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Author Topic: idea  (Read 10955 times)

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Offline Colonel Sanders1

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27 September 2008, 23:50:42
my brain just farted out an idea. It would be super awesome. If there was a thingy that would allow you to design ships with
ease. It would be like a "smart" anim8tor thingy. You could make the ship what you wanted then you would set the mass of the
vessel and it would calculate the needed capacity for fuel and and the needed thrust to move it within an atmosphere and
needed thrust to escape the atmosphere.



is this a good idea or just garbage?



Offline Artlav

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Reply #1 - 28 September 2008, 14:58:36
Depends.
You haven't given much description and from what is given it is basically a tool that puts all configs in one place?

Or do you mean some kind of Spore-like space ship mesh creator based on putting pieces together?


Offline Dig Gil

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Reply #2 - 28 September 2008, 21:35:24
Quote
Artlav wrote:
Depends.
(...)do you mean some kind of Spore-like space ship mesh creator based on putting pieces together?
I was just thinking about that!, but that kind of vessel designer is too limited.

A good idea was something that could write the configurations (would it be best a DLL maker or a INI writer?) just by
click 'n' drag! Kind of with a work zone where appears the mesh, then you have a panel where there are stuff like
Docking Ports, Exhaust location, attachment point or even robotic arms (of course, after selecting the specific mesh to be used as an arm), then you could drag that to some area of the
mesh then after saving the programme would write the code alone!8):)



Post Edited ( 09-28-08 21:37 )

At Light Speed and Beyond!!!

Offline Kadet

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Reply #3 - 28 September 2008, 21:50:10
This sounds just like "Spore Creature Creator" only without monsters


Offline linguofreak

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Reply #4 - 29 September 2008, 22:15:23
Yeah, I've had that idea before. X-Plane has a very nice plane-maker program that makes putting custom planes
together very easy. With Orbiter, on the other hand, first you have to go through horrible frustration with Anim8or to
put the model together. Then you have to convert it to an orbiter *.msh file. Then you have to write a config, without
really being able to see where things like docking points fit in without starting up Orbiter and attempting to dock.

And that's just for a simple *.cfg craft. I haven't even tried making anything with spacecraft3, or by programming my
own DLL.


Offline Colonel Sanders1

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Reply #5 - 30 September 2008, 01:27:47
they need coding for dummies or somthin



Offline Dig Gil

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At Light Speed and Beyond!!!

Offline Artlav

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Reply #7 - 30 September 2008, 18:59:11
Quote
Dig Gil wrote:
http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/C-For-Dummies-5th-Edition.productCd-0764568523.html These
books are GREAT!
Unfortunately, they tend to make horrible programmers out of common people.
98% of software is total crap, and the books are the reason as i see it.



Offline Dig Gil

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Reply #8 - 01 October 2008, 10:02:10
How did you learned programming? Through a course?


At Light Speed and Beyond!!!

Offline Artlav

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Reply #9 - 01 October 2008, 14:39:31
Quote
Dig Gil wrote:
How did you learned programming? Through a course?
Me?
I started with writing a shell out of DOS batch files, then around my 14th birthday somehow got my hands on a pascal compiler
with a lot of examples, and started on working it out from here, hardly read any computer-related book other than references
until recently.

Yet, only after i got thru four years of all-sides programming education at Moscow State University's Computational
Mathematics and Cybernetics faculty, i realized just how awfully computer science and programming education is done almost
anywhere you find it.

The "for dummies" book itself is rather good when it comes to teaching to code in C++, but it does not teach to program as it
claims, only to code C++.
Third edition was more frank on the point, recommending that the reader have some programming background, fourth edition
explicitly states, that no programming background is needed, fifth edition degenerates completely, stating that it will teach
you to program from ground up.

And all three only teach to code in C++, almost nothing beyond that.

And here comes the second substance in the bomb - the people attitude to it. Many think that if they learned to code in C++,
or believe what the book said, thought they learned to program, and go on, making that 70% of software of restroom quality.
That attitude that if you read a book on C++ coding and attended a course on advanced C++ coding, then you become a qualified
programmer by definition is the worst part of the mix.



Cutting the off-topic rant, the idea as Dig Gil stated it seems quite interesting.
As i understand, one make the mesh in whatever mesh making program he likes, then fire up the Orbiter Shipyard program, that
allows him to define vessel interactions in graphical drag&drop way, kind of like putting docking port locations by clicking
the mouse where the port is.

Define animations, define ports and gears, define VC surfaces and panel structures, define UMMU ports and parameters, engine locations and exhausts, etc, maybe even an option to add integrated systems simulation, all in a nice visual environment.
Then, the output from the program will be a vessel dll that makes it all work in Orbiter, no ini's or cfg's like spacecraft3,
and no coding involved.

Sounds like a grand idea, allowing all the graphic artists that make great meshes but can't code a calculator to make add-ons
with interactivity as good as the ones made by programmers who can't make a mesh of a cube.



Post Edited ( 10-01-08 14:40 )


Offline Colonel Sanders1

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Reply #10 - 01 October 2008, 15:30:45
exactly that was basically my idea    :wor:    you stole all of the words out of my fingertips.


:applause:


I suck with words. in other words    :stupid:



Offline Colonel Sanders1

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Reply #11 - 01 October 2008, 15:37:23
it would be so [Insert Profanity Here} awesome if this actually went into production.  woo hoo 100 posts finally!!



Offline Dig Gil

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Reply #12 - 01 October 2008, 15:37:50
Someone got my point!;)


At Light Speed and Beyond!!!

Offline Colonel Sanders1

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Reply #13 - 06 October 2008, 21:08:01
i got it ;)



Offline Artlav

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Reply #14 - 27 September 2009, 18:58:02
And, not a year have passed, the Orbiter Shipyard is out in alpha testing:
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=10383


Offline reekchaa

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Reply #15 - 28 September 2009, 07:33:02
Very Impressive!  :applause:

Looks better than the 'plane maker' editor in X-plane.  (the main reason anyone uses X-Plane at all)


~ the Reekchaa

Offline DanSteph

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Reply #16 - 03 October 2009, 05:18:00
Quote
Artlav a écrit:
And, not a year have passed, the Orbiter Shipyard is out in alpha testing:
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=10383

Look great !!!

Dan


Offline lowandslowflyer

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Reply #17 - 07 April 2010, 22:50:59
Looks like a good idea, I hope it comes out soon!

« Last Edit: 07 April 2010, 22:50:59 by lowandslowflyer »