NippyFlippers' Flying Boats and Open Cockpits

[NippyFlippers]

I am a total sucker for old timey airplanes with open cockpits and especially for flying boats.

So I thought: Why not making a few cockpits and hull parts, modelled after the beautiful water birds of the interwar period?

I'll update this thread as I progress.

 

I'd love to get your feedack and suggestions.

 

Update:

Fixed the seams and it looks much nicer now.

 

 

Older Screenshots:

Spoiler

Edited April 16, 2023 by NippyFlippers

[NippyFlippers]

Update:

Why did no one tell me that colliders are so nasty to deal with? But I pulled through and now it has concave colliders and a more detailed cockpit.

Next: Windshield and tanks and structural parts for the same crossection, plus color options.

If anybody could give me hints and warnings about texturing/modelling glass with specular effects and alpha channel transparency, I would be grateful.

 

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by NippyFlippers

[NippyFlippers]

The Windshield is coming along nicely. I'll do it as a seperate part.

I just hope I can figure out how to make decent looking glass.

 

[Stone Blue]

13 hours ago, NippyFlippers said:

The Windshield is coming along nicely. I'll do it as a seperate part.

I just hope I can figure out how to make decent looking glass.

Mebbe check out how @Climberfx did their's, with this? vOv
https://youtu.be/S6yXh4HxbGY?t=1439

[NippyFlippers]

2 hours ago, Stone Blue said:

Mebbe check out how @Climberfx did their's, with this? vOv
https://youtu.be/S6yXh4HxbGY?t=1439

I figured it out, but have one question: Do I even need an alpha map/alpha channel in the final texture?

Edited April 5, 2023 by NippyFlippers

[NippyFlippers]

So, it seems I need an Alpha Channel, but what is a good value?

The windshield now works, but I need to fix the transparency, the origin is off, the collider a bit too large and the shader needs to be smooth.

I am grateful for any tipps about common mistakes.

Here is a preview, you can see how the glass is barely visible:

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by NippyFlippers

[Stone Blue]

@NippyFlippers I thin you just need to play with the _Opacity value on the material? As to the Alpha channel, I believe all the values I've ever seen are either "0.0" or "1.0"...

Also, if you havent figured it out, i think you want the KSP/Alpha/Transparent/Specular shader. You shouldnt need to have to have a specular map/texture.
Just play with the _Shininess value, for the, well, "shininess"

Also... Looing pretty good so far

Edited April 5, 2023 by Stone Blue

[NippyFlippers]

By now I have made 4 parts: A windshield, the cockpit, a hull segment and a tail section. But there is still stuff to do:

• The windshield's glass needs opacity adjusted, somehow it is not easy to transfer the look from Blender into the game.
• The colliders are wonky and during attachment parts tend to rotate while I hover them over my parts.
• The rotation is off by 90°
• There are visible seams around the edges. Maybe higher res textures are needed?
• Seats texture still missing.
• More detail on the textures, it looks bland.
• Alternative color scheme in stock grey are needed.

 

[NippyFlippers]

Found a little time to get some more work done. See OP for changes!

Edited April 16, 2023 by NippyFlippers

[NippyFlippers]

I can't get my head around how KSP keeps messing up the positioning of the seats and seat pivots.

Can anybody give me a hint?

The seat meshes and the seat pivots are childs of the parent object named seatExternalCMD.

But when I excport that from Blender somehow KSP places the kerbals in the main parent of the cockpit and the seat meshes get the transform of their parent objects applied two times over.  What is this?

Also I'd love some help with scripting for the usage of multiple textures in the same part. I'd like the meshes of the seats and cockpit to use their own texture file.

Edited April 21, 2023 by NippyFlippers

[Stone Blue]

Ahh.. I think its because you are trying to use the external seat parts, in essentially, what would be an IVA. Parts and IVAs have *very* differnt MODULE{}s available to them, which dont crossover, as well as completely different base rotation/orientations.

In your case, I think you would be better off looking at @NESD's Mk1 Open Cockpit mod/models, and see how they did the whole "open cockpit" thing

You should be able to either make your own seat models, or, since I believe the whole thing is an IVA, use existing seat props, from another mod, like ASET Consolidated Props Pack, or another props pack. You could also poke around other IVA mods, and see if they have their own unique seat props, which you could contact the devs of, and if license permits, ask if you can re-use/include *their* seats in your mod

Edited April 21, 2023 by Stone Blue

[NippyFlippers]

54 minutes ago, Stone Blue said:

Ahh.. I think its because you are trying to use the external seat parts, in essentially, what would be an IVA. Parts and IVAs have *very* differnt MODULE{}s available to them, which dont crossover, as well as completely different base rotation/orientations.

