[WIP] Aries-1B from 2001: A Space Odyssey

[TimeWizud]

This will be my first mod. I have no prior experience with Blender... or photoshop... or Unity. I've read through a couple of tutorials, however, and figured I'd give this a go.

That said, the Aries-1B is the shuttle spacecraft that was used in 2001 to move people and probably supplies between the Earth and the Moon. It's simply a round hull with engines on the bottom and a ring of windows above the middle, so I thought its shape lent itself well as a learning project for me.

What I have so far is a model I've created in Blender that's basically situated around a sphere. Most recently, I've just figured out how to use the shrinkwrap tool to properly wrap panels along the surface of the hull. Next, I plan to add details to the windows before moving onto the RCS thruster mounts.

I will try to keep up on this project and see it through to completion insofar as irl concerns allow. I work on this on my mac between classes or after I get out of lab, so the workflow should be rather constant, however there is still a great deal I need to learn about texturing and Unity before I move onto those phases of the project, so there may be delays between my updates while I figure that kind of stuff out. Critical advice is encouraged, but go easy on me - I'm just a biologist and I have no formal training in any of this, lol . Here is my to-do list:

Done | WIP | To do

1. Modeling

a. Panelling

b. Details on the ring of windows

c. Cockpit windows

d. RCS Thrusters

e. Landing Gear

f. Engine cavity details

2. Learn to Texture, then Texture

3. Learn to Unity, then Unity

4. Write Config files for all the parts*

5. Licensing

6. Release

*I'm thinking of maybe 5 parts: engine, RCS thruster, landing gear, the top hemisphere, and the bottom hemisphere.

Depending on how things go, I MAY make two interiors for this: a two-seater cockpit and a passenger cabin. If this ever makes it to release, I also envision an optional config file for RSS use.

Edited January 23, 2015 by TimeWizud
update to-do list

[philotical]

great ship..

good luck..

[CaptainKipard]

This model is a lot more detailed than what most people do for this game. You should be able to achieve the same visual result with 15'000 - 20'000 triangles. Making it more detailed (which is not the same as complex) is not necessary.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Cpt. Kipard

[Camacha]

A good high poly model is not a waste, you can bake a nice AO from it

[TimeWizud]

Small update.

After learning to animate in Blender, I've started work on the landing gear. Not sure how that's going to go over in Unity, but one thing at a time, lol. Looks similar to the stock small landing legs, so I'm thinking I can look at those for reference.

My power supply blew in the PC I use for KSP and Unity, so while I wait for a replacement, I can't actually test any of my parts... not that it matters - I haven't even started texturing yet. I've also started on the RCS thruster mounts (not shown in the pic). Those are actually going quite nicely, though I'm not sure how I'm going to have the player attach it to the ship. For it to "fit," it needs to be put in a particular place, however, I kinda want to allow flexibility with surface attach enabled. I'll decide on this when I get to collider meshes.

This model is a lot more detailed than what most people do for this game. You should be able to achieve the same visual result with 15'000 - 20'000 triangles. Making it more detailed (which is not the same as complex) is not necessary.

I'm not sure what to do about that . I'm not even done adding stuff and it's shooting up toward 40,000 tris. The engines are rather detailed, but I really wanted to have at least one detail visible from four cardinal angles, namely, the tubes and tanks. Since reading this, however, I have tried to make a special effort with the landing gear and RCS thruster mounts. I also had all sorts of ideas for the windows, but I've reduced them to simplistic polygons. In fact, the part you see in the pic has gone down from ~600 to 200. And still, I'm at 36,000 tris.

[CaptainKipard]

If you want to reduce the triangle count on a model you already have, you can try the Decimate modifier but that might not give you good results.

You can also try dissolving a bunch of edges and vertices. Practice that for a bit. Dissolving is a regular part of my workflow.

If you want to redo the model from scratch, you can start with a 32 sided sphere if it's more than a 3.75m diameter, or 24 if it's less. Those are the standards.

When you're making models, remember to zoom out to the distance you expect to see in the game most often. If there's no noticeable difference between a lower and higher resolution mesh, then it's better to go with the lower one.

