How to show "What you did": Mission Profile Notation

[wasmic]

I could of easilly missed it

I'm sorry, but that is the ONE thing I always go grammar .... on. It's supposed to be "I could easily have missed it".

EDIT: Lol, censorship at its finest.

[Doctor Axel]

Dag, this seems to have blown up overnight. ^^ Looking forward to the result.

*cough*Generator was my idea

[Thunderous Echo]

Actually without knowing the colors (as I said I left them off due to laziness) you pretty much got it right. The thing that aerobroke at Jool did so to get "flying low over Jool" science, and each thing that went from Tylo to a different moon was actually separate craft.

I actually forgot to draw the eventual "going from Tylo back to Kerbin" line *oops*

Other than losing the order that the excursions from Tylo to the other moons happened, The "there and back" lines really clean it up. I can't even think of how to show all that in a clean way otherwise (though I'd be happy to see another's attempt)

I've actually changed my mind about "there and back" double arrows. They simplify things for short excursions.

I like the simplicity of this.

What if I told you I could get it simpler?

[Ezriilc]

What if I told you I could get it simpler?

I'd wonder if you meant simpler for the user, or simpler for me to program.

[Thunderous Echo]

I'd wonder if you meant simpler for the user, or simpler for me to program.

Both. Ish. I'll show you when we get started.

[MGCJerry]

I'll go ahead and throw mine on the shelf and let it sit and see what you guys come up with.

[Laie]

http://2thextreme.org/mgcjerry.net/missiontest.html

Potential? Or should I just walk away from it?

Potential. Would be convenient if the destination of step n automatically became the starting point for step n+1. And I don't see any pre-fab way of splitting a mission.

Seriously, the whole scheme only really comes into it's own for more complicated stuff. "I've been to Ike & Duna" doesn't need a fancy sign language. The Jool-5 and Grand Tour scenarios aren't the outliers, they will be the standard use case.

[StormKat]

Seriously, the whole scheme only really comes into it's own for more complicated stuff. "I've been to Ike & Duna" doesn't need a fancy sign language. The Jool-5 and Grand Tour scenarios aren't the outliers, they will be the standard use case.

Something like this would give more detail than the statement "I've been to Ike & Duna". Did you aerobrake at Duna to get to Ike? Did you orbit Duna first or Ike first before landing?

[blizzy78]

Neat, I like the idea.

[Norpo]

Now then, after this is made...

...We need a mod that auto-tracks all this and makes a map after you complete a mission.

(not like that'd be extremely hard or anything)

[StormKat]

Now then, after this is made...

...We need a mod that auto-tracks all this and makes a map after you complete a mission.

(not like that'd be extremely hard or anything)

Any four-year-old child could do it...

... after 20 years of practice.

[MGCJerry]

Potential. Would be convenient if the destination of step n automatically became the starting point for step n+1. And I don't see any pre-fab way of splitting a mission.

This was only a quick 10 minute mockup of the general interface, but there would have been another "add" button under each section where the script would create another path. I was going to handle the logic and data as a nested list of objects much like you would in a family tree then build the graphics from there. Maybe I'll revisit the interface at a later date and create a more functional UI (changes as you add steps) which does take that suggestion into account.

[klgraham1013]

I support this endeavor. Looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

[Robotengineer]

Would you want some better planet icons?

[Overfloater]

I drew up a mission Overfloater flew a couple months ago:

http://i.imgur.com/bA3Q36p.png

Hey man, thanks for saving me the trouble!

[Pecan]

Awww man, I don't even have TIME to read this thread. It looks great and I've bookmarked it for later use but have no useful comment at the moment.

[Thunderous Echo]

Would you want some better planet icons?

Possibly. If yours are better than mine, I'll adopt hem.

Potential. Would be convenient if the destination of step n automatically became the starting point for step n+1. And I don't see any pre-fab way of splitting a mission.

Seriously, the whole scheme only really comes into it's own for more complicated stuff. "I've been to Ike & Duna" doesn't need a fancy sign language. The Jool-5 and Grand Tour scenarios aren't the outliers, they will be the standard use case.

That was part of my plan.

Yes, this notation is intended for complicated missions.

[Superfluous J]

Would you want some better planet icons?

For showing off the final product, sure. But I'd like at least the option to just use colored circles.

I imagine planning the mission first with this tool, making the chart into a flag, and putting that on the ships. For that, juicing it up with fancy graphics could be really cool. For everyday working though I prefer the clean lines and arcs with nothing else distracting from the utility of the chart.

[Robotengineer]

Here are some mock-ups of alternate icons.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[Pecan]

Ahhhh, some time to relax and read ... some initial comments:

• I'd prefer to use this in a linear left-to-right format as complex missions are otherwise likely to have multiple crossing lines and the sequence of events becomes confused.
  
• Such a format does not affect the symbols used, or how other people use it, but does mean no 'there and back'.
  
• The basic paradigm I imagine is similar to a critical-path analysis network, with planets/moons as nodes and each ship/lander/whatever involved in a mission represented on its own horizontal line
  
• Before getting too colourful, can we also consider that one good use for this is printing-out and sharing paper copies of missions, even photocopies/faxes - which means monochrome.
  

Example to follow ...

[Thunderous Echo]

Here are some mock-ups of alternate icons.

http://imgur.com/a/efKS6

I'm not sure how these will look surrounded by arrows. They seem too realistic.

But, the generator will have a texture pack system, so you could just import these if you really wanted to.

[Norpo]

Yeah, I think appropriately coloured circles with the first 2 letters of the planet/moon name would work fine. That way, even if it does end up monochrome, you can still read the name and figure out what's going on.

An alternate, more detailed-ish pack (Give duna simple ice poles, bands for jool, some land for Kerbin, craters for the Mun etc. while still keeping a cartoon-ish extremely simple feel) could be nice, though.

[Thunderous Echo]

Ahhhh, some time to relax and read ... some initial comments:

• I'd prefer to use this in a linear left-to-right format as complex missions are otherwise likely to have multiple crossing lines and the sequence of events becomes confused.
  
• Such a format does not affect the symbols used, or how other people use it, but does mean no 'there and back'.
  
• The basic paradigm I imagine is similar to a critical-path analysis network, with planets/moons as nodes and each ship/lander/whatever involved in a mission represented on its own horizontal line
  
• Before getting too colourful, can we also consider that one good use for this is printing-out and sharing paper copies of missions, even photocopies/faxes - which means monochrome.
  

Example to follow ...

A left-to-right format will be available.

As for colors, they can be replaced by differential width.

[Superfluous J]

I agree that those proposed planets (while pretty) don't match the style of the rest of the chart structure.

I really like the Duna one though as it's very simple and obvious what it is. If you could come up with the same for the rest that'd be cool. Though it is still possible to be confused about which one is what, unlike with the simple 2-letter codes.

[Robotengineer]

Thanks, so it will be more Periodic Table, rather than Ribbons?