[WIP]United Launch Alliance Pack *V1.0RC1 Released*

[Chimer4]

"United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. ULA was formed in December 2006 by combining the teams at these companies which provide spacecraft launch services to the government of the United States. U.S. government launch customers include both the Department of Defense and NASA, as well as other organizations."

Hey everyone, I would like to announce that I am beginning work on a pack that will, hopefully at some point, contain the launch vehicles that are used by United Launch Alliance. This will be

• Atlas V
  
• Delta II
  
• Delta IV
  

This is my first venture ever into the world of modding, but after being inspired by the works of modders such as BobCat and Yogui, I decided that I would have a crack at this modding malarkey There are already some great mods for Soyuz, Proton, Ariane, Falcon (the list goes on, as I am sure most of you are aware) but I hadn't seen any of the Atlas or Delta series of rockets. I have therefore decided that I would have a go at making those rockets that are operated by the ULA. Being by first attempt at using blender, and modding outright, this might take a little while as I am having to learn as I go how to model and texture, and then get those into the game. It may take me a while to get parts of this pack out, especially the early releases but hopefully once I get the grasp of things it should make things a bit easier.

I don't have a release time-frame that I am working to, but I do have an idea of the order in which I want to release the parts

Initially I want:

• Atlas V 401
  
• Delta II 7920
  
• Delta IV Medium
  

These are the most common configurations of the launch vehicles so I thought I would start with those.

If those are successful, I will consider adding in the different configurations. This should, for the most part, consist of adding or removing boosters but I will tackle that once I get there.

The next two posts have been reserved for announcements and releases.

Edited June 22, 2013 by Chimer4

[Chimer4]

• BlazingAngel has already mentioned, we have decided to work on this pack together. BlazingAngel will be working on the Boeing side of things with the deltas, and I will be working on the Lockheed Martin part with the Atlas V.
  
  

Edited June 22, 2013 by Chimer4

[Chimer4]

United Launch Alliance Pack Version 1.0 RC1 has been released. Click any of the pictures below to visit the release thread

Delta IV by BlazingAngel

Atlas V by Chimer4

Edited July 29, 2013 by Chimer4

[WCOLE360]

Nice, taking some initiative, but I think BlazingAngel is working on one of the delta's, you should talk to him.

[Chimer4]

Aha, yes you are right there, thanks I had something in the back of my mind that I had seen something about a delta IV, but now you have mentioned his name I remember now. I shall proceed to send off a PM

Also a few things about sizing, what is the best way to go around it? I currently have the parts I am working on at 64% (i think thats what bobcat uses) of real size in blender. Is this right?

[cesarparent]

I started modelling the Atlas V 400 a few days ago, but I probably won't have time to go the whole way to Unity and Ksp. I can send them to you if you want (Sketchup files, or Dae).

Anyway, interesting project

[Chimer4]

Thanks for the offer cesarparent, but I would rather make my own model, yours is probably a better model than mine though It's just I want the practice in blender.

[cesarparent]

No problem ^^ I highly doubt my models are better than anyone else's

[Chimer4]

Well I don't even know what I'm doing most of the time xD I'm trying to cut a face, but I cannot do it for the life of me, the rest of the faces around it will cut, but not the one that I actually want to cut :/

[Netris]

64% is a good scale indeed

[nhnifong]

Some blender tips:

Spacebar gives you a search menu, you can often find a new command that way and determine the keyboard shortcut by looking under it's name

If you're going nuts with the cut tool, I suggest you use "remove doubles" and double check your geometry before you unwrap.

KSP cylinders are usually 24 faces visually, and 12 faces on the mesh collider. This will not only make your tanks fit flush with other 2m parts, (please use a standard scale) it will also make struts behave predictably and lighten the load on the phys engine (as opposed to a complex mesh collider)

The general modelling strategy I suggest for a tank is to start with a cylinder (Shift-A, Add Cylinder, use the menu on the left of the 3d viewport to configure it, if you cant see the menu press t or n and scroll on the sides) add edge loops and shrink or grow them as needed. extrude parts and add further edge loops. If you're going to use any modifiers, keep them lightweight, stick to the old ones, and you dont have to apply them, Unity will just make blender do it transparently when you import.

When unwrapping, it will be obvious if your topology has any obvious tears or wierd dupes. fix those before you continue.

