Project New addon: F.O.D.

JonnyBGoode

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I decided to get back into 3D modeling, maybe revisit the old Spaceballs Winnie... and I've forgotten everything I learned before. So I'm starting at the beginning again.

I decided to work on a new addon; easiest way to learn is by doing. This is an extremely simple one I call "F.O.D."

FOD_zpsmtzy8io8.png


You know how they're always talking about the astronauts losing wrenches and stuff up there, and how dangerous it can be once it's out there loose? I decided to mod a wrench, that people can grab onto, and lose. Since it's going to be so small, I don't think I'm going to put much more detail into it; this one's just about done. I'll just color it silver and release it... so to speak.

I do have one question though: I want people to be able to grapple it and release it, in an MMU or whatever. What would be the best way to go about this? Make it dockable?
 

4throck

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Attachments would be better I think.

Regarding modeling, may I suggest that you go for Blender ? :thumbup:

It has an odd interface with keyboard commands and such.
But you can get very clean (geometrically) and professional models out of it.

It certainly lacks in scene organization/copy-paste, etc, but for our purposes you don't need that.
 

gattispilot

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yes, attachments. All you would need is a cfg that states the mesh and attachment info. If you need help let me know.

Then you will need a toolbox vessel. Make it ucgo and then you can get what tools you need in/out of it.
 
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JonnyBGoode

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I've got Blender on my computer but I've never used it before; I'm going through a tutorial on it now, and am going to attempt to recreate the same wrench. I imagine that won't be too difficult. :)
 

4throck

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It's not, but there's more than one way to do it:

» start with a cube and extrude new faces from it
» start with a vertex and extrude new vertexes
» start with a plane and cut vertexes/edges into it

:hmm: Depends a bit on your work style and the tutorial you are following.

I'd recommend the first option.
May look a bit awkward at first but gets you good geometry from the start.

Here's a nice tutorial:
 
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PhantomCruiser

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FOD is the evil that never sleeps, never calls in sick and never takes a vacation.

FOD must be stopped at all costs.

Now muster all hands topside for flight deck scrub-ex.


Nice work on the wrench BTW.
 

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wings 3d is easy to learn and has an export to .msh function.
 

IronRain

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It's not, but there's more than one way to do it:

» start with a cube and extrude new faces from it
» start with a vertex and extrude new vertexes
» start with a plane and cut vertexes/edges into it

:hmm: Depends a bit on your work style and the tutorial you are following.

I'd recommend the first option.
May look a bit awkward at first but gets you good geometry from the start.

Here's a nice tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbsYDOiph7U

That one is really good.
Another great one:

 

JonnyBGoode

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Thanks! I'm sure I'll have lots of questions in the near future, since my next projects will be to do an overhaul of the Winnebago, and create a "ferry rocket" addon. So I'm sure I'll be asking about animating doors and stuff, about staging, etc. :)
 

4throck

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Since you mention animations:

» Each object on a Blender scene will get exported into a different Orbiter mesh group.
» You are limited to a single material/texture per Orbiter group. That might force you split some objects for export.


Just mentioning this because it's important to plan your work, otherwise you will be blaming the mesh exporter ;-) .
There's some more about normals, face subdivisions, etc so ask way if needed when you get there. Specially about applying Blender modifiers or transformations :)
 

gattispilot

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I used Anim8or and mesh wizard. Both are easy and do the job for me:)
 

n122vu

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For strictly Orbiter development, Anim8or is great. Personally I'd recommend Blender. Mastering it opens up so many other doors, including development for other sims such as X-Plane.
 

JonnyBGoode

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I think I might release this as-is for now, and maybe in the near future do an update on it.

@gattispilot, I don't remember how to do attachments (it's only been ten years since I last did this sort of thing!); any assistance would be welcome.

Ack! I don't remember how to export the Anim8or file to an Orbiter-readable mesh!
 

gattispilot

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Use this script:
[ame="http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2698"]http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=2698[/ame]

On the attachments. Basically a child attachment is needed. on in the cfg

Code:
BEGIN_ATTACHMENT
P  0.0 -53.5 0      0 1 0  0 0 1  GS
END_ATTACHMENT

So you will need a point of attachment, rotation and direction.

If you email me the an8 I can export and make a CFG
[email protected]
 

JonnyBGoode

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Thanks. This is all coming back to me slowly, but the last ten years have not been kind on my memory.

---------- Post added at 01:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:16 AM ----------

Ran into a number of errors but finally got MeshWizard to work... that's a step in the right direction...

---------- Post added at 03:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:25 PM ----------

Anyone have a copy of Vinka's 3ds2msh converter? His site seems to be down and I can't find it mirrored anywhere.
 

JonnyBGoode

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I did. And got an answer there.

I thought I had asked there, and didn't see it and asked again. I got confused which thread I was in.

---------- Post added at 02:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 AM ----------

Gattispilot exported my mesh into a ummu-compatible addon that works in Orbiter 2010. Testing needed, but here's a nice screenshot. :cool:

15109383_10208275772874105_4076169542587585471_n.jpg


---------- Post added 11-20-16 at 12:40 AM ---------- Previous post was 11-19-16 at 02:26 PM ----------

Hmmm... I created a clean copy of Orbiter 2010-P1, and added UMMU to test gattispilot's scenario. Let us just say I had a slightly... different result. :rolleyes:

wrench overhead.jpg


More testing is apparently required before it is released. :lol:
 

gattispilot

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Yes. The wrench above the head is how it looks created. But in his hand is when he grabs it.
 

JonnyBGoode

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Ohhhh. Nevermind. :p

It does seem to work ok then. (Although floating in air is a bit odd, but it's meant to be used in space anyway.)
 

4throck

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Just move the mesh to the ground (translation in mesh edit).
Makes sense to have it there.

Then change to attachment points so that it goes to the hand again.
The translation values on the Z axis should be the same.
 
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