Kerbin Mini Shuttle

[Tiberion]

If that is the case then he should definitely put the sas section together with the cockpit. There might be a fast way to do it though; you can just cut out front/back surfaces on the models and then use the MODEL{} tags in the config to use both MU files in the same part. In theory anyway.

[ZRM]

If that is the case then he should definitely put the sas section together with the cockpit. There might be a fast way to do it though; you can just cut out front/back surfaces on the models and then use the MODEL{} tags in the config to use both MU files in the same part. In theory anyway.

Good idea. That sounds like the best way to do it (for the time being).

[Nazari1382]

what about animating the texture on the offending part to 0 visibility when you enter iva?

[helldiver]

Ok Tiberion, ZRM, going to weld it... *grumble*

Yeah, ZRM/Tiberion you guys hit the nail on the head.

I guess that opens up two spots where those bulkhead textures used to be for future add-ons and features. Going to have to add a couple days to the project. It's ok, I wanted to weld those together anyhow, just wish I'd have done it earlier.

Imagur being stupid right now.

Note the "fake" bulkhead that you would have seen in the VAB when you grabbed the SAS segment.

Ignore the outer shell around the cockpit portion, that's simply the shell modifier remnant which will be deleted.

[ZRM]

Ok Tiberion, ZRM, going to weld it... *grumble*

Yeah, ZRM/Tiberion you guys hit the nail on the head.

I guess that opens up two spots where those bulkhead textures used to be for future add-ons and features. Going to have to add a couple days to the project. It's ok, I wanted to weld those together anyhow, just wish I'd have done it earlier.

Imagur being stupid right now.

Note the "fake" bulkhead that you would have seen in the VAB when you grabbed the SAS segment.

Ignore the outer shell around the cockpit portion, that's simply the shell modifier remnant which will be deleted.

Could you not use the quick fix as suggested by Tiberion?

P.S. I have now released the new version of KCA, if you did not notice from my signature, so at least your shuttle should now be able to launch Space Shuttle/Buran style, due to the new support for gimbals and reaction wheels.

[helldiver]

Oh I see what he meant.

Nah. I'd rather it be a solid piece and get back those UV spots. We'd save about 100-200 polygons and UV vertices right there which we can invest in the cockpit buttons, airbrakes and other features.

You can only enter and exit the shuttle through the port (left) hatch. If you attach the docking module, you can also exit from that piece if you put Kerbals in it

[drtedastro]

Wow, simply put..... Wow.... what a great looking machine.

This is one of the only threads that I have gone back through and read every posting so that I can watch the development and progress of this one....

like all other people, I am waiting, wanting and appreciating....

Great work and good luck in progressing.

[helldiver]

I have now released the new version of KCA, if you did not notice from my signature, so at least your shuttle should now be able to launch Space Shuttle/Buran style, due to the new support for gimbals and reaction wheels.

That's fantastic!

If I were to send you guys the parts of a CRT screen to be made into an MFD, what parts do you need?

-The screen itself

-The box containing it

-Buttons with collision meshes.

Anything else?

-Do I need to punch out a letter/font sheet?

-Compass rose and associated graphics?

I'd texture it, pack it, (normal map, diffuse, etc), and convert to Unity friendly FBX2013.

[Edit] What sucks is I had a version of the shuttle that had the SAS and Cockpit segments welded together as well as a sub-divided high resolution mesh specifically for it. I deleted it a couple days ago since I figured I didn't need it...

Edited August 5, 2013 by helldiver

[DisarmingBaton5]

You can only enter and exit the shuttle through the port (left) hatch. If you attach the docking module, you can also exit from that piece if you put Kerbals in it

How will the docking module work? Will it be like Hitchhiker and have an IVA?

Also, the docking module looks like something that could be stock-compatible. Does it attach to stock parts?

[ZRM]

If I were to send you guys the parts of a CRT screen to be made into an MFD, what parts do you need?

-The screen itself

-The box containing it

-Buttons with collision meshes.

Anything else?

-Do I need to punch out a letter/font sheet?

-Compass rose and associated graphics?

I'd texture it, pack it, (normal map, diffuse, etc), and convert to Unity friendly FBX2013.

Ideally, so that it can be tested easily in KSP, the full cockpit IVA model. Failing that, at least some model with a place to put a kerbal with a screen in front of them, for the time being. Assets like a font sheet (numbers and a few letters for specific things should do) and compass parts would also be needed eventually, though I was planning to mock those up myself for testing purposes.

[Edit] What sucks is I had a version of the shuttle that had the SAS and Cockpit segments welded together as well as a sub-divided high resolution mesh specifically for it. I deleted it a couple days ago since I figured I didn't need it...

