Reentry Heating Effects with Chris 'Mortoc' Mortonson - KSP 2 Dev Chat

[regex]

1 hour ago, Nerdy_Mike said:

Okay, so, I love the terrain previews, that stuff looks amazing and is hopefully part of the CBT system (if so, amazing).

These missions kind of scare me though; I hope you're keeping your promise that these will be completely optional to engage with while playing science/adventure/whatever you're calling it mode. I want to direct my own space program, not have one handed to me. And hopefully this isn't some NMS-style thing where it keeps bugging me to select a mission that I flat don't care about.

Edited September 1, 2023 by regex

[PDCWolf]

Finally! Something!.

The effects look good but I keep my critique: They still need what happens around and after the heating, some particles going away and/or smoke in the case of ablators or non-shielded parts, some aero effect like vortices, and so on.

As for the sneak peek shots:

• Stars and Nebulae visible when the sun is up will always be a point of contention for me. The terrain itself looks properly detailed, but way too overkill in shininess, whether it's bits of gold, or straight up reflections, still overkill.
• Are those Kerbals different skin colors?
• That mountain doesn't look the same quality as the terrain on the first picture, or anything that couldn't have come off the first game.
• I like the thing on Laythe, definitely looks like bones. That terrain is overly simplistic though.
• That crane definitely looks to be for containers, or a similar payload, will it just be decoration or does it have a purpose?
• Mission control looks like it involves... some gameplay very similar to what we saw in the first game.
• I prefer the lego type stuff to pre-made parts, but I'll admit any day that this ring looks great.

[DunaManiac]

I'm really happy that we got this video; it definitely does inspire hope that the game will eventually get what it was promised.

These effects definitely are better than the ones we saw last. Nice that it distinguishes itself from KSP1. However, I'm somewhat concerned that this doesn't appear to be in-game and the solar panels are not breaking. It looks like it'll be a couple of months before it'll be finished. It's a start, though, and glad to see we have something. Not sold on the whole "different atmospheres have different color effects" idea.

I really like the detail that went into this part! If this is implemented I would love to use it on my crafts. Only one question... how will it be deployed! I would imagine that it would unfold somehow, probably not inflate due to the metallic appearance and the metal braces around it.

Honestly this looks disturbingly like the KSP1 contract / science system. Perhaps this will be more of a suggestion rather than a necessity?

This looks pretty nice, but again with the brightness! Unless it's designed to look like it has flashy crystals in the walls (which isn't something I'm opposed to), it is just way too high. Not a huge fan of the colors or the general texture either, combined with the incredibly bright specularity it looks like it's dirt that's been drenched in water.

[whatsEJstandfor]

Just now, DunaManiac said:

However, I'm somewhat concerned that this doesn't appear to be in-game and the solar panels are not breaking.

This video is just about the visual effects, not the thermal or aero effects. The VFX is being worked on separately from the mechanical gameplay effects. Presumably we'll see more about the latter as we get closer to re-entry heating being released.

[Alexoff]

19 minutes ago, DunaManiac said:

the solar panels are not breaking

It's just editor, not game build, so no forces, just effect

In fact, what is missing is a large plasma tail, which in the upper atmosphere stretches for many hundreds of meters.

 

[NoMrBond]

Those plasma trails look pretty sweet so far

Are there any plans to add a bow shock/wave as well?

[stephensmat]

2 hours ago, PDCWolf said:

• That crane definitely looks to be for containers, or a similar payload, will it just be decoration or does it have a purpose?

Could be either, but I'm thinking it's halfway between the two. Maybe for an 'unlock' or animation. Remember, the future expansions are for Resources, instead of cash. Could be the crane is to symbolize shipments of material. I don't know if they'd make that something in the actual gameplay.

2 hours ago, PDCWolf said:

• Mission control looks like it involves... some gameplay very similar to what we saw in the first game

I'm fine with that. The part I'm focusing on is: "You'll be up to your ears in Science soon enough."

My guess is, they need to add heat effects first. Correct Orbit decay and 'disassemble on staging'. Those, at least to me, are the big ones that need correcting before expansion.

[Stephensan]

5 hours ago, Spicat said:

The clouds seems to be the same, here some screenshots of the current game (credit to @Suppise):

  Hide contents

You just have to be lucky (and looking for big patches of clouds).

really don't want to search for the big clouds tbh.

[Astr0Guy5]

Very nice showcase @Intercept Games!  Overall, the flames are looking hot, although I did feel that they appeared a little too cartoony and flat in some shots.  Nevertheless it's exciting to see progress on key features and hopefully there are more dev chats to come! Also, I loved seeing those exotic terrain features at the end, as they really show off what's capable with KSP2's revamped terrain generation system.  Maybe it's just me, but my hype levels for this game are rising again! 

[Dakitess]

Really like the reentry effect as previously stated but the screenshot of thé Mountain and the Bones-ish one the beach, wah... Although it's a welcome hope to get some scenery, which is absolutely mandatory to me for a game like KSP (did I ever mention the importance of scenery ?... XD), I must say that they look terrible as shown. Just like the whole actual terrain. A catastrophic lack of triangles, details, stretched textures, no tesselation, weird lightning and no adéquation to the terrain surrounding...

