[1.12.X] Tantares - Stockalike Soyuz and MIR [16.1][28.05.2024][Mars Expedition WIP]

[curtquarquesso]

5 hours ago, Beale said:

Thanks for the great information!
It seems what I have been modelling as a window is actually a mount for solar panels, stupid mistake on my part!

I think the Spektr has a very interesting top shape, it is not a point, or not close to the current shape, it is a little like this (but  more short):
Best comparison I can think of... Iced juice holder.

Heh. What a strangely accurate description of its shape! It confused me for a long time too. Depending on which side you view it from, it's either rounded and truncated, or sharp and pointed. It's very unique. If it were an unmanned unpresurrized part, you could drop the mass way down to prevent Spektr from being too heavy on liftoff. If it functions as a manned part, then you have to add mass to balance it against stock parts. It is a weird one... Heh

This was the imaged that helped me figure out better the shape of the module:

1 hour ago, CobaltWolf said:

Beale, if you have any good webpages or other sources for reference on TKS + Functional Cargo Block can you please forward them to me? My Big G project has developed some interesting political sympathies...

(Same for Salyut, though I think I can just trawl through the Salyut update pages on the thread)

So, I have about 2.2GB and rising of technical drawings, diagrams, images, PDFs, presentations, and more on my Google Drive. I'm trying to figure out what the best way to share them would be. I want a repository that people can contribute to, and I want them to be able to browse the stored media in browser so they don't have to download an entire 2.2GB file to see what's in it. Suggestions?

Here's what I have on "Big G", Gemini, and the MOL program:

Ninfinger Space Modeler's Permanent Photo Archive (May have some Big G and MOL stuff in it..)

Teaser Trailer for "Space That Never Was" featuring the Gemini MOL

On TKS and Salyut, I have more information than I can post here. PM me, and I'll add you on the drive temporarily until I find a better solution. It should be organized enough, and I should be able to point you in the right direction.

Does anyone have a good idea on how to host large amounts of PDFs, JPEGS, PNGs, and PPT presentations on a site where you can preview the content in browser prior to downloading?

[CobaltWolf]

1 hour ago, curtquarquesso said:

So, I have about 2.2GB and rising of technical drawings, diagrams, images, PDFs, presentations, and more on my Google Drive. I'm trying to figure out what the best way to share them would be. I want a repository that people can contribute to, and I want them to be able to browse the stored media in browser so they don't have to download an entire 2.2GB file to see what's in it. Suggestions?

Here's what I have on "Big G", Gemini, and the MOL program:

Ninfinger Space Modeler's Permanent Photo Archive (May have some Big G and MOL stuff in it..)

Teaser Trailer for "Space That Never Was" featuring the Gemini MOL

On TKS and Salyut, I have more information than I can post here. PM me, and I'll add you on the drive temporarily until I find a better solution. It should be organized enough, and I should be able to point you in the right direction.

Does anyone have a good idea on how to host large amounts of PDFs, JPEGS, PNGs, and PPT presentations on a site where you can preview the content in browser prior to downloading?

Alright will do. Thanks for the links - Ninfinger has become a good source for me in general.

My Blue Gemini / Big G / MOL parts have morphed into some weird thing, equal to Soyuz / TKS / Salyut, respectively.

[Beale]

15 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

Beale, if you have any good webpages or other sources for reference on TKS + Functional Cargo Block can you please forward them to me? My Big G project has developed some interesting political sympathies...

(Same for Salyut, though I think I can just trawl through the Salyut update pages on the thread)

13 hours ago, curtquarquesso said:

Heh. What a strangely accurate description of its shape! It confused me for a long time too. Depending on which side you view it from, it's either rounded and truncated, or sharp and pointed. It's very unique. If it were an unmanned unpresurrized part, you could drop the mass way down to prevent Spektr from being too heavy on liftoff. If it functions as a manned part, then you have to add mass to balance it against stock parts. It is a weird one... Heh

Does anyone have a good idea on how to host large amounts of PDFs, JPEGS, PNGs, and PPT presentations on a site where you can preview the content in browser prior to downloading?

@CobaltWolf Sadly I do not have any secret archive. Mainly it is Google images + Wikipedia + Russian Space Web (for technical information).

I'm very excited by the sounds of what you are doing...!

Something like this?

@curtquarquesso If the collection is already on the Google Drive, you can create a shareable link that anyone can edit, just right click -> share.
Maybe that will work?

Sharing like this is best for view-only (Don't want any little gremlins to sneak in and delete files!), but it would be a nice way to get that treasure of images publically available  .

Thanks for the Spektr image also, I think a "correct" part is needed alongside the current part, maybe.

TKS Bits

Not much. Thruster and thick decoupler.

 

[tjsnh]

That new thruster looks pretty slick.
I've found the TKS monoprop thruster to be an incredibly useful part, it "fits" better than the stock monoprop radial engine on a wide variety of designs.

[Beale]

2 hours ago, tjsnh said:

That new thruster looks pretty slick.
I've found the TKS monoprop thruster to be an incredibly useful part, it "fits" better than the stock monoprop radial engine on a wide variety of designs.

Thanks!

Four Adapters

 

[hraban]

Uh, i build a Monopropellant Thruster for radial installation too ...

[Beale]

2 hours ago, hraban said:

Uh, i build a Monopropellant Thruster for radial installation too ...

 

Nice!

I like the 'guard plates'.

 

New Radiator pattern, what do you think?
Too 'peacock-y' (word?) flamboyant maybe?

I will also have a solar variant this time.

Edited January 30, 2016 by Beale

[Foxxonius Augustus]

5 hours ago, Beale said:

~snip~ Four Adapters ~snip~

Very nice! Are they replacing the current ones?

26 minutes ago, Beale said:

~snip~ New Radiator pattern, what do you think? ~snip~

Pretty but I never really felt they needed an update. I honestly loved the old ones a few versions back that have vertical lines and I have only just become accepting of the newer texture. Also any chance we can get them to be functional radiators?

[curtquarquesso]

22 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

Alright will do. Thanks for the links - Ninfinger has become a good source for me in general.

My Blue Gemini / Big G / MOL parts have morphed into some weird thing, equal to Soyuz / TKS / Salyut, respectively.

Ninfinger is an amazing source. You have to dive really deep in that website to get to the good stuff.

8 hours ago, tjsnh said:

That new thruster looks pretty slick.
I've found the TKS monoprop thruster to be an incredibly useful part, it "fits" better than the stock monoprop radial engine on a wide variety of designs.

Anything fits better than the stock radial mono-prop engine. I can't believe that part was ever released. It's so awful. 

3 hours ago, hraban said:

Uh, i build a Monopropellant Thruster for radial installation too ...

Wow! That looks really great! Stiff competition for sure!

56 minutes ago, Beale said:

Radiator/Monoprop:
Solar?!? That's a fantastic idea. I had totally forgotten the TKS had solar panels on them at one point supposedly. Awesome idea.
I think the old texture was really accurate already. What you could do, is use the loopy "flamboyant" texture on a dedicated radiator part. If you look at any of the FGB TKS modules, you'll know what I mean. On the starboard and port sides of hull, in-between the radial monopropellant tanks, there's a dedicated, shorter, wider, radiator that fits in there. I think that would be a great use for that texture.

Radial Monopropellant Thusters:
One issue I have when using these thrusters is that the length of it makes it difficult to work with. The guard is too long, and it sticks out too far. I think generally, it could be shorter and wider, and a tad larger around. 

Thick Decoupler:
Awesome. One of my favorite parts of that pack. Super useful.

Adapters:
Yay! Glad to see the abandonment of the ribbed stock style. Smooth is nice. On the two larger ones, I'd be careful about the lip on the top. Consider how those parts will look when clipping into stuff, and how the slope will be effected. I'll have to mess with them Might be an issue, might not. Just a thought. 

