[EARLY WIP] 2001: A Space Odyssey Inspired Parts

[Nicholander]

WARNING: CONTAINS POORLY MADE TEXTURES

I wanted to try making a mod, so after some trial-and-error, this is what I got:

As you can see, it has 2 parts:

A 5 crew command pod inspired by the Aries-Ib, it's a half sphere and 3.75 M.

And a Monolith, and it's about the same size as the largest NASA Pack fuel tank.

Next, I'm going to make the fuel tank and engines of the Aries-Ib before anything else.

Also, if you want to try this, the download is here: http://www./download/pehkdzkdap0zn8j/OdysseyIndustries.rar

Any suggestions and feedback are welcome!

[Motokid600]

I am so downloading that HAL mechjeb pod to go along with this. Nice work. As for the monolith... What did you have in mind for it? ... Be cool if somehow... When a kerbal touched it... They get transported to a random place in the solar system. Or just explodes and dies... Idk. Idk wtf happened to that guy in 2010 O.o

[Nicholander]

Ah thanks. And Max Brailovsky? I think he died, and the Pod he was in went spinning out into space. That's according to the Wikipedia article.

Also, I really didn't intend for the Monolith to do anything, it's an unmanned pod, actually, so you can have it in space with it not being listed as debris, and for some reason you decide to make a Monolith satellite.

[Motokid600]

Well.. crap now I have to watch 2010 again and get some Chief Brody action goin.

[CaptainKipard]

Nicholander take your time with this. You can practice boolean operators on the pod hatches. Pay attention to edge flow too. That sphere for example should be rotated so that the edge loops are horizontal. That would allow you to intrude the window properly without much trouble. I'd like to see a faithful representation of Discovery One. It's one of few examples of realistic ships in movies.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[Nicholander]

Cpt. Kipard, yes, I know, it's a stupid, ugly little model, but it's my my first mod with a new model. But, what does "Boolean Operators" and "Rotated so that the edge loops are horizontal" mean? Could you show me an example of it? Or is there some rendering filter or something that makes the spheres look like actual spheres?

[colmo]

The Deep Space mod had such a cockpit and is open source. That would give you a base to work from instead of starting from scratch.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/7790-0-21-Parts-Pack-Deep-Space-Mission-Pack-Now-open-source!

[cxg2827]

But, what does "Boolean Operators" and "Rotated so that the edge loops are horizontal" mean? Could you show me an example of it? Or is there some rendering filter or something that makes the spheres look like actual spheres?

check these pics out. watch some youtube vids on boolean operations

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[Tommygun]

I'm curious, are the Monolith's proportions 1 by 4 by 9?

[CaptainKipard]

In Blender press T to bring up the tool shelf. Go to Tools tab. Select the object, go do object mode, and press "Smooth" on the tool shelf.

If you need some edges to be sharp, then go to edit mode, edge select mode. Select edges, Ctr+E, Mark Sharp. Go to object mode, Apply "Edge Split" modifier. Uncheck "edge angle", check "sharp edges". You'll need this to make the window edges for example, otherwise you'll get very ugly smoothing artefacts.

If you want to make this mod real nice, I can keep an eye on it if you want, just be warned, some people here seem to think I'm a bit of a hardass when it comes to constructive criticism.

Edited September 16, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[Nicholander]

cxg2827: I actually don't see a difference between the first and second one other then the way the camera is pointing at the object.

Tommygun: Yes, it 1:4:9!

Cpt. Kipard: Yes, you're instructions are fine, but I don't know what edges to select other then random guesses based of the images of the thing, and I'm trying to do it to do front windows, by the way. I just don't know how to apply the textures to it in Blender.

[CaptainKipard]

cxg2827: I actually don't see a difference between the first and second one other then the way the camera is pointing at the object.

It's not the camera that's moved. The sphere is rotated, so that the vertices where all the longitudinal lines meet are on the top and bottom. You can see the window is intruded in a different place slightly and it's intruded in a different direction as well.

Here:

#1. You can see which edges should be sharp here. You'll need to make your sphere and your boolean operator higher resolution than you have, for the reason I'm about to explain. The spheres here are about ok. I used a 64 segment, 32 ring sphere for the cockpit.

