FusTek Parts [.20][Munox, Karmony Modules, Station Parts, Docking Nodes] [19.X]

[sumghai]

Exceptional work on the FusTek Station Parts, fusty. I greatly prefer the Karmony II designs to piecing together numerous stock parts for station modules.

I'm interested in helping to make some additional Karmony II-style modules, if you don't mind - I'll probably start with habitat, utility and science module variants (all with just two ports on opposite ends), and when I feel a bit more confident, maybe a dedicated airlock or even unique IVAs for the aforementioned variants.

I do have a number of questions / requests:

• Based on various postings here on on Kerbal Space Port, am I correct in assuming your workflow involves the following? (besides iterative testing):
  
  • Modelling the geometry and collision meshes in SketchUp
    
  • Export as COLLADA .dae file
    
  • Import into Unity
    
  • Add textures and normal bump maps
    
  • Add airlocks / ladders etc via with KSP Part Tools
    
  • Export as KSP .mu file
    
  • Write CFG file
    

  [*]Would you be happy to release the source files for your parts (geometry, Unity configs, textures, normals) under a Creative Commons licence or equivalent?

  [*]What graphics program did you use to create the textures and bump maps?

Thanks in advance, and keep up the great work!

Edited May 17, 2013 by sumghai

[fusty]

Yup, you've just about got it right sumghai, and I'd love it if other's started making more station parts. I like seeing how Karmony fits with BobCat's ISS stuff.

Anyway my workflow is thus

• Modeling in Sketchup
  
• 
  
• Texturing in Sketchup (this involves lots of 'canvases' and tricky business aligning faces for texturing. Was taught by bac9)
  
• 
  
• Import into Unity
  
• 
  
• Add bump maps and spec maps based on my original base textures (sketchup cannot show bump or specular)
  
• 
  
• Add airlocks and other Unity/KSP dependent bits
  
• 
  
• Export .mu/textures
  
• 
  
• Write part Config
  
• 
  
• Repeat the previous 3 or 4 or even 5 steps until I'm pleased or tired.
  

I do plan on making one of my projects completely open for all to learn from and cannibalize. I'm still deciding on which one to polish up, or if I'll do a new thing from scratch to open up.

I used Photoshop (any version cs3 and newer should be fine) and an actionscript called nDo (download) to do the normal maps. I just paint them over my parts in greyscale and hope for the best. Painting normals is a black art I have not mastered, and really normal maps are only effective when there is light cast on the part. When on the dark-side everything will look very flat. I plan to lean on normal maps less, and texturing tricks more in the future.

Edited May 16, 2013 by fusty

[elkar]

I guess those bigger docking ports are not work with Lazor's docking camera, right?

[cxg2827]

I guess those bigger docking ports are not work with Lazor's docking camera, right?

you can make them work with the docking camera, I got them to.

you just need to ad this to the part file for each CBM:

MODULE
{
name = LazorSystemDockingCamera
}

[elkar]

Wow. nice, and are they equally easy to dock like standard then? And if they are stronger to hold onto each other one does not need quantum struts right? I guess it should be even better.

[BananaDealer]

Wow. nice, and are they equally easy to dock like standard then? And if they are stronger to hold onto each other one does not need quantum struts right? I guess it should be even better.

They're not "easier" to dock with, same fiddling required...

But they can be a bit stronger, especially the bigger ones. I would still advise quantum strut use though...

[HoY]

About those lights someone else mentioned, what about lights that are just static non moving objects just Inside of the ring on your ports, activated by right click menu (all 4 in a single button)

White light "up" green right red left and white down.

Not to put more on your plate but just my personal take on the other posters idea

[cxg2827]

About those lights someone else mentioned, what about lights that are just static non moving objects just Inside of the ring on your ports, activated by right click menu (all 4 in a single button)

White light "up" green right red left and white down.

Not to put more on your plate but just my personal take on the other posters idea

the lights would not take into account the relative alignment angles of the two ports.

In all honestly, may be much simpler to just use the lazor docking camera mod, as it displays the angles and relative distance to the ports (also speeds up docking a ton when you get use to interpreting the data displayed).

[HoY]

I already do use lazor docking cam, but when using it you still need to have some point of reference to make sure your lines up properly. Most people install a battery or something for the green light, that's my point. If you had the lights in the port already, and the ports were installed in the right orientation (critical) then it would be beneficial. Plus look nice.

[BananaDealer]

I already do use lazor docking cam, but when using it you still need to have some point of reference to make sure your lines up properly. Most people install a battery or something for the green light, that's my point. If you had the lights in the port already, and the ports were installed in the right orientation (critical) then it would be beneficial. Plus look nice.

Maybe have green and red lights alternating on the axis, like with the Lazor stacks?

[Fyrem]

I already do use lazor docking cam, but when using it you still need to have some point of reference to make sure your lines up properly. Most people install a battery or something for the green light, that's my point. If you had the lights in the port already, and the ports were installed in the right orientation (critical) then it would be beneficial. Plus look nice.

the little red tringle on the camera is the marker to see the orientation.

[WCOLE360]

I'd like seeing how Karmony fits with BobCat's ISS stuff.

Fusty, would you want me to check that for you? I have the dev-test of the avaliable parts. I can't give you any (bobcat would kill me), but I can give you pictures.

[fusty]

Fusty, would you want me to check that for you? I have the dev-test of the avaliable parts. I can't give you any (bobcat would kill me), but I can give you pictures.

I'm afraid I've already spotted some pictures of the two side by side on a station on the subreddit and I liked the look.

