Variable-geometry ships?

[hiran]

A question going through my mind is actually:

All the ships in Oolite have a model for the ship structure, then some material and shading information so they can be rendered. I am absolutely not into 3d rendering so forgive if I did not use the right terms. What I am after is slightly different:

All these ship shapes seem to be static. Even the Andromeda, which looks really awesome has one shape and that's it. Would it be possible in Oolite to have a ship that changes it's shape during flight? For example variable-sweep wings? Or a ship like jellyfish or a manta in water?

[Redspear]

I THINK... that such a thing can be done via subentities (effectively models stuck to the main model). In fact dertien (who hasn't been around these parts for a while) did it years ago if I recall...

moving bits!

video of said moving bits!

[hiran]

I THINK... that such a thing can be done via subentities (effectively models stuck to the main model). In fact dertien (who hasn't been around these parts for a while) did it years ago if I recall...

moving bits!

video of said moving bits!

This is pretty close! The ship changes it's shape, and it does so depending on the ship's status.

That would be good enough for different flight modes. A bit more vanilla would be an animated transition. Such as you could watch the gears retracing/extending, or the lasers coming out.

Was dertien the only one working in that direction?

[Redspear]

There are other ships with rotating elements like some versions of the Imperial Courier I think.

Don't forget however that if it can 'change shape' then it can be animated. The rest is just a matter of sufficient frames and appropriate timing.

[hiran]

There are other ships with rotating elements like some versions of the Imperial Courier I think.

Don't forget however that if it can 'change shape' then it can be animated. The rest is just a matter of sufficient frames and appropriate timing.

Nice!

[cbr]

I am not sure if the actual model data in the oxp.dat file can be altered et al after it is loaded.

[Redspear]

Subentites can be lost and therefore changed.
Whilst not normally restored/replaced 'in flight', I don't yet see why they couldn't be.

Multipe subentities with the same model location data only active/present one at a time?

[montana05]

It is possible, if you look at the Lambda Liner on top you can see it got 6 docked fighters. All of them could launch. I remove the subentity of the fighter and spawn an actual fighter at the liners position.

[Cody]

I remove the subentity of the fighter and spawn an actual fighter at the liners position.

Griff does something similar with his Cobra III missile subents.

[Redspear]

It is possible, if you look at the Lambda Liner on top you can see it got 6 docked fighters. All of them could launch. I remove the subentity of the fighter and spawn an actual fighter at the liners position.

Griff does something similar with his Cobra III missile subents.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but both of those examples are an on/off state of affairs (i.e. subentity is present or subentity is not).

Animation of the kind mentioned (and I believe requested) above on the other hand, would require the ability for a subentity model (or orientation) to change rather than for it to simply be removed.

[Cody]

... would require the ability for a subentity model (or orientation) to change rather than for it to simply be removed.

Or be replaced by another subent? Beyond my ken, anyway!

[Redspear]

... would require the ability for a subentity model (or orientation) to change rather than for it to simply be removed.

Or be replaced by another subent?

Exactly what I was getting at above:

Multipe subentities with the same model location data only active/present one at a time?

The shipdata file may need the data for them all but given that subentities are not always displayed (the data doesn't go anywhere when they are removed/destroyed) then as long as only the relevant subentries were labeled as present at the appropriate time...

Theory isn't always the same as practice of course.

[hiran]

... would require the ability for a subentity model (or orientation) to change rather than for it to simply be removed.

Or be replaced by another subent? Beyond my ken, anyway!

To the player it would hardly be noticeable if huge amounts of static subentities would replace each other or one subentity (or even the original ship) were changing their structure. This is more a matter of what the Oolite engine can do and what workarounds can be applied if it does not.

I can imagine the original game would show wireframes rather than perfectly rendered raytracing images just for sheer compute capacity limitations. Oolite has evolved a lot from there. And might continue in the future.

Imagine hangar bays opening, docking pylons extracting or the pilot just decides to open the sunroof of his 'convertible' spacecraft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G13KzEJqBw

[montana05]

For a kind of animation, lets say moving wings, we would need multiple subentities simulating the entire process. Remove one and add another one until the new position is reached. Possible but honestly I don't think worth the effort.

[cbr]

I believe some time ago, the thargoids had butterflies