Idea Mercury and Gemini add-on improvements

[Lunar_Lander]

A word about the retro-pack for Freedom 7-II which is on the photos: I just read No Go by Roger E. Moore, and he says that the retro-pack was expanded to hold extra batteries and water for the three to six day flight (max duration feasible was 144 hours by the way!).

Just wanted to let you know that, that the pack for the capsule was adapted specifically. Rudimentary Service Module .

 

[Saturn V]

Perhaps some part of the pad itself rotated to position the rocket on the desired heading. Yes, that the trouble with too much detail
My guess is that the clamp should be part of the rocket model in some future version.
For now, perhaps simply changing the offending parts might solve the problem. Something that goes around the base of the rocket could be similar, visually, and not require any alignment. Some sort of cylinder would do, so that the the rocket doesn't look as if its levitating over the ground.

To that end, the only solution I can think of is to isolate the clamp portions of the mesh, render/export it as a seperate model and set it up so it can be rotated with the booster. Most rockets are cylindrical (without fairings as on the Atlas) and imperfect rotation is less appartent than it is in this instance.

I don't know...I may have some time to play around with it this weekend, but there's another unfinished Orbiter project I really want to get to before anything else. I'll have to see what I realistically can do.

 

[4throck]

Saturn V, there's no rush! Take your time and enjoy orbiter development .
I think a separate mesh is a good solution. We could then simply rotate it in a base configuration file to match the rocket's orientation.

 

[4throck]

Just two small previews of my upcoming Gemini texture repaint. Again, no changes to the meshes, the ones we have already are good.

The instrument panels already have some details, but still need some work to give them depth.
The Titan rocket has all the major markings placed from a reprojected photo. Of course, with just one good quality photo to go the coverage is small and subject to light variations. I'll have to work with other partial photos to get the small scale details on the hull. It will be a 2048x2048 textures for each stage I think !

 

[Saturn V]

Here's what I was able to do:

By no means pefect, but somewhat more interesting than the default. The launch ring was rescaled and looks better equiped to handle an Atlas than my original model. Also set it up with spacecraft3 so it can be rotated with the booster in the scenario file. The image shown is at 72.51 degrees (or whatever the default heading in the launch scenario is). As you can see, the launch ring is rotated to the same degree as the Atlas. An inelegant solution, but passable if you just want a "busier" launch pad. Worked on the textures a little also, but there's still some flicker.

Will try to gather all the files and set up a new configuration as time permits if you want them.

 

[Chipstone306]

thatnk you

I am very very impressed so far all , great job Saturn V. I was wondering after completing the updated improvements is there anyone who can maybe rework the sounds as well? maybe make a gemini mission pack?
And thanks again for working on this great addon its good to see people always working to improve the experiance for all of us old mission types
cheers

 

[Saturn V]

The biggest problem with updating the audio is availability.

If you mean something along the lines of mission packs, I know I've seen recordings of Freedom 7 & Friendship 7 around the internet, but Gemini really is the forgotten program. There's very little out there and certainly no complete mission audio...at least that I'm aware of.

If you mean to update the launch and spacecraft audio, the issue is that the Mercury & Gemini add-ons were designed to use the default sounds in Orbiter. You can replace those files, but unless you're running a dedicated installation of Orbiter for Mercury and/or Gemini, be aware that you'd be changing the liftoff sound for all other vehicles as well.

One could recompile the code to use specific sounds, but my coding experiences have pretty much been exercises in futility.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[4throck]

Saturn V, I love the updated pads. Nice details but not exaggerated, they don't distract from the rockets and just look "right". The retracted gantry is a must. Please share them when you have the opportunity.

 

[Chipstone306]

Thank you for the info Saturn V
I have a few contacts down at NASA in Houston i have build over the past few years, one i went to college with. I am going to ask around an see if i can get into contact with anyone who may have some info into mission audio from any of the Gemini launches and see where that goes.
Thanks again and stay tune for more details

 

[4throck]

... anyone who may have some info into mission audio...

That would be great. I don't think there are any recordings of the capsule's sound environment (air conditioning, buttons, etc) but if you find them I could get them into orbiter. Again, as mentioned on this thread, some default orbiter sounds would be replaced, but you can get around that with a separate orbiter install.
The reason why I think there aren't any capsule sounds is because there were no microphones there, besides the ones in the astronaut helmets (please correct me if wrong).

A good approximation might be to use Apollo sounds. That might not be 100% accurate, but at least it would be based on reality.

 

[Saturn V]

In looking over the details I'd already added to Pad 14, I realized that the concrete apron was not represented, so I expanded on the groundwork supplied with the original LC 14 from Kev Shanow, and came up with this...

This shot illustrates that while something may look decent from one angle, it won't necessarily look good from another. Due to the height of the booster above the ground (which I believe is coded into the Mercury-Atlas dll), I can't adjust the height of the pad enough to correct the "shift" of the ground beneath it...

Does this look like the right way to go with this, or is it better without the apron (given the "shift" of the ground tiles depending on the viewing angle)?

 

[4throck]

Does this look like the right way to go with this, or is it better without the apron (given the "shift" of the ground tiles depending on the viewing angle)?

