VAB/SPH Precision Mode

[Actzoltan]

When working on VTOL or Asymmetric craft there is always a frustration of guessing where the center of thrust is from the center of mass.

Placement of parts even with editor extensions is not precise enough to handle exact placement of the COT.

Four things i would like to see added is:

The COM, COT, COL markers with straight thin lines. The COM has 6 lines from the origin. The COT, COL have a direction arrow and 1 line from origin.

a way to view the COM, COT, COL in a numerical X,Y,Z format with decimals.

a way to isolate the view of the COT from all or selected parts with thrust.

a way to select, move and rotate/angle already placed parts with the above numerical layout. To select a part ctrl+left.

While in precision mode the numerical directional vectors are shown from how far they are from intersection the COM origin.

While precision mode and isolate selected is on the movement of the part follows the part clipping rule unless allow part clipping is enabled.

Movement of a part in precision mode is limited to what it is attached to.

Multiple parts can be selected to be moved at once.

Below is what i have imagined this idea could be like with an asymmetric VTOL SSTO i created. although its a bit difficult to land.

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[NeilC]

I agree!

Also, how about this: when in precision mode, you can right-click the CoM / CoL / CoT icons to enable "snap to" mode. The icons would change color, and any radial-attached parts would snap to the axial location of the centres (is CoM vertical line above, so a ring all the way around the craft for each centre). This would make it trivial to place balanced RCS thrusters, or wings to add lift without affecting flight characteristics.

[Kerbrud]

Sorry to revive this old thread, but to OP and/or anyone else who sees this - have anyone actually made this? I think that having longer lines for lift and thrust is crucial. Alternatively, does anyone know how that plugin could be tweaked to show longer lines?

Cheers!

[ringerc]

I find the center-of markers nearly useless because of their lack of extension lines. This would be a big improvement.