"And that's why we should always keep backups or use version control, even on non-software projects". Sorry, I couldn't resist. That lesson (or a variation of) has been drummed into me over the years.

[helldiver]

Wow did you guys luck out...

No tangent errors, or texture errors. I learned something new regarding tangents, seems they are preserved even if I split off and then re-weld. The original shuttle was actually baked as one piece.

I've never had something like that go so easily (took me like 5 minutes). Usually I end up with tangent errors and have to re-bake that whole piece. Had to touch up the AO but nothing that took too long. So I'm back to working on the cockpit.

Now I'm wondering if we should just weld the Cargo bay to the command deck segment?

We'd end up with one long piece, kind of feeling meh about that though. I'd rather leave them separate so that in the future we could add a crew/passenger segment instead of a cargo bay.

[Itsdavyjones]

Leaving them separate would be better i think, and would allow for a passenger deck in the future easier.

[ZRM]

Now I'm wondering if we should just weld the Cargo bay to the command deck segment?

Well what abo-

I'd rather leave them separate so that in the future we could add a crew/passenger segment instead of a cargo bay.

Exactly what I was about to say.

[Toyotawolf]

Leaving them separate would be better i think, and would allow for a passenger deck in the future easier.

seconded (10char)

[Albert VDS]

Go for separate, that way we have more "lego bricks" to play with.

[helldiver]

Ideally, so that it can be tested easily in KSP, the full cockpit IVA model. Failing that, at least some model with a place to put a kerbal with a screen in front of them, for the time being. Assets like a font sheet (numbers and a few letters for specific things should do) and compass parts would also be needed eventually, though I was planning to mock those up myself for testing purposes.

Ok that's not a problem. Let me finish brick and mortaring it and I'll send you those components. So while you work on that portion, I'll begin the collision meshes of the external orbiter parts so we can get this project in the bag.

If Tiberion is up for it, or someone else of his or you guy's caliber, I could also outsource the FBX-Unity-KSP process for the flight components.

I would just need to coach them or work with them regarding the special animation requirements of several parts, specifically the landing gear, ventral RCS port, and the air-stair. They are already animated, it's just that I don't know how to Unity/KSP handles that.

For example, they are currently animated Opening. Does Unity/KSP Automatically reverse the animation back to closed? Do I need to animate a "closed" animation from the open position? How does Unity/KSP know when to trigger the animation?

Unless animation isn't a big deal? How do I get the landing gear to animate properly in KSP? Is there anything special I need to do?

[ZRM]

For example, they are currently animated Opening. Does Unity/KSP Automatically reverse the animation back to closed? Do I need to animate a "closed" animation from the open position? How does Unity/KSP know when to trigger the animation?

Unless animation isn't a big deal? How do I get the landing gear to animate properly in KSP? Is there anything special I need to do?

Only one animation is required, however to use the stock landing gear PartModule you will need to make sure that your model is split into separate hierarchical parts - the base part (including the rotating top of the gear strut), the part of the gear that moves with the suspension (trusting that you have suspension, right?) and the wheel attached to it. Then you just need to name the animation and the transforms correctly. I can't remember the names off the top of my head but I can look them up later. Suspension is pretty critical, by the way.

It's quite late at night where I am, so I may stop replying soon, and sleep off all of the work I have done to get KCA to release.

Edit: By parts I don't mean Parts - I just mean separate entities in the model. Sorry for any potential confusion.

Edited August 5, 2013 by ZRM

[helldiver]

Only one animation is required, however to use the stock landing gear PartModule you will need to make sure that your model is split into separate hierarchical parts - the base part (including the rotating top of the gear strut), the part of the gear that moves with the suspension (trusting that you have suspension, right?) and the wheel attached to it. Then you just need to name the animation and the transforms correctly. I can't remember the names off the top of my head but I can look them up later. Suspension is pretty critical, by the way.

It's quite late at night where I am, so I may stop replying soon, and sleep off all of the work I have done to get KCA to release.

Edit: By parts I don't mean Parts - I just mean separate entities in the model. Sorry for any potential confusion.

Yeah, that's not a problem it's all already done that way. The lower strut is an olio designed to slide in and such.

[Tiberion]

I would just take the front wall off of the cargobay and basically let the back of the command module be the "front" of the bay. Leaves it modular, so you can snap another part in there if needbe in the future.

[M.Wolfy]

ok, so, i see 1 tail in this pic and 2 in the actual post, will we be able to choose if we have 1 or 2 tails? (more importantly will it effect the aerodynamics?)

[Initar]

Omg, looks like it's going well! Amazing work.

I'm available for play-testing anytime!

