Solar Sails - WIP

[frizzank]

So I got the idea from this challenge.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/27123-Fuel-Generator-Challenge!-%28mod%29

Basically I made a new fuel source, photons. Then I added an engine module to the stock solar panels and Bamo! Instant solar sails. I realize they are not all that realistic, since in reality they get about as much thrust as a sugar packet. But timewarp doesn't work with them on and waiting for 2h to maneuver into orbit is a bit dull. The power curve is a bit off but I didn't want it to be super frustrating to use them so the get an extra boost even if not in direct view of the sun.

There is no throttle but they can be shut down, its debatable. Retracting them does not shut them down but it will deprive them of photons, and shutting them down.

Download

http://www./download.php?j2qvcgt1xrwxe73

[chobit-389]

Neat idea, needs a LOT more polish before I'll endorse it though

[Fyrem]

indeed a good start.

[frizzank]

Neat idea, needs a LOT more polish before I'll endorse it though

Im doing it without plugins so its probably never going to work "Correctly". Just an idea since I have seen more than a few request it. Playing with its not a hole lot of fun since burn times are min and hours long.

[Fyrem]

Frizz, they SHOULD be that long, solar sails are (and should be) long term investments. what ever you do, please don't change that.

Perhaps some Coder (not me) will offer to help.

[frizzank]

So I sat for 20m waiting on my sails to push me into a slingshot orbit around the mun for a eve encounter. Got me about half way there. But to get it to push me to an eve orbit took close to 2h, this really was not fun. Basically I left it running at 4x physics compression while I played another game.

Unfortunately I lost track of time and overshot by 6 min. At which point I turned on infinite rcs fuel and corrected my orbit.

What really needs to happen is extended time compression with the soft genital push of the sun. Otherwise its about as much fun as watching the short hand of a clock move from 12 to 1....

[Fyrem]

I was expecting to use Mechjeb, and have it manage the burn cut off when needed, and let it run over night, etc.

[Bluegobln]

I want solar sails. Your version is very cool.

Obviously I want a version that can provide thrust while time accelerating at a much higher than 4x rate (who doesn't), BUT, I want them all the same. I am willing to accept painful tedious versions temporarily, though.

Since you've essentially made them, I think I will contribute to this goal with my model. This is a pretty darn early version so be gentle. No textures obviously, but it is animated (relatively well IMO).

Due to my lack of interest in FOLDING a massively large amount of "cloth" in animation, I decided these guys have access to some kind of extremely stretchy material that automatically bunches itself beautifully when you retract the sail.

If this works well once I get it into an actual part format, I will probably go to the trouble to add an outer casing and animated doors, etc.. (Would probably make it a 2.5m part, right now the core is 1.25m).

Edit: Forgot to add, the arms are just about 165 meters long, so the total span is about 330 meters. By solar sail standards that's REALLY small, I think.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Bluegobln

[ZRM]

What really needs to happen is extended time compression with the soft genital push of the sun.

"soft genital push"?!?

Maybe that's where you've been going wrong...

In all seriousness, you're right that the best way to make solar sails practical is time warp that allows the vessel to be under powered acceleration. Of course this will require time warp to allow rotation as well.

[Bluegobln]

Ok I got the model into the game and it seems to be working ok but I can't get the animation to work. Its likely that the problem is on the Unity side of things or somewhere between 3ds and Unity. It could just be the CFG file though, so here's as far as I got. I shamefully borrowed your sails CFG stuff.

The animation is named "sailExtend" if that helps.

Goblin Enterprises Solar Sail (not working presently)

[frizzank]

your animation should play when you press play in unity.

Here is a great start for the animation in unity.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25482-TUTORIAL-Getting-Started-With-Unity-BACK-FROM-THE-DEAD!

Basically when you import your mesh an animation should have come along with it. If you select your fbx or dae in unity and click on the animation tab in the upper right you get a preview of your animation if it came with it.

[Xellith]

Ok I got the model into the game and it seems to be working ok but I can't get the animation to work. Its likely that the problem is on the Unity side of things or somewhere between 3ds and Unity. It could just be the CFG file though, so here's as far as I got. I shamefully borrowed your sails CFG stuff.

The animation is named "sailExtend" if that helps.

Goblin Enterprises Solar Sail (not working presently)

Perhaps this thread will help... maybe not but its worth a look to see if it fixes your problem.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/27450?p=346176&viewfull=1#post346176

[Tanya Sapien]

Guys, I've been working on something along these lines and had a few revelations. I've grabbed the files available here and I'm going to try to throw together a prototype build. If it's successful I'll post it here complete with crediting. If anybody wants to help, you can contact me on skype through the account linked on this profile.

[Fyrem]

great, sadly, I can not help.

[Sapphire]

Very cool idea! Now time to make a pirate ship and re-enact Treasure Planet.

Goblin Enterprises Solar Sail (not working presently)

I bet I know what this was originally going to be... >_>

[Bluegobln]

I've come a long ways since I made that sail. I've been thinking about revisiting it once the too many other things I've been working on get taken care of. O.o

The main thing that is needed is the coding specific to the sails. I can model whatever we want for sails.

[frizzank]

Sounds good all my stuff was cfg side with no plugins, im sure a plugin would get it working well.