Also, could you consider throwing in a 1.25m – 2.5m adapter to replace the awful stock one? I hate having to use it alongside your parts. A shallow one and a longer one would be nice. Literally anything would be better. Heh.

Spektr:
Agreed. Good solution.

 

Edited January 30, 2016 by curtquarquesso

[Foxxonius Augustus]

4 minutes ago, curtquarquesso said:

Ninfinger is an amazing source. You have to dive really deep in that website to get to the good stuff.

Anything fits better than the stock radial mono-prop engine. I can't believe that part was ever released. It's so awful. 

Wow! That looks really great! Stiff competition for sure!

Radiator/Monoprop:
I think the old texture was really accurate already. What you could do, is use the loopy "flamboyant" texture on a dedicated radiator part. If you look at any of the FGB top modules, you'll know what I mean. On the starboard and port sides of hull, in-between the radial monopropellant tanks, there's a dedicated radiator that fits in there. I think that would be a great use for that texture.

Radial Monopropellant Thusters:
One issue I have when using these thrusters is that the length of it makes it difficult to work with. The guard is too long, and it sticks out too far. I think generally, it could be shorter and wider, and a tad larger around. 

Thick Decoupler:
Awesome. One of my favorite parts of that pack. Super useful.

Adapters:
Yay! Glad to see the abandonment of the ribbed stock style. Smooth is nice. On the two larger ones, I'd be careful about the lip on the top. Consider how those parts will look when clipping into stuff, and how the slope will be effected. I'll have to mess with them Might be an issue, might not. Just a thought. 

Also, could you consider throwing in a 1.25m – 2.5m adapter to replace the awful stock one? I hate having to use it alongside your parts. A shallow one and a longer one would be nice. Literally anything would be better. Heh.

Spektr:
Agreed. Good solution.

 

I Agree with basically everything here except for the bit about hoping the ribbed style will be gone. I have always like how industrial and utilitarian that style made craft look. Also it will make the non-reentry HAMAL probe cores and the associated tanks harder to work with and as it is I use those things on everything!

[hraban]

Personally, I would prefer fins instead of the loop appearance. The integration of a radiator function would be excellent. Finally, this was the main function of the fuel tank fairing.

[pTrevTrevs]

I decided to finally get back into this mod before 1.1 hits and makes me start all over. Here's the first mission of my Soviet Programme (In sandbox, cause I don't like to repeat missions over and over)

R-1 IRBM launches from the newly constructed Kosmodrome with a small capsule containing a frog or a cat or something probably...

Capsule ejection at 50km. The capsule flew to a height of 61km, not quite to space, but very close.

Here's a closer look at the capsule itself.

Fortunately, there was no reentry heating, and the capsule's parachute deployed with no problems

Capsule awaiting recovery. Next mission I do will be a satellite launch on an R-7, then probably either a Vostok mission or a Munar probe.

[Beale]

1 hour ago, Foxxonius Augustus said:

Very nice! Are they replacing the current ones?

Pretty but I never really felt they needed an update. I honestly loved the old ones a few versions back that have vertical lines and I have only just become accepting of the newer texture. Also any chance we can get them to be functional radiators?

30 minutes ago, hraban said:

Personally, I would prefer fins instead of the loop appearance. The integration of a radiator function would be excellent. Finally, this was the main function of the fuel tank fairing.

Possible, the short variant can have this texture!

I think these really deserve a normal-map!

@Foxxonius Augustus I think for certain they need to be functional now, long overdue!  

 

41 minutes ago, curtquarquesso said:

Radiator/Monoprop:
Solar?!? That's a fantastic idea. I had totally forgotten the TKS had solar panels on them at one point supposedly. Awesome idea.
I think the old texture was really accurate already. What you could do, is use the loopy "flamboyant" texture on a dedicated radiator part. If you look at any of the FGB TKS modules, you'll know what I mean. On the starboard and port sides of hull, in-between the radial monopropellant tanks, there's a dedicated, shorter, wider, radiator that fits in there. I think that would be a great use for that texture.

