Project New Lunar Transfer Vessel in the works

[Andy44]

Okay, folks, I've almost completed the mesh. A few tweaks to do, but for the most part it's done. I like the looks of this. When I built the first one two years ago (Was it really that long ago?) I didn't know how to do animations, but since I do now I can put a couple of nice big comm masts and a dish antenna on the vehicle, Voyager-style. The interior is...well...there is no real interior, except for a double wall so that you can't see through the walls when looking in the tinted windows.

Next up is to build a new .ini file using the old one as a template, place thrusters, fold up the deployable equipment via Mesh Wizard...the fun never ends! As for a VC, not this time around, it will be released without one but I'll keep it in mind for an upgrade.

I'll have to build a large Jupiter III fairing for it, too, come to think of it.

 

[Eagle]

Exciting. When will you start work on the vessels to transfer to Jupiter/Saturn orbit and those fun ancillary craft for Io-Europa transport?

More seriously, its good to see you're still crafting ...er... craft.

 

[the.punk]

Looks cool. :speakcool:

 

[ijuin]

Has anybody ever tried to use one of these on an Earth/Mars run? Would aerobraking at Mars leave you with enough fuel to get back to Earth, or would you need to refuel?

 

[the.punk]

Haven't tried that. But would be interestiong though.

 

[Andy44]

I've never tried it, but I'm pretty sure you could carry a tank payload as a drop tank and put a hab on the nose (which will have to move behind the shield for aerobraking after the drop tank is jettisoned)...question is whether the Martian atmosphere would provide enough braking power, especially with the sc3 bug.

 

[Andy44]

Well, folks, after suffering through a failure on my laptop and waiting for a new one to be delivered, I've started to resume work on this. (Unfortunately, something is wierd with Orbiter and my new keyboard...).

I am experimenting with changing the awful color of the radiators to something a bit more pleasing to the eye, but hopefully not ruled out by some technical rule about radiators and materials. Here, I'm trying for a sort of royal blue or purplish look. Tell me what you think.

I'm having problems getting certain textures to show up in Orbiter, too, in particular the interior of the cockpit area. Not important, really, since you can barely see inside the windows anyway, but it bugs me when I can't figure stuff like that out. Anim8or has its limitations and annoyances.

 

[the.punk]

Looks cool.
When are you planing to release it?

 

[Andy44]

Tuesday, of course. Don't know which Tuesday yet.

 

[the.punk]

Tuesday, of course. Don't know which Tuesday yet.

Yeah...:rofl:

I'm looking forward to fly it. And to mars too.

 

[ijuin]

I like the looks of the latest shot of it.

 

[Andy44]

Well, after a long haitus of doing nothing with addons, an update, finally! I've mapped out the thruster locations and modified the old LTV .ini file with them, so now we have RCS propulsion:

I've also mapped out the animation numbers in Mesh Wizard, so that means I need to get those up and running. The antenna masts and the bow docking door are easy, as they are just rotations and translations, but the radiators are going to be tough, since they have to scale. I know the scale factors and directions, but I have a feeling they are also going to translate out as they deploy, so I'll have to deal with that.

Sorry I've been letting this slide for so long, folks, but my new Vista laptop with video card does not play nice with Orbiter, so I've been discouraged. But this new ship is so much more slick-looking than the old one and I've been thinking about it lately.

 

[computerex]

It is amazing how much you have grown in terms of add-on making in such a short amount of time! Good work Andy, thanks for your excellent add-ons

 

[Mafuskas]

I definitely agree with computerex. You remind me of GregBurch in how your add-ons have progressed so strongly in craftsmanship while being very consistent in functionality.

You're a real inspiration to people like me who would like to get into making add-ons for Orbiter but so far lack the skill to do it.

Looking great!

 

[the.punk]

Yes. This is looks very nice.I can't wait to try this new vessel out.

---------- Post added at 12:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:58 PM ----------

Have you an idea when you put this out?

 

[Andy44]

Greg Burch and I follow a parallel thinking process for this stuff, but he's better at it than I am. We both like to use Orbiter to imagine what the future could be in realistic terms, and we both like to build in steps. That's why I haven't done any interplanetary ships, yet, I'm trying to envision an Earth-Moon transportation system similar to Greg's, and it isn't quite there yet.

 

[Andy44]

So, as I expected, I'm having trouble scaling my radiators during deployment. I can scale the dorsal radiator just fine, it simply grows in the +Y direction by a factor of 5.

But the starboard and port radiators are a different story. I know which direction I need them to grow, and I know the factor and the reference point, but I can't understand how to get them to scale in the right direction.

For instance, the starboard radiator has to scale by 5 in the direction (0.86303420590433 -0.505145483439259 0). So I need to figure out what goes into the .ini file's SCALE=(x,y,z) parameter. z will be 1, because I want it to stay the same length in the z direction, but I'm having trouble with the x and y parameters. I put in the direction values times 5 for starters, but the radiator seems to only want to scale in the plus x and plus y directions, which makes it look all wonky.

Anyone got any experience with this?

Also, it seems that when I packed them up in Mesh Wizard, I lost the textures on them, but that's another bridge to cross.

---------- Post added at 01:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:41 AM ----------

Nevermind, I figured it out! Once you have the reference point set, your scale factors need no minus signs. I had just lain down in bed to go to sleep and BING it popped into my head, so I hurried up and switched my laptop back on to do it before I forget. Success!

Now all I need to do is to figure out what to do with the radiator textures being missing. I suppose I can just color the material by editing the .msh file, and forget about texturing, since retexturing in Anim8or means renumbering all the groups which means pulling my hair out. Besides the radiator textures are ugly anyway. Have to sleep on this. I'm so close to finishing this I'm starting to get "Upload Fever" and I need to keep it under control.

---------- Post added 01-29-10 at 12:26 AM ---------- Previous post was 01-28-10 at 01:16 AM ----------

Good news and bad news. First the good: I pulled the mesh back into Anim8or via MeshWizard, and reapplied the textures to the radiator. So now it looks good again. Here's a cross-eyed 3D pic of it:

Using Urwumpe's plug-in, I rebuilt the mesh and then I used Mesh Wizard to re-locate the center of the coordinates so the thruster plumes still line up. It also means I don't have to re-learn the anchor points for the animations and docking ports.

The bad news? Rebuilding the mesh in Anim8or changed all the mesh group numbers, so I have to use Mesh Debug again to identify all the parts before the animations will work. That will be about 2 hours of tedium, maybe this weekend, but it's not difficult. The light is visible at the end of the tunnel.

 

[NukeET]

Using Urwumpe's plug-in.

Which plug-in?

 

[T.Neo]

See [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2698"]here[/ame].

 

[Sky Captain]

I`m looking forward to try out this new spacecraft:thumbup:

I bet Greenpeace will be happy when NERVA powered atomic rockets do aerobraking in upper atmosphere:lol: