General Category > General Anim8or Forum
A Matter of Proportion?
selden:
Here's a Celestia SSC catalog which defines three hammerheads using the same model. (If you want them to have different livery, you'll need to create separate models referencing different surface texture images.) The orbital parameters of HH_001 are identical to the ones used for the ISS in Celestia, with a slightly different MeanAnomaly so they're chasing it. The positions of HH_002 and HH_003 are defined relative to HH_001.
--- Code: ---# three hammerheads chasing the ISS
"HH_001:hammerhead" "Sol/Earth"
{
Class "spacecraft"
Mesh "hammerhead-lwobin.cmod"
Radius 0.00625 # length: 11.5 m, wingspan 12.5m
EllipticalOrbit {
Period 0.064176392
SemiMajorAxis 6767
Eccentricity 0.0016886
Inclination 51.5684
AscendingNode 343.1518
ArgOfPericenter 346.2476
# MeanAnomaly 13.8216
MeanAnomaly 13.821
Epoch 2452028.18381755
}
BodyFrame {BodyFixed { Center "Sol/Earth/ISS"}}
FixedRotation {
MeridianAngle 90
Inclination -90
}
Albedo 0.10
}
# place other spacecraft at fixed positions relative to first
"HH_002" "Sol/Earth/HH_001"
{
Class "spacecraft"
Mesh "hammerhead-lwobin.cmod"
Radius 0.00625 # length: 11.5 m, wingspan 12.5m
# location
OrbitFrame { BodyFixed { Center "Sol/Earth/HH_001" }}
FixedPosition [ -0.015 -0.015 0 ]
# rotation
BodyFrame { BodyFixed { Center "Sol/Earth/HH_001" }}
FixedRotation {}
Albedo 0.10
}
"HH_003" "Sol/Earth/HH_001"
{
Class "spacecraft"
Mesh "hammerhead-lwobin.cmod"
Radius 0.00625 # length: 11.5 m, wingspan 12.5m
# location
OrbitFrame { BodyFixed { Center "Sol/Earth/HH_001" }}
FixedPosition [ 0.015 -0.015 0 ]
# rotation
BodyFrame { BodyFixed { Center "Sol/Earth/HH_001" }}
FixedRotation {}
Albedo 0.10
}
--- End code ---
Unfortunately, there's no CMOD importer for Anim8or. You'll have to learn how to use the CMOD exporter. I tried to make the instructions on the modeling page as explicit as I could. Just follow them "to the letter". Briefly: specify the location of your Anim8or script(s), select the cmod exporter in Anim8or's export menu, concatenate the file's two pieces, place it in Celestia's "models" subdirectory.
Alternatively, you could try cutting the Hammerhead model into several pieces (in Anim8or) so each component mesh is smaller than the 3DS 64K limit. Then you could export them as a single model from Anim8or in the 3DS format. The pilot model looks relatively complex, so maybe making the cockpit separate (as it was in the TV show) would be sufficient.
Below is a screengrab showing the Hammerheads chasing the ISS. Note how dark they are. This is because the model's materials definitions all explicitly specify a base color of 50% grey. To change this, you'd have to modify them all. It might be easier to edit the OBJ .mtl file appropriately (it's just a text file), so I'll zip the obj model and include it below. You'll also have to change the locations of the texture files that're specified in the .mtl file, since you won't have them in the same directory that I have them in.
selden:
Yup, I was right. Cutting the hammerhead model (roughly) in half allows Anim8or to export it in 3DS format. The forward part of the fuselage is a relatively simple tube, so it was easy to break it in two.
Unfortunately, 3DS models use a different coordinate system when imported to Celestia, resulting in different positions and orientations. *shrug*
Below are a screengrab and hammerhead-pieces.zip, which contains the sliced .AN8 model, the exported 3DS model and a revised SSC. (No textures are included.)
argo34116:
Isn't there a way to have a model in anim8or and copy and paste to create a group of three then export it and add it to celestia? I have done this before with a battlestar galactica colonial viper with success. Where can I get instructions on how to add the cability to export to cmod with anim8or? I have a program to convert 3ds to cmod. It seems that it would be less complicated to copy and paste in anim8or to create a group then use that model in celestia versus all the extra steps to modify the ssc file.
argo34116:
The fact is that adding the ability to export in anim8or as cmod seems above my understanding and capabilities. I am very much a newbie when it comes to the world of 3d modeling and I do not feel comfortable with it.
If someone could provide me with a model of three ships in formation in a cmod format (Copy and paste to create the two others in anim8or,then export as a cmod for use in celestia) That would be great. I can then create a ssc file of my own and place them as I want in celestia.
Thank you for your patience and assistance from a novice 3d modeler still learning.
selden:
The only way you're going to get comfortable with modeling is to do it. Don't be afraid to try things. You won't break anything. "Undo" is your friend. (Ctrl-Z).
The commands to copy-and-paste models and their components in Anim8or are the same as for text editors in Windows:
Ctrl-A = select all
Ctrl-C = copy to clipboard
Ctrl-V = paste to window
Then you can drag them wherever you want.
The CMOD export script and the instructions for installing and using it are at the URL I posted previously:
http://www.classe.cornell.edu/~seb/celestia/modelling.html#4.1
Unfortunately, the combined model of the formation of three spacecraft is too large for me to upload.
The advantages of describing spacecraft in an SSC catalog instead of making a model containing several of them are
a) the resulting "Addon" is that much smaller, making it easier to share with others (e.g. I couldn't upload it to this forum)
b) when using the smaller model, Celestia is smaller and runs faster, and
c) when you use SSC catalogs, you can specify as many as you want in whatever formations you want, and make them do different things, e.g. fly in formation for a while, then separate on different missions
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