[Tanya Sapien]

You really don't want to know how many hours I spent debugging and balancing all this, but it's finally ready. Bear in mind I haven't gotten permission from Kosmos yet for using their stuff, so this isn't on the spaceport yet, but I don't see that as any reason not to give out copies here for preview.

Download the .zip archive here

I included Frizzank's solar sails and piggybacked off the same resource he made, but I tweaked it to make it function more like xenon gas, just without the ability to pump, since Treasure Planet style _{but totally not close enough to Treasure Planet to infringe on international copyright law and reside 100% within the realm of fair use (did you get all that, moderators?)} engines would require the resource to be commutable.

I've added some nice solar sails, some engines which are totally not resized ion engines with fancy flame effects, and capacitor banks to give brief bits of power for control burns when in shaded locations. I wanted to add BlueGobln's sails, since the mesh is great, but since there's no texture on them yet they're not ready for the spaceport.

I'm hardly possessive about my creations, so everybody here, feel free to bend, twist, rewrite, and overhaul this as you see fit, so long as my name is still sitting somewhere in the credits, I'm happy. Great big thanks for the ideas and resources in this thread.

Oh, and before I put this on the spaceport, I need to ask: Frizzank, do I have permission to use your files in the finished mod? You will get due credit for your contributions.

Enjoy!

~Tanya Sapien, CEO, Sapien Technologies LLC.

[mushroomman]

Would it be possible to apply radial out thrust from the sun relative to light exposure? It would most certainly be more realistic, though I kind of doubt it would be possible while in the SOI of another body.

[Tanya Sapien]

Would it be possible to apply radial out thrust from the sun relative to light exposure? It would most certainly be more realistic, though I kind of doubt it would be possible while in the SOI of another body.

do you mean fading solar output the farther from the star you are? I think it has that already but I'm not sure. I should schedule a trip to Eeloo to find out. If you mean lower solar power if you're facing the sun at an angle instead of head-on, then yes, it does have that.

[mushroomman]

do you mean fading solar output the farther from the star you are? I think it has that already but I'm not sure. I should schedule a trip to Eeloo to find out. If you mean lower solar power if you're facing the sun at an angle instead of head-on, then yes, it does have that.

I mostly mean that it only applies thrust in one direction.

[frizzank]

You really don't want to know how many hours I spent debugging and balancing all this, but it's finally ready. Bear in mind I haven't gotten permission from Kosmos yet for using their stuff, so this isn't on the spaceport yet, but I don't see that as any reason not to give out copies here for preview.

Download the .zip archive here

I included Frizzank's solar sails and piggybacked off the same resource he made, but I tweaked it to make it function more like xenon gas, just without the ability to pump, since Treasure Planet style _{but totally not close enough to Treasure Planet to infringe on international copyright law and reside 100% within the realm of fair use (did you get all that, moderators?)} engines would require the resource to be commutable.

I've added some nice solar sails, some engines which are totally not resized ion engines with fancy flame effects, and capacitor banks to give brief bits of power for control burns when in shaded locations. I wanted to add BlueGobln's sails, since the mesh is great, but since there's no texture on them yet they're not ready for the spaceport.

I'm hardly possessive about my creations, so everybody here, feel free to bend, twist, rewrite, and overhaul this as you see fit, so long as my name is still sitting somewhere in the credits, I'm happy. Great big thanks for the ideas and resources in this thread.

Oh, and before I put this on the spaceport, I need to ask: Frizzank, do I have permission to use your files in the finished mod? You will get due credit for your contributions.

Enjoy!

~Tanya Sapien, CEO, Sapien Technologies LLC.

sorry it took so long to get back to every one. Yes any one is free to use any thing I did on solar sails, again I just edited the cfg for stock parts so knock yourselves out...

It sounds like a neat community project, so everyone have fun with it!

[frash23]

I have a suggestion, as it still is beta:

MinThrust should be 0.01, and max should be 1, it should take 10 minutes to gain max thurst, and needs to be running at 1 efficiency to reach max thrust.

How does that sound?

Edited June 12, 2013 by frash23

[Tanya Sapien]

I have a suggestion, as it still is beta:

MinThrust should be 0.01, and max should be 1, it should take 10 minutes to gain max thurst, and needs to be running at 1 efficiency to reach max thrust.

How does that sound?

That sounds like a good idea. There's a section of code the jet engines use which would work perfect for it. I'm just not too thrilled with the whole ten minutes thing. maybe three minutes would be better, and a throttle down delay too. the only way to instantly cut the throttle would be to furl the sails. this of course would leave us with the problem of tying sail deployment to engine activation. as it stands in the pack I threw together, they're separate modules. any coders who want to take a whack at it?

[frash23]

That sounds like a good idea. There's a section of code the jet engines use which would work perfect for it. I'm just not too thrilled with the whole ten minutes thing. maybe three minutes would be better, and a throttle down delay too. the only way to instantly cut the throttle would be to furl the sails. this of course would leave us with the problem of tying sail deployment to engine activation. as it stands in the pack I threw together, they're separate modules. any coders who want to take a whack at it?

Just having a long throttle-up would be good.

Also, wouldnt this be better if/when there will be multiple solar systems? I mean, if they would be realisticly slow, they would be pretty much useless right now (imo).