Idea Mercury and Gemini add-on improvements

[Saturn V]

MJR,

Haven't had a chance to look at the umbilical animation yet - BTW: if you segmented the umbilical line, I'll need the new mesh before I can try it (been working on the Agena configuration of LC14 all day), but when I went in to position the new hold-down cradle & arms, I found more bad news...

...parts disconnected from the gantry which don't move with the animation. I didn't notice it before. Guess I was focused on the other corrections you made...

---------- Post added 07-12-2009 at 12:10 AM ---------- Previous post was 07-11-2009 at 11:22 PM ----------

Preliminary shots of the Agena and reconfigured LC 14...

Still a few details to go over, but the basic shapes and scale are pretty much done.

Also reworked the Mercury launch cradle...

 

[Donamy]

Awesome detail !! what 3D program do you use ?

 

[MJR]

I never had that problem. It doesn't matter now that I am making the umbilical lines segmented and the groups will be different. Give me some more time and I'll have the retraction done. It is good so far.

 

[Saturn V]

Awesome detail !! what 3D program do you use ?

Believe it or not, that's all anim8or. You just have to have the patience to finesse it until you get what you're after.

I never had that problem. It doesn't matter now that I am making the umbilical lines segmented and the groups will be different. Give me some more time and I'll have the retraction done. It is good so far.

Yeah, that was the last mesh you sent, and then we made corrections, so I don't know if the glitch was in the mesh or if I goofed something doing the ammendments.

It's a shame you have to regroup everything, but if it all comes together, all the effort will be worth it. Looking forward to seeing your latest work!

 

[MJR]

Did you mesh with the mesh any bit? Or did you try adding the umbilical animations? I segmented the umbilical so I'll send the mesh and new animation file later.

 

[Urwumpe]

Believe it or not, that's all anim8or. You just have to have the patience to finesse it until you get what you're after.

I have no patience. Also the texturing in anim8or is still annoying.

 

[MJR]

I have no patience. Also the texturing in anim8or is still annoying.

Texturing is a pain with Anim8or. That I can agree with.

 

[Saturn V]

Did you mesh with the mesh any bit? Or did you try adding the umbilical animations? I segmented the umbilical so I'll send the mesh and new animation file later.

If you're talking about the detached gantry pieces, no I didn't do anything to the mesh, and I wouldn't even know where to begin trying to animate something, so that's a negative as well.

I just considered the possibility that since you were able to get rid of that part that was floating off the top by manipulating the configuration file, maybe I botched something when I was trying to repeat your work on my end. See, I told you I don't know anything about animation!

Just take your time with the animations (everything running smoothly and all the parts of a group where they belong) so you don't end up redoing everything later...patience is a virtue!

As far as texturing with anim8or, I don't do any surface tile texturing so I don't generally need textures larger than 1024X512 (or numerical derivatives of it). Anim8or is not without it's frustrations, but I'm fairly comfortable with it.

 

[MJR]

I am actually taking my time this time. Usually I try to get it done quick, but that is not good.

 

[Saturn V]

I am actually taking my time this time. Usually I try to get it done quick, but that is not good.

Excellent!

BTW: the Agena version of LC14 is done (though if I stare at it long enough, I'm sure I'll find things that I just have to "tweak" :suicide:!).

Noticed that the new launch cradles are slightly too wide, so I'm off to rescale them...

 

[MJR]

Good luck.

 

[Saturn V]

In as far as I can tell, I'm done. Launch cradles are rescaled, Agena LC14 mesh is complete and the cfg files are done.

Let me know if you want me to segment the umbilicals, or even delete them if you want to do them. There are quite a few on the Agena pad though...

 

[MJR]

Goes ahead and segment them so when I rotate them they can line up straight.

 

[Saturn V]

You have any Idea how many segments you want each broken into? More would give a more "fluid" movement, but would likely be more cumbersome. Fewer would probably be easier, but would also look "blocky" and angular.

 

[MJR]

I cut the umbilical that I am using to about 10 pieces or so. Maybe 12.

 

[Saturn V]

I'll see what I can do over the next few days. I'm done for today as I've got tons of paperwork to sift through before court tomorrow.

 

[MJR]

Attorney?

 

[Saturn V]

No. I'm one of the principal document fraud investigators (mostly immigration) for the state. Given how slowly the wheels of justice grind, there are instances where several cases come to a head at the same time...this being one of them.

 

[MJR]

Are you guys just going to discuss things or is it a case?

 

[Saturn V]

1 trial and 1 arraignment in the morning - 2 preliminary hearings in the afternoon, 3 different courtrooms, 2 in 1 building and the other 3 blocks away. Somedays I wish I weren't too old for rollerskates.