Star wars style ships in ksp.

[musicpenguin]

I made a tie fighter for use in the atmosphere. It was hard to take off with and control. It was basically the cupola, A small large fuel tank, A poodle, A truss x2, and some withs with altitude controllers.

[Devo]

Well the thing about sci fi is, it has to look good, lucasology makes em fly.

Take that one for example, although a great design, making it fly was rather difficult, so i opted for a set of vtol engines that dont let thrust be seen, oh its there, but no damage, no effects, other than flight.

This is it in the hanger with the APC stowed. The whole thing is quite amusing to use,

As stated in the thread, wont really be availible for use, but i have seen military style ships being done, and they get "colorful" military equipment is plain, drab and ugly. Having served 8 years in an AB, i know this first hand.

Now if only i can get the CART thingy down. i dont have a clue how it works. But i will dismantle one and see.

Nice conversion, my APC and Dropship I actually modelled tho and did the texture so I guess its a bit rougher.

Have you animated any of yours yet or done the pivoting wings? any solutions for the rotating VTOLS? im stuck for mine without DR working, hopefully updates soon. So im taking it this one is another 3D mesh import yeah? What was the website / author?

So that APC is a static cart and just a model ? I had to make rover wheels for mine, only way steering was going to happen with such a small turning area.

Probably the most fun was modelling the landing gear, that took the longest I would say, have fun when you start making that stuff Use the model you found to make one off, just break it up and model each section next to the cut out one and thats the best way ti somplify the polys in it. My dropship comes in incredibly low in the poly count. Logan and Ohm and Ultravirs are playing with it now, If these new vtols im working on work, it should be cool to go. Also, you cant have removable weapons yet so I didnt model them. They wont move with the animation unless they are static.

I managed to get the rover wheels working on mine, barely..

As for star wars ships, Go for it. I wish we had magnetic boots so I could do a proper YT-1300 IVA! There is only a handful I would like to fly, there are so many star wars games with better graphics, physics and basically everything that I don't need to do it in KSP.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Devo

[ThePyrateCaptain]

Nice conversion, my APC and Dropship I actually modelled tho and did the texture so I guess its a bit rougher.

Have you animated any of yours yet or done the pivoting wings? any solutions for the rotating VTOLS? im stuck for mine without DR working, hopefully updates soon. So im taking it this one is another 3D mesh import yeah? What was the website / author?

So that APC is a static cart and just a model ? I had to make rover wheels for mine, only way steering was going to happen with such a small turning area.

Probably the most fun was modelling the landing gear, that took the longest I would say, have fun when you start making that stuff Use the model you found to make one off, just break it up and model each section next to the cut out one and thats the best way ti somplify the polys in it. My dropship comes in incredibly low in the poly count. Logan and Ohm and Ultravirs are playing with it now, If these new vtols im working on work, it should be cool to go. Also, you cant have removable weapons yet so I didnt model them. They wont move with the animation unless they are static.

I managed to get the rover wheels working on mine, barely..

As for star wars ships, Go for it. I wish we had magnetic boots so I could do a proper YT-1300 IVA! There is only a handful I would like to fly, there are so many star wars games with better graphics, physics and basically everything that I don't need to do it in KSP.

Hey DEVO, well for now it's a static cart. Haven't figured out how to make carts as if yet. In no way will it be released out of respect for you and your art. I have figured out poly stuff, and how to get em small. The Dropship was a pain, and although it flies WITHOUT AG, it takes skill to set it down right. The animations were done using damned robotics, and they came out nice. The textures I had to modify like hell cause they were many layers, disecting the layers proved troublesome. Haven't finished the Dropship 100% yet, still trying to get better handling out of it. (the hidden VTOL works great) but am now venturing into the cart aspect. I have the APC mostly animated with opening doors, turret movement, lights, but the cart question eludes me.

[Devo]

Hey DEVO, well for now it's a static cart. Haven't figured out how to make carts as if yet. In no way will it be released out of respect for you and your art. I have figured out poly stuff, and how to get em small. The Dropship was a pain, and although it flies WITHOUT AG, it takes skill to set it down right. The animations were done using damned robotics, and they came out nice. The textures I had to modify like hell cause they were many layers, disecting the layers proved troublesome. Haven't finished the Dropship 100% yet, still trying to get better handling out of it. (the hidden VTOL works great) but am now venturing into the cart aspect. I have the APC mostly animated with opening doors, turret movement, lights, but the cart question eludes me.

I gave up on carts, mainly because they sort of included all the pieces seperately now, so if you focus on making it more of a rover you can do it with stock, and no plugins required.

Don't worry about me, just release it - There is a big difference, I doubt they would even be put together the same way, I did it in a sort of wierd way, but it was really designed to just drop from the sulaco originally, it was only the testers that actually got into flying it, so the folding wings actually glide and its sort of a ship on its own now.

Can you post a video of all the animated stuff? im interested to see how you handled the colliders, they were a pain.

