Parachutes in RockSim

[rocdoc]

I have a dumb question. Is there any way to adjust the dimensions of a parachute in RockSim? Not the size of the parachute, but the way it shows up in the drawing of the rocket. It seems that the parachute representation is never the right size or shape when I enter it into RockSim. I sometimes end up with a really long, narrow chute that I would like to represent as a shorter, fatter mass. Any advice?

TIA,
Bryan

 

[atticus]

You can change the material thickness and the rectangular representation will change accordingly.
However, the component mass will change too.
Not a problem as long as you use the actual weight in the mass overide.
There may be a another way. I just never worrried much about it.

 

[CarVac]

In OpenRocket you can set the packed size to whatever you want.

 

[troj]

I'll be honest, I rarely bother to even put the parachutes in my sims. If it's relevant to stability, I add a mass object at the right location, which weighs as much as the parachute. Otherwise, I leave it out.

-Kevin

 

[Eric1]

I'll be honest, I rarely bother to even put the parachutes in my sims. If it's relevant to stability, I add a mass object at the right location, which weighs as much as the parachute. Otherwise, I leave it out.

-Kevin

Well with all those.......Nevermind I just can't do it.

 

[Pantherjon]

I'll be honest, I rarely bother to even put the parachutes in my sims. If it's relevant to stability, I add a mass object at the right location, which weighs as much as the parachute. Otherwise, I leave it out.

-Kevin

But, don't you need to have a parachute or streamer in the design for it to sim correctly(without giving you a crash landing)?

Me personally have never really liked the graphic representation of the recovery equipment either..I have played around with different sized chutes and one in particular(I think it was for a 10 footer IIRC) and the graphic looked like it was a long spaghetti noodle near the whole length of the body tube!:roll: Now I just tend to ignore it...

 

[troj]

But, don't you need to have a parachute or streamer in the design for it to sim correctly(without giving you a crash landing)?

I tell the sim to end at apogee -- I don't care about the descent portion of the simulation.

Me personally have never really liked the graphic representation of the recovery equipment either..I have played around with different sized chutes and one in particular(I think it was for a 10 footer IIRC) and the graphic looked like it was a long spaghetti noodle near the whole length of the body tube!:roll: Now I just tend to ignore it...

I've found that Rocksim is essentially clueless on how much space the parachute actually takes. And since I don't use it to calculate descent rates anyway, it doesn't matter -- when trying to get sims more accurate, a mass object is not only easier to put in, but doesn't make the display look so funky.

But then, my sim files rarely contain centering rings, etc, either -- I worry about the external aspects of the rocket, then throw it on a scale, then override the weights.

-Kevin