Question Defining Docking Ports

[Tchail]

I have a question about defining docking ports in the Orbiter .cfg (or .ini) files.

How do you define docking approach directions that are not perpendicular to an axis?

For example, let's say that you want to have a docking port that is at a direction at a 45 degree angle directly between the +x and +y axes, how is that defined in the .cfg file?

According to the 3DModel.pdf in the Orbiter API documents folder, docking ports are defined in the following manner:

BEGIN_DOCKLIST
<Dock-spec 0>
<Dock-spec 1>
. . .
<Dock-spec n-1>
END_DOCKLIST ​

where:

​

​

<Dock-spec i>:​

<xi> <yi> <zi> <dxi> <dyi> <dzi> <rxi> <ryi> <rzi> [<ids-channel>]

<x​

i> <yi> <zi> is the reference position of the docking port in the vessel’s local​

coordinates. ​

​

​

<dxi> <dyi> <dzi> is the direction in which a ship approaches the docking

port in the station’s local reference frame.​

​

<rx​

i> <ryi> <rzi> is a reference direction perpendicular to the approach direction used for aligning an approaching ship’s rotation along its longitudinal axis.​

<ids-channel> ​

is an optional parameter which allows to define the channel for an IDS (Instrument Docking System) transmitter for the dock.​

From the ProjectAlpha_ISS.cfg file, the docking ports are defined as follows:​

; === Docking ports ===

BEGIN_DOCKLIST
0.08 -5.8 15.7 0 0 1 0 -1 0 588
0.09 -17.9 -3.8 0 -1 0 0 0 1 586
0.05 -4.30 -36.3 0 0 -1 0 1 0 584
0.05 -7.7 10.3 0 -1 0 0 0 -1 582
0.05 -18.3 -23.7 0 -1 0 0 0 -1 580
END_DOCKLIST​

I understand that the first three numbers represent the xyz coordinates of the msh file where the docking port is located.​

If the next three numbers represent the approach direction, then 1 0 0 says that the approach direction is a line extending in the +x axis extending from the docking port on your mesh, while 0 0 -1 would mean that the approach direction is a line extending in the -z direction from your mesh.​

This seems to infer that that dx, dy, dz, and rx, ry, and rz are each a number with a value between 0 and 1.​

If that is the case, then to have a docking port with an approach direction that is at a 45 degree degree angle from my station's +x axis (between the +x and +y axes), would my docking port entry have to look like this:​

0.08 -5.8 15.7 .5 0 0 0 0 1 588​

Or like this:​

0.08 -5.8 15.7 .5 .5 0 0 0 1 588​

Sorry for the long winded entry, but I'm just venturing into making my own Orbiter Addons.​

Thanks,​

-Tchail​

 

[tblaxland]

The direction and rotation vectors need to be normalised, ie, have a length of 1. So your docking port would be:

0.08 -5.8 15.7 .7071 .7071 0 0 0 1 588

EDIT: This tool might help too:
[ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3429"]Vector normalizer tool[/ame]