#2. These are smoothing artefacts This will happen when you first apply your boolean modifier and that's because.....

#3. ...the resulting mesh is quite messy, with lots of narrow triangles. You'll need to merge the closest vertices together, until you're satisfied that there are no more (annoying) artefacts. Having a highres mesh in the first place allows you to merge vertices while still keeping the mesh looking nice.

#4. Something like this will be good enough.

#5. Already the artefacts are much less visible, and when you texture this they wont be noticeable at all.

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by the way. I just don't know how to apply the textures to it in Blender.

You'll need to be more specific here.

Also don't forget to look for some blueprints and put them in your views in the background

Edited September 16, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[Nicholander]

Ah, thanks Cpt. Kipard. But, I ran into another problem when making the Aries-Ib Fuel Tank, essentially, when you mouse over it in the VAB/Spaceplane Hanger the rotating image of it will just get bigger and bigger rather quickly, and though you can then click it and put it down normally, it's quite annoying. What do you think caused this? Also, I made the Command Pod smooth.

I put the Aries-IbFuel at Y 0.521, and the GameObject at Y 0.

[CaptainKipard]

Ah, thanks Cpt. Kipard. But, I ran into another problem when making the Aries-Ib Fuel Tank, essentially, when you mouse over it in the VAB/Spaceplane Hanger the rotating image of it will just get bigger and bigger rather quickly, and though you can then click it and put it down normally, it's quite annoying. What do you think caused this?

This is a KSP bug. Here's the description and a dll that fixes it.

Also, I made the Command Pod smooth.

http://i.imgur.com/daAP7WC.png

I put the Aries-IbFuel at Y 0.521, and the GameObject at Y 0.

Take your time dude. It looks from that image like you're making a lot of mistakes.

1. Why is there an animator component?

2. That mesh doesn't look like it has sharp edges around the rim. I can tell from the shading on the top

3. For those kinds of shapes you should be using a custom-made mesh collider.

Seriously. One thing at a time. Make a nice model first. Leave everything else for now. Don't rush.

[hieywiey]

Will you make the EVA pod? (SQUEE OF HAPPINESS!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[Nicholander]

Cpt. Kipard:

1. Though I could remove, since it has nothing put into it, it does nothing.

2. Why does it need sharp edges around the rim? Maybe I'll compare the 2 later.

3. Well, to be honest, it works fine in the editor, like the Aries-Ib Command Pod uses a box collider, and it's fine.

And well, I refrain from making too detailed models for 2 reasons:

1. Making the UV Map will be horribly hard and complex.

2. I suck at making textures anyway.

hieywiey: Yeah, I plan that eventually.

[Starwaster]

Will you make the EVA pod? (SQUEE OF HAPPINESS!!!!!!!!!!!!)

If it's capable of independent action when I'm working on the AE35 antenna controller then I'm outta here....

[CaptainKipard]

1. Though I could remove, since it has nothing put into it, it does nothing.

But why is it there in the first place? You did something wrong with the object. Are you importing the objects directly from the blend file? Is the object animated in any way?

2. Why does it need sharp edges around the rim? Maybe I'll compare the 2 later.

Because if you don't have them the shading will look really awful. It's not enough to just make the shading smooth on a mesh. You need to make the mesh appropriately. You don't need it to be sharp if you don't want to, but if you want a smoothed rim you'll need to model it with a curve like in the middle.

3. Well, to be honest, it works fine in the editor, like the Aries-Ib Command Pod uses a box collider, and it's fine.

No I'm serious. It's really silly to have a box collider for a round object of this size. People will want to place radial attachments on it, and this wont let them do it without making them float in mid air.

And well, I refrain from making too detailed models for 2 reasons:

1. Making the UV Map will be horribly hard and complex.

No it's not. Blender makes it really easy. I'll help you when the time comes. You shouldn't be worrying about this yet anyway

2. I suck at making textures anyway.

Put it out of your mind. Or if it helps then think of it this way. If you can't texture well, then compensate by making a nice model. Triangles are cheap to calculate anyway.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[Nicholander]

Okay, I'll try to make some new and better models tomorrow, though that means scrapping the Aries-Ib Command Pod and Fuel Tanks I created earlier, and let me tell you, trying to get the objects (GmaeObject and the part itself) in the right position to make the center of mass (And thus where the nodes are) is a pain in the neck. (That's what most of my time modding was spent today) Also, that picture. I LOL'd.