You can import a few models from other mods that are meant to serve the same function as this, and check their triangle count and see how detailed various parts are. I'm not saying that this pod would slow down a computer noticeably, it's just not necessary, and also low-res meshes are easier to unwrap.

[Sufficient Anonymity]

I'm just a biologist and I have no formal training in any of this, lol .

You'd be surprised how useful a bit of CAD experience can come in in the biological sciences - zoologist here, who's just spent the past two months mucking about in Blender with some really, really old bones.

Somewhat more on topic, good luck - looking really cool so far.

(Oh, and Cpt. Kipard, you want high-poly models? How about a 1.8mil tri model of a humerus )

[TimeWizud]

Updated to-do list.

Finished modeling everything I care to model. The reader may notice the foot is just a simple hemisphere. This is because I read that it needs to be "upside-down" for when it goes into Unity when the time comes. So I'll just delete the foot and redesign it later, because I don't quite know what Unity wants me to do there. I Left the undercarriage flat and undefined, except for a cylindrical utility node, as per the design. I plan to elucidate details with textures alone, and actually, it looks like a good place for someone to put extra monoprop tanks. The utility node will probably be an attachment node for an optional docking port, in case the player wants to add it for refueling purposes (as there clearly isn't any canon docking port to do this). May also be used to actually mount this thing on a proper launcher. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here, but designing a rocket and fairings to go with this sounds like a really good idea.

I'll put that aside. For now, the next thing on the list is to learn what I need to do about textures. I've chosen photoshop cs5 to work with because that's what my mac came with. I'm going to need to learn what the hell ambient occlusion, "baking," and normal maps are. I think one of these is supposed to simulate definition by making a flat surface seem like it has 3d detail. This is important for pretty much all the panel surfaces I didn't add.

I'm putting off UV unwrapping for a moment while I learn all this stuff because... well I don't quite know why. I feel like there are some things I need to know about texturing before mapping this stuff out. If there isn't, then whatever.

You'd be surprised how useful a bit of CAD experience can come in in the biological sciences - zoologist here, who's just spent the past two months mucking about in Blender with some really, really old bones.

Somewhat more on topic, good luck - looking really cool so far.

(Oh, and Cpt. Kipard, you want high-poly models? How about a 1.8mil tri model of a humerus )

Thank you. When I worked at the Natural History Museum in LA, there was a 2 million year old canine fossil within a rock nobody wanted to work with because we needed to model it using TEM images. But anyway, as you can see, I still haven't got my poly problem under control. I've decided to push on ahead and call this a lesson learned.

[comham]

Nice work!

Texturing is the fiddliest bit in my experience.

[TimeWizud]

Nice work!

Texturing is the fiddliest bit in my experience.

I'm finding this out with some degree of frustration. I do it one way, it looks like garbage. I do it another, it looks un-kerbal. I'm definitely the least artistic person I know, lol.

[Hodo]

With some minor modifications it would look like a Union class Dropship from Battletech.

[Neutrinovore]

With some minor modifications it would look like a Union class Dropship from Battletech.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/thumb/1/13/Union.png/120px-Union.png

I think that it would be more accurate to say that the Union class Dropship from Battletech looks a great deal like the Aries 1-B Lunar shuttle from '2001'. Being that the movie came out in 1968, but the tabletop role playing game wasn't created until the 1980's, I mean. Just sayin'.

But, your statement is correct in that, yes, with visual modifications this ship could be made to resemble the Battletech unit. Some BDArmory turrets would be a good start, methinks. Perhaps when TimeWizud is finished with the original project (one thing at a time, you understand), he/she, or maybe you if you have the skills and desire, could or would do an addon pack of hull panels and whatnot that would do the trick.

For myself, I'm just looking forward to getting a chance to play with this ship in-game. It looks quite useful for transporting large quantities of Kebonauts around the system.

[TimeWizud]

For myself, I'm just looking forward to getting a chance to play with this ship in-game. It looks quite useful for transporting large quantities of Kebonauts around the system.

It'll have to wait for the "config" stage of development, but this is exactly the role I envision for this shuttle. There will be lots of room for TAC Life Support supplies so you can keep your space stations running. I also plan on allowing it to carry 12 Kerbals so you can rotate your crews if that ever becomes a real thing in-game (or for the player's role-playing experience).