I really see myself trying to climb it in a Tomb Raider game from 2008, sorry

Please, give us proper 2020+ scenery. Please...

[Carraux]

Nice reentry effects. I think we will get these in the next update, but will we get the heating/reentry system too or just the effects?

[rebel-1]

You'll have to upgrade your computer to RTX4090 to play this with 12 fps.

[Lyneira]

These re-entry effects look nice! And thanks for the WIP shots, I'm especially glad to see some taller mountains! I look forward to seeing these your upcoming work in-game!

[StrandedonEarth]

22 hours ago, Sea_Kerman said:

On the topic of the "copper makes green flame" bit they talked about, maybe that could be an effect when a part is near its temperature limit.

I was thinking much the same thing; as materials heat up enough to ionize they'll add their spectral signature to the color trail.

Nice-looking feature 

Edited September 2, 2023 by StrandedonEarth

[K33N]

Really digging the colour variation on the plasma. 

[Bosun]

On 9/1/2023 at 11:15 AM, Superluminaut said:

It looks good!

However, and I don't really know any great words to explain this, it looks both too smooth and too rough. But that may be because these effects where captured deep in an atmosphere.

My thoughts:

Plasma trails tend to flow very smoothly without the candle flickering in the wind type of effect. It's more like fog rolling off a hill.

However, that smoothness is full of impurities. Sparks and different colors show up as noise in the plasma. I would imagine this is especially true with ablative shields, and when the vehicle comes apart.

Additionally, I think there should be two effects stacked. The one we have now, and another for the pure white light that is produced at high speed reentry.

 

 

These are some great vids and examples.  

We're still 'Work in progress' on the visual effect, so hopefully they end up with something more akin to this by the end.  Seems like a solid start on it, anyway.   

I think fading the effect around the edges of the individual streaks will help, as well as a more 'ablative' effect, where parts behind others are shielded from creating thier own streaks.  

Honestly, I kind of like the KSP 1 effect still better, right now, because it feels like there is more an ablative quality to the leading edge of the part being re entered, based on the visual effect.  

The one they demo'ed looks like it is burning through the object, not around  it.  

[Infinite Aerospace]

There is some really nice stuff in here:

 

The re-entry effects are nice and bright, and vibrant. Goes well with the overall aesthetic of the game.

 

The volumetrics around those mountains look better than anything I've ever seen in KSP period, much better than the volumetrics in KSP1 (Mod).

 

Loving the gravity ring, looking forward to seeing more parts. I hope Chris (Adderly) has a lot of input on these as his parts tend to be the gold standard of KSP1 modding, maybe with the exception of Benjee and their insane Orion and station parts.

 

Science, I have so, so, so many questions! Can we have an AMA focused entirely around science and career? I feel there's a *lot* of people in the community that are craving answers regarding that.

 

As a final note, this is the kinda communication I think the community really wants, hands-on stuff with something to show. 

[Vl3d]

The reentry effect looks amazing. I hope there will also be a longer tail of (something like) smoke behind it for extra realism. Great job!
The other images are very cool also. Parts are 10/10. Really curious what the crane is for and how it works.
I really like that you're adding more content to the terrain and environments of the game. Can't want to be motivated to explore again!

[TwoCalories]

There's a UI for Mission Control, but the current KSC in KSP2 doesn't seem to have any Mission Control buildings. Or is there one and I just didn't notice?

[The Aziz]

There probably is, just isn't active/interactable.

[NexusHelium]

On 9/1/2023 at 10:39 AM, Dakitess said:

The effect looks actually nice, well animated, but way overkill. It might be a specific pic situation though.

I hope it to be less "everything" but they look nice.

I also hope them to appear at higher treshold, higher speed / higher air density, less often to summarize, to avoid the whole Gravity Turn fire ball issue. Even if means a less often visual effect it's fine to me

At least it won't be the subtle, red glow from KSP 1. It's a lot smoother and a stroke of genius if you were to ask me. Most games don't get it quite right (KSP 1 included)

I also imagine that the sound design will be a lot better.

[cocoscacao]

30 minutes ago, NexusHelium said:

I also imagine that the sound design will be a lot better.

They went to record the sound of real rocket taking off. I wonder if they did the same, and got dropped from space to record how plasma sounds in cockpit. 

On a more serious note, I wonder if it can be heard at all. 

[NexusHelium]

It probably wouldn't for this first few seconds but it's rapidly descending into the atmosphere so it would get progressively louder. Which is a cool thing to think about in terms of what the game will do. Because you can still hear things in the game it's just a little more subtle than in the atmosphere.

Just now, cocoscacao said:

On a more serious note, I wonder if it can be heard at all. 

 

[NexusHelium]

The amount of the atmosphere would increase and thus, as sound waves work, so would the sound.

[DancZer]

Re-watching the video I noticed something. The object or more like the air in front of the object should be bright? Only the trail? Basically there is nothing bright in the front where the compression and the plasma is created. This plasma then goes around the body and shows as a trail, but I think there should be in the front too, isn't it?