]

I would love a science camera. For science points.  Taking snapshots of planets and moons at certain altitudes for contracts. Filters for various wavelengths unlockable in the tech tree, or with that fancy new upgrade system the engines use.  View from the camera perspective is a must, because stabilization is super important for good imagery. Some mousewheel action for a limited zoom (upgradeable perhaps).

You could also have some kind of TV camera which could get you reputation points instead of science. The idea being you're broadcasting (ComNet, singal strength etc) a show back to Kerbin.  I'm not sure how you'd implement that... place it on a ship angled so you would view eva activities?  Omg, yes... place a flag in view of the camera, +20 reputation!  Have the camera radially attach with a tiny animation of it extending out a bit. 

 

I could dig it.  

[Jonfliesgoats]

I think some of Kerbnet for 1.2 will address this.  I like the idea of developing Kerbnet first with film-style reconnaissance camera which would also require recovery on Kerbin.  There could be a whole tech progression from cameras to terrain mapping radars to ore scanners etc.  Getting the data back requires improvements to tracking and data processing, so another tech progression could run along the lines of what quality data can be recovered remotely.  We are already headed this direction with the integration of some of Remotetech's features.

Initial image and video downlink to the tracking station may just yield grainy, monochrome images.

[Pthigrivi]

This kind of thing has been discussed before. Im into it but y'know as always the devil is in the details.

 

[Wjolcz]

7 hours ago, Pthigrivi said:

This kind of thing has been discussed before. Im into it but y'know as always the devil is in the details.

 

You should put a trademark on that sentence from now on.

[Pthigrivi]

God I really am a nitpicky sob aren't I.

[Wjolcz]

2 minutes ago, Pthigrivi said:

God I really am a nitpicky sob aren't I.

So am I