Open Source Construction Techniques for Craft Aesthetics

[GusTurbo]

Thanks for maintaining this thread Gus.

I am horribly bad about updating Wiki pages. However, I do like what you've done with it so far. Is the idea to use the Wiki as a table of contents link back to this thread? Or do you imagine the wiki will eventually house all of this info?

By the way, is there some level of contribution required to wear those fancy wings?

I think one contribution is enough to wear the badge.

I'm still not sure what direction to take with the wiki, but I'm open to suggestions. I suppose the page could have instructions like the ones posted in the thread, but it might get a bit long. Also, posting images to the wiki is kind of a pain and it doesn't have the imgur album functionality.

Anyway, the spirit of the thing is that anyone can edit it, making it even more "open source."

[Claw]

Maybe a sub-page for each user, with their respective contributions? Then your main page could link to an index on the appropriate sub page.

I suppose there could also be a sub-page for each technique. Or is that overkill?

[O-Doc]

Start out by placing a pocket I-beam...

It's better to build a stack of cubic struts on a flat surface and set you intakes onto them as a sub assembly. Then, attach them to the side of your tank and flipping them forward, rotate as desired. Next, you put another cubic strut on the base and flip it forward so it effectively occupies the same place as the base cubic strut and you get the attachment point for your cover(I also use the FL-A 10 which you can use to add a pair of 48-7S or IONs).

This way, you don't get the same result without the weight of I-Beams.

[Claw]

This way, you don't get the same result without the weight of I-Beams.

That works too. I tend to avoid a lot of multi layer clipping, so this was a way to build without multi-clip and without ALT+F12.

If I were to go for minimum everything, I would just build a stack of cubic struts, enable part clipping, and insert intakes. That would reduce out the weight of the I-beam and eliminate half of the cubic struts in your proposal.

All those methods are valid.

[GusTurbo]

Maybe a sub-page for each user, with their respective contributions? Then your main page could link to an index on the appropriate sub page.

I suppose there could also be a sub-page for each technique. Or is that overkill?

I think a sub-page for each user would work. It's a lot of work though

[Claw]

I think a sub-page for each user would work. It's a lot of work though

It would be a lot of work if you did it all. But if the point is to make it more "open source," I would think the creating user could/would maintain their own page.

Although maybe that makes the assumption that each user would want to, or even has the knowledge...

[GusTurbo]

Since there's over 100 different techniques listed in this thread, I could use some help getting everything on that wiki page. If you want, you can put up your own submissions.

[Blue]

I don't have a wiki membership and I'm not sure I really want to get one....

[Claw]

I went ahead and made a wiki account, but it might be a bit before I have a proper computer to help with.

[iClarion]

N-TURBO Engine.

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Here's a mission I completed using the engine design complete with RAM SPAM.

http://imgur.com/a/aIuMx

Edited July 10, 2014 by iClarion

[GusTurbo]

That's outstanding!

Also, you can embed by putting [ imgur ] [ /imgur] tags around the album code, which is aIuMx. So it would look like this (without the spaces): [ imgur ]aIuMx[ /imgur]

[iClarion]

One more! "Hexacolor light panel". <- SCRATCH THAT.

More like 3kk color. Don't even know what to call this thing. 9 sets of base color lights, and 1 tone light. I have no idea how many color combinations this is, but it's a lot. If it's 10!, than that means there's over 3,000,000 color combinations. It's only 23 parts and can easily be strapped to a station.

GIF of changing lights

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Edited July 10, 2014 by iClarion

[LvL]

I present to you, the BEST way to mount your VTOL engines

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first, place 3 cubic struts on top of each other. next, put a jet engine of your choice on the top. after that, pick up the stick by grabbing the bottom cubic strut and rotate it 2 times so that it is partially clipped in the engine (as seen in second pic). if you want the engine further clipped into the engine, (third pic) repeat but with 2 cubic struts at the start, not 3.

[BriXman]

I present to you, the BEST way to mount your VTOL engines

http://imgur.com/a/6hTJT

first, place 3 cubic struts on top of each other. next, put a jet engine of your choice on the top. after that, pick up the stick by grabbing the bottom cubic strut and rotate it 2 times so that it is partially clipped in the engine (as seen in second pic). if you want the engine further clipped into the engine, (third pic) repeat but with 2 cubic struts at the start, not 3.

Hey Oarum! See ya found your way to this thread as well! Nice mount of dat engine, and also when it's flipped around I THINK you can add on an upward facing air intake on top or the next-to-top cubic strut, so it will flush with the fuel tank. Or perhaps not, I dunno.

[Rune]

Ok, you guys are dancing around the issue, and I've recently begun applying the philosophy systematically enough to know how to explain it (I hope!): Fuel routing and part clipping, when do they work and when do they ... well, not.

Basically, when you put a lot of engines and tanks clipped into each other, throwing a few intakes for extra measure, engines rarely get fuel even if they are stuck to the end of a fuel tank. So why, and how do you go about keeping it from happening? The short version of the answer is "if you use a connection node twice, it will stop letting fuel pass through". And that's pretty much the best explanation, too. Nodes are the green thingies that show up on the VAB whenever you grab a part, BTW.

Now let's explain with an example, in this case that VTOL engine mount you are talking about. The first cubic strut is connected by surface attachment to the tank, so no fuel routing issues there (surface attachment always works). The second is attached to the free node of the first (actually, since it attached with surface attachment, it has TWO free nodes), and the next attaches to the one that remains free. So on and so forth, until you get to the engine which is also attached to a free node, ergo, no fuel pipes required. If you attach intakes to any of the cubic struts, though, the fuel flow will break and you will need to add lines to bypass the block. Now this means that there is another way to do this: You could start the strut column from the underside, put the engine clipped through them, and it would still drain fuel OK if it was stuck to a free node.

You guys also use a lot of clipping techniques here, so perhaps a tiny bit of comment on that is in order: the only real difference between turning part clipping on and off is that you can use non-free nodes and therefore screw with the fuel routing. That's right, everything else can be clipped just the same as if you had the "cheat" on, thanks to the three part clipping bugs the UI has:

1- The game only checks collision meshes intersecting, so you can put a part inside another without the game knowing you are "cheating".

2- The game only checks the collision meshes of the craft and the root part of what you are attaching, so if your cubic strut will fit, it doesn't matter if it has a gazillion tanks and engines hanging off it.

3- If you put it someplace else and then move it around, the game doesn't refresh the clipping/not clipping status of the part you are holding until it is no longer in contact with the craft at all.

Oh, another final point to avoid construction bugs: sometimes, when you drop a part into the ship connecting to a node, it will pick a weird parent (that's what happens when later, you take out a random part and some other part that isn't even touching it comes off with it). Why, and how do you stop it from happening? Well, have you noticed how some parts highlight a bit when you are about to drop another part on them? That's the game telling you which part it thinks it is attaching the next one to. The future parent part, in other words. So take care when dropping parts in complicated builds, and know that it helps a lot to place them if you grab them form somewhere close to the node you are going to use to connect them.

All in all, "part clipping: on" only means you build with much less hassle, once you know the UI quirks in the first place, for all those who think it is the ultimate cheat. It really doesn't let you do much you couldn't do another way. Not that you guys will take my word for it, of course!

Rune. Wow that was a tutorial-esque post. You guys like?

Edited July 11, 2014 by Rune

[GusTurbo]

That's a really good explanation Rune. That should be really helpful.

[Rune]

That's a really good explanation Rune. That should be really helpful.

Thanks! I learned by reading such things and then experimenting on the (often conflicting) reports, so I like to do my bit now that I have more experience under my belt.

Rune. No, those are not gray hairs. Those are XPs shining through.

[LvL]

Hey Oarum! See ya found your way to this thread as well! Nice mount of dat engine, and also when it's flipped around I THINK you can add on an upward facing air intake on top or the next-to-top cubic strut, so it will flush with the fuel tank. Or perhaps not, I dunno.

nope, if you put it on the top, then the sides of it will be dangling off the sides. if you put it in with the cubic struts, it looks very​ weird.

[LvL]

Thanks! I learned by reading such things and then experimenting on the (often conflicting) reports, so I like to do my bit now that I have more experience under my belt.

Rune. No, those are not gray hairs. Those are XPs shining through.

I just turn clipping on because I don't like the game complaining when I put normal things on my craft, no clipping, and KSP says, 'no, you can't put that there'. also, when you flip stuff into other things, like when you flip a cubic strut into a fuel tank, part of the cubic strut will show up on the top.

[Titan Space Agency]

I have figured out a simple way to make better looking intakes:

http://imgur.com/a/y7FHD#0

Edited July 14, 2014 by Titan Space Agency

[BriXman]

I have figured out a simple way to make better looking intakes:

http://imgur.com/a/y7FHD#0

That's cool, gonna use that!

[Titan Space Agency]

I've got another one. When I'm building a launcher series, I start out with a 5 ton launcher, and I often find I the LVT-30/35 and LV-909 don't work. I have used a radial engine to fix the problem.

http://imgur.com/a/FDsGK#6

[Claw]

Titan,

I'm not sure if you know, but you can embed imgur albums into your post. You do it by placing the album's five letter identifier inside imgur tags.

It looks like this: [noparse]

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[/noparse]

And the end result is this:

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By the way, I like this intake design. I might have to steal it.

[Titan Space Agency]

Thanks. I knew you could, i just couldn't figure it out.

[Mesklin]

It is also my common intake's design. For me it is good balance between spamming and not spamming intakes