With Fairings becoming stock, we NEED stock hinges

[Capt Snuggler]

I think only 4 parts are necessary.

*A Tiny Hinge/servo a bit bigger than a cubic strut. slow movement and low torque. designed to fit the I-Beam

*A tiny pivot or actuator about the size of a reaction wheel. slow or fast movement but low torque. can but turned off and unlocked to spin freely.

* large hinge about the size of a Modular Girder Segment. Slow and fast mode and higher torque. can be turned off and unlocked to swing freely(for towing trailers etc)

*A Large pivot or actuator about the size of a 1.25m probe core. slow or fast movement and higher torque. can be turned off and unlocked to spin freely.

I don't really see a need for huge parts. just combine a few small ones.

they should have a broken state if you force them to move a load too large and engineers can repair.

*edit*

You forgot pistons.

hydraulic rams could be good for use in conjunction with hinges to lift bigger loads.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Capt Snuggler

[mattinoz]

I'd add one more hinge part personally...

-One time Hinge, is folded for launch when activated moves into final position and locks.

Could have the advantage of being cheaper, stronger and earlier in the tech tree.

[Captain Sierra]

To answer the parts question, I see the need for the following different forms of movement.

door hinge - starts at 0*, rotates to 180*

basic hinge - starts at 0*, rotates to 90* or -90*

turntable - 360* rotation

piston - extension to ~3.5 times its length

That covers the basics right there. A ball joint would be exceptionally useful too, but at least the way I play, it would end up being overkill for most of what I need. Size does become an issue and IR solves it with TweakScale (which is buggy as all get out half the time). Not sure if that is a viable stock solution or not.

[Nemrav]

I think 3 hinges with tweakable motor (servo/hinge/motor), a piston where a tweakable limits length.

And maybe a single door like hinge ?

But in addition to a decent gui for activating the motors, I think we would need an IK like system, mainly for robotic arms.

For those that don't know what IK is, its a script that uses joints in a rig (Kerbals, cowboy, other game characters) to get a certain part (usually the head or eyes) to point/get as close to a designated point in space as possible. (hence why it would be useful for arms).

[r4pt0r]

1.0 is in the metaphorical oven, and we really should get hinges in there before this pie is done baking.

[Spartwo]

A rotor would be more important as with a bit of engineering (one extra part) a rotor can act as a hinge but a hinge can't function as a rotor. They'd both be able to point anywhere in a 360 degree area but a rotor could keep going for as long as you want while a hinge would have to stop very quickly. This is the only thing I've wanted since .22.

Edited March 1, 2015 by Spartwo

[Superfluous J]

A rotor would be more important as with a bit of engineering (one extra part) a rotor can act as a hinge but a hinge can't function as a rotor. They'd both be able to point anywhere in a 360 degree area but a rotor could keep going for as long as you want while a hinge would have to stop very quickly. This is the only thing I've wanted since .22.

There appear to be serious problems with rotors in Unity. If we could get a hinge without those problems, then I'd prefer the hinge to the rotor.

[Spartwo]

I don't know about the issue, what is it?

[Renegrade]

I don't know about the issue, what is it?

There is a stock hinge already, unused in KSP. FlowerChild implemented it experimentally in BTSM, and it apparently has some issues with self-clipping, and also saving/restoring (basically the joint isn't really respected, and things reattach in a weird way after reloading in any manner).

[Superfluous J]

I don't know about the issue, what is it?

There's a thread somewhere where people much more capable than I tested the in-game rotator (it's in the code with no parts for it). At first it looked really good. No bugs, no weirdness. Someone even made a plane with propellers made out of control surfaces and the rotor.

Then they saved games and reloaded and weirdness happened. Ships stopped being connected (but remained a single ship) so if you had an arm with several rotors, each part of the arm would be separated from the others and be floating in space.

[Guest]

OP is right, we need hinges.

Without hinges, fairing will be huge in some cases.

Real world sats deploy and telescope out a lot of antennas, solar arrays, radiators, and other strange stuff.

[Crusher8000]

Yea I think a lot of people who play stock KSP will use the hinges and other moving parts. When I build a rover for a low gravity body I make sure the wheels are wide apart but strapping it on a rocket is quite hard. If I could fold parts of it in with a piston it would make things easier.

[Valley]

Hinges please - I want bay doors for future stations.

[Azimech]

Maybe Unity 5 has solved the issue with the "rotor", whatever that may be. I only know rotors from helicopters.

Anyway, yes I want both hinges and bearings, both motorized and free. And the modified bearings I use from IR don't have strange issues, I believe.

And the size: as small as possible. It's easy to combine a number of small parts into something bigger, ie a lot of toothpics makes a battering ram too. But try to pick your teeth with a battering ram.

Part count becomes less of an issue in the future.

Edited March 6, 2015 by Azimech

[Der Kosmos]

I'd like C130 style cargo ramps, or maybe a C5 style cockpit with a nose that opens up to let rovers drive in both ends.

[TYRT]

Robotics is a must after stock SP+ and stock fairings. Servo motors would be really great.

[Exxion]

As far as parts are concerned, I'd be fine with just a somewhat configurable rotor. Other mechanical parts would be nice, but are not really necessary.

However, unless these mechanical parts are controlled through something other than action groups, action groups would need a huge overhaul as well. Well, they already do, but it would be even more important then.

[panzer1b]

Id absolutely love stock hinges/rotational thingies.

My tank destroyers (and perhaps even capital ships) will finally get their flexible cannons that dont force me to aim them at a target directly!

A turret rotator would also be nice, so i can have a 360 degree rotation on it, and well, hinges to elevate the barrels.

[Monsterlunch]

(...) action groups would need a huge overhaul as well. Well, they already do, but it would be even more important then.

I agree. Something like THIS would be really nice!

Also yes, we need hinges!

[MAFman]

YES! No more will I have to make an unrealistic Luna 17 with a skycrane instead of the more realistic ramps!

The recent revelation that fairings are coming to stock has lead some to worry that their payloads wont fit without the fairing becoming very ungainly. Now we don't know how Squad will implement these fairings, but I think most agree that to get something like this pic from the other thread to fit inside fairings would be much easier if those arms in that picture could fold up.

So this thread is to discuss and support the addition of hinges to the stock game. They would be just another creative tool in our creative toolbelts

Mod aproval here: