Black Dart update

[pattersoncr]

Thanks for the intrest guy's.

That would be the, Deep Atmosphere Reconnaissance Loadout - Exoatmospheric Capture, DARLEC.

DARLEC? I thought you meant Dalek!

 

[Donamy]

Dennis, do you need a burred texture, for your wheel animation ?

 

[Urwumpe]

Dennis, do you need a burred texture, for your wheel animation ?

Well, would be more realistic. Could you maybe duplicate the tire groups and make one copy have the sharp texture and the other the blurred? I think I can switch visibility by editing the flags of these groups, so only one is visible, though both are animated rotating.

BTW, what is your impression of the wheel spin, realistic or does it need improvements?

EDIT: And something else... could you create a boundary layer mesh like the DGIV uses for reentry effect?

EDIT2: And can you get me four positions on the inside of the opened top payload bay doors, where I could put some working lights? I have added a small permanently active strobe currently on the rudder, but I think some white flood lights would also be nice to see in the dark... maybe even making the payload bay emissive, so the light beacons just look better from the distance.

 

[Donamy]

I've added a blurred texture tire group, ET doors and auxillary panel access for the DARLEC.

The tire spin looks awesome, but I think we need a brake system that stops the spin, before the gear retracts. Those spinning tires would generate quite a gyro effect.

By boundary layer mesh, do you mean a transparent belly of the Dart ?

On the lights, do you need groups for that?

 

[Urwumpe]

I've added a blurred texture tire group, ET doors and auxillary panel access for the DARLEC.

OK, more fun for me. :lol:

The tire spin looks awesome, but I think we need a brake system that stops the spin, before the gear retracts. Those spinning tires would generate quite a gyro effect.

OK, I'll add some wheel brakes to the acceleration function.

By boundary layer mesh, do you mean a transparent belly of the Dart ?

No... I mean the plasma stream during reentry.

Roughly like that:

On the lights, do you need groups for that?

If you want to make some, I will not say no. I think about adding landing and taxi lights to the nose gear, but they would not have a real effect in Orbiter.

 

[Dman1410]

Are there any updates on the Black darts development?

 

[Urwumpe]

Are there any updates on the Black darts development?

Currently practically on hold, as my GPU is broken. I already have a replacement in sight, I just need to find also a way to finance it.

In the mean time, I just did some small text-mode coding, testing some ways to implement a fancy life support system.

The last state I left the main module was implementing the enumeration and use of payloads in payload bay or wing stations. Was only a few steps away from supporting external fuel tanks.

 

[Donamy]

While waiting for Urwumpe to get back up to snuff, work continues on the VC.

 

[Donamy]

After a reavaluation of the heating regime of the Black dart, it was determined that the windows needed a redesign.

 

[Talon1]

DAMN!!!! THAT'S FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

 

[Donamy]

A reentry mesh for the Dart.

 

[Andy44]

A reentry mesh for the Dart.

= WIN.

Nice job.

 

[Coolhand]

looking good, maybe make more of a hotspot on the nose/leading edges, make it whiter. should the back of the rudder be glowing like that?

 

[Donamy]

Thanks !! Yes, I was going to tone down the rudder glow quite abit. Here's a shot of the VC showing the backseat REO station. The rear controls fold away in a lower compartment.

 

[SlyCoopersButt]

Thing with white hot spots is they don't look very good when a ship is just starting to get a dull glow. Supposing this is using a gradual glow. A seperate mesh with only white areas to appear above the orange mesh at higher temps could be a solution. But don't know if a transparent mesh above another one would work right due to a rendering limitation.

 

[James.Denholm]

^What Sly said.

She's looking quite good! I especially like that cockpit shot.

 

[Coolhand]

According to doug you can only have one of these fade in/out meshes. otherwise there were lots more effects i wanted to put on the ravenstar.

 

[Donamy]

couldn't you do it as a scaling part ?

 

[Spicer]

Can't wait to fly the Black Dart! It looks like a cross between x-15 and the shuttle. Love the re-entry texture, too.

Anxiously awaiting...

 

[Urwumpe]

couldn't you do it as a scaling part ?

I think it would be easier by making it invisible or visible, depending on state and slowly fade it in or out. The problem is, I don't know if it is possible to paint on a transparent texture.

The whiter we get, the more opaque it should get. But making it realistic should be hard... I could render the glow in run time, but that would be painful slow I fear. All I need are a few reference points on the mesh, which I would unwrap and interpolate on the texture.