Config questions: Is there a way to change the "center" point?

[gabyalufix]

A while back, I thought I remember reading about a way to set the 'center' point in the config file. ie, the point where the module is centered when you grab it off the vab menu.

Is that point always the origin of the model? Or is there a way to change it?

I ask because I\'m fiddling with this idea: a telescoping landing leg (model is just a curiosity / proof-of-concept, not for actual use)

http://i.imgur.com/bJAu1.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/rmfQ5.jpg

It works by being very far away from the origin. But as it is, I can\'t get it far enough away that it looks straight, because if I do, then it appears outside the VAB walls. Another likely-unsurmountable problem is the fact that if the origin passes through the ground, it explodes.

Does anyone know the extent of the new plugin system? Were the vanilla landing legs built as a plugin? Do we have the ability to code our own animations?

[r4m0n]

I don\'t think you can change the way the origin is the VAB grab point, but you could solve your problem with multiple top attach nodes, no?

As for the module system:

The legs were built the same way the other vanilla parts, but they all have the same level of access to the game as the module system.

For animation, the biggest problem at the moment is that there is no loader for the animation, so you need to do everything in code by hand. But the whole Unity engine is in there and accessible to the modules, so making any kind of joints and animation is possible.

[Tiberion]

The center of the model (its origin) and the grab point aren\'t totally related. The grab point is set via the node_attach config setting (and if you don\'t have one, it defaults to the surface of the node_collder, above the origin, on the X axis it seems)

So, to change the grab point, specifiy a node_attach and adjust the 'location' (thw first three coordinates) as needed.

For instance, on a 1m regular tank, you might have a node_attach like this:

node_attach = 0.5, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0

Which is half a meter from the center on the X axis, with the x axis being the 'side' attaching to something else.

If you want to raise the node higher:

node_attach = 0.5, 0.5, 0, 1, 0, 0

That also raises the grab/attach point up half a meter, and when you click on the tank, you\'ll see it attached to the mouse at that point.

Its ALL relative to the origin of the part as created in the 3d modeling software, so you can also adjust it by offsetting the origin too, though that means all config settings that contain coordinates (visual FX connection nodes, thrust vectors, etc) have to be adjusted too.