Well I can code DLLs and I am really interested in making a complete add on for the Enterprise just to see how far things can be taken in Orbiter :thumbup:....now, don't worry about the moving viewpoint thing. The First Person Experience add on sets the camera offset dynamically and allows movement inside the cockpit to any point. If this logic was modified to restrict the offset position to within the cockpit it would in effect implement collision detection and consequently be more realistic(prevent viewpoint flying out to space!). I believe I can do that.
Secondly, here are my plans for the enterprise :
- not just the bridge can be modeled with VC meshes but the whole of the decks. Since we will be able to have camera control so moving around and basic collision detection should not be a big issue
- Realistic crew can be modeled by using UMMU - the mesh can be animated to walk using animations in code. I am working on this. They can be carried in a ship by using attachment points - inside the ship. When they want to move the parent vessel simply moves the attachment point(I will test this today)
- Bridge controls can be implemented by dynamic textures for the MFDs that already works so well in all vessels - movement of panels inside the bridge and lifts etc can be effected by modifying the mesh - I saw in the manual that the mesh parts of a VC can be transformed.
- Warp Speed code can be got from the Relativistic Warp MFD which simulates it closer to real physics by speeding up the ship to match Lorentz contraction. We will have to speak to the author regarding this.
- Navigation of shuttle should be easy - once the shuttle is close enough - attach it to the vessel at a point close to the shuttle but in Vessel co-ordinates of the enterprise - then guide the shuttle to the bay by moving the attachment point - will test this
- tractor beam is very easy - again based on attachment - the basic idea is that the enterprise's velocity changes should be conveyed to its components and attachments allow this
- Phasers require extending lines from the saucer section to the nearby ships - this can be done by determining their position in global co-ordinates, transforming to vessel co-ordinates and scaling a narrow cylinder to the required length and direction to simulate a beam- damage can possibly be conveyed if both ships are able to communicate
- The basic problem actually lies in calculating positions and orbits correctly - but this can be done by many MFDs and I just have to thrash out the code gradually.
Finally, animating the doors of the shuttle bay is very easy with code and that is the first thing I will try today
. The only thing I need to fix is the axes around which the door rotates or slides and for that Mesh wizard should do the trick. But it would would be so much easier if I could view this model in 3DS Max as its just easier to move around there - and faster.
My modeling abilities are a lot more suspect - so that's a place where I will need help. So what do you say weird guy ?? !!
