Eastland Rocket Progress

[qassaquyangli]

Good job so far! What I do is i put some trees in a 4x4 (or any other space) + some random textures and pressing the ] or [ button to mix them up. I use copy & paste & you got a good forest (Or just put some hills and C & P) P.S. the copy & paste can be made to follow the hills, just click a button w/ a paintbrush going over hills at the place where c & p is.

 

[cascaderailroad]

Why would a RR place an endless 120m wide earthen fill embankment, 20m high, across a prarie ?

 

[Kris94]

Why would a RR place an endless 120m wide earthen fill embankment, 20m high, across a prarie ?

What do you mean?

 

[Euphod]

He means, unless it's a swamp on either side, there's no reason for it to be there.

 

[Kris94]

Oh the embankment? That's what it's called?

 

[Euphod]

Sometimes it just called a "fill", but yes, that's what he means. I suppose it would be kind of like a big, fancy bridge over a small drainage ditch. Railroads operate on profits, and they do not spend money where they don't have to, therefore this embankment will look odd to most in the hobby, unless there's a reason for it to exist. Now, if the crops were rice on either side, it would make more sense.

 

[Kris94]

Sometimes it just called a "fill", but yes, that's what he means. I suppose it would be kind of like a big, fancy bridge over a small drainage ditch. Railroads operate on profits, and they do not spend money where they don't have to, therefore this embankment will look odd to most in the hobby, unless there's a reason for it to exist. Now, if the crops were rice on either side, it would make more sense.

Well thanks for the heads up. I thought it would enhance my route but I guess not.

 

[leeferr]

Kris,
Ed is completely right. Railroad companies don't spend money where they don't have to. Cut and fill of topography can get very expensive, so unless there's a reason for the roadbed to be so far above the surrounding terrain, the railroad won't spend the money on it. I applaud you in your attempts and would like to see you continue in your efforts. Don't get frustrated. Just keep trying and we'll continue to try to help where we can as long as you take the criticism correctly. We're not trying to chastise you. We're only trying to help. Who knows, you could be one of our best route creators some day, but it doesn't happen overnight. You certainly have the passion for it. I strongly advise you to take a few field trips and take a good look at the terrain surrounding a rail line. The time spent would be well worth it. Don't concentrate on the rail, but on the actual landscape and how the railroad modified the landscape to lay their rails. Afterall, the landscape was there first and then the rail, not the other way around.

Mike

 

[Kris94]

Okay here's more. Leeferr is that what you wanted?

 

[leeferr]

Kris
First and foremost, it's not important what I want, but more important is what you want. Route creation should be fun and if you're happy with it, then that's fine. What you need to understand is that if you want to upload it so that other members will download it and enjoy it as much as you, then they need to see some value in it. One of the things that makes it of value for download is realism. Ask yourself a question. Do your screenshots look realistic? Do they resemble the landscape that you're trying to recreate? If the answer is yes, then you're well on your way. If not, then just keep experimenting until you get there.

In my opinion, I don't recall seeing any actual landscape that looks like the screenshots that you've posted. What are all of those textures supposed to be representing? Don't take this the wrong way, but it looks like you're just picking textures and applying them to get a varied landscape look with no reasoning behind it, but it isn't working. You're headed in the right direction, but you're application of the different textures is too broad. You need to create in smaller blocks and then expand your technique. What I usually do is develop a base texture in maybe 100 meter by 100 meter blocks and then use cut and paste to duplicate the look to get my base texture. After that, I can go in and start adding texture details. Areas as large as you're trying to model can take days, if not weeks, to model and texture and you seem to be trying to do it in hours or even minutes. It doesn't work that way, I've worked for weeks at a time to get landscaping to my liking on a route, and I'm talking about just the landscaping which doesn't include the trackwork or scenery items. You're headed in the right direction, but you need to start thinking smaller in your scale and then expanding out. You seem to have missed the keyword in some of my posts......PATIENCE.

Also, it looks like you have a 20 to 40 ft embankment on each side of the roadbed, but I can't figure out why. Is there a reason that the embankment is so pronounced? I've seen roadbeds before with embankments that high, but it's generally been through wetlands and swamps where the roadbed had to be built up to get out of the wetlands. What is the purpose for it in your screenshots?

Mike

 

[Kris94]

So by being too broad you mean there's too many or not enough?

