Project Negishima Space Center

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Hey Pipcard, how did you make the original surface tiles? They really look nice :thumbup:

 

[Pipcard]

Read this.

For the roads, I imported the 4096 x 2048 island into Inkscape and created the roads on a new layer. Then I saved that layer as a .png and pasted it into the GIMP .xcf as its own layer.

The crawlerway is a flat mesh with its own texture. (it's not 0 meters tall; it's actually 0.0005 m, because if it were 0, the mesh would disappear at certain camera angles)

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Read this.

For the roads, I imported the 4096 x 2048 island into Inkscape and created the roads on a new layer. Then I saved that layer as a .png and pasted it into the GIMP .xcf as its own layer.

The crawlerway is a flat mesh with its own texture. (it's not 0 meters tall; it's actually 0.0005 m, because if it were 0, the mesh would disappear at certain camera angles)

Thats brilliant, a really elegant solution to a complex problem. If you dont mind, I may try something similar to that for a few future projects of my own.

 

[Pipcard]

What I'm now asking is: what are the important parts of a launchpad? (like propellant tanks, launch towers, flame ducts, etc.)

 

[PhantomCruiser]

At a guess, tank #1 is fuel, and tank #2 is water for sound supression.

Don't know about those solar panel looking thingies. I'd think if they were solar panels that they'd get damaged every time something was launched. But (again, just a guess) it may be a "retention pool" for the water for the sound supression system (at least that's what they are in my mind).

Pad 39A and B had something similar.

 

[Pipcard]

Work on M-II launchpad has begun:

It is based on the launchpad at the Yoshinobu Launch Complex in Tanegashima Space Center.

(used this model as a reference)

Also, from all the pictures of the launch complex that I could see, there were no above-ground pipes connecting propellant tanks to the launch pad.

 

[Donamy]

See my HTV addon.

 

[Pipcard]

See my HTV addon.

I already did.

 

[Pipcard]

Several days ago, I found out the the .obj export function in Sketchup is only found in the Pro version, and the trial ran out of time.

There's a free .obj export plugin by TIG, but it divides the mesh into lots of triangles.

So I imported it into Wings3D and cleaned up the mesh (mostly by clicking a face, going to Select -> Similar Normals, then pressing backspace to dissolve the edges between the selected faces).

The launch pad is a hexagon, because I love hexagons.

 

[Donamy]

Would have been easier to just use mine.

 

[Pipcard]

Would have been easier to just use mine.

I wanted to make my own, from scratch.

 

[Donamy]

Oh, sorry, I thought you used the model from 3D warehouse.

 

[Pipcard]

I just used the 3D Warehouse model as a reference, but I made it from scratch. The dimensions/measurements are almost the same as the warehouse model.

 

[Donamy]

Good job!!:thumbup:

 

[4throck]

Several days ago, I found out the the .obj export function in Sketchup is only found in the Pro version, and the trial ran out of time....

Well, you can try to get an old version of SU and use the Collada / KMZ exporter. Version 5 or 6 works if I'm not mistaken. Newer versions have a "bug" with that format that makes it incompatible with all other programs :thumbup:.

 

[Donamy]

AC3D supports Collada. Which in turn can port to Orbiter.

 

[Pipcard]

Well, you can try to get an old version of SU and use the Collada / KMZ exporter. Version 5 or 6 works if I'm not mistaken. Newer versions have a "bug" with that format that makes it incompatible with all other programs :thumbup:.

From the official site:
Note: We only provide support and downloads for the latest version of SketchUp (free) and versions 6, 7 and 8 of SketchUp Pro. (I presume that you need to buy a license in order to download previous versions of Pro)

Any site that claims to have a free download of Sketchup 6 seems dubious.

AC3D supports Collada. Which in turn can port to Orbiter.

That's a trial. Secondly, whenever Sketchup exports to .dae (Collada), the mesh must be divided into triangles; otherwise, the mesh is glitchy.

 

[Urwumpe]

That's a trial. Secondly, whenever Sketchup exports to .dae (Collada), the mesh must be divided into triangles; otherwise, the mesh is glitchy.

They are triangles in Orbiter as well, better get used to it, because even if bigger polygons simplify some work, bad tesselation afterwards can ruin a good mesh.

 

[Pipcard]

I have no problems with the mesh being triangulated when it's exported to .msh using Hielor's exporter.

 

[4throck]

I just mentioned SU 6 free because I have that legacy version installed, along with all other free versions up to 8.
So I'm not talking about anything from the "underworld".
The current SU version has restrictive usage clauses, besides going online for no apparent reason. That usually means that they plan to force you to upgrade or go online to keep working. Since I can't accept that, of course, I took the logic route and moved to Blender. But I still keep all those SU version installed in case I need to do some buildings. It's really good for that.

Anyway, I don't understand your problem with triangles. That's the basis of a 3D mesh.
Now I know that SU has lots of problems with exporting smooth surfaces... It simply exports faced objects.

But it you are actually seeing out of place triangles in your exports, that's another problem. As a rule of thumb, the less exports / imports the better, so you should concentrate on modeling in software that writes Orbiter meshes directly. It's much easier.