Bond Aerotech and Sundries [v0.4.3.1 31st March 2014]

[NoMrBond]

I was coming up stumps with progress on these engines after getting their rest positions to mesh, staring at this trying to figure out how the animating petals should hit the base when they transition out for thrust

And then it hit me that last September I hadn't ever used a 3d modelling program before and this whole thing was a pipe dream, so yeah, that's progress.

Thank you KSP for putting this dream in my head, and all the community folks that have helped along the way.

[Mekan1k]

Um... I think the smoke coming off the engine is at a right angle.

I built this ship, and... The smoke is coming off at a right angle. It's kinda weird...

[NoMrBond]

Maybe the smokePoint transform uses X+ (red Unity transform arrow) for direction the smoke is coming off rather than Z+ (blue arrow) like the thrustTransform uses (or Y+ for RCS)

I'll see if I can fix it and roll up a new alpha upload along with a bunch of texture fixes tonight

[Edit] Turns out the smokePoint uses Y-, anyway refreshed the download and it should be fixed on the 1.25m M.A.C.E, I'll fix the other one for the next update.

Edited February 23, 2014 by NoMrBond

[boberts314]

Regards the petal base, I would usually expect something like that to use a hinge hidden in a small recess. The only way I can think to describe it is sort of a crenellated design for the base with the petals attached between the crenellations. Maybe I can find a picture if that doesnt make any sense...

[NoMrBond]

Ah, I did put something in for that but I forgot to put a picture up, probably because I managed to do something to the alpha channel of texture I was working on and now the specular effect looks absurd like someone went crazy with the buffer and I can't figure out how to tone it down without breaking the whole texture, I may just have to start again with that one (and fix the UV first since one of the problems was actually an island being at the edge so it always looked pale in game on that edge).

[Edit] This is what they currently look like with the recessed joint space for the petals to flex within

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You can see the main body has gone super shiny (and a bit too dark).

[Edit2]Was thinking about 2.5m or mk2 profiles version/s, I should really finish at least a base texturing/specular pass on everything first

Managed to get a vaguely metal looking texture and rough looking specular on some parts (the stack insert radial trusses)

Way better looking (while being half the res/size) than the flat grey previously, but still not quite there, I might rebuild those SI trusses almost completely to reduce the triangle count though, they're a bit heavy in that regard.

Edited February 28, 2014 by NoMrBond

[NoMrBond]

Uhh, a life support container

I think

[Alskari]

Egg crate? Does Kerbin have anything that lays eggs?

[NoMrBond]

Egg crate? Does Kerbin have anything that lays eggs?

Heh, they certainly didn't turn out as much like cylinders as I wanted, the idea seems sound and the layout seems ok I was just hoping to keep the triangle count down but it distorted them a bit much

[boberts314]

The engine recesses: It's hard to tell without being able to move the camera, but I think I see what you did. Looks pretty good to me.

The trusses: Wow, that's actually a pretty major aesthetic difference. It's nice to see those get textured, they get a lot of use on my sattelites.

Egg basket: Somewhere on Kerbin there is a very angry chicken.

[NoMrBond]

The recess for the actuation clearance is a really small detail, although it does look better for it since the petals don't just merge through the body as they move now

I have a rebuild of the 4-way stack insert done, it looks identical but has ~25% less tri's, I'll keep working on it as I'm sure I can reduce that further (although that might require the cross-mesh detailing to change a bit)

Take 2 on the resource storage tanks look a bit more, well, tank like

Need to set up plumbing and other detailing etc

Edited March 1, 2014 by NoMrBond

[NoMrBond]

So this is where the stack insert v2 is at

The triangle/face count is way down, I should probably do something with those central slabs, they don't really fit

[Daemoria]

What is your technique for reducing triangles in these truss sections? Flat quad with an transparent texture?

That is a really cool piece as well, I guess I missed the original post... The default pieces just look so haphazard when they are radially attached to a stack. This provides a very nice solid base.