 

[leeferr]

I think that you're missing my meaning. I'm not talking about the number of textures that you're using, but rather the size of the area that you're trying to landscape. It seems that you're trying to texture the area the size of an airport when you should probably be concentrating on an area the size of half a football field in order to get your techniques practiced. As you get more experienced, then you can work in broader areas much more quickly.

Mike

 

[Kris94]

I think that you're missing my meaning. I'm not talking about the number of textures that you're using, but rather the size of the area that you're trying to landscape. It seems that you're trying to texture the area the size of an airport when you should probably be concentrating on an area the size of half a football field in order to get your techniques practiced. As you get more experienced, then you can work in broader areas much more quickly.

Mike

Oh I get it now. So just stick to one baseboard at a time. Okay I think I gotcha now.

 

[leeferr]

Shazaam....now you're getting the idea, but not even the size of a baseboard, but perhaps just a portion of the baseboard at a time. I will often times create the terrain and roadbed for 2 or 3 baseboards at a time, but then, and only then, will I go back and do the texturing. The texturing can take much more time than the landscaping and trackwork.

I approach route building generally in this order, but not always....

1. Develop an idea about what I want the route to represent
2. Develop a rough sketch of the route on paper with towns and industries
3. Build terrain for 2-3 baseboards at a time
4. Lay track and build roadbed for those 2 or 3 baseboards (Note: I sometimes reverse steps 3 and 4)
5. Place signals for those 2 or 3 baseboards
6. Place my basic industries in those 2 or 3 baseboards
7. Start texturing along trackside for those baseboards
8. Add distant texturing
9. Add basic foilage
10. Go back and add details to the textures and foliage
11. Add scenery items and detail as needed
12. Add another 2 or 3 baseboards and repeat the process

When you think it's all done, go back and review the entire route and revise as necessary. Remember, no Trainz route is ever really finished just as no model railroad is ever really finished.

This is very basic as there are many intermediary steps involved, but will give you a general idea on how I go about developing a route. I don't develop a 25 mile route all at once, but in small pieces at a time. It's taken me months to develop a 25 mile route and I know of some members that take a lot more pains, time and effort than I do. The bottom line is that there's only one way to eat an elephant and that is.....one bite at a time.

Mike

 

[Kris94]

The desert :udrool::hehe:

 

[William0d0]

If I may provide some more input.

Tonight I'm working on a stretch of farmland.

So you have a plowed field transitioning through a road and fence to the track.

The farmer will not be plowing between the road and the track, so we must use different textures to cover the transition.

In my example one may argue that there is not enough room to turn a tractor around in the space between the dirt road and the fence, so some "suspension of disbelief" may be in order.

The goal is to transition the textures moving out away from the track.

The ditch to the left of the track needs much transition work.

The hills to the left of the track also need some touches.

Once I'm happy with all the textures then I'll plop down some patches of grass/weed objects to finish the ground cover.

Trees will be the last thing added.

Remember, areas closest to the track require the highest level of attention.

 

[scratchy]

Heres some desert that i did in 09, lots of little details that create the final semi-realistic end product. Your shots above are an improvement, but the texture are too different and the transition is to intense, they need to be blended like in the shot that will posted above. To create this scene it took me roughly 2hours, all it looks like youve done in the bridge shot above is found the first bridge spline u come to, run it over a steep trench and chuck on some textures.

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[montanawestren]

Heres some desert that i did in 09, lots of little details that create the final semi-realistic end product. Your shots above are an improvement, but the texture are too different and the transition is to intense, they need to be blended like in the shot that will posted above. To create this scene it took me roughly 2hours, all it looks like youve done in the bridge shot above is found the first bridge spline u come to, run it over a steep trench and chuck on some textures.

No offense Kris94 but I agree with scratchy, and scratchy where did you get those airplane cars (That was irrelevant to the subject)
MTW

 

[oknotsen]

Totally offtopic, but meh

airplane cars

Aircraft Fuselage B737 Product,<kuid2:60238:70013:1>, made by Vulcan.
See also:
Aircraft Fuselage static,<kuid2:60238:26305:1>
BNSF Aircraft Fuselage Flat Car,<kuid2:60238:15075:1>
BNSF Aircraft Fuselage Clearance Flat Car 2