To unwrap a cylinder in a sane way, try marking one vertical as a seam, and also mark the perimeter of both ends as seams. press U in edit mode for a normal unwrap, and then get into the UV editor, (add a pane by dragging one of the corners of an exiting pane, select UV/Image editor in the corner of the new pane) then one of the most useful techniques is to highlight straight lines and straighten them perfectly by using s (scale) x or y (to restrict scaling to an axis) and then 0 (to scale all selected points to thier mean location on that axis, effectively straightening them.) \

I hope all that is clear Blender has a hellova learning curve.

[BlazingAngel665]

Good advice Nhnifong however I am going to contradict you on one point. 64%, and nothing else. This keeps it to scale with real life. I don't care how far off of KSP stock parts it is because historical models aren't meant to be used with stock launchers. Make you model accurate. Don't sacrifice this on the 1,2,3m altar please.

[Chimer4]

I am keeping it to 64% of real size, but those tips are quite handy nhnifong. I am slowly getting better at how to work blender, although I am not looking forward to the UV unwrap xD

Also does anyone have any good pics of the top of the CCB? I cant find any decent shots of it, just some diagrams.

[Chimer4]

Here is a shot of the CCB, this is just the model, I haven't started the dreaded UV unwrap yet *gulp*

[sailfish]

This site has some nice pictures of the 401 configuration.

http://www.spaceflight101.com/atlas-v-401.html

[Chimer4]

UV mapping is done, and I have put a basic texture on to test it, ignore the pipe on the side, the normals are flipped on it

[BlazingAngel665]

Hi guys, I'm BlazingAngel and as you might already know I am developing the Delta IV. Chimer4 and I have done some talking in the last few days and jointly decided to work together to complete the ULA pack. So now that Lockheed-Martin (Chimer) and Boeing (me) have merged what can you expect? Well first off, The complete Delta IV launch experience with multiple upper stages, two GEM sizes and 2 fairing options. Also 2 Delta II launch variants are being prepared in a secret off location facility (my mac, sucks for development but it's all I have access to for the next week or so.) Not sure which ones. Just to whet your appetites however is the video posted below. The Common Core Booster is ready for launch minus an Emissive and a cleanup on the texture. Next week I finish up the Cryogenic Second stage and hopefully (not a promise or release date) release version 0.1 of the Delta IV before July.

[Fyrem]

No moder's thread can be complete with out a random:

when will this be released?

Consider this now offically a highly anticipated mod.

[Good_Apollo]

Oh my god someone heard my prayers. Now BlazingAngel won't have to work alone.

/Thread subbed

Edited June 7, 2013 by Good_Apollo

[Chimer4]

Well I think blazing Angel will carry this pack really I am having quite a few problems my end. I have gone from the game hanging when I try to load my parts, to no parts at all being visible in the VAB :/ I don't think I have done the .cfgs right.

Anyway the CCB for the atlas V is done (the texture is quite bad, being my first time I messed up the UV unwrap), the centaur is modeled and unwrapped properly (I think lol) and texturing almost done.

[Chimer4]

Ok guys, I have finally managed to get the CCB and centaur in game and working. I have not done the payload fairing, or the interstage adapter yet, but the main parts are probably 90% done. Here is what's done so far

• CCB model and texture are done, just tweaking the texture a bit (it looks slightly better in game than I thought it would)
  
• Centaur model and texture are done, again just tweaking the texture slightly
  
• Gimballing on both the CCB and Centaur
  
• 2 Engine flames on the CCB (thanks to Borklund for that)
  

And here's what needs doing

• Fairings and Interstage
  
• BALANCING! I have no idea what values I should use, so I will play around for a while to see what works well for me
  

I may consider giving a very early version, with just the CCB and Centaur to those of you who wish to test it. I will only do this 1. If people are interested and 2. If I get some figures of fuel, mass, etc that are in the right ballpark.

Anyway, here is a quick pick of the CCB and Centaur

[J_Man_X_663]

Wow... This looks really good, you got my support mate!! +1

[Chimer4]

Wow... This looks really good, you got my support mate!! +1

Thanks Currently modelling the ISA as I type this so hopefully it shouldn't be too long before that is done

[Chimer4]

Interstage done, models smoothed out and set to correct shader (thanks for pointing out the smoothing BlazingAngel). Also added the Centaur forward adapter which acts as a decoupler and ASAS. Just fairings to go now, and may switch over to use an engine faring rather than the ISA.

[Kerbal01]

Looking good!