Question Spacecraft3 attachments.

It just seems a clumsy way to put tension on the tanks? Normally they were pressurised with Nitogen, can't do that when you need access to them I suppose...

Just for info, here's a layout of the thrust beams and pickup points:

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/File0034.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/File0033.jpg

I'd forgot I did a little test animation in SC3, shows the layout.

http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/?action=view&current=launcher_1.flv

Gets the thread back on topic, thats my excuse.

N.
 
Some more questions....Can I attach two CHILD(on the same vessel) to two PARENTS at the same time?

This is the latest state:
http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/?action=view&current=Gantry.flv

It shows BlueStreak_F2 in the HandlingFrame.
BlueStreak_F2 has two CHILD attachments, one at the Propulsion Bay, the other at the top of the vehicle.

For non SC3 users, the arrows show attachment points, Red for CHILD, Blue for parent.

The animation shows BS_F2 in the HandlingFrame, attached at the Propulsion Bay, I try to attach GantryCrane PARENT to the top CHILD attachment.
Can't do this.
BS_F2 is then detached, it is then possible for GantryCrane to attach to BS_F2 top CHILD.
It does a bit of animation, detaches BS_F2, then HandlingFrame attaches again.

Point of this is to demonstrate that the GantryCrane can't attach to the top CHILD if the Propulsion Bay CHILD is attached to HandlingFrame, even if its valid.

So, how do I get round this? How can I attach BS_F2 to HandlingFrame and GantryFrame at the same time?
Is there a simpler method?

All these questions, and a holliday weekend...

All help appreciated.

N.
 
You can't attach more than one attachment between vehicles ( one child to one parent)
 
Thanks Donamy!

Well, that a bummer. The plan is the GantryCrane attaches at the top, then lifts _F2 onto the launcher mechanism.
I need it to be generic, as I want to assemble the stack on the launcher, fairings, payloads, etc.

Maybe a chain of CHILD/PARENT/CHILD would work?

Just re-ead your comment, guess that wouldn't work either.

N.
 
Run out of turkey, so getting back into SC3 rms stuff. Just to kickstart the brain, I thought I'd plot the TIP and PARENT_ATTACH as 3-D scatter plots, and compare diagrams of one's that work(everyone else's) and one's that don't(mine).

To start here's Greg Burch's Pods3 data.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/SC3_rms_3.jpg

Must be doing something wrong with this graph, I thought I would get three data points only, from the triplets. I didn't ask for the lines to be drawn, and there seem to be six points not three?

The axis aren't Orbiter, but I can fix that later. Just surprised the data is shown this way.

Any comments? Thanks, N.
 
3d scatter plot was a bit of a red-herring, so back to something more practical!

I'm Modifying the F1.msh for use with SC3 as "F2.msh". F2 will have engine gimballing animation, and opening panniers.

When I reloaded f1.msh back into Max5 with Mindblast's importer, I get this:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/Blue%20Streak/MissingFiles.jpg

Its not a great problem, I still have the .bmp files somewhere!

The thing that conuses me is why Max is looking for .bmp files in the SC3 directory? I can't remember where I had them when I was making the mesh, but it definetley was not in the SC3 directories.

How do others keep their directories organised in Max, when you are making models for Orbiter?

All replies appreciated.

N.
 
Hi,
1. convert the .dds used by the F1 .msh to .bmp's (24-bit I think)

2. put them in the same file as the F1 .msh that you load in Gmax or Max or whatever.

Does that help? Otherwise I guess you need to reload the .bmp's into the appropriate materials individually.

Cheers,
Brian
 
Sorry, BrianJ, I only noticed your reply today, don't know how I missed it!

That works fine now, thnks for the help.

N.
 
With the release of Dan Steph's marvellous UCGO I'd like to make the trailer for the handling frame compatible.
This is the trailer-tractor unit combination in the UK:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/Blue%20Streak/File0036.jpg

and in Australia:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/File0040.jpg

In the UK an iconic tractor-unit would be Scammell, what I'm after are various nationalities for the vehicles. I'd like typical manufacturers for mid-60's to mid 70's of these tractor units for Australia, France, Germany, Italy.
I could do a bit of research of course, but I'm hoping with this international forum you will save me a bit of work...

All links and info appreciated

Edit:

Just a quick update, got the launcher where it will go:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/10012409-25-37A_Frame.jpg

Needs a bit of adjustment for Gantry Hoist, which brings a second problem...

Have shot myself in the foot a bit, I was hoping to animate the service tower on 6A:
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/10012409-27-23A_Frame.jpg
but I can't do that as its just a collection of meshes, and I can't see how to combine that lot into a SC3 vessel?

Ideally, 6A and 6B would both have animated service towers, but I think with 6A above ground level, thats not possible.
That just leaves 6B to launch the Europa, which means it will be stacked on the launcher, as was the real thing. That would be factually incorrect, as 6B was never finished.

Its possible to put a service tower on the opposite side to the DG "hangar", but that may be a bit ugly.

Any suggestions for this, its getting a bit bogged down at the moment?
Thanks
N.
 
Last edited:
Have made a chain of the vessels using Parent and Child attachments, still not getting what I'm after. The basic problem is F2 sinks below ground after detachment, if it didn't it would work.
The chain is A_Frame, Handling_Frame, F2, Gantry_Hoist. Its a sequence of Parent-Child between each.
A_Frame has the first Parent_Attachment.

Here's an animation of these:
http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/?action=view&current=Gantry_1.flv

As you can see toward the end of the animation, A_Frame can move the complete assembly, not whats required, but it shows they are all attached together.

Anyone any ideas?

Thanks, N.



What I was hoping for, is when F2 is selected, and detaches itself and its child(Gantry_Hoist), they wouldn't sink below ground.
Looks like the child vessel paramaters don't affect the parent(F2)? Was hoping the fact its STATUS "Landed Earth", and not "In Flight" would keep F2 on the ground.
 
Thanks Donamy, and thanks for the help, and the others too, its always appreciated.

A couple of things I've learned about SC3 attachments, its best to start simple!
I got confused using the RMS for animation, the TIP and POS values were't making much sense. So I made a simple child-parent-child-parent chain till they all linked and were attaching/detaching correctly. Then went back to the RMS type. That helped

Also, the LAUNCH/LAND_PT* can be tricky, but that was my problem visualising them.
Had a strange one where one of the PARENT_ATTACHMENTs wouldn't attach if it was more than +9.9m from the origin. That was the crane mesh. Got round it by off-setting its matching child attacment, so I'll look for that in the future.

Next is the launcher mechanism, maybe I should have started there...:)

N.
 
Back
Top