[ThePyrateCaptain]

I gave up on carts, mainly because they sort of included all the pieces seperately now, so if you focus on making it more of a rover you can do it with stock, and no plugins required.

Don't worry about me, just release it - There is a big difference, I doubt they would even be put together the same way, I did it in a sort of wierd way, but it was really designed to just drop from the sulaco originally, it was only the testers that actually got into flying it, so the folding wings actually glide and its sort of a ship on its own now.

Can you post a video of all the animated stuff? im interested to see how you handled the colliders, they were a pain.

Want me to send you the model? Oh wait, your a 20 user. Hmmm don't know how to make videos. How I handled the collider issues was to break like the pod wings into many pieces and collide each one, example the pod wings are 3 pieces each and each one has a collider . Had to break the hull down to over 8 components and mesh collide each one as a separate component then assemble them in unity as a single piece. Very time consuming. But in the end, it has a more aerodynamic shape with the colliders. Also changed the center of mass to above the main engines as I figured the ship would mostly be light everywhere except where the drives are. Then when you add the APC (12 tons) it shifts the center to closer forward, which I figured would be right. In the army, cargo planes had this problem too however they would simply shift fuel content around to compensate the weight diff. My ramp deployment speed is fast, as is the weapons pods. Most military things work quick, and are relatively easy for general usage. Although I seriously doubt a crunchie can fly a helicopter without mucking it up. Lol. The issue I'm having with carts is weird, I import the CART.DAE into unity and then build it as an mu, it exports alright except the wheels spin not touching anything even though they are on the ground. I am trying to figure out how they work. As for the model and mesh, free3dmodels, I have the original authors name somewhere , he made it for a game himself. Will find it and submit it.

The way I figure it is that you and I got off to a bad start. And for that I apologize. You create, your an artist. Me I'm a rip off artist. Lol. Not good at making things, but pretty good at dismantling them.

Edited May 31, 2013 by ThePyrateCaptain
Missing info

[Devo]

I gave up on carts, mainly because they sort of included all the pieces seperately now, so if you focus on making it more of a rover you can do it with stock, and no plugins required.

Don't worry about me, just release it - There is a big difference, I doubt they would even be put together the same way, I did it in a sort of wierd way, but it was really designed to just drop from the sulaco originally, it was only the testers that actually got into flying it, so the folding wings actually glide and its sort of a ship on its own now.

Can you post a video of all the animated stuff? im interested to see how you handled the colliders, they were a pain.

Want me to send you the model? Oh wait, your a 20 user. Hmmm don't know how to make videos. How I handled the collider issues was to break like the pod wings into many pieces and collide each one, example the pod wings are 3 pieces each and each one has a collider . Had to break the hull down to over 8 components and mesh collide each one as a separate component then assemble them in unity as a single piece. Very time consuming. But in the end, it has a more aerodynamic shape with the colliders. Also changed the center of mass to above the main engines as I figured the ship would mostly be light everywhere except where the drives are. Then when you add the APC (12 tons) it shifts the center to closer forward, which I figured would be right. In the army, cargo planes had this problem too however they would simply shift fuel content around to compensate the weight diff. My ramp deployment speed is fast, as is the weapons pods. Most military things work quick, and are relatively easy for general usage. Although I seriously doubt a crunchie can fly a helicopter without mucking it up. Lol. The issue I'm having with carts is weird, I import the CART.DAE into unity and then build it as an mu, it exports alright except the wheels spin not touching anything even though they are on the ground. I am trying to figure out how they work. As for the model and mesh, free3dmodels, I have the original authors name somewhere , he made it for a game himself. Will find it and submit it.

The way I figure it is that you and I got off to a bad start. And for that I apologize. You create, your an artist. Me I'm a rip off artist. Lol. Not good at making things, but pretty good at dismantling them.

All good mate

Making videos is easy, just get the free version of Fraps, it has a small watermark but for free, its pretty good. That or Camstudio, then upload to youtube, If you are going to keep modding probably good to get to know how to make them, once you do one youll slap yourself for seeing how easy it is i just wish my upload speed was faster or I would upload more.

So when you say you assemble the in unity as a single piece, you mean when you import them into the game they are in a single ship / piece? you dont find thats too big to load? I found I got some loading problems when I tried pieces of that size. So you combine all the thrust transforms and everything else into one model?

The problem I had with doing things like that is the lack of support for multiple modules. I.e if you have your mods or ships as just one model that people load up, you can only have say, one airlock, one ladder and probably a few more things i cant think of that have assigned names that wont duplicate in game.. So I made the cargo drop bay seperate to the actual cockpit. I might as one of the guys to help finish the IVA i did the the cheyenne, you could use just about any helicopter cockpit.

I had problems with my wheels not spinning also, no matter what I tried they would go.. then I figured with the new command seats, easier to make the apc a command chair

part also and a command module and just use rover wheels, as the tutorial for those, or picture anyway is at least up to date.

