General Question please help with rocket launchpads

[Mr Martian]

hey i am trying to make a launch pad which emits smoke when a rocket takes off, like in the AMSO or delta 2 ad-ons. i was wondering if anyone knew how to do this, or knew of any SDKs that include examples on how to do this. any help would be really appreciated.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

My Prometheus includes a launchpad that does this. What I did, is define the launchpad as a vessel and give it a particle stream that is dependent on launch vehicle altitude. In the Prometheus code, if "LAUNCHPAD" is present in the vessel definition of Prometheus, it will spawn a launchpad at Prometheus's position and attach the Prometheus to it. Then the launchpad's own module will grab a VESSEL3* to the attached vessel and communicate both via clbkGeneric() and via standard VESSEL/2/3 methods such as VESSEL::GetAltitude(). To get the equation of how strong the particle stream should be, I used a spreadsheet though you could probably do this manually. I set the altitude at which I wanted the stream cutoff equal to 0, and 0 altitude equal to 1. After that, it's back to 8th grade Algebra and y=mx+b. Without knowing more specifics, I can't really give much more information, but hopefully this helps you get started

 

[Mr Martian]

My Prometheus includes a launchpad that does this. What I did, is define the launchpad as a vessel and give it a particle stream that is dependent on launch vehicle altitude. In the Prometheus code, if "LAUNCHPAD" is present in the vessel definition of Prometheus, it will spawn a launchpad at Prometheus's position and attach the Prometheus to it. Then the launchpad's own module will grab a VESSEL3* to the attached vessel and communicate both via clbkGeneric() and via standard VESSEL/2/3 methods such as VESSEL::GetAltitude(). To get the equation of how strong the particle stream should be, I used a spreadsheet though you could probably do this manually. I set the altitude at which I wanted the stream cutoff equal to 0, and 0 altitude equal to 1. After that, it's back to 8th grade Algebra and y=mx+b. Without knowing more specifics, I can't really give much more information, but hopefully this helps you get started

thanks. this certainly gives me some idea of what to do.

 

[Urwumpe]

I usually extend this by not just looking at altitude or distance to the pad reference point, but rather turning the zone in which smoke is emitted into a cone, so flying out of the reference cone will reduce the smoke fast.

 

[Notebook]

You could use Vinka's SC3 program:

http://users.swing.be/vinka/

I did for my Woomera 6B add-on(shameless plug)...

This is the ini file for the umbillical tower that handles the animations:

;================================== Start of textures
[TEXTURE_LIST]
;TEX_1=Exhaust_atrcs
;TEX_2=Exhaust_atsme
TEX_1=WaterF2

[PARTICLESTREAM_1]
NAME=DGContrail
SRCSIZE=.1
SRCRATE=15
V0=2
SRCSPREAD=0.3
LIFETIME=2.5
GROWTHRATE=1
ATMSLOWDOWN=5
LTYPE=EMISSIVE
LEVELMAP=LVL_PSQRT
LMIN=0
LMAX=2
ATMSMAP=ATM_PLOG
AMIN=1e-4
AMAX=1


;================================== End of textures
[CONFIG]
MeshName = spacecraft\UmbilicalTower
Size = 10
Empty_Mass = 100
FUEL_MASS=800
MAIN_THRUST=0
COG=.01

MAIN_TEX=WaterF2
MAIN_PSTREAM1=DGContrail



;================================== End of CONFIG

[EX_MAIN_0] ;FirePipe
OFF=(0,7.4,-2.3)
DIR=(0,-0.7071,0.7071)
LENGTH=3
WIDTH=.1

[EX_MAIN_1] ;FirePipe
OFF=(0,7.4,2.3)
DIR=(0,-0.7071,-0.7071)
LENGTH=3
WIDTH=.1

;================================== Start of animations
[ANIM_SEQ_0]
; Umbilical
KEY=0
DURATION=1.5

;Umbilical
[ANIM_COMP_0]
SEQ=0
GROUPS=10
RANGE=(0,1)
TYPE=SCALE
SCALE=(.25,1,1)
REF=(-6.458,17.77,0)
;TYPE=TRANSLATE
;SHIFT=(-1.5,0,0)

[ANIM_SEQ_1]
; Anemometer
KEY=1
DURATION=.3
REPEAT=1

; Anemometer
[ANIM_COMP_1]
SEQ=1
GROUPS=21
RANGE=(0,1)
TYPE=ROTATE
ROT_PNT=(-9.823,20.0342,0.928)
ROT_AXIS=(0,1,0)
ANGLE=120

This is how it looks:

http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/?action=view&current=Water_1.mp4

EDIT: this is the look I was after:

N.

 

[Qapla]

Very sorry to revive an old thread but I also want to get this launch smoke on all pads and make it linger for longer like in real life. The SDK assumes im Einstein and is no help at all so im really stuck, is that really as easy as it gets, a lot of learning and painfully slow results?

I can put launch smoke anywhere I want but I dont know how to get it to trigger with the engine start.

Ive played with the particle module and got no results from that after spending all day on it.

 

[Donamy]

You said it yourself, you know it would be worth doing. Look into Velcro rockets, and download some examples.

We all do things here not because it is easy, but because it is hard. :lol:

 

[Qapla]

You said it yourself, you know it would be worth doing. Look into Velcro rockets, and download some examples.

We all do things here not because it is easy, but because it is hard. :lol:

lol nice appropriate quote like it

I will look into that, thanks. This is gonna take me weeks to soak up, it badly needs a detailed tutorial, I might make one myself when ive sussed it.

Looks like these velcro rockets are just what i needed, thanks very much mate!