Project XR2 Ravenstar - Mk II

[Woo482]

Looking Good and can some one make a Cryro-coffin payload?

 

[James.Denholm]

I hope you're not acussing me of necro- No, of course not, they can never find out about you and I, can they, my love...

 

[Coolhand]

Looking Good and can some one make a Cryro-coffin payload?

Would you like a HAL9000 with that? I think James would...

Bearing in mind guys, 32 is pure seating, taking up the whole payload bay - "economy class", no extra space for sleeping and minimal sanitation, food and life support so realistically you'd only use it for short duration flights.

Really, part of that bay should be fuel for pure SSTO configuration, so again realistically it would probably need the booster that i concepted a few pages ago to take 32 people into orbit.

 

[James.Denholm]

...so realistically you'd only use it for short duration flights.

Or long-haul flights for my slaves.

 

[Coolhand]

shhh... you're not meant to mention the slave labour you're bringing to the lunar Altea fabrication plants.

 

[dbeachy1]

Which makes me think: Will we be able to make custom skins and payloads for this? 'cause I bags making a hearse version!

Yes, users will be able to create custom skins and the bay will use standard XR-class payloads, albeit with a different shape than the standard containers included with the Vanguard. You will be able to haul any payloads that fit in the bay -- payload configuration will be handled just like it is for the Vanguard.

Also, as Steve said, the reason the ship looks so flat is because the materials need to be tweaked to add some specular (gloss) to the hull, plus the textures look a little dark (which could also be due to the hull material). This is probably due to 3DSMax not preserving the material attributes perfectly on export to OBJ (Russ and I had the same trouble with Maya on the XR5.) The good news is that this will be straightforward to tweak, so it will be sorted out in short order.

 

[James.Denholm]

shhh... you're not meant to mention the slave labour you're bringing to the lunar Altea fabrication plants.

Meh, that's not long haul. By long haul, I meant my station orbiting Uranus.

Although, you do have a point. Ok, people, I'm NOT mentioning that highly illegal contract I have with Altea to provide slave labour, I'm NOT mentioning the fact that this labour needs constant replacement due to high death rates, I'm NOT mentioning Altea's highly secret fabrication plants at all, and I'm definitely NOT mentioned that I'm not going to settle for anything less than a 50% increase in my fees when the next contract comes around, otherwise some of the labourers may already be dead by the time they get there. Don't be warned, Coolhand.

EDIT: Awesome, Doug. To be honest, I had forgotten about the XR5's payload system, and it didn't occur to me that they might be the same.

Oh, and one word: Blender! That might fix that problem.

 

[Coolhand]

Thats alright, we'll just find someone else.

 

[James.Denholm]

*Readies Missile MFD*

Nothing better than a bit of industrial sabotage first thing in the morning...

 

[eveningsky339]

*Readies Missile MFD*

Nothing better than a bit of industrial sabotage first thing in the morning...

It makes you wonder what kind of people actually invest time and energy into some of these more... eh... questionable MFDs.


*creates Rubber Ducky MFD*

 

[Woo482]

When I learn codeing I am going to Create a Fury Dice MFD !!!

 

[Noceur]

HohoHO! I think it's time for me to put my spacesuit back on... this is looking great!

 

[James.Denholm]

What, the Fuzziy Dicez MFD?

 

[TSPenguin]

It is Furry Dicez and yes, that would be great woo482!
Mr. Denholm, you might want to check the social groups page...

Have there been a 'final' decision yet on what skins will be released with the XR2?
I really like the genuine Ravenstar theme Steve used for most of his screenys, the grey with shades of erm.. grey are great too but a little boring (at least after this unprecendet teasing with beautifull pics and even videos!).
There had been some talks about this way back and I am curious what it's gonna be now.

And now something completely different:
A general idea for a spacecraft concept. A ship that can lock out of the athmospheric hull.
You would launch your XR3 to orbit like you always do. You then undock the ship itself from it's wings and all the other stuff you don't really need (like the empty wing tanks etc.) and go for a space ride. Whenever you want you come back and merge the ship again with it's wings.
Someone would need to do the math if all the locking mechanisms and strengthend structures wouldn't ruin the effect of traveling without dummy mass, but I think it will work nicely.

May the Furry Dicez comfort you!

 

[Coolhand]

that dark grey you've seen in the pics doug has posted was caused by settings in the .msh file. i've been going through and fixing those why it ended up like that is due to the most basic material settings i chose in max many months ago. The version i've got here is looking way nicer. I've been fiddling with spec settings too so it has some glossy highlights which is a bit closer to how we're all used to seeing it.

Of course we are limited in what can be accomplished with the .msh format.. I have been wondering if there's some way to use the direct x native format in orbiter, i've no idea if it would work or if it's been done before. But there are a lot more effects that can potentially be supported by orbiters current DX renderer than are supported by it's native .msh format, which could potentially lead to much nicer looking in game models without the need for the extra renderers that will be coming along at some point. Although the DX 9 and so on will add even more shaders they still won't be supported by .msh, so either that (in my opinion) needs a re-write to make fuller use of the new features or support for direct x 3d format needs to be in orbiter.

Sadly i'm not a coder at all, so how possible this all is i don't know. i think i'll mention it in the visualisation area.

AS for that concept, thats nuts, i like it

 

[dbeachy1]

OK gents, thanks to some more sorcery from Steve we now have this:

Note that the gear is still up on the Ravenstar, so that's why it sits so low on the runway.

 

[tl8]

OK gents, thanks to some more sorcery from Steve we now have this:
Note that the gear is still up on the Ravenstar, so that's why it sits so low on the runway.

Now that looks right, beautiful ship guys. Looks like a great addition to the XR family

 

[James.Denholm]

Looks nice! Like shot 2.

 

[dutchpirate]

Thinking like an aircraft manufacturer, how intensive is it to add length to the ship using a fuselage/hull plug. Put simply, saw it in half then add a piece in the middle. Weld it up, and <poof>, you have an XR2 MkII!!

 

[Master of Blades]

OK gents, thanks to some more sorcery from Steve we now have this:

[....]

Note that the gear is still up on the Ravenstar, so that's why it sits so low on the runway.

Amazing, looks like a sci-fi version of the Space Shuttle... really like the colours D: