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Space Shuttle

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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby wlbragg » Wed May 03, 2017 6:01 pm

I can't get past the incredible detail of this project to date.
I'm going through the launch sequence trying to get a good recording of it and I keep seeing little details that put me right there at the launch site.
As we lift off I hold my breath chanting "go baby go", same thing I did in real life on many occasions, I'm invested.
I go into the cockpit and see the scratches and wear on the HUD glass, the shadows moving across the interior surfaces, the depth of lighting. I could go on but I think you get the idea.
For anyone that has ever enjoyed this type of simulator, I don't know what it is, but there is a sense of realism in this simulation I have never felt before, even in those polished programs. There is an art to development, and there is truly an artist at work here. :D
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby PavlinS » Thu May 04, 2017 1:31 am

Dear Thorsten,
I am sending you this tape. Hope to help me:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_G159ZIbxkwWWV3dldCV3pWZ2s/view?usp=sharing
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby wlbragg » Thu May 04, 2017 4:22 am

Launch using cockpit switches to MECO
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby wlbragg » Thu May 04, 2017 7:14 am

I finaly have been able to make the "Air Data Probe". The AirDataProbe.blend, .ac and .png (below) is zipped in my onedrive here, the object mesh is named AirDataProbe as well. I don't have an xml file with it and I've forgotten what I need to do to put it on the shuttle myself to update the files.


@japreja, unless this is specifically something you wanted to do, I was going to go ahead and install these. I had a couple questions though.

Unless I measured it wrong, one measure I took appeared to be scaled at over a meter when in reality it is only 11'', do you remember if you used any particular scale when you modeled this?

You included a texture that is silver or metal colored, according to the pictures I've seen, these are more of a brass or gold color?

I don't want to change size or color if you already have determined these to be accurate.

EDIT: I took a closer look and the measurements, the "alpha pressure head" schematic is 11'' and the model is 2.95' so I guess I will scale that accordingly. We can worry about the texture and color later.
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby Thorsten » Thu May 04, 2017 6:05 pm

I am sending you this tape. Hope to help me:


Sorry, could you just describe the problem? I'm not terribly familiar with tape forensics, I prefer other debug strategies.
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby wlbragg » Thu May 04, 2017 6:17 pm

I happened to be running the shuttle when the tape was posted so I loaded it up and it was really hard to tell what the "single"issue was as the shuttle recording system is not optimal. But from what I could tell the ET was jettisoned prior to the solids which didn't turn out well!
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby japreja » Thu May 04, 2017 8:29 pm

wlbragg wrote in Thu May 04, 2017 7:14 am:Unless I measured it wrong, one measure I took appeared to be scaled at over a meter when in reality it is only 11'', do you remember if you used any particular scale when you modeled this?

You included a texture that is silver or metal colored, according to the pictures I've seen, these are more of a brass or gold color?


I modeled it using blenders imperial units and it was 11inches, It's fine if you need to scale it. I may have forgotten to apply the scaling to it when I scaled the cylinder to size. I'll check.

I didn't intend on including any texture, I had an issue with a wrong setting in blender to where I could not render the model. I spent a few hours trying to figure it out but just exported the .ac file.
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby wlbragg » Thu May 04, 2017 9:24 pm

Thanks @japreja,

I already pushed it to development, scaled to 11" and used the texture that came with it, we can change it later. I'm looking at making the TPS layers to go with it because it is rather cheesy without cutting out a hole in the fuselage and just rotating it as it is now.
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby PavlinS » Thu May 04, 2017 9:43 pm

Thorsten wrote in Thu May 04, 2017 6:05 pm:
I am sending you this tape. Hope to help me:


Sorry, could you just describe the problem? I'm not terribly familiar with tape forensics, I prefer other debug strategies.


There is a problem with the lounge guidence. Is not following azimuth. also, some times is going to move before I started up. Also is on horizontal direction. This tape I think shows a problems I has with it. Try to reinstall it. Did not help much.
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby Thorsten » Fri May 05, 2017 6:15 am

The manual has a section on troubleshooting - for your convenience, I'll copy it here;

The Shuttle doesn’t hold a clean trajectory and crashes after liftoff


If you intend to fly autopilot, check that
* the launch guidance dialog has a valid target and reads ’active’
* the PITCH an YAW/ROLL pushbuttons on panel F2 are on AUTO
* throttle pushbutton is on AUTO

If you’re trying to fly manually, check that

* the PITCH an YAW/ROLL pushbuttons on panel F2 are on CSS
* throttle pushbutton is on MAN
* your control device is properly configured and centered upon liftoff
* auto-coordination is off

For instance, non-centered pedals sending a rudder signal upon liftoff can kill you.

(...)
Autopilot steers the Shuttle westward and fails to reach orbit

When starting up FG, you did not pass a --heading option to orient the launch stack properly. As a result, the tail fin of the Shuttle points westward, and pulling back after liftoff leads to the wrong launch azimuth. There is usually not enough performance to reach a retrograde orbit, so you will end up on a ballistic trajectory back into the atmosphere.

*
Make sure to start FG with the proper orientation for the launch pad by passing a heading parameter westward -
this will point the tail fin eastward

http://www.science-and-fiction.org/down ... sic.pdf.gz

How far down the list did you check?

also, some also, some times is going to move before I started up. Also is on horizontal direction


Do you mean the launch stack is toppled on the pad and not standing upright? That's a bug which for weird reasons occurs on some computers but not others, and it /should/ be fixed in the devel version (which hopefully gets synched with FGAddon soon).
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby wlbragg » Fri May 05, 2017 6:48 pm

So I decided to go ahead and make the cuts to the heat shield and add the TPS layers (so to speak) and make the probes animation appear a little realistic.

Any experienced modelers and developers, if you take a close look please don't laugh too hard. Animation rotations just aren't my thing. I had to skew the inside tps layer (what ends up being the outside) to make it fit after rotation, especially the right side.

As with most of the outside texture it could stand improvements. All said, in my opinion, I still think it is better than rotating the probes through the skin. The darker color of the tps layers (the outside surface of the box that shows after rotations) is something I couldn't figure out how to lighten. I would prefer it a closer match to the existing heat shield. I think it's mapped using the same texture, material and effects assignment.

I'll push it to dev later this afternoon.

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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby Thorsten » Fri May 12, 2017 3:26 pm

Last milestone is now on FGAddon - and I've added a couple of fancy splash screens today, so we all have something cool to look at while we wait for the Shuttle to load.

Enjoy!
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby wlbragg » Sat May 13, 2017 9:35 pm

Next gen DAP pushbuttons. So much nicer looking and performance than previous (ignore all but the row I am manipulating, the rest isn't finished).
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby Johan G » Sun May 14, 2017 4:25 pm

Is that with the knob animation?
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Re: Space Shuttle

Postby wlbragg » Sun May 14, 2017 6:00 pm

Hi Johan G,

No it's a "slider" animation with a nasal toggle. It's not perfect but it'll do until we can get the knob animation to do this.

Code: Select all
    <animation>
        <type>slider</type>
        <object-name>button-cmd-od-control-select-b</object-name>
        <object-name>button_label_od_select_b</object-name>
   <object-name>button_light_od_select_b</object-name>
        <property>/controls/shuttle/button_cmd_od_control_select_b-ss</property>
        <factor>0.002</factor>
        <axis>
            <x>0</x>
            <y>0</y>
            <z>-1</z>
        </axis>
        <action>
            <binding>
                <command>nasal</command>
                <script>
                    if (getprop("/controls/shuttle/button_cmd_od_control_select_b-ss") == 0)
                        {
                            setprop("/controls/shuttle/button_cmd_od_control_select_b-ss", 1);
                            SpaceShuttle.orbital_dap_manager.dap_select("B");
                            SpaceShuttle.click("button-down", -11.95822, 0.12718, -1.02657);
                        }
                </script>
            </binding>
        </action>
        <release>
            <binding>
                <command>nasal</command>
                <script>
                    if (getprop("/controls/shuttle/button_cmd_od_control_select_b-ss") == 1)
                        {
                            setprop("/controls/shuttle/button_cmd_od_control_select_b-ss", 0);
                            SpaceShuttle.click("button-up", -11.95822, 0.12718, -1.02657);
                        }
                </script>
            </binding>
        </release>
    </animation>
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