[WIP] US Probes - Old and New - Dev Thread

[Guest]

On Aqua, I see a single-color black bit, which doesn't really look good. In general, plain black doesn't look too good on a computer monitor. On Terra, I'd change the solar panels to something a bit less catroonish. There also seems to be some bad lighting, though this might just be the texture.

The gold foil looks fine, but it's clear now that silver foil on Terra (Aqua is fine) could use a similar makeover. Also, some parts look like they're plain gray, I presume they'd be covered with foil, too.

[NathanKell]

Dragon01, while I don't per se disagree with those points, would it kill you to also talk about the stuff you *do* like?

Me, I'm mostly wondering if the various Vanguard-launched (or failed-to-launch) ones are also on the list. I did some digging for Surveyor and didn't find any already-done models, which is a shame....

[raidernick]

On Aqua, I see a single-color black bit, which doesn't really look good. In general, plain black doesn't look too good on a computer monitor. Also, some parts look like they're plain gray, I presume they'd be covered with foil, too.

It would if it did but it's not so it doesn't

Dragon01, while I don't per se disagree with those points, would it kill you to also talk about the stuff you *do* like?

I'm quite sure that it would kill him, if he actually liked anything.

Edited September 14, 2014 by raidernick

[raidernick]

These are now available in the release thread: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/93389

Here are updated photos:

Edited September 14, 2014 by raidernick

[TranceaddicT]

Everybody's a critic. Those who can, do. Those who can't, criticize.

Personally, I think your work is fantastic. With each one you refine your work. Keep it up.

[sirkut]

I agree, they look great! I have been jonesing for a probe pack(probes are severely neglected) and you deliver.

[TMBakeNaut]

Agreed these are fun and the area of Probes has been lacking, Lionhead or AIES have given some good packs but their updates have fallen behind a bit. Thanks for your time and efforts on all of your projects, I have enjoyed recreating the space race with them. Is there any chance you could make the solar panels on the EOS Satellites a separate part? I can think of a few places those monsters would be of use.

Wish your harshest critic would invest less time in the judge's box and more on getting his own projects complete.

[NathanKell]

Yeah, AFAIK solar panels *always* need to be separate parts, as otherwise the transforms and the raycasting won't behave right.

[raidernick]

Agreed these are fun and the area of Probes has been lacking, Lionhead or AIES have given some good packs but their updates have fallen behind a bit. Thanks for your time and efforts on all of your projects, I have enjoyed recreating the space race with them. Is there any chance you could make the solar panels on the EOS Satellites a separate part? I can think of a few places those monsters would be of use.

Wish your harshest critic would invest less time in the judge's box and more on getting his own projects complete.

I will consider doing this on a future update.

Yeah, AFAIK solar panels *always* need to be separate parts, as otherwise the transforms and the raycasting won't behave right.

Seems like it works fine to me. In fact all of my parts on my mods have the panels attached to the main body and they all work fine. I think he meant separate entirely, I do have them as a separate object already. The only thing I haven't been able to do it make the panels properly "breakable", not really sure how. Test these out for yourself, the panels open, pivot and track the sun correctly and they are all part of the same model.

Edited September 14, 2014 by raidernick

[raidernick]

@TMBakeNaut, I quickly made the black solar panel a separate part for you to use on anything. I can't guarantee it will work perfectly but here it is anyway.

It needs to be installed into the RN_US_Probes/EOS folder as it uses the textures from the probes.

https://www./?9buc59u97704sbx

Edited September 14, 2014 by raidernick

[TMBakeNaut]

Well.... And I do realize you just threw this together, very much appreciation for that.

Anyhow.... Colliders are bit off, was challenging to get them connected, boxsat was probably not a good choice on my part due to size. I adjusted the cfg so that it would show up in Utilities instead of Command. Other than the minor aforementioned, they deployed, tracked and powered up the little guy like a champ.

Edited September 15, 2014 by NathanKell
removed embedded image (doesn't work here)

[raidernick]

Well.... And I do realize you just threw this together, very much appreciation for that.

Anyhow.... Colliders are bit off, was challenging to get them connected, boxsat was probably not a good choice on my part due to size. I adjusted the cfg so that it would show up in Utilities instead of Command. Other than the minor aforementioned, they deployed, tracked and powered up the little guy like a champ.

That's because the panels are not symmetrical, they are offset from the origin. They are not meant to be used on their own only the satellites. To make them work properly I would likely need to completely redo them.

[NathanKell]

TMBakeNaut: image embedding isn't supported; if you want to show a picture, you need to upload to an image host (like imgur) and then use the code they give you.

[raidernick]

Up next are the voyager probes. I'm wondering what to do with the camera, not sure how I'm going to get it to rotate on both axis player controlled and have hullcam follow it.

[raidernick]

Working with Sirkut on this to get the voyager camera controllable using his infernal robotics plugin. It will have hullcam attached to it also.

The next update will include this and a fix to the Terra solar panels, separating the side one into its own part so it can work all the time and not just when the other one is extended.

[raidernick]

Ok so voyager is going to be on hold for a bit while the camera problems are worked out. I decided to start on Galileo next. So far I have been messing around with it's dish. I have two animations done, one for the actual "broken" dish and one for what it would've looked like had it deployed properly.

[Kerbal01]

Great!

(10 char)

[raidernick]

Galileo is almost done. I finished the satellite part. I still need to do the entire atmospheric probe plus parachutes and heatshield/shell.

Here are some pics of the satellite minus the dish which I posted earlier.

[TMBakeNaut]

Looking terrific, hope the fix on Voyager comes quickly.

[Kerbal01]

Will you make an IUS for Galileo?

[raidernick]

I was not planning on doing any rocket parts in this pack, just the actual probes.

[raidernick]

So I have the Galileo atmosphere probe about 80% done. It is very difficult because of the lack of source material. I literally have one picture to work off of which only shows a single angle. I am guessing what the other 60% of the probe looks like.

[TMBakeNaut]

These are probably the same images you've already found of the Galileo Atmosphere Probe, thought they might help if you had not located these.

Edited September 21, 2014 by TMBakeNaut

[raidernick]

Yes the middle image is the only real image of the actual probe that I can find. I only used the one on the left for the location of the chute and antenna on top.

[raidernick]

Ok the probe is pretty much done. Please ignore the "missing/blank" areas on the probe. I deleted the vertices and I am currently replacing them to fix some mesh tearing issues to do with smoothing. These will be fixed before release.