# Frontier — low-poly space assets, construction variants, v0.4

Original Blender models for HexAtlas, based on the user's Frontier setting and the visual direction approved October 20, 2026. Chunky shapes, flat materials, geometric patch plates, exposed machinery, and readable orthographic sprites.

## Contents

- `frontier-assets.blend`: editable meshes, material palette, and an overview of the collection.
- `models/*.glb`: individual models in metres, with materials and no camera/lights.
- `assets/*.png`: 512 × 512 RGBA orthographic sprites, transparent backgrounds and safe framing.
- `catalog.json`: names, factions, approximate proposed dimensions, triangle counts, and design notes.
- `pack.json`: HexAtlas content-pack manifest. The sibling `frontier-space.import.zip` contains the manifest and sprites for the existing pack importer.
- `frontier-space.sources.zip`: portable source/model/sprite collection.

72 assets: 24 designs, each with Original, PastDry, and Scrappers construction variants. The six settlement silhouettes are Reds, Tules, Ruinworks, Scrappers, R.U.B.E.S., and PastDry. Supporting assets include a Spikeway Spike station, long-haul freight rig, ICE mine, relay, unpowered Dustcoach, 1–8-row Dustcoach teams, solo orange MARE jet hoverbike, MULE engine, glass dome, energy-field farm, and oxy-lounge.

## Geometry update

Freight rigs now have articulated hull joints, an armored wedge bow, recessed drive bells, scaled cargo locks and a sloped bridge. MULEs have enclosed tread loops, exposed rollers, a driver cab and towing gear. ICE mines have a continuous helical auger, rotary drive carriage, hydraulic guides, access ladder and individual anchor feet. Spike heads use embedded pressure modules and recessed docking collars. Habitat entrances have pressure hatches and structural shoulders.

The MARE is an orange jet engine combined with a hovering cruiser motorcycle, with an open turbine intake, low saddle, high swept handlebars, footboards and backrest. It has no wheels. Orange remains its identifying color in Colony, PastDry and Scrapper construction; worn variants add local corrosion and repair geometry.

The Dustcoach is available unpowered or with 1–8 rows of MARE engines pulling from the front. This version treats each row as a left/right pair, so teams range from 2 to 16 engines. The paired width is a stated working assumption pending the user's clarification. Engines connect through detachable spars and an articulated central tow spine. Rear nozzles vector outward to clear following rows and the hover pods. This is a visual construction model, not a propulsion simulation.

Standalone assets remain below 10,000 triangles (MARE engines below 3,000). Complete multi-row teams contain repeated engines and therefore use larger assembly budgets. Linked engine meshes are reused across rows in the Blender source and GLB export; catalog engineRows, enginesPerRow and engineCount describe each team. PNG sprites remain inexpensive static map icons. MULE remains a separate tracked hauler.

## Approved direction

Rigs resemble enormous trains or barges in space. Spikes are nail-shaped station spacecraft with an axial passage through the broad head, continuing along the shaft; there are no visible connections between Spikes. Tules use yellow industry, chemical pipes, sludge, smoke, and industrial farmland. Reds have ordered fortified compounds; Ruinworks combine ancient robotic structures with nature; Scrappers build asymmetric welded junk; R.U.B.E.S. have makeshift observatories; PastDry has patched mining buildings and oxy-lounges. Both physical domes and energy fields exist.

Colony construction is industrial steel with narrow red/yellow ownership accents. PastDry uses coarse corrosion, flaking paint, overlapping plates, improvised pipes, and porch shades, following the user's worn space-western direction (Fallout + Cowboy Bebop as broad references). Scrappers use mixed panels, crooked braces, bolted side compartments, and salvaged equipment. These are geometry changes as well as material changes.

Display bases have been removed. Ship decks, vehicle chassis, building sills, tank feet, dome footing rings, crop troughs, and functional verandas remain. Models sit directly over the app terrain; no ground texture is baked into the transparent sprites.

A faction settlement rebuilt with PastDry or Scrapper construction remains an architecture variation, not an assertion about alliances or ownership. `faction` preserves the base design; `variant`/`construction` describe its fabrication. Exact layouts, proportions, physical dimensions, and material shades are proposed art direction, not additional established lore. No faction emblems or acronym expansions were invented. The glass sprite uses opaque tinted facets for dependable small-scale readability; the farm's sparse cyan arcs depict an energy field. Neither is a physical glass/force-field simulation. Smoke is optional static geometry that can be hidden in Blender.

## Editing and rebuilding

Generator: `app/scripts/frontier-assets/build.py` in the HexAtlas workspace. Run with Blender 5.2 LTS:

```
/Applications/Blender.app/Contents/MacOS/Blender --background --python app/scripts/frontier-assets/build.py
python3 app/scripts/frontier-assets/check-and-sheet.py
node app/scripts/frontier-assets/package.mjs
```

The source ZIP also includes a standalone `build.py`: after extracting it beside `catalog.json`, run Blender with `--background --python build.py` to regenerate all 72 models and renders in that folder.

The .blend overview uses a named parent object per collection to normalize display sizes. Individual GLBs preserve metre scale. Clear the overview root's scale/location when returning a collection to its original physical size. Camera framing is calculated per asset; PNG icons deliberately do not encode shared physical scale. Use catalog dimensions when placing 3D models.

These assets are packaged for review/import. They have not replaced existing themes or been deployed to hexatlas.net. Settlement dioramas are landmark sprites; automatic settlement generation and native 3D model placement need a separate integration pass.