[Fyrem]

when I get my hands on the ISS, I will dock a Mir, to a few of fustys' parts, and then extend it to the ISS, that happens to have a few of the MPSS living rings on it.

Then watch my FPS become single digits.

[WCOLE360]

when I get my hands on the ISS, I will dock a Mir, to a few of fustys' parts, and then extend it to the ISS, that happens to have a few of the MPSS living rings on it.

Then watch my FPS become single digits.

problem - iss docking nodes have their own size.

[Fyrem]

then I will just have to make up an adapter. no biggie

[sumghai]

I'd love it if other's started making more station parts.

Excellent!

Anyway my workflow is thus

• Modeling in Sketchup
  
• Texturing in Sketchup (this involves lots of 'canvases' and tricky business aligning faces for texturing. Was taught by bac9)
  
• Import into Unity
  
• Add bump maps and spec maps based on my original base textures (sketchup cannot show bump or specular)
  
• Add airlocks and other Unity/KSP dependent bits
  
• Export .mu/textures
  
• Write part Config
  
• Repeat the previous 3 or 4 or even 5 steps until I'm pleased or tired.
  

That's interesting - I didn't know one could texture in SketchUp. I guess that's because I've spent most of my time working in Blender.

I do plan on making one of my projects completely open for all to learn from and cannibalize. I'm still deciding on which one to polish up, or if I'll do a new thing from scratch to open up.

I see.

I used Photoshop (any version cs3 and newer should be fine) and an actionscript called nDo (download) to do the normal maps. I just paint them over my parts in greyscale and hope for the best. Painting normals is a black art I have not mastered, and really normal maps are only effective when there is light cast on the part. When on the dark-side everything will look very flat. I plan to lean on normal maps less, and texturing tricks more in the future.

nDo seems to be quite powerful, especially with the ability to do automatically update on-the-fly the normal map transforms on arbitary shapes. I'm also not too fussed with how the modules look without illumination (since I usually install some of bac9's subdued lights on them).

Edited May 17, 2013 by sumghai

[MOARdV]

About those lights someone else mentioned, what about lights that are just static non moving objects just Inside of the ring on your ports, activated by right click menu (all 4 in a single button)

White light "up" green right red left and white down.

Not to put more on your plate but just my personal take on the other posters idea

What I've done is to use a pair of lights from the B9 aerospace pack - the small white and red light. I place the white on the "up" side of the port, and the red on the "down" side, so I can visually orient the ports. And, if you edit the docking port's cfg to allow surface attach, those lights fit nicely right on the lip of the dock (at least, for the 2.5m Active dock). I just figured the latter out, and I haven't tried docking with them in place, however...

[Lonestar1771]

Hey Fusty, love the parts, but have a question/request. On your station parts they seem to have issues with surface attaching anything. Everything winds up at odd angles and makes it extremely difficult to maximize the use of the sides of the parts, is there anything you can do to correct this, or some code line I could c&p in?

Edit: also I don't know if it's a KSP bug or if it has something to do with your station parts, but every once in a while they refuse to attach to anything via the four side nodes.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Lonestar1771

[WhatsThisButtonDo]

Can anything be done about the yellow hand-holds? I saw a comment a while back about how they don't look realistic on the docking nodes, but nothing has been done. I'd like to use these parts, is there a way I can mod the yellow to a metallic look?

[sumghai]

Can anything be done about the yellow hand-holds? I saw a comment a while back about how they don't look realistic on the docking nodes, but nothing has been done. I'd like to use these parts, is there a way I can mod the yellow to a metallic look?

I personally think that the yellow EVA handholds are appropriate to the caricature-like nature of KSP's art style, and brightly-colored handles on station modules are also definitely realistic in real life:

Did you mean from changing the color from yellow to metallic gold, or yellow to metallic silver?

[WhatsThisButtonDo]

Thanks for posting the pictures sumghai, I didn't know that apparently gold-plated handles were actually used. And now that you ask, a more metallic gold sheen might look good.

[sumghai]

Thanks for posting the pictures sumghai, I didn't know that apparently gold-plated handles were actually used.

Presumably, brightly colored handles were chosen to offer the highest possible contrast and visibility to astronauts on EVA - grey metal handles on grey module platings obviously won't fit this criteria.

And now that you ask, a more metallic gold sheen might look good.

I had a peek in the part folders for the Karmony II Nodes. Apparently, since the textures and normal image maps are PNG graphics, one could in theory tweak the colors in Photoshop/GIMP, and their appearances would be updated the next time one loads KSP.

I could check for you, but since fusty isn't willing to share the source files for his models, there's no way I could tell if I'm correct. Besides, I suspect that a "true" metallic texture would require poking around in Unity.

[Lazurkri]

Thanks for the Kappa pod... I've been having fun dropping my Kerbals with it. Not that I regularly have ships going to pieces and all that.... :>

[fusty]

Hey Fusty, love the parts, but have a question/request. On your station parts they seem to have issues with surface attaching anything. Everything winds up at odd angles and makes it extremely difficult to maximize the use of the sides of the parts, is there anything you can do to correct this, or some code line I could c&p in?

Edit: also I don't know if it's a KSP bug or if it has something to do with your station parts, but every once in a while they refuse to attach to anything via the four side nodes.

If you're talking specifically about the karmony nodes, that is because of the crazy collider I had to build in order to get those recessed nodes along the cylinder. Thanks to convex colliders my hands are tied there and I have to do some pretty crazy stuff.