Project G42-200 StarLiner

[Grover]

Nice work so far, especially with the DVC mesh juggling for the humans

But the mesh needs a bugfix, the whole model has a reflecive surface, but the cargo bay doors have no reflectivness

Canr wait to fly it!

 

[Hlynkacg]

They're probably defined as a seperate object/material for the sake of animation.

 

[Moach]

They're probably defined as a seperate object/material for the sake of animation.

that is correct! :thumbup:
worry not - those are just placeholder materials... i'll have to change them all once i go for texturing the ext model, so a little specular quirk is acceptable for now

and the VC has texture priority ATM... it is where you spend most of the time... so i don't wanna leave it for seconds like i did with the '100... that way it never gets done :lol:


cheers!

 

[HarvesteR]

i do plan on keeping this somewhat "cartoony" line-drawing style... it's easy to make and looks quite pleasing - photoreal can wait a bit until we have more ship to deal with :lol:

Bake rendered lighting onto that line-drawing texture, and you'll get photoreal in a box

Quick and easy!!

The VC is looking quite good!! as a suggestion, (provided orbiter does support alpha maps) how about giving those little toggle switch spacers a texture that will clip out the insides, leaving only a rim, like the Apollo CM had? No extra polys, and since those are probably instances of a single one, just a single texture mapping effort (which, for a cube, isn't much at all)

Cheers

 

[Schmidtrock]

This is looking amazing! I look forward to piloting this ship!

 

[Dambuster]

One word: awesome!

 

[River Crab]

Okay, up until now, I've been refraining from letting my mouth loose with an insignificant one-word comment, but I must submit.

AWESOME! :blink:

 

[Moach]

ok then... here's a minor progress report

i have half a pilot on the left seat... he still has no hands or head, items i think he might miss if i leave it like that

but before that, i went ahead and modelled some of the center console controls :hmm:

i have also revised a few switches and stuff - now engine-specific controls are better grouped on the same panel, and there's a new APU switchboard (not shown) behind the external-tank jettison lever, where i found there's more usable area than i antecipated...


notice also, the side-panel EICAS panels are now mapped and positioned (on both sides)

it's coming along... slowly but surely

---------- Post added at 06:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:09 PM ----------

just another quick-peek...

mr. sits-on-the-left now has a head :lol: - and now we got the glareshield panel in, as well as the RCS-ball (whih ideally controls LIN while the stick controls ROT)

i'm not gonna be able to get much, or any progress at all done over the weekend, since i'm gonna head down to the beach with girlfriend

next week i think i'll start wiring up the HUD and MFD's, so we can have ourselves something to play with

when i get it to a point where it performs all the basic things a craft could do in Orbiter, i'll call that a "WIP milestone" and will release a first alpha version

might be a few weeks till then, tho... it's pretty green still (literally)

 

[liber]

I must inform you,there is ghost at pilot seat,call exorcist...

:lol:

Nice work... :thumbup:

 

[Arrowstar]

Holy Moly! You, sir, are brilliant! :tiphat:

 

[Hlynkacg]

I wouldn't worry about the interior textures too much, the consoles look great as is. Spend that time and effort (not to mention RAM) on the guy/girl riding shotgun.

As a side note; I'd reccomend modeling them wearing sun-glasses and a headset. I find the fact that my copilot on the XR2 never blinks kind of creepy. This'll also save you time and polygons by obscuring the eyes/ears.

 

[Axel]

Really nice work Moach, i like your new Starliner more than the old one.
And i like the cockpit style, its a cross over between space shuttle and an airplane.

 

[Eli13]

Just a suggestion, it should include a DG-IV-II like flight computer, just without the VTOL commands (like auto-hover and such)

 

[Moach]

thanks all! - and all suggestions are mostly welcome!

not sure about a DGIV-style FMC... that thing is kinda complicated with all the manual input opcodes and stuff...
i think we'll be better off with a boeing/airbus type thing, with a more MFD-ish interface :hmm:


i'll be back shortly...

 

[Eli13]

Cool. Make a post on how that works if you make one.

 

[Moach]

ok, here's more cockpit news

so, what's new...

well, we have a HUD... it was quick and easy to setup (copy-pasted code from the '100)
and now it's there :thumbup:
i've taken care to match the hud "size" stated in the code to the actual size of the hud render-plane - so when your head moves, all reference points stay perfectly put at their projected locations, just like a real HUD would do

also, i have further revised a lot of the panels - added a bunch of stuff tha was missing, plus gave the pilot a little overhead panel of his own (i thought the HUD projector would take up a lot more space than it really did)

well... lot's of stuff... i'm kinda itching to fly it now... but it still needs MFD's... flying is very tricky without them :lol:


oh well, patience is a virtue... and Ritalin really helps, too :rofl:

 

[Eli13]

awesome.

 

[Moach]

ok, MFD's - 4 really seems like a good number to have...
and if not enough - the engineer has 2 more (not implemented ATM) :lol:

and guess what! - you actually CAN give them a blue-ish tint

next up, MFD buttons!

 

[Eli13]

again, awesome.

 

[Dambuster]

How many of the buttons that are visible in those screenies will be functional?