Project XR2 Ravenstar - Mk II

[unussapiens]

Quick question to Coolhand:

I'm an engineering student, so I work with CAD software, so I'm used to that interface.

Out of curiosity, about how many features (revolve, extrude, etc.) will there be in the final model?

Thanks!

It sounds like you use a procedural solid-based CAD package (Like SolidWorks or CATIA), while I believe Coolhand uses mesh based modelling packages (Models made up of vertices, faces and edges), so there aren't features as such. Meshes are usually talked about in terms of polys (polygons) or tris (triangles), since they are what the computer draws and therefore have the most effect on graphics performance.

 

[Coolhand]

Ah, yes game models are very different to the type of output you'd get from a cad package like that... I used to use Autocad professionally for local companies but i don't recall things like that ever being called features. Anyway, in order to work in a game you would have to convert those 'features' to triangles somehow and clean them up because they won't make a nice clean mesh.

---------- Post added at 06:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:28 AM ----------

Btw all as you may have noticed in my sig you can now get some stylish apparel and paraphernalia with high quality images of the XR2 and other related things from the not-cornily-named-at-all "Ravenstore".

Who could resist this funky dice Iphone cover? http://www.zazzle.com/furrydicez_speckcase-176238904259170845
Or this fancy mousepad http://www.zazzle.com/xr2_mk2_dev_mousepad-144852823400616317
Also lots of clothing items and other stuff please check it out, if you've enjoyed the XR2 and this thread over the years and want to say thankyou or support future development. Gotta get myself one of those furry dice hats...:thumbup:

 

[Spacethingy]

Profuse apologies is this like asking what the Probe is, but...

What with the "furry dicez"?!

 

[yagni01]

Btw all as you may have noticed in my sig you can now get some stylish apparel and paraphernalia with high quality images of the XR2 and other related things from the not-cornily-named-at-all "Ravenstore".

Shameless. But darn. . . no 1/72 scale Akula model. :shrug:

 

[Coolhand]

do you have any idea how big that would be? Tell you what, I'll make you one, but it'll cost you several thousand if I just cover costs.

---------- Post added at 05:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:02 PM ----------

Profuse apologies is this like asking what the Probe is, but...

What with the "furry dicez"?!

we just... don't talk about them. but they're everywhere, multiplying...

oh the horror, the horror...

 

[dbeachy1]

Profuse apologies is this like asking what the Probe is, but...

What with the "furry dicez"?!

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Enable or disable the fuzzy dice in the VC 
#
#   0 = fuzzy dice disabled  (default)
#   1 = fuzzy dice enabled
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
EnableFuzzyDice=0

 

[Bonanza123d]

#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Enable or disable the fuzzy dice in the VC 
#
#   0 = fuzzy dice disabled  (default)
#   1 = fuzzy dice enabled
#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
EnableFuzzyDice=0

Huh???? Is that directly in the config?

 

[kevin580]

Huh???? Is that directly in the config?

:yes:

 

[White Wolf]

May i suggest adding some items with the Altea logo on them? just a thought to broaden your horizons. (not a personal request as i have no money :lol

I think an Altea coffee mug would look awesome though.

 

[Coolhand]

Suggestions for the store are well recieved... Also, I will attempt to fulfill specific requests for items.

 

[Grover]

i suppose you gotta make money somehow

and an Altea mug + mousemat would be awesome

 

[Coolhand]

---------- Post added at 10:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 PM ----------

i suppose you gotta make money somehow

and an Altea mug + mousemat would be awesome

Its the generous pay that comes with addon development that keeps me so fantastically thin. :lol:

http://www.zazzle.com/altea_aerospace_mug-168421107677470901
http://www.zazzle.com/altea_aerospace_mousemat_mousepad-144168729390091543

 

[MachJok]

All of those photos look awesome! So many years of work. I can't wait to fly it! I get very geeked out when I see the WIP screenshots.

Coolhand, what are the dimensions for the XRII MKII? I have been searching but I can not seem to find anything. I want to try and fit 2 in the ship I am developing but I am unsure how much volume to allocate.

Thanks!

 

[Cairan]

I've been reading a lot lately on the Atomic Rockets website... I think I've figured what is powering the XR2: Closed-cycle gaseous core fission / nuclear thermal rocket AKA "Nuclear Lightbulb" , which in the original design was a fused quartz bulb of about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide, with gaseous uranium and neon being "pumped" and reprocessed continuously...

The other stats. The total volume of the reaction chambers (cavities) is 170 cubic feet. There are seven cavities, each six feet long. The cavity pressure is 500 atmospheres. The specific impulse is 1870 seconds (report says can theoretically be from 1500 to 3000 seconds). The total propellant flow (including seed and nozzle transpirant coolant flow) is 49.3 pounds per second. The thrust is 92,000 pounds. The engine power is 4600 megawatts. The engine weight is 70,000 pounds. If one can design a variable-throat-area nozzle (instead of fixed-area) this will result in a major decrease in the required chamber pressure during startup.