[trekkie_]

at this point you might as well make the model for him lol. But there's also a LOT of 3d models out there on the net. So if you're not really a good modeler, maybe you'd be better off starting with reworking existing models into the game. You'll also learn quite a bit about how things are done by observing existing models of things.

I personally think the circular indents could be better done with normal/displacement/bump maps. Easier on resources. Keep in mind you don't have to copy something exactly, you can add your own twists to it, for example, the indents could be more easily done with the opposite of an indent, an extrude, with a bump map. OR you can actually just use an extrude bump map on the rest of the sphere, and it will give the illusion that the circular areas are indented.

To create a sphere that doesn't have any artifacts from boolean rendering, requires well over a 2000 face sphere, which is quite a lot of faces just to have 3 circular indents in an object. We don't only want people to use our mods or make them look great, we want them to be able to run well enough, because people build stuff with lots of parts and that adds up.

You basically want to keep the entire scene in the game below 100,000 poly's. but let's say you add ten 1000 poly parts, then five 5000 poly parts.....that quickly adds up, and that's only 15 parts in total, not including the rest of the game like planets and vabs and their textures, etc. You don't want people to not use your mod because they can barely run it well.

[CaptainKipard]

Okay, I'll try to make some new and better models tomorrow, though that means scrapping the Aries-Ib Command Pod and Fuel Tanks I created earlier, and let me tell you, trying to get the objects (GmaeObject and the part itself) in the right position to make the center of mass (And thus where the nodes are) is a pain in the neck. (That's what most of my time modding was spent today)

There's a very simple way of dealing with centers of mass.

1. Set up blender to use meters.

2. Select your object.

3. In the tool shelf move origin to center of mass.

4. Shift+S, Cursor to selected

5. Choose side view, or top or front. Zoom right in untill the top left corner says "centimeters". Shift+S, Cursor to grid (This is so you can work with easily manageable round numbers)

6. Move Origin to cursor.

7. Shift+S Move selected to center (offset) (this might not be necessary but i like to keep things in the middle anyway)

Now in Unity you can place the parttools empty in the scene, along with your object. Chance the locations of both in the inspector to 0,0,0 then parent the object to your empty.

Also, that picture. I LOL'd.

Good

You basically want to keep the entire scene in the game below 100,000 poly's. but let's say you add ten 1000 poly parts, then five 5000 poly parts.....that quickly adds up, and that's only 15 parts in total, not including the rest of the game like planets and vabs and their textures, etc. You don't want people to not use your mod because they can barely run it well.

Where are you getting those numbers? I used to think the same until some prominent modders said that you can make parts quite detailed. Bac9 (I think) for example said 10000 is a good number to keep under. Physics takes up a large majority of CPU so you should really only be concerned with your collider polycount.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Cpt. Kipard

[Starwaster]

Trust me, in the end you'll be better off taking Kipard's advice on sharp/smooth edges.

It's a very simple thing but very powerful in its results once you know when and where to make something soft or to make it sharp.

You can get really ugly artifacts when things are soft in the wrong places but then you grab a bunch of border lines and sharpen them and BAM!​ everything falls into place.

[trekkie_]

you can definitely run models with thousands of poly's, but KSP generally entails building things out of dozens of parts, all with their own poly counts. simple mesh colliders help with performance, but the GPU still has to draw those models. I see plenty of people get lag well below a reasonable part count with certain mods. it's not so much an issue running a detailed part with stock parts, because stock parts are really low poly. but running tons of high poly mods together can be taxing. plus, there's the memory foot print to consider too. I generally like to keep models well under 1MB. although with 64-bit the memory foot print issue isn't as important as it used to be.

[CaptainKipard]

I see plenty of people get lag well below a reasonable part count with certain mods.

This is most likely to be because of high-res textures and complex shaders and effects. Afaik polycount is the least of your worries.

[kiwiak]

Someone should modify asteroid spawning system to include monolith into asteroid types

Imagine how awesome would it be to do rendezvous with it...