[NoMrBond]

I wish it was something cool, but it's that I had almost no idea what I was doing when I made the first version so the the entire piece is one unbroken mesh with lots of unnecessary faces and vertices like this

Which seemed (in my brain at the time) like the way it should be done

The reduction is relative, just me getting into the way of thinking about how models are actually rendered which means the v2 now looks like this instead

Which is a lot kinder on resources

[NoMrBond]

Oops, forgot to fix the matching truss for those stack-inserts since they all share a texture

Will fix the UV unwrap for that so it works properly with the new specular texture, and adjust the mesh detailing as well to reduce face/tri counts

[NoMrBond]

Would there be any interest in having animated bay doors for some of versions of the automation bays?

I envisaged them for use with MSI-IR (or actuating the doors) but some people might not have/want that

[Read have Read]

Built in an animated doors could be pretty nifty, but I am not sure what I would do with them other than solar panels or something.

However, I have been looking for a rover garage - something like an automation bay that has opening big enough to drive out of, while connecting a heat shield at the bottom with a parachute on top.

There was something similar on spaceport called a landing package, but it was abandoned.

There could be a Mars Pathfinder/Sojuner style, as well as larger roomier 2m square garage.

[NoMrBond]

One of the reasons I didn't really think about doing it was that the doors/panels would essentially become decorative, you couldn't (for instance) attach something functional to the doors (like a rover which would drop off after the door opened, or lights etc) because they wouldn't move when the door was actuated with the conventional animation system, but beyond that limitation they could still see some use.

Was that landing package the SpaceTech one? I'll have a think about it, one of the things I wanted to do was a drop pod in the style of an upside down flower, where it would open up after re-entry but before landing, landing on the petal tips with the payload suspended in the middle.

Will have a think about general (deployable) surface structures

[Horus]

*UFO came here & took the post away*

Edited March 6, 2014 by Horus
kerbpoo removal

[NoMrBond]

That first one should be fixed after Mekan1k pointed it out a couple of pages ago, which engine is still shooting out smoke in the wrong direction? Oh, I could be the MACEv1, I should really remember to take that out as it's a depreciated test part

There sure are, there are a couple of posts about me trying to fix this one page back, known issue, still working on it as time allows

The bays were/are for use with MSI-IR, it just meant you didn't need a probe core or manned pod with your vessel, useful in some cases and completely immaterial in others. The collision meshes should (should!) be conformal with the bays but I haven't looked at them for a while and they need finishing (the outer meshes could almost certainly use simplifying, need to go in an make the simple node_collider meshes in Blender for them)

[blackheart612]

NoMrBond, with the engine's emissive map, why did you use it, what did you want it to look like?

[NoMrBond]

Oh, that was me trying to get it working on the MACEv1 test part (it doesn't, yet), I mean, it works in Unity but not in-game

Apparently this is something to do with the way Unity 4.3.3 makes the associated animation, it would work under 4.2.2 but I can't be bothered downgrading since it will probably work in 0.24 (since it sounds like this will be based on 4.3.3)

[blackheart612]

Haha. Alright, cool. BTW, did you see KSPI having the cool animations too? you could refer to it.

[NoMrBond]

I haven't looked as KSPI yet, although I've seen quite a few streams using the parts, too much free time playing with this stuff and not enough actually playing the game

Oddities abound with gimballing

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No idea what's going on here, Unity version looks fine, preview thumbnail looks fine, actual in-game is off?

Changing the orientation of the gameObject the thrust animations are tied to results in no change at all either /headscratch

[Edit] Everything else associated with the gimballing, thrust, effects, smoke all works, just the petals are 90' over and refuse to be orientated

[Edit2] I think it's because I had to break the prefab hierarchy

[Edit3] Yep, on the upside

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Everything moves now (chained animations woooooooooo).

[Edit 4] Of course everything is now moving more than I expected by gimbal-degrees so I need to adjust the model otherwise stuff is just passing through each other and it looks weird :\

Edited March 7, 2014 by NoMrBond

[blackheart612]

I haven't looked as KSPI yet, although I've seen quite a few streams using the parts, too much free time playing with this stuff and not enough actually playing the game

I know that feel.

Here.

[AntiMatter001]

I know that feel.

Here.

https://i.imgur.com/S6HW4xM.gif

O.O

if it wasn't in KSPI i'd download it. i love the look of these engines