I can think of 2 solutions:

- Raise the concrete apron as if it was a ramp, along it's length, so that it matches the ground level as it moves away from the pad itself. I think that might help minimize perspective shifts due to the model being bellow ground.

- Add the ground texture to you model, covering the clear area around the pad and buildings,at a lower level. Also add a "wall" to that perimeter going from the lower terrain level to Orbiter's ground level, textured with some vegetation. As the surrounding terrain is trees, it might look good raised relative to the pad.

 

[4throck]

Little Joe

While teaching myself some 3D modeling, I tried to do a Little Joe mesh. It's still untextured apart from the main body that has a metal look.
Got as far as getting it into Orbiter using spacecraft3. Now, it's really hard to grasp all the parameters, orientation axes and so forth. The rocket is sideways :lol: ! I've corrected it for the screenshot using the scenario editor .

 

[Saturn V]

I can think of 2 solutions:

- Raise the concrete apron as if it was a ramp, along it's length, so that it matches the ground level as it moves away from the pad itself. I think that might help minimize perspective shifts due to the model being bellow ground.

- Add the ground texture to you model, covering the clear area around the pad and buildings,at a lower level. Also add a "wall" to that perimeter going from the lower terrain level to Orbiter's ground level, textured with some vegetation. As the surrounding terrain is trees, it might look good raised relative to the pad.

No, that won't help. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough on the issue...the problem in correcting the perceived ground shift is that the pad would need to be raised, not lowered. If I lift it high enough to eliminate the ground shift, the Atlas will be sticking out the bottom of the launch pad.

The shift is still noticable without the groundwork, but far less so than with it. That's why I asked if was worth bothering with. I think I'm just gonna lose the apron. It'll lower the poly count anyway...

As for your Little Joe orientation - you need to rotate your mesh either before you export it, or if you've already converted it to an Orbiter mesh, rotate it with Mesh Wizard.

Anybody know what might be causing the "flicker" in the textures at certain angles? I've eliminated the specularity of those meshes & nothing is overlapping (well, the pipes in the side of the pad do, but they don't flicker any more or less than the ones that don't).

 

[Puma]

Gemini texture repaint

While teaching myself some 3D modeling, I tried to do a Little Joe mesh. It's still untextured apart from the main body that has a metal look.
Got as far as getting it into Orbiter using spacecraft3. Now, it's really hard to grasp all the parameters, orientation axes and so forth. The rocket is sideways :lol: ! I've corrected it for the screenshot using the scenario editor .

is any beta for the Gemini texture repaint ready for download ?

 

[4throck]

As for your Little Joe orientation - you need to rotate your mesh either before you export it, or if you've already converted it to an Orbiter mesh, rotate it with Mesh Wizard.

Thanks. I changed the orientation with Mesh Wizard and got it standing on the ground on the tail fins and with the engine exhaust in the approximate place. Now I'm really at loss with the proper values for spacecraft3. I've tried some real ones, as far as I could get them, and it flew for about 3 seconds, really really fast ;-) . Then I configured more parameters and it now escapes Earth in seconds! What would be the best way to convert / find all the values needed? Another thing, what would be the best aproach to launch this rocket at an angle from vertical?

As for the Pad, I understood that the rocket is LOWER then in reality, therefore the apron is BELLOW ground, right ? What I was suggesting was bringing the structures (blockhouse, for example) farther from the pad up to Orbiter's ground level and changing the apron to a ramp. It would be lower near the pad, as it is now, and be at ground level close to the blockhouse. Don't know if it would work or look right, though. Perhaps it's just simpler to remove it !

---------- Post added at 09:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:42 AM ----------

is any beta for the Gemini texture repaint ready for download ?

For now no. Gemini actually has 3 parts: the Titan rocket, the capsule exterior and the capsule virtual cockpit. Probably the Titan will be released first. The capsule is more complex and requires a lot of work to get something that is really better than the existing textures. Probably the panel textures of the VC will have some sort of beta before the capsule itself.

 

[4throck]

Little Joe thread

I created a Little Joe thread in the Addon Development forum, as I got the thing flying!

 

[kino_astroboy]

I created a Little Joe thread in the Addon Development forum, as I got the thing flying!

Congratulations! Have you thought of creating a Big Joe? The Mercury boilerplate was on top of an Atlas with no Launch Escape System. It was a 13 minute suborbital flight to test the capsule's heat shield.

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Joe_1

 

[Star Voyager]

Good morning gentlemen,
For Mr. kino astroboy, if you want to simulate Big Joe 1, load a Mercury Atlas scenario and jettison the tower!:lol:

Until then, this is Star Voyager, signing off.

---------- Post added at 02:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:45 PM ----------

Good morning gentlemen,
For anyone who is curious about the development of an Atlas F ICBM for Orbiter, here is a link to the ICBM itself:

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=8680

Here is a link to the Site 11 surface base for that ICBM, not under development (I need some people to do the base; coordinates and pictures are present):

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=8663

Until then, this is Star Voyager, signing off.

 

[Saturn V]

Almost there...

(Overview of Complex 14)

(Latest additions)

I want to add just a few more details and I'll call this one done.