[ZRM]

Helldiver, whilst I am waiting for feedback on my latest bugfix for the new version of KCA, I am going to try coding a simple PFD with just an EADI that is displayed on-screen. I have been looking into the way modern aircraft lay these things out, and quite often the features of the HSI are all integrated into a single PFD with the EADI. A good example is the one on the wikipedia page. This would also include the vertical speed indicator, the airspeed indicator and the altimeter, amongst other things. I understand that you will probably want to keep the some of the analogue instruments for compatibility reasons, but a lot of the instruments are going to be redundant. In fact, the main benefit of a glass cockpit is the condensation of information onto a single easier-to-read display. Maybe any resulting unused space can be filled by more MFDs, or an interface to one of the CPU emulator mods so that the Kerbals can play Tetris or Pong during long flights .

[helldiver]

Helldiver, whilst I am waiting for feedback on my latest bugfix for the new version of KCA, I am going to try coding a simple PFD with just an EADI that is displayed on-screen. I have been looking into the way modern aircraft lay these things out, and quite often the features of the HSI are all integrated into a single PFD with the EADI. A good example is the one on the wikipedia page. This would also include the vertical speed indicator, the airspeed indicator and the altimeter, amongst other things. I understand that you will probably want to keep the some of the analogue instruments for compatibility reasons, but a lot of the instruments are going to be redundant. In fact, the main benefit of a glass cockpit is the condensation of information onto a single easier-to-read display. Maybe any resulting unused space can be filled by more MFDs, or an interface to one of the CPU emulator mods so that the Kerbals can play Tetris or Pong during long flights .

I'd rather the ADI and HSI be separate for a number of reasons. Only a few modern aircraft do that, yet they still have a separate HSI. It would be impossible and very confusing to have both on the same screen.

Notice the separate screens for ADI and HSI:

The space shuttle uses a similar layout, notice the HSI is selected on the left most MFD, and the ADI is on the right of that.

(large image)

I wanted to keep the analog gauges while we tested and got the stuff above going. Also just in case something got bugged?

Unless you want to make an MFD that is selectable? So we could pull up which ever display we wanted on any MFD?

[Edit] Sorry there is some confusion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Primary_Flight_Display.svg

The bottom circular thing is just a compass rose with VOR to-from information (or ILS marker info) it is not an HSI. You don't use that to punch in HSI information or to line up properly on a glide slope. It's simply there so you have a single screen to look at while maintaining proper heading without having to look over to the HSI or VOR instruments.

Also, an HSI works only in the atmosphere with ground transmitters (VOR Stations, NDB, ILS systems). We can worry about an HSI later. It would be impossible for you to create a functioning HSI without laying out ground VHF stations or rigging up the KSP runway with an ILS transmitter.

I will make those parts in the next phase of this project. What do you think?

You can ask me any information you wish regarding those instruments and how they more or less function.

Edited August 6, 2013 by helldiver

[ZRM]

I'd rather the ADI and HSI be separate for a number of reasons. Only a few modern aircraft do that, yet they still have a separate HSI. It would be impossible and very confusing to have both on the same screen.

Notice the separate screens for ADI and HSI:

http://www.plane-pictures.com/upload/files/actual/boeing_777_cockpit.jpg

The space shuttle uses a similar layout, notice the HSI is selected on the left most MFD, and the ADI is on the right of that.

(large image)

http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/spaceshuttlehuge.jpg

I wanted to keep the analog gauges while we tested and got the stuff above going. Also just in case something got bugged?

Unless you want to make an MFD that is selectable? So we could pull up which ever display we wanted on any MFD?

[Edit] Sorry there is some confusion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Primary_Flight_Display.svg

The bottom circular thing is just a compass rose with VOR to-from information (or ILS marker info) it is not an HSI. You don't use that to punch in HSI information or to line up properly on a glide slope. It's simply there so you have a single screen to look at while maintaining proper heading without having to look over to the HSI or VOR instruments.

Also, an HSI works only in the atmosphere with ground transmitters (VOR Stations, NDB, ILS systems). We can worry about an HSI later. It would be impossible for you to create a functioning HSI without laying out ground VHF stations or rigging up the KSP runway with an ILS transmitter.

I will make those parts in the next phase of this project. What do you think?

You can ask me any information you wish regarding those instruments and how they more or less function.

I didn't think any one part of the wikipedia PFD was the HSI, rather it seems that the PFD manages to incorporate most HSI features, including glideslope indication, judging from what wikipedia can tell me about what an HSI is. Anyway, I very much like the idea of all electronic instrumentation being display-independent (with possibly the exception of the HUD). Also, I now agree about having "backup" gauges. Most aircraft seem to have them as well.

I am now working on a shader to help me draw the artificial horizon efficiently. I have also made sure that I can easily switch the on-screen version to a display panel in-game, once one becomes available.

[Abrexus]

My only fear regarding this project is that once this shuttle is finished I'll have no desire to fly anything else.