Project Emergency Escape Pod

[Lazers]

Hello guys. This will be my first add on, and I intend to try and make an escape pod that can be carried in say, the bay of a DGIV. However, I need a few pointers.

1.) Tutorial or advice on creating a jettisonable deorbit/manouvering stage. So far I've only managed to make a dockable booster.
2.) Tutorial or advice on animations.
3.) Panels. Okay, I don't expect to be using these anytime soon, but some pointers would be good.
4.) Making it a payload.

I think I can figure out UMMU on my own, and i realize these question are pretty outragous, but thanks anyway.

 

[MJR]

There are tons of tutorials that can answer you questions on Orbit Hangar.

http://www.orbithangar.com/searchre...s&subcat=default&Submit=Browse&OrbVer=default

 

[Countdown84]

Hi Lazers,
I think that's a great idea. I've thought about doing something similar in the past.

I can address #4 - making it a payload. That isn't too hard. Basically, you will need to define attachment points that are compatible with each vessel type you want to carry it in (I'd suggest DGIV, XR-2, XR-5 at a minimum). This can be done either in the .cfg file or the .dll module. I'd suggest you use the .cfg file, because it will be more transparent to users if they need to modify or add attachment points for other craft.

All you need to know for defining the attachment point are the location of the attachment (probably the center of mass in your case), and an orientation for the Escape Pod to sit once it's attached. Then you'll want to designate the attachment as a "child" and add an appropriate "flag" to the end of it, depending on the kind of ship it's for. All of this is described in the Orbiter and OrbiterSDK documentation.

XR-series craft have quite a few additional options for managing payloads. I've written a tutorial about taking full advantage of this system that you might want to look at:
http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3853

Hope that helps and I look forward to seeing this!

 

[Lazers]

Thanks, that was great! I'm going to put the cargo bay bit in as soon as I've managed to sort out the boosters.