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[falken]

With the radiator panel trio, i think it would be wise to have the whole thing, base included to be 1 part. It would also save on partcount. if you look at pics of the ISS you will see it only rotates at the base plate.

what plans are there for thevlarfe solar arrays, and will they have the rotate along the truss axis?

[NoMrBond]

I can make a one piece trio radiator all turning from a common baseplate, but I should probably have it on the underlying truss as the base for that

Totally possible, I just wasn't sure if someone else had already said they were doing to truss/es as yet as I didn't want to step on any toes (plus co-ordinating the size of the trusses so they're all the same profile).

[m00f]

WOW! I read through eyes turned skyward a few months ago and loved it! I was trying to do my own versions of the spacecraft with existing mods, but I think that a dedicated mod for that would be amazing!

[NoMrBond]

I've been working on reducing the S1 baseplate tri/face count (it's ~125k/50k in the example) to get it in game with an included triple-HRS compliment, what kind of tri/face limit is going to fly with this as 3x radiators is already quite a lot?

Edited June 24, 2014 by NoMrBond

[falken]

I'm fiddling around with the ISS Community project files, and I've noticed that the S1_P1 truss has radiator panels integrated which rotate so the thin edge of the radiator panels face to the sun. Clever!

That would take my current truss section from 6 parts each to 1.

[NoMrBond]

To pull that off I need to finish the single mount suncatcher+pivot for the 3x array, which means getting the S1 into a game ready state so I can mount the HRS panels on it

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Feels like slow going, down to 51k tris / 25k faces overall so far from 125/50 without even touching some parts yet

[falken]

Is the orange highlighted bits the primary truss element?

[NoMrBond]

Yep, that orange part is the structural truss I was working on, mostly done with it I think. I'm pulling one mesh out of the S1 at a time and reducing it, working through the details

They're very detailed, very nice, but KSP would have a hernia so I'm trying to keep the visual fidelity with minimum compromise otherwise it'd be like having 20 mainsails on your station all the time performance wise

[falken]

Yeah, keeping station parts simple is very important. Hence why I try to use the part welding tool where applicable!

[e of pi]

Yeah, that's going to be key if you're using Nixonshead's models. They're gorgeous, but I know KSP would choke and die. I admire the work you've done so far!

[nixonshead]

A suggestion if the poly-count is getting to be a problem: Could the trusses be modeled as simple boxes and a texture map used to add transparency to the gaps between struts of the truss? That would give a similar appearance but with far fewer polys. Is that possible in Kerbel?

[NoMrBond]

It is possible, unfortunately because of the one material per .mu limitation, it would mean having no specular for the truss, or splitting the truss into multiple .mu files and combining them with MODEL{} calls, which would make some parts shiny (alpha for specular) and some parts using the transparency trick (alpha for transparency). Bit of an extreme option, but something to explore if it's still monstrous after reducing the details.

Hopefully I'll be able to simplify it enough (re-adding details via NRM) that that kind of extreme action isn't required but we'll have to see, I just wish I had more time to dedicate to it

[Edit] Progress

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Trying to keep as much detail as possible (the appearance of some details will be re-added with a NRM layer later), still need to address the hand rails and other details, hopefully the compromises are acceptable

[Edit2] Worked on the handrail system and took off 5000 faces, MFW thouuussannnndddddddssssssss (down to sub 15k with a few meshes still to work on)

Edited June 26, 2014 by NoMrBond

[YANFRET]

If the truss parts are mostly off white, loosing the specular might not be so bad. If it works out that the truss can be it's own part, using transparency sounds like worthwhile cycle savings opportunity.

Edit: Radiators are looking sweeeeeeet!

Edited June 25, 2014 by YANFRET

[NoMrBond]

What a mission (final face count ~6k)

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Time for a short break before unwrapping, texturing, setting up normal et al

[YANFRET]

It's so beautiful!!!

I like the hand grabs especially.

[falken]

Cool. Is it going to have integrated docking ports, and what will the dimensions be roughly? (in reference to a stock part) so I cab figure out if ny HL shuttle can send the parts up.

[NoMrBond]

It's so beautiful!!!

I like the hand grabs especially.

Glad you like it, just trying to preserve as much detail from Nixon's (sp?) plan as possible really

Cool. Is it going to have integrated docking ports, and what will the dimensions be roughly? (in reference to a stock part) so I cab figure out if ny HL shuttle can send the parts up.

There are three points where you could have docking enabled, although I haven't yet made a docking port, let alone a part with multiple ports which is apparently pretty finicky

As for size, well it's currently modeled 'full size', you can probably see the 3 man 2.5m capsule underneath, the swing arm on top is meant for mounting 3x Radiators which are something like 8m long so the whole truss (at full size) is probably 32m long or so? (it conforms exactly to the plan dimensions at any rate)

Edited June 26, 2014 by NoMrBond

[falken]

Dang, that's big. Going to be impressive!

[Raptor831]

There are three points where you could have docking enabled, although I haven't yet made a docking port, let alone a part with multiple ports which is apparently pretty finicky

As for size, well it's currently modeled 'full size', you can probably see the 3 man 2.5m capsule underneath, the swing arm on top is meant for mounting 3x Radiators which are something like 8m long so the whole truss (at full size) is probably 32m long or so? (it conforms exactly to the plan dimensions at any rate)

You can only have 1 docking node per part, which means you'll essentially need to create a docking "adapter" part if you want to have all three of those active. It's a KSP "limitation" I believe.

And I'd love it if we could get this Kerbal-scale. Could always use options for trusses.

[NoMrBond]

You can only have 1 docking node per part, which means you'll essentially need to create a docking "adapter" part if you want to have all three of those active. It's a KSP "limitation" I believe.

And I'd love it if we could get this Kerbal-scale. Could always use options for trusses.

I thought this too, but Alskari is doing it for their Hollow Structures and Hulls mods, and Porkjet is doing it as well [explained in this thread], so it's certainly possible

Kerbal scale will be coming, just doing the initial modelling at full size

[falken]

The added bonus of having integrated docking ports is not only reduced part count, but higher rigidity.

Until your truss and solar arrays are available, my hybrid eyes turned skywards/real NASA based Freedom station is coming together...

[NoMrBond]

Well the HRS arrays (beta1) are available, the finished truss is going to take a while, 6000 face UV unwrap on 45 meshes was daunting as all hell, plus I need to move the NRM and texture for the HRS panels into a shared texture for the truss so it can be one piece for the suncatcher/MODULE{}, urg.

Otherwise I'm trying to bake a AO right now and whheeeee, I think this might take a while

[falken]

Cool, where can I download the radiator panels?

[Raptor831]

I thought this too, but Alskari is doing it for their Hollow Structures and Hulls mods, and Porkjet is doing it as well [explained in this thread], so it's certainly possible

Kerbal scale will be coming, just doing the initial modelling at full size

Ah, it seems the magic is within the part models. Did not know that. Sweet!

[YANFRET]

The added bonus of having integrated docking ports is not only reduced part count, but higher rigidity.

Until your truss and solar arrays are available, my hybrid eyes turned skywards/real NASA based Freedom station is coming together...

http://i.imgur.com/SCwzwWAl.png

Tell me more about that rounded hab thing