Instead of Uranium used in the original design, I'd say going with Californium-249/251 would be a good strategy, it's critical mass is much lower than uranium and would require even less substance to undergo fission inside the "lightbulb", has an appreciable half-life of 3 or 9 centuries for 249Cf and 251Cf, is an alpha emitter when not undergoing fission... This also "solves" the permanent power source of the XR2, which we could imagine is some sort of RTG/Stirling engine when the bulbs are not in operation and the fission materials are "stored" in neutron absorbing and poisoning cells providing heat for the generators.

Of course, the whole ship still runs on fairy dust, as the heat must still go somewhere and the ship doesn't have a fraction of the radiating capacity needed to prevent itself from becoming a pool of molten radioactivated metal!

 

[Captrem]

Hi all,

I didn't know until yesterday that a Mk2 version was under developpment and already so advanced!!! I Had to read all the 115 pages to catch up with what you've done Coolhand, and I must say it's absolutely brilliant!!!!
I am really looking forward to the release and please receive all my support for the development of the Mk2! And I am really looking forward to drinking a nice coffee in an Altea Aerospace mug that I just ordered with a few other stuff.

Great Job, keep up the good work. I so much like hard sci-fi.

Unfortunately, I cannot be of any help in 3D modeling or programming, but in the near future, if you plan to write an Flight Crew Operationg Manual, describing not only how to fly the Mark 2 but also how the systems work: Power Plants, Fuel systems, Electrical systems Oxygen, Lifes support...based for example on ATA Chapters used in aviation, please let me know and I will be very happy to help!

 

[Coolhand]

Thanks for contributing by purchasing a mug! As for the specifics of the ship, well even the fuel is really an in-joke as it's because Doug likes Stargate, It's up to you for how powerful you want to make the ship and so on...

More interested in functionality I guess... Not so important how it does something, just that it does it and looks plausible doing it.

I see a lot of people trying to make sense of the default settings, Cairans post above as a prime example, and that's fine, I'm just not sure it needs explanation. It probably doesn't matter what settings you use, you're still experiencing the same physics, its the same simulation, it just becomes a different vehicle for exploring that simulation.

Thanks to Doug, By changing the config file, you can make it suit your ideas and then share that with others, and you would be encouraged to include as much documentation as you felt necessary.

Here are a couple more pics of the interior, i've made further changes here, visible are a couple of 'sanitation units' - Toilet/wash facilities. Although not shown at the other end i've partitioned off the cockpit/ flight deck and added a crew rest area and crew sanitation facility. I've also added a mechanism for the rear door, so it can lift out of the way of the bathroom doors and allow access to the bay, a CHM or dorsal docking collar if either are fitted.

(if one of them looks a little dark its because i'd accidentally left about 20 point lights switched off - all this lighting will be baked into the final textures.)

btw MachJok, if you're still with us it will fit comfortably into a bounding box 30*20*9 meters, thats with gear down and nosecone closed, with gear up and nosecone open it will fit into a slightly smaller area.

 

[astrosammy]

Wow, looks much more comfortable than the Mk I! Do you think we'll also get a CHM with interior?

 

[Spacethingy]

I don't want to buy a mug with this boring thing on it! I want a spaceship!

:lol:

Love the private-jet-style interior! :thumbup:

 

[Cras]

I've also added a mechanism for the rear door, so it can lift out of the way of the bathroom doors and allow access to the bay, a CHM or dorsal docking collar if either are fitted.

Dorsal docking?!? Sweet! I always preferred dorsal docking ports over the nose cone kind.

 

[Coolhand]

Had things worked out differently then the XR2 might have had a dorsal dock from the very beginning, and also would have looked quite different as a result...

The front end is really designed around that docking system as i figured, many years ago now, that a bow dock would be easier for Doug to code.

By the time we figured out that we would have both preferred to use a dorsal system - because its easier to do for me and it wasn't a problem for Doug, who also liked that idea - it was too late. However I think it worked out well in the end. An additional dorsal dock has always been an option, i had one built ready for the mk1, but for some reason it was never used.

astrosammy, yes you will be able to explore at least 1 type of CHM, though due to the extended cabin and in-built facilities of that cabin, a CHM is not really needed for most flights. It would perhaps just add further seating or a sleeping area rather than handling all the sanitation and other stuff that i didn't have time or space to put in the mk1.

Here's a view forwards, again sorry its dark but that at least covers up the lack of, or messed up, texturing. It will all have to be tidied up and retextured once i'm done. you can see the crew rest area on the left (a little cabin with its own porthole) and crew sanitation is on the right and again features a porthole, in a space thats a mirror of the one on the left.

Basically trying to make the interior a more livable space for people, food btw, would be stored overhead... perhaps with a sort of auto-steward system to bring items down to the passengers but that is unlikely to be illustrated or brought to life beyond a mechanism in the ceiling.