mer photos Options

[ElkGroveDan]

Moreover, the cables. In most photos they seem yellow. In others orange to red.

It seems pretty clear that this is due to different light sources and light temperatures. The color in the ribbon ribbon cables should respond to varying light sources in a similar way to other polymers of a similar color. Use the Kapton tape as a color reference since that is a known constant and made of a polymer of a similar color to the ribbons -- and it is everywhere. Re-balance the reference photos so that the tape appears the same in each one. I think that will give you a truer idea of how the ribbon cables' colors are changing in the reference photos due to things like texture, reflections and translucence.

[scooterlord]

kapton tape in google images gives pictures with a hundred different hues... :/

[ElkGroveDan]

Yes. What I meant was to ADJUST the color balance in the Google pictures you are using until all the Kapton tape is the SAME. Then look at the ribbon wires. Pick one example where the whole picture looks good and use that to start with.

[scooterlord]

uhm... thats what I did in the first place...

[Quaxo76]

Hi Scooterlord, first of all, thank you for your reply.
Of course I have never seen "live" NASA cables, so my experience was with everyday cables - the ones that you can find in almost every electronic device these days.

Well... first of all it's not the same scratch texture, looks like it's the same but it's not Let's discuss the following image..

Left to right, top to bottom we have, ribbon in the idd, hga, mossbauer's ribbon, idd ribbon on mars and extreme close-up of the idd's base.
[...] As you can see they are not smooth at all. [...]

I hadn't seen those pictures before, and I agree the cables don't look absolutely "flat"... but I'd say what I see are the "bumps" due to the dozens of parallel copper tracks running under the lamination, and not "random" manufacturing scratches...

That said, I trust your eyes and judgement, and I fully also appreciate the fact that the only way to be sure either way would be to hold the actual piece in our hands!

Cristian

[scooterlord]

Sooo... I did a few tests and here is what I came up with... luckily I was a perfectionist about my surfaces and every film is just ONE surface so it helps the texture mapping..



HOWEVER, currently, I CANNOT UV map properly, meaning that with the current beta I can only map only ONE channel on each surface which means I cannot have letters on, etc. So we all have to wait until the final version comes out. I will be progressing with everything else and leave films and some cables for the end.

Cristian, as you may realize, both straight grooves AND random 'scratches' (bumps I'd say) can be seen in the pictures, and the final version will have both.

[scooterlord]

Hello everyone!

New renders... Finally done with the high gain antenna. Tough task, a lot of stuff were missing so I had to model them, plus I had trouble with my program that corrupted my file multiple times :/ Anyway, all done. Here are two renders, a studio one and a 'natural lighting one'..





...Although the HGA's film texture is a bit different than all the rest of the mars rover, I think I will replace the previous ones (when the program finally allows multiple uv channels) with a version somewhere in between the two.

Aditionally, for the ones interested in the 'white' mere, here is another mammoth render at 5400x3038:
http://www.nicksotiriadis.gr/mer-white-final.png

Comments always welcome, and don't forget that all this material can be found gathered in my site.

[dilo]

Still without words, waiting for gran finale!

[scooterlord]

Hello,

took me some time (actually a lot) to finalize this thing here, but I am finally done! I hope you really enjoy the details...

Click on the link for ULTRA render 3298x3293. Once you get used to the full details it's hard to go back EDIT: Sorry, ops, could not get it to recognize link with thumbnail :/



I know a few things are wrong, already fixed them, but I should mention them before you eagle-eyes find them

a) in the front render, a small film is missing from the right NavCam.
in the front render, a small tie-up goes 'inside' the cabling (glitch) which I fixed.
c) the black texture on the PanCams shows an ugly repeating texture - which is fixed.
d) repeating white texture WILL be fixed in future renders so that the scratches don't repeat so often.
e) I fixed that 'lever' on the PanCams after the eagle-eyed member that found that. Actually it's not a lever, it's something different, modeled it as close as I could

For anything else, I am here for your comments and as always my site is updated with the new renders!

[James Sorenson]

OMG WOW I nearly fell out of my chair!!

EXCELLENT WORK Scooter!

You continue to surprise. I'm just in amazement every time!

[dilo]

Fantastic! This stunning render clearly show details hard to explain for me, for example the two tiny grey disks in front/below of miniature thermal emission spectrometer... perhaps temporary PanCam lens covers for cruise phase?

[scooterlord]

Exactly.. Took me a while to figure out what they were. Once you know it's easier to model. Tens of hours spent wisely... Hehe.. They are black actually, not grey, just reflecting the sky..

[Nix]

You are a sick man. The detail is amazing.. these last renders, again, and in particular the mast, gave me a big smile

[Leither]

Words fail me….. absolutely beautiful. I never realised the Navcam electronic box covers were so mirror like!! The reflection of that cable on the RH box cover is just magic!!!!

[Leither]

... perhaps temporary PanCam lens covers for cruise phase?

...but not just cruise, mainly EDL.

Taken from Bell et al: MER Athena Pancam Investigation, Jnl Geophysical Research Vol 108 No E12

"During the cruise and EDL phases of the mission, flexible metallic dust covers are held between the two outer baffles in the sunshade to guard against dust contamination of the sapphire window during airbag impact, roll, and deflation. These EDL dust covers are designed to pop out permanently (and gracefully) the first time the camera bar is deployed on the PMA. After they pop out they remain attached by a short lanyard to the camera bar, but out of the field of view of any of the PMA cameras."