In your case, I think you would be better off looking at @NESD's Mk1 Open Cockpit mod/models, and see how they did the whole "open cockpit" thing

You should be able to either make your own seat models, or, since I believe the whole thing is an IVA, use existing seat props, from another mod, like ASET Consolidated Props Pack, or another props pack. You could also poke around other IVA mods, and see if they have their own unique seat props, which you could contact the devs of, and if license permits, ask if you can re-use/include *their* seats in your mod

No, no. It is meant to be external seats.  This is supposed to be a mod for open cockpits and flying boats, after all.

The two kerbals are just clipped into the mesh and into each other, because the origin/empty is placed right there where their butts are. (See picture)

The good part about is, that it shows me, that the script is working and KSP understands that this thing can seat two kerbals.

I tried to do it the same way NESD(Open cokpit) and C. Jenkins Lack (SXT) organized their open cockpit's external seat pivots. But somhow there is something iffy going on between Blender and KSP.

Could it have to do with the use of quaternions, instead of euler? Am I using the mesh origins wrong?

It kind of works if i just copy paste from other mods, but that feels wrong. I want to understand what is going on, here.

Edited April 21, 2023 by NippyFlippers

[Stone Blue]

Yeah.. on second look, I see NESD's cockpit, is *not* treated as an IVA... they just made their own seat mesh as part of the Part model...

Well your *orientation* is correct on the kerbal, so it prolly isnt a Blender-to-KSP issue (Blender has a differnt base orientation than Unity/KSP, (Google left-handed vs Right-handed).

But yeah, it *does* look lie your origin in Blender is the cause... I mean, that seems to be where Kerbal is spawning. Are *both* Kerbals spawning righ there, on top of each other? if so, you most likely need to chec the origins on the seats & spawn transforms

Also, (i dont think its currently your main issue), but you mentioned the kerbal transform is at their butt... IIRC, its actually down below their feet? I think..

Edited April 21, 2023 by Stone Blue

[NippyFlippers]

The seats are just meshes,  childs of the same "seatExternalCMD" pivot as the actual seatPivots are, as you can see in the hierarchy.  And the kerbals are in a seated pose, so that works fine two. Orientation is also okay,  everything faces the same direction.

I am honestly at my wits' end.

See here:

 

 

[Stone Blue]

oh!.. not related, but you cant have the stock seat meshes included *in* your model... its against licensing to redistribute them.

It is possible to add a second MODEL{} to your cfg, referencing the URL for the stock seat model, and defining a Loc/Rot/Scale placement, or offset, which would let you place them where you want, in relation to your cockpit model.

[NippyFlippers]

It is not the stock model and I am going to replace them with a totally new design, anyway. For now it is just based on the stock part. It differs from the stock seats, has textures and UVs made by me.

Not planning to release it that way, yet.

First this pivot thing needs fixing, then new seats, then release.

Edited April 21, 2023 by NippyFlippers

[Stone Blue]

@NippyFlippers could you post a link to your blend & cfg files? PM me if you dont want to make them public

Edited April 21, 2023 by Stone Blue

[NippyFlippers]

I sent you a PM with a link to a google drive folder.

The other rocketeers will have to whait a bit until it is finished.

[Stone Blue]

14 minutes ago, NippyFlippers said:

I sent you a PM with a link to a google drive folder.

The other rocketeers will have to whait a bit until it is finished.

Kewl.. you do need to allow me sharing access tho

[NippyFlippers]

You should be able to edit the file now.

[NippyFlippers]

A new part is done, a cargo bay/service bay with working door animations:

[theonegalen]

Well this is very cool! I regret not seeing it sooner.

[NippyFlippers]

On 9/6/2024 at 1:18 AM, theonegalen said:

Well this is very cool! I regret not seeing it sooner.

I am planning a few more parts, such as a cargo bay with large door, a short version and some cosmetics. I just wish I had more time to work on it.

[PicoSpace]

Great Work! How well does it handle water landings/take-offs which I'm assuming the bowed front is ideal for?

[NippyFlippers]

11 hours ago, PicoSpace said:

Great Work! How well does it handle water landings/take-offs which I'm assuming the bowed front is ideal for?

Not that well, I have to fix the drag cubes, yet.

Edited September 8 by NippyFlippers