[0.90] Material Printer - Kerbals finally invented 3D Printing! [v0.1.0][29DEC14]

[Agathorn]

HextecH Industries proudly presents a breakthrough in on-orbit .. stuff. Tried of carrying tons of various parts and pieces in case you might need Widget A, or Bob Z. What happens if you need two Widget A's and no Bob Z's?!

3D Printing to the rescue. Now you can carry base powdered resources like Steel, Bronze, and Plastic, and 3D print exactly what you need on-demand on-orbit. Or wherever else you might be. We won't judge.

What Is It?

Material Printer is a very simple AddOn that can easily be incorporated into other mods. The intention is to provide one Player Friendly way of generating various physical "things" that might be needed such as SpareParts for Dangit! or RepairParts for Mission Controller, or whatever else is out there.

The concept is simply and can be custom applied to any parts you desire. I will try and release a few "All Complete" packs for end users, but my hope is other modders will also pick this up and run with it for their own uses.

License

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Source Code

https://github.com/jwvanderbeck/MaterialPrinter

Releases

https://github.com/jwvanderbeck/MaterialPrinter/releases

v0.1.0 Alpha - https://github.com/jwvanderbeck/MaterialPrinter/releases/tag/v0.1.0

Universal Storage Pack Example - v0.1.0 Alpha - https://github.com/jwvanderbeck/MaterialPrinter/releases/tag/v0.1.0US

The Universal Storage Pack is an example implementation that I can flesh out more upon request. It requires the base Universal Storage Mod (http://www.kingtiger.co.uk/kingtiger/wordpress/universal-storage-a-mod-for-kerbal-space-program/) be installed, and creates US Wedges for the Printer, raw materials, and a storage wedge. The printer is configured to print SpareParts.

I hope I read the US license properly. It appears to allow this usage, but if I am incorrect I will take that example pack down.

The Details

In general you use three parts:

1) The Printer - This is just the printer which does the work and provides a printing UI for the user. It doesn't store any resources, or final products. Though if you wanted to be all cheaty you certainly could put those pieces on here as well.

2) Material Bins - These are storage containers containing a Powdered Resource such as PowderedSteel, or PowderedPlastic. Ok in fairness this could be ANYTHING but stick with the theme here! Again you could be cheaty and make one bin hold a ton of everything, but I say its cooler to have reasonable bins that each hold a specific material

3) Product Storage - These storage parts hold the final printed part. If you wanted to combine this with the printer itself it probably wouldn't be all that much of a cheat, but stop cheating!

In all seriousness the system is uber flexible so do what you want, but the outline above is the "intended" use. For the prototype I used Universal Storage (a most awesome mod) and I found it fits the system like a hexaglove. Printer in one wedge, wedges for storing materials, and a wedges for storing final products. Genius! In addition I think its best to stick to standard resources so that they, well, become standardized. Real 3D printers work in various ways but I modeled this system after Shapeways. Their printers basically use powdered forms of plastics and metals and bond them together.

Proposal: PowderedSteel, PowderedBronze, PowderedPlastic

Possible Additions: PowderedGold, PowderedBiomass

Adding the Printer Module to a Part

First you need a printer. So add it to the part you want, and define what products you want to be able to print, and what materials you want it to require.

Example Printer Config

	
MODULE
	{
		name = MaterialPrinter
		PRINTED_PRODUCT
		{
			productName = SpareParts
			PRINTED_PRODUCT_MATERIALS
			{
				requiredResourceName = PowderedSteel
				requiredResourceAmount = 6
			}
			PRINTED_PRODUCT_MATERIALS
			{
				requiredResourceName = PowderedBronze
				requiredResourceAmount = 4
			}
		}
	}

Add Resources to Storage Containers

Really you are already done, but you do need to make sure that parts exist to store the materials used, and final products. So simply make sure you add the proper resources to those parts. Examples follow.

Example Storage for Final Product SpareParts

	RESOURCE
	{
		name = SpareParts
		amount = 0
		maxAmount = 10
	}

Example Storage for Materials

	RESOURCE
	{
		name = PowderedBronze
		amount = 100
		maxAmount = 100
	}

- - - Updated - - -

Added example pack pack based on Universal Storage

Edited December 30, 2014 by Agathorn

[Gaalidas]

Sounds like a new way of branding a resource generator. Don't get me wrong, I sorta like it... but it does feel like just a rebranding some something we have already.

[Agathorn]

You could argue that and you wouldn't be wrong. But context and presentation is everything. I don't want a mining machine part electrolysis for my crew, and why would I want an electrolysis part making wrenches and thruster nozzles? Plus obviously there are differences in user interface and just plain parts and design.

And besides, its thematically relevant

[RainDreamer]

I think this could works well with KAS, for those little, little parts that kerbal can carry around in EVA, like ladders, or scientific instruments. For bigger parts, we already have Extraplanetary Launch Pad to make a huge rocket.

[Whirligig Girl]

Sounds like a new way of branding a resource generator. Don't get me wrong, I sorta like it... but it does feel like just a rebranding some something we have already.

I think it comes with a special looking part, maybe?

[Agathorn]

I think this is my part in not explaining it well, or maybe giving a bad example not fleshed out enough.

This isn't "Take resource A and B and Convert it to C". Its "From an available base of 3 or 4 available resources, make one of a list of things on the fly as needed".

Just like its real life analogue on the ISS, the point is why bring up tons of different items that you might need, when you can bring up tons of raw resources and convert them to what you do need, when you need them.

This Mod was made for two reasons:

1) There are various "Physical Item" resources like "SpareParts", "RepairParts", etc used by various mods out there. What if you are using more than one of them? With the 3D printer you can just carry your raw materials and "Print" whichever of those "Phsyical" resources you need at the time you need it.

2) I want to use this for my other mod, TestFlight, to provide a bit more "realism" in repairs of parts. So if a Gimbal on a thruster fails, maybe it will require you to fix it by replacing a "Hydraulic Piston" or if a fuel leak occurs in a tank you might need a spare "Fuel Line". I personally find that more enjoyable than "Use 5 Spare Parts", but asking a player to cart around buckets of Fuel Lines and Hydraulic Pistons is a bit much. With a 3D printer they can just carry the raw materials and print up that Fuel Line when they need it, or print up that Piston when they need it.