[ThePyrateCaptain]

A single piece like in the hill of the Dropship, one piece, the hull includes every non working part except main drives. Then the VTOL as a separate piece. Wings and so on. My machine handles em well enough. I eve did the rebel blockade runner its huge, but no problems loading them. If I miss a collider, or have an extra one, then yeah lag monster.

As for the thrust transforms, I found that you can name them forwardthrust rearthrust and the likes, as long as you modify the cfg to coorispond. So example, in my rear VTOL I named the rthrust, fthrust and so on. This allows multiples without issues. And then you can dial each vector in to a specific thrust. On my Dropship, the front vto is like 75 as where the aft is like 175.

Haven't experimented with the airlock thing yet. But I have an escape pod on the port that has an airlock. Hmmm have to look at that.

[ThePyrateCaptain]

There ya go Devo. only 30 sec long, no sound.

[ThePyrateCaptain]

Oh an one other thing, (there will always be one other thing,) I have figured out how to animate things in blender, I have the APC turret rotate and stow in blender, but how do I import the animation into unity? I know you export as an fbx, but then how do I set it up in unity?

Either I figure this out, or I have to go with a blocky animation using damned robotics. And this turret will be a real issue.

[Devo]

Oh an one other thing, (there will always be one other thing,) I have figured out how to animate things in blender, I have the APC turret rotate and stow in blender, but how do I import the animation into unity? I know you export as an fbx, but then how do I set it up in unity?

Either I figure this out, or I have to go with a blocky animation using damned robotics. And this turret will be a real issue.

Don't ask me about unity 4, my animations always tend to bug out in that (I have no idea why.. ) so Im using unity 3.57 for any animatoin stuff I do, it doesnt seem to make much of a difference

seeing as they have not updated part tools anyway.

So I see from that one you don't have the wings or lift happening yet? you could probably intergrate that too, I just like having more parts to the ship so when it crashes its a bit more realistic, yo know

wings fly off etc.

The APC Turret to me was pointless. I had it animating sliding on the tracks like below, but you cant attach anything to it and have it move with the turret.. its a real bummer limitation of kps/unity unless you get some coder to help you with getting physycs part to animate, as the animate physics option in unity doesnt seem to do the trick.

What you need to concentrate on is the small details, its not much fun like in your vid with everything just being one action (yes alot easier) but doesnt require any learning, just animate a part to go up or dowm.

have a look at this vid, use the keyframe options in blender to get your anim setup and import via fbx and assign the name of the animation in a generic animation module like normal. I just find animating in blender a bit more user friendly but I i know unity is very good when it comes to animating, I just rpefer blenders interface for moving individual parts around and scale etc.

I made the turret a seperate piece so I can attach things to its base and actually use it, the rotation you need to watch, it needs to be reset before the Rail slide, look in my video, you see when I turn the turret the first time it goes up a bit? I did on purpose that to show you what happens if you don't have rotations before you start your animation - they will always go off their original, so you need to make sure they are all reset before you start anything.

Also with your lander feet and other things, try and get into things like animating the pistons etc like in the vid, its good practice for later on when you want to try and tackle more complicated things, there will be a point I guarantee wheer you are good enough to just model it on your own, you should have seen enough mesh constructions by now im sure. I just dont get any rewarding feeling out of using someone elses mesh, I can't sit back at the end of it and say to myself, it was worth the time and effort, and I think it's also hard to convert these things to the KSP style of cutesy alien green astronaughts without actually modelling it from scratch.

The animated legs only took an hour or two, just be pedantic about your points of origin and you will be fine.

Also the wings are pretty easy to do, mine are a little too efficient, they have you gliding a bit too wel but its needed, the back end is just to heavy if you load it up with cargo, considering your thrust is way rear and centre of mass is generally centered with the load.

Edited June 1, 2013 by Devo

[ThePyrateCaptain]

I am working upto becoming a modeller. Just got the turret animations to work. What an awesome feeling.

[Canopus]

I would say that Sci-fi looking ships make no sense in KSP because its more of a simulator with real physics.

[ThePyrateCaptain]

Oh man, ok, I decided to smooth up the animation, and viola, the turret is invisible, the carrier shows up and animates, but the turret is invisible. Issues, I have volumes!

[ThePyrateCaptain]

Lol, too many texture maps assigned to the turret. (slaps self in the face) I'm def a noob

[ThePyrateCaptain]

Well this is my conversion of the M577 USCSM APC from aliens. I animated (Very first ones) the goodies, now all i have to do is make it drivable. Looking at Carts to figure it out, i am stuck at 18.4 version. Kinda a hold out for it. unless they add more planets i dont see why i should update for more physics thus dragging the game down with it. IMO,

Uploading the video, so if the link says no, try back in a few.

[ThePyrateCaptain]

Double drat. Well after much a do about nothing, I'm not gonna be able to make the APC drivable. Double drats! The cart model won't convert, and rover wheels are too articulated. This vehicle DOES NOT HAVE SUSPENSION. It is solid. Hmmm oh well, no APC. Lol. But I can teleport it throughout the solar system and get cools pics.