Do you think these are suitable for DLS? (I think 1280 x 800)

[memeboy]

Some trams I have made, features opening doors, cab etc

I think there may be too many pictures
I also made a Boeing 767 in Sketchup as well, as well as a bunch of other trams which i have not imported. And a monorail.

 

[Euphod]

They look real nice, but how many polys are they? Sketchup assets tend to be excessive, and drag down the frame rate of Trainz.

 

[TheWaluigiKing]

I like what you have done here
The Sydney Light Rail looks great!

 

[memeboy]

I've been able to get 60-20 FPS on my MacBook Pro which only has the integrated HD3000 chip in it, and i think i remember sketchup saying it was 24000 or something. I grouped alot of the parts so it would cut holes and create more polygons, and the curve I drew myself without using the tools, like that curve next to the lights only have 3 sides, whereas the curve tool would have it about 15 sides, so I know low poly modelling in Sketchup. btw how do I check polys under Mac OSX without me having to use Bootcamp?

 

[Euphod]

Have a read of this thread:

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/show...oco-s-and-Rolling-Stock&p=1034033#post1034033

And pay special attention to the entries by John Whelan, he pretty much answers all your questions.

Again, great looking trams you've made!

 

[memeboy]

Thanks for the positive comments, according to PEV Trainz mesh viewer the polygon count for just the front section is 12329, I mastered the art of low poly sketchup-ing, such as for the poles I used octgonal prisms and never since making this, touched the hi-poly circle tool. As for the textures I used one texture (front, left, right, rubber between sections, bogie plate) on one texture, the floor, the yellow poles, the roof, the seats are all seperate textures. Again it runs fine on my low end 2011 13" i5 MacBook Pro with 30-40 FPS on average, displaying 6 of these side by side, and one in maintenance mode.
repeat for poly count:
end sections: 12329 polys
the B and D sections are surprisingly only 5220 polys
the middle section is 9670
keep in mind that the pantograph and the bogies are fixed in the model, so they are not seperate.

 

[Euphod]

It sounds like you have mastered the low poly Sketchup curve! By all means, upload them, and thanks for being careful in your work.

 

[ATSF854]

It's pretty good!

Also, how on earth did you manage to get that tram up to 324 kph!?

 

[johnwhelan]

It might be worthwhile taking a couple more things into account. First is having six copies something isn't the same as having six different different meshes. Trainz remembers the mesh is duplicated so the load isn't six times the original. I think your total is 26,000 polys ignoring the repeating sections which is fine on high end machines but not so good on the lower end ones. Also if you're in the cab you only see the polys in front of you, as opposed to track side.

Second when you are close to something you are using the highest detail mesh. Reality is the default viewing distance is 5 kms these days and at 100+ meters most of your detail won't be visible, however without an lod mesh Trainz will still have to work as hard as if you were up close. ie LOD meshes are worthwhile.

If you are using passengers stick a :cull on the attachment points, you can also use this to drop the bogies. Have a look to see if anyone has any animated bogeys that might work, generally speaking seeing the wheels go round and the bogies track the track on a curve makes it a bit more interesting if they can be seen.

Typically skills learnt in one 3D program can be transferred, you still make the model from rectangles and cylinders and by having better control over the textures and reducing the textures you get better performance.

Do I assume that a.bog0 etc can now be done in sketchup?

Thanks

Cheerio John

 

[memeboy]

I simply used PEV's attachment maker to add the attachment points, and then used that as the default mesh. I could make an LOD, as from viewing other trams by other authors (such as the Rwagen and the combino, not to mention the Brisbane trams as well) they have seperate LOD mesh. So I could simply make copies of my tram and then remove things such as the interior and roof cables to reduce detail in the LOD, make a .txt with all teh LODs in it (like Motorman1066's Brisbane trams) and I would have an instant LOD. And the bogies do track the track, but the wheels don't spin....

 

[johnwhelan]

I simply used PEV's attachment maker to add the attachment points, and then used that as the default mesh. I could make an LOD, as from viewing other trams by other authors (such as the Rwagen and the combino, not to mention the Brisbane trams as well) they have seperate LOD mesh. So I could simply make copies of my tram and then remove things such as the interior and roof cables to reduce detail in the LOD, make a .txt with all teh LODs in it (like Motorman1066's Brisbane trams) and I would have an instant LOD. And the bogies do track the track, but the wheels don't spin....

I thought you might be using Pev's attachment maker since that's the way I'd probably do it. Having an extra mesh means another 300 poly overhead though on each unit. LOD is worthwhile if you can cut by more than 500 polys, ideally halve the polys per level but if its a less than 500 poly cut don't bother.

Thanks for the info.

Cheerio John

 

[memeboy]

Hi everyone, I have managed to cut even more polys off by selecting "Auto-select faces for export" and I have also remodelled the doors to make it more realistic, so the figures are now: (all together includes doors and the attachment mesh)
End sections: 9813
B and D sections: 6125
Middle section: 6580
Screenshots of new doors coming.
Oh and BTW Beta Testers wanted!

 

[memeboy]

*different layout is because I switch between Trainz Mac and TS2010 on bootcamp

And does anyone mind if I add my Light Rail route here as well?

 

[TheWaluigiKing]

I'll beta test them if you like

 

[memeboy]

Sure, just send me your email.

 

[giuliano0]

Opening doors? how you achieved this in sketchup? I'm missing something, but I knew that in sketchup there wasn't any animation feature

 

[memeboy]

I actually have both versions of Sketchup, the Pro one as a trial and the non pro one. I do all my hard work in the non pro one, then very quickly, I open the pro version and export as .3ds. Then immediately close, and import into Gmax and do all my animations (my textures where preserved), so I didn't have to do anything but animate.

 

[memeboy]

Everyone, I have something new to show:
I give you the Sydney Monorail!

Well sir there's nothing on earth like a genuine Bona-fide electrified seven car monorail!
What did I say?
MONORAIL!

 

[TheWaluigiKing]

Looks like the Monorail rides again!

 

[memeboy]

Hello again, I just would like to ask how to do tram turn signals that work by trackmarks? In my case I need turn signals on both sides flashing after passing a particular area, then passing another trackmark makes only the signal lights glow (not flash) on the sides only, is there any way to do so? and if so may I have assistance to do so please?
BTW the monorail will be imported into Trainz soon probably after my next real monorail ride.