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Deckplan design: theory and practice

Hi !

Location of Jump drive ?
From the engineering point of view its maybe reasonable to place the JD - as a major power consumer like the MD - quite near to the powerplant. Another aspect might be - if you like "dirty tech" more than all those superclean plastic tech toys a la StarTrek - that all this stuff is located centralized in a seperated engineering section, because thats just a security, safety and health issue.
So one view might be, that the location of the MD defines the rough location of powerplant and thus JD, too.
IMHO I always would seperate this engineering section from all the rest, with the fuel tankage in between.

In order to increase overrall usablitily of a deckplan design, it might be a compromise to install several vents, radiatior connectors and even some radiators by default.
Those components might be reasonable on any construction, regardless the way and the intensity they are actually used IYTU (e.g. rediators as vital component or just as a secondary emergency cooling system).

Best regards,

Mert
 
I've been drawing my own deckplan designs on graph paper for years, but would like to find an easy to use program to do this on my computer.
 
Hmmmmm.... Perhaps a Flash based Traveller starship deckplan design program, that allows you to print out? Using modular components and some standard ship hulls, with a system rooted in the Traveller rules.

I'm working on something a bit similar for a character image/portrait design program, as a coding research project. Doing a deckplan design program after that sounds like fun.
 
Klaus have you seen Crow's Starfleet cardboard hero type mini builder? Hmm, more to the point is it still up <checking...> Yep, click the link below and then click RPG Stuff in the menu...

Crow's Nest

I only mention it because he promised ;) he was going to do a Traveller version
I kid, no worries Scarecrow, I love what you have done and there's no pressure to do more from me.

Anyway maybe he's got some tips for you Klaus.

I've also toyed with the idea of a similar thing for deckplans but I think it'd be too constrained. The one way I had thought to do it was to limit it to just the common small craft. Start with the basic hull and allow users to add from the limited components till it was full. Anyway I'm unlikely to ever do it so if you want to take the ball and run with it GO!
 
Originally posted by TheEngineer:
Another aspect might be - if you like "dirty tech" more than all those superclean plastic tech toys a la StarTrek - that all this stuff is located centralized in a seperated engineering section, because thats just a security, safety and health issue.
...
IMHO I always would seperate this engineering section from all the rest, with the fuel tankage in between.
Click to expand...
Yes, I like my tech Alien (Nostromo) like (or the Eurica Merrow (sp?)) rather than Trek-like (or the Andromeda Ascendant). Lot of technological technology. And the engine core IS seperate from the rest of the ship and usually to the rear/sides due to structural concerns (stability under acceleration).

About fuel tankage, this depends on the configuration - some unstreamlined designs might have their fuel in the sides or even semi-externally (like in the Dedalous (sp?) STL probe design). My Nymph-class Large Yacht has a long, shaft-like body with the bridge on one end and the engines on the other, with the fuel tanks on the sides of the core shaft, and the bulk of the ship in two pods cpnnected to the shafts by umbilicals.
 
I've been drawing my own deckplan designs on graph paper for years, but would like to find an easy to use program to do this on my computer.
Click to expand...
MSPaint works. just start with a square and call it .5dtons. then build up individual components - staterooms, jump drives, lockers, bridge couches, ship's boats - and keep them all in a template bmp file. then all you have to do is assemble the components. you'll find that there are only a few ways things can fit together, and after a while the vessels pretty much assemble themselves.
 
I still find that I brainstorm better with graphpaper, but my prefered tool for finished deckplans is any of a number of "drawing" programs (programs that use objects instead of just pixels). I have not found a true CAD program I like for this function, because most of them have truly awful user interfaces. The next level down, programs like Canvas, Illustrator, MacDraft (for you Mac heads), or similar, serve me far better because deckplans often need to flow as close to the speed of inspiration as possible. These programs are aimed at a slightly more arty audience than the juggernought that is AutoCAD, and as such have user interfaces that can keep up.

( For the record, I use AutoCAD at work, and am of the opinion that even the current versions are lacking something when compared to the lightpen and command keypad CADD program I learned to use in college *22 years ago*. That was before computers had a *mouse*, by the way...)
 
^ Got to agree with you Gypsy, those light pens were by far more useful than a mouse.

I still go back to the graph paper when I'm sketching up a deckplan. I have actually done quite a few on MSPaint of all applications, because the files can easily be imported to MSWord documents. Wish I had the cash and time to learn to use real publishing software.

But there is something cathardic about moving one pixel at a time; it definitely promotes Zen like patience and focus.
 
Thanks far-trader that site is pretty cool. My image maker is a bit similar but more detailed - you can design the face too (tho atm Michael Jackson lookalikes crop up too frequently)
fig_one.gif

It produces an A5 portrait, a cardboard mini to cut out, and a cut down character sheet for reference. I should have a beta ready in a month, and I could do with some testers.

I use Flash as I'm Mac based and get frustrated when I find utilities that only run in Windows - Flash is cross platform and you can print from it - at least I can with OSX and an Epson printer - this will be one of the things I want to test.

A deckplan creator would be more complicated to produce, but I can envisage ways of doing it. I tend to create my deckplans in Flash anyway, as the drawing tools are so good and its dead easy to add interactive icons.
 
That looks very sharp Klaus! I'd love to help you out in the beta when you're ready, just drop me a PM anytime. Still haven't upgraded to OSX here
Maybe if I can find the cash to grab a MiniMac ;) Hmm, I do have a nice little Epson printer on my PC so that's one more good reason.
 
It will be a while yet. I got some RL to deal with first, and then I've got to sort out the wardrobe, and then do the blokes! (I started with the ladies as they're more work - hair and clothes - and much more fun to draw!
)

I can print or export as a pdf on OSX. Not sure if that's cuz the software is built in to the OS or whether it comes with the printer. Hard to tell with OSX as you never seem to need to install anything.
 
To return to the deckplan topic:

I have long bumped aginst the limits of printing.

CC2 and cosmographer would aliow me to do entire starports, if I had a mind to, but even at 15mm a regular print is too small for anything but the smallist ships. making plans across multiple sheets looks amituraish at best, if you can even get a usable result.

Is there ANY way to rint large format files that is not so expensive it cannot be used?

Single prints in the 17x22 range seem to come in at several dollars a page, by any methode I have discovered.

Just curious if anybody knows a solution I have overlooked.

Mr Tek
 
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