How to make a spherical glass dome?

Been trying to make a large bio dome for my station, but instead of a circle shape, its a flat topped pyramid.

Does anyone know how to make one?


~AirpainFood~

 

You may be able to do a kind of spherical one by arranging the triangular blocks right, although we can't get the right angles and it may require compound blocks. Really hoping for compound blocks is the most likely to get something more than a very small dome.

 

Spherical isn't possible without a bend in the frame that is proportional to the diameter of the dome. For example, if you wanted to build a dome that is 10 blocks in diameter and 4 blocks high, the first level would be bent at 9.49 degrees, the second at 11.02, third at 12.16, and 4th at 12.74.

About the best you can do is an octagonal design which still has a flat top. Make the base as even as possible on all 8 sides and build up several rows to a desired height, then use triangles on the corners and slants on the main edges again up to desired height, or until you end up with 1 triangle at each corner at the top, then apply roof.

I've always thought about putting in a suggestion for a series of blocks (both light armor and window) where we could place the block on our toolbar and a window would pop up with a set of parameters so that we could give a triangle window a inward or outward bend.

 

Could I get a picture of what that would look like? :l

 

In 2 hours I can show you a picture unless somebody beats me to the punch.

 

Go into MS Paint, draw a circle with the circle tool, note the stair-stepping when you zoom in. Make your windows look like that.

 

So lets get to what I was talking about. Start with punching a octagonal shape into whatever you are working on.



I went 3 blocks in all directions. Then you'll want to load up pretty much every window on the list. 1 square + inverted, the angled square, Triangle + inverted, and corner. With the square and angled square start your base of the dome along the edges.



I'm just sticking with the single row here. Next is the pain the ass portion and I suggest working on each side individually. Line up the regular triangles and start placing them on the diagonal squares. Then you'll want to flip the inverted upside down and fit it between the first triangles. Continue all the way up.



Then on the standard sides simply rotate the angle glass to fit alongside. Do this all the way around.



Then on the roof you'll need the inverted square glass and the corner triangles. The inverted glass fits inside but the corner triangles sit on top of the corners.



On the inside it looks like this



Now I'm sure you're wanting this pressurized so I gave myself a floor, a couple of gens, a oxy gen, a vent, and a med bay. Then I swapped it to survival mode with oxy enabled.



And I'm fine. I now have a little habitat.

 

I don't know why, but I really like you.

Seriously this one knows what they are talking about! I like that little habitat and shall be making one later on this evening now =P

 

Hi guys, I made this 21x21 Air tight Bio Dome, you can make it any size you want, the bigger the more spherical it will be.

Start with a base of normal blocks, if you nead help making a sphere in blocks use this tool : https://www.plotz.co.uk/
Then replace the blocks with glass, the only esthetical problem is the missing 1x1 window side inv (hope keen delivers that soon).

Here is the link to the object in my workshop if you want to take a closer look : https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=435207048

 

You can do spheroids and such a bit better than strict spheres.
Like this kind of thing:

 

Thanks everyone This is very helpful!


~AirpainFood~

 

Probably because he's awesome.

 

Anything more complex allowing for a more accurate dome as one can find in the likes of Silent Running or Bio-Dome would definitely require more rendering to be sure. However, Keen has already shown it is possible with the new block shapes they have introduced and how they actually conform to fit with bordering blocks. I guess it is only a matter of time before the same happens with window blocks.
Until then, we will just have to be creative and have some sharp corners to our own domes. I definitely like the look of DDP-158's dome that he demonstrated, and it definitely allows for modification and flexibility for size and shape.

 

The ramps and the glass are similar in that. If you describe the normal 45 degree slope as a 1x1x1. And the longer slope as a 1x1x2. Then I feel I really need 1x2x2 parts to really make them fit properly in some situations.
Like in this picture, you can fill in the corners of the one on the left and middle. But not the right. Those parts, in armour and glass would really help for spheres

 

And then immediately hit Ctrl-b to make a backup of your work. Then when you feel like you can plop it in creative and trim it down so you just have a projectable dome structure that you can replicate.