Protractor - Rendezvous Plugin - Under New Management!

[mrenigma03]

Miss your old TI calculator? Tired of guessing at rendezvous angles?

Well good news - Jeb taped his old calculator on the side of his ship with those nosy scientists on the ground being none the wiser!

Click on "?" on the in-game menu for a manual describing how to use this mod.

Or here's a video by Charlie Garcia:

Or Hadlock:

Addle has been kind enough to take over development/maintenance of Protractor in my absence, so Protractor is now...

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT!

Thank you to everyone who has lent their support and who continues to use Protractor!

License information:

All code released under GNU GPL license 3. Source is here.

Models courtesy of Shanakin over at the SA forums, released under MIT license

Thanks to Eryxias over at the SA forums for the minimize icons.

Thanks to r4m0n and The_Duck for code for thrust/mass and delta-v spent

Thanks to adammada for line rendering code

Thanks to three03 from SA for the color scheme

Special thanks to the goons in #KSPOfficial and the KSP thread at SA for all their testing, suggestions and patience.

Edited July 24, 2014 by mrenigma03

[Koschei]

This seems to be a very nice mod, you should focus on the features first and do the GUI after that.

[mrenigma03]

This seems to be a very nice mod, you should focus on the features first and do the GUI after that.

Thanks!

The only reason GUI is listed above the one feature is because that feature may mean some major, major changes, and I'm not even sure how to do them just yet. Plus, the way I want to implement it requires redoing some of the GUI anyway.

[togfox]

Looks neat. dV as well!

[vivere]

Interesting mod, but it seems to be like InterPlanetaryTransfer-Calculator. What do you plan to do different?

[mrenigma03]

Interesting mod, but it seems to be like InterPlanetaryTransfer-Calculator. What do you plan to do different?

I haven't even looked at the other mod. I've been working on this since .17 came out, and it became popular on another forum last week. I decided to share it here. I would have done so sooner if the KSP forums hadn't been loading poorly for me all weekend.

If it doesn't do anything differently, consider it an alternative. If there's something you want that isn't in the other one, I'm open to suggestions.

Edited September 24, 2012 by mrenigma03

[togfox]

Well, this has dV and a tidier interface.

[crusaderuk]

This is great, all the Info I need in one place - hope you figure out how to Minimise the Gui - but shall use it as is until you do...downloaded and about to test. Thanks

EDIT: Ok tested and cant move it from the middle of the screen - tried a restart - still cant move it ... damn

anyone else having this issue, or is it an incompatibility with Mechjeb ?

EDIT 2: Latest Version 2.1.3 works great, this is my single most favourite Mod ( second only to Mechjeb) ...Congrats on your creation and thanks for making it available to the Kerbal Community (if I knew how to add rep I'd give your some).

Edited September 25, 2012 by crusaderuk

[Hadlock]

I have been using this plugin since 1.0 and I have to say it is FAR superior to InterPlanetaryTransfer-Calculator. Not to mention, the model is much better! A TI-83 held on with duct tape? Can I get an Amen for that stroke of genius? GUI is also head and shoulders better, if you're in to the whole functionality part of it.

[Spearka]

Thank you!

[whatisthisidonteven]

Looks good!

[Koschei]

Beautiful mod, works perfectly. For the time being, would recommend it over alternatives.

[mrenigma03]

Anyone know how to use that kerbal.net to update a mod? I have a patch ready to go as soon as I can figure out how to update it there.

Edit: nevermind. I have to login with "enigma" instead of "Enigma" to edit the mod page.

New version up!

New, new version up!

Can someone explain how to put a bigger screenshot in the OP?

Edited September 24, 2012 by mrenigma03

[Flaser]

Does this actually take whether you're in a "retrograde" orbit? (I.e. heading is 270 degrees) This makes sense for going to planets "below" you in the gravity well. I tried going to Eve and the results were hilarious since I don't think the plugin didn't "think" of my "sensible" approach xp.

[The Destroyer]

Looks good! gonna try it!

[mrenigma03]

Does this actually take whether you're in a "retrograde" orbit? (I.e. heading is 270 degrees) This makes sense for going to planets "below" you in the gravity well. I tried going to Eve and the results were hilarious since I don't think the plugin didn't "think" of my "sensible" approach xp.

No, it only works for prograde orbits.

A 270 heading orbit is actually much, much less efficient, which is why I don't account for it.

If you're going east, you get a speed boost from the rotation of the planet. By burning at the right point, you use that extra boost to sling you. If you burn west, you not only loose that boost, but have to burn extra delta-v to overcome the boost in the first place.

[gta-man]

Just wanted to say thanks for adding the show/hide icon, i was going to suggest that.

[MrMadGameplay]

This looks like a quite handy mod, will have to try this

[togfox]

A 270 heading orbit is actually much, much less efficient, which is why I don't account for it.

There is a genuine need to do retrograde orbits to reach lower planets. Would be great to factor this in at some point.

Nice first project.

[mrenigma03]

There is a genuine need to do retrograde orbits to reach lower planets. Would be great to factor this in at some point.

Nice first project.

Thanks!

Is there a situation where a retrograde orbit is advantageous? It seems like no matter what, you're spending extra delta-v versus a prograde rendezvous. If there is, I can consider some sort of toggle.

[whatisthisidonteven]

Thanks!

Is there a situation where a retrograde orbit is advantageous? It seems like no matter what, you're spending extra delta-v versus a prograde rendezvous. If there is, I can consider some sort of toggle.

You HAVE to get into a retrograde orbit to get to the planets with a lower orbit than Kerbin (iirc)

[mrenigma03]

You HAVE to get into a retrograde orbit to get to the planets with a lower orbit than Kerbin (iirc)

Ok, I realize I've been using "retrograde" wrong. I was using it interchangeably with "westward."

The plugin currently shows a retrograde insertion to reach lower planets. Otherwise, it would be useless to reach lower planets.

What it does not do is plan for a 270 degree heading orbit. I mistakenly referred to this as retrograde. I do not think that there is any advantage to using a 270 degree orbit unless the planet rotates that way (which none does that I'm aware of). If someone comes up with a reason why a 270-degree heading confers an advantage over a 90-degree heading, I will consider modifying the plugin.

[The Destroyer]

Um, After deleting some mods and install CORE and EXPI interplanetary probes, a few things happened:

1: there was during loading a small grey rectangle on the center of the screen. after loading, it became the protractor

2: I could not move it

3: I could not minimize it.

What happened? Did i delete somthing i wasent supposed to?

[mrenigma03]

Um, After deleting some mods and install CORE and EXPI interplanetary probes, a few things happened:

1: there was during loading a small grey rectangle on the center of the screen. after loading, it became the protractor

2: I could not move it

3: I could not minimize it.

What happened? Did i delete somthing i wasent supposed to?

Hmm, it sounds like you may have. Also, make sure to put only one calculator on a given ship.

Just to be safe, reinstall the mod and let me know if that fixes it. The mod doesn't save anything (the plugin data is just where i put the icons for the button), so you won't lose any data or anything by reinstalling.

[mrenigma03]

Another update.

Changes in 2.1.3

* body data calculated on the fly - alleviates need for changes when/if bodies are added or moved

* icon improvements

* significant code cleanup

* GUI works for interplanetary space (still assumes circular orbit)

Also, could a mod do something to help me make the picture in the OP a proper size? These forums work differently than ones I'm accustomed to.

Edited September 25, 2012 by mrenigma03