Radial Monopropellant Thusters:
One issue I have when using these thrusters is that the length of it makes it difficult to work with. The guard is too long, and it sticks out too far. I think generally, it could be shorter and wider, and a tad larger around. 

Adapters:
Yay! Glad to see the abandonment of the ribbed stock style. Smooth is nice. On the two larger ones, I'd be careful about the lip on the top. Consider how those parts will look when clipping into stuff, and how the slope will be effected. I'll have to mess with them Might be an issue, might not. Just a thought. 

Also, could you consider throwing in a 1.25m – 2.5m adapter to replace the awful stock one? I hate having to use it alongside your parts. A shallow one and a longer one would be nice. Literally anything would be better. Heh.

Thanks for the great feedback!

Radiator

I think dedicated radiator parts could be very interesting, especially if the same texture can be re-used! 
But, one worry is I feel like I would be dipping my toes in ISS parts, etc. The rabbit hole has no end 

Thruster

Interesting! I've never considered that!

Two alternate configurations, without lip and with a shorter lip.#

Thoughts?

Adapters

Yes, the lip is a little bit different than before. It's more of a random style choice, but not exactly set in cement  

There's also the taller adapter as before, still smooth.

A 2.5 -> 1.25 adapter could be interesting, and arguably necessary now I have abandoned the ribs.

32 minutes ago, Foxxonius Augustus said:

I Agree with basically everything here except for the bit about hoping the ribbed style will be gone. I have always like how industrial and utilitarian that style made craft look. Also it will make the non-reentry HAMAL probe cores and the associated tanks harder to work with and as it is I use those things on everything!

It is a hard choice for me to lose this also, it's a 'classic' appearance of the stock parts.

But, my feelings:

• There has been lots of demand for non-ribbed versions of these parts, so parts can be surfaced attached in a non-ugly way.
• I don't think the ribs in the stock game will survive the Porkjet art pass, but I cannot say for sure. It's a gamble, but...
• I like gambling.

 

Quote

@pTrevTrevsI decided to finally get back into this mod before 1.1 hits and makes me start all over. Here's the first mission of my Soviet Programme (In sandbox, cause I don't like to repeat missions over and over)R-1 IRBM launches from the newly constructed Kosmodrome with a small capsule containing a frog or a cat or something probably...Capsule ejection at 50km. The capsule flew to a height of 61km, not quite to space, but very close.Here's a closer look at the capsule itself.Fortunately, there was no reentry heating, and the capsule's parachute deployed with no problemsCapsule awaiting recovery. Next mission I do will be a satellite launch on an R-7, then probably either a Vostok mission or a Munar probe.

Excellent mission!  

Edited January 30, 2016 by Beale

[CobaltWolf]

4 hours ago, Beale said:

I think dedicated radiator parts could be very interesting, especially if the same texture can be re-used! 
But, one worry is I feel like I would be dipping my toes in ISS parts, etc. The rabbit hole has no end 

I know that feel. T.T I try to make a couple parts next thing I know I have 100+ planned... (no, seriously)

[tjsnh]

The monoprop engine without the "lip" would be more useful, could fit radially on tiny segments etc

[OTmikhail]

On 1/30/2016 at 3:08 PM, Beale said:

Thruster

Interesting! I've never considered that!

Two alternate configurations, without lip and with a shorter lip.#

Thoughts?

 

 

I personally would really like to have the version on the right with no lip, BUT also have the longer version.

 

On 1/30/2016 at 4:10 AM, Beale said:

TKS Bits

Not much. Thruster and thick decoupler.

 

With the no lip version I can create sleek satellites or barely noticeable station thrusters. AND with the long lip version i can create stuff like this: Stationary Landing Legs

 

Edited January 31, 2016 by OTmikhail
fix image

[curtquarquesso]

So, I've started messing around with Unity 5...

CYGNUS:

 

The aluminum panel segments on the PCM came out looking really nice with no excessive fiddling. The albedo is somewhere in-between platinum and aluminum. PBR is just amazing.

I experimented on the service module with a crappy Kapton/Mylar texture I dug up somewhere. If KSP is lacking anything, it's Kapton and Mylar. It naturally looks out really out of place next to the Tantares style, but Kapton and Mylar is now totally doable in KSP. 

ATV:

It just keeps getting better. Another quick and dirty test of a polar oppositely materialed part. Thermal fabric needs a normal map to really stand out, but I wouldn't say that it's a necessity. The aluminum structure stands out a lot more with the metal shading. I've got it setup currently so that the fabric and soft-goods are in a separate material from the aluminum paneling, trim, and the engine assembly. I also threw little Capella's beady little eyes into a material of their own so I could make them super black and glossy like two little tiny marbles. 

I'm actually curious as to why more people aren't ramping up for 1.1 PBR shaders. Sure, you can't test them in game right now, but if you've been modding for a while, export to KSP is fairly trivial if your Unity setup and .cfg are set up correctly. There's a lot to learn with PBR, but it's so much fun. Heh. 

Edited February 3, 2016 by curtquarquesso

[hraban]

realy, realy nice!

[Beale]

18 hours ago, curtquarquesso said:

So, I've started messing around with Unity 5...

CYGNUS:

The aluminum panel segments on the PCM came out looking really nice with no excessive fiddling. The albedo is somewhere in-between platinum and aluminum. PBR is just amazing.

I experimented on the service module with a crappy Kapton/Mylar texture I dug up somewhere. If KSP is lacking anything, it's Kapton and Mylar. It naturally looks out really out of place next to the Tantares style, but Kapton and Mylar is now totally doable in KSP. 

ATV:

It just keeps getting better. Another quick and dirty test of a polar oppositely materialed part. Thermal fabric needs a normal map to really stand out, but I wouldn't say that it's a necessity. The aluminum structure stands out a lot more with the metal shading. I've got it setup currently so that the fabric and soft-goods are in a separate material from the aluminum paneling, trim, and the engine assembly. I also threw little Capella's beady little eyes into a material of their own so I could make them super black and glossy like two little tiny marbles. 

I'm actually curious as to why more people aren't ramping up for 1.1 PBR shaders. Sure, you can't test them in game right now, but if you've been modding for a while, export to KSP is fairly trivial if your Unity setup and .cfg are set up correctly. There's a lot to learn with PBR, but it's so much fun. Heh. 

Wow!

Stunning! It is quite subtle, especially with the ATV normal maps, but really nice  .

I think overall the fabric needs more "deep crinkles". (Hands on deck, because this next sentence will be an English train-wreck).

So, the current ATV normal map you have there captures the "thread" of the fabric, little micro-bumps. 
But, you also I think need to have some underlying surface deformation for the full effect, maybe like this:

I haven't managed to get anything that looks good, but I did get a shrink-wrapped-soyuz  

[CobaltWolf]

Great as all this PBR stuff is, I'm shuddering every time I think of having to convert my existing parts over.

[WuphonsReach]

On 1/29/2016 at 4:18 PM, curtquarquesso said:

 

Does anyone have a good idea on how to host large amounts of PDFs, JPEGS, PNGs, and PPT presentations on a site where you can preview the content in browser prior to downloading?

Seafile works well, but you'd need the professional/commercial version and would have to host it yourself (or in AWS).  They also offer a paid version (Seafile.cc?) which is a hosted solution.  Main reason I like is that it scales well (10s of thousands of files is not a problem, tested it with 80k files) and it handles large files properly (only transfers diffs).  From all that I've read, OwnCloud does not scale as well (but has other interesting features).  Seafile also has version control and basic permissions (i.e. an upload-only folder that can be used like the old anonymous FTP servers for people to send you things but not be able to retrieve them).

[curtquarquesso]

On February 3, 2016 at 7:56 AM, Beale said:

Wow! Stunning! It is quite subtle, especially with the ATV normal maps, but really nice  .
I think overall the fabric needs more "deep crinkles". (Hands on deck, because this next sentence will be an English train-wreck).
So, the current ATV normal map you have there captures the "thread" of the fabric, little micro-bumps. 
But, you also I think need to have some underlying surface deformation for the full effect, maybe like this:
I haven't managed to get anything that looks good, but I did get a shrink-wrapped-soyuz  

Everything I did was fairly slap-dash. I used CrazyBump to throw together the normal and spec maps. Very imprecise, and very rough. 

Here! Crinkles:

It's very basic, and poorly done, but the texture itself probably wouldn't nee much tweaking to support decent looking crinkles. The crinkle normal map would be the thing that'd have to be created for the texture. Currently, there's lots of visible tiling. I think I'll try putting crinkles on @planeguy868's black fabric TMA textured Soyuz... Hmm...

On February 3, 2016 at 2:22 PM, CobaltWolf said:

Great as all this PBR stuff is, I'm shuddering every time I think of having to convert my existing parts over.

As someone who's generally new to texturing, I'm loving it. It makes so much sense from someone who doesn't have to unlearn things. Even if you just throw your old assets and textures into Unity, they look better. All they need is tweaking of metal-ness and albedo. They won't look as good as they could, but you don't have to make metallic maps, spec maps, normal and AO maps for the stuff to look decent. Can't wait to see people start redoing assets with the new shaders. 

Can't stop me now...
Here's the Tantares flagship vessel:

 

The process consisted of going into the models, and sorting out which sections of the models get assigned to which materials. All generic gray parts of hull get grouped, the window panes get grouped, all the greebley bits get grouped into one material, and some of the fabric parts get grouped, etc. Then, once it's all in Unity, depending on what the material is supposed to represent in reality, you can tweak to make it look correct. Large areas like the main sections of hull, the fabric bits, and anything that would benefit from a normal and AO map got one applied to it conservatively. I think metallic maps would make it look good, but I don't really know how to generate one at the moment. Will investigate.

Edited February 5, 2016 by curtquarquesso

[Beale]

On 2/4/2016 at 2:24 AM, curtquarquesso said:

Everything I did was fairly slap-dash. I used CrazyBump to throw together the normal and spec maps. Very imprecise, and very rough. 

Here! Crinkles:

 

It's very basic, and poorly done, but the texture itself probably wouldn't nee much tweaking to support decent looking crinkles. The crinkle normal map would be the thing that'd have to be created for the texture. Currently, there's lots of visible tiling. I think I'll try putting crinkles on @planeguy868's black fabric TMA textured Soyuz... Hmm...

As someone who's generally new to texturing, I'm loving it. It makes so much sense from someone who doesn't have to unlearn things. Even if you just throw your old assets and textures into Unity, they look better. All they need is tweaking of metal-ness and albedo. They won't look as good as they could, but you don't have to make metallic maps, spec maps, normal and AO maps for the stuff to look decent. Can't wait to see people start redoing assets with the new shaders. 

Can't stop me now...
Here's the Tantares flagship vessel:

 

Oh man! That's beautiful, exactly what I imagined (better, really).  

I think the material splitting will be the tricky part, but like you say, we have to unlearn things. 

 

"Useful" Part

The TKS is nearing completion (modelling and texture), now moving to Unity  and in-game.

Soon!

 

[Beale]

TKS

With very little effort the Unity part is complete! In-game and working well!  

 

[spacecookie]

Hello almighty loaf, remember me ?  

It's been a while, I did a break with KSP for a while, now I am back ! Your work kept evolving during this time and I feel like discovering a brand new " Tantares " mod.

Tantares was a must-have to me one year ago and so is now, I love the new pieces and the revamp of the old ones, screenshots will follow soon

Edited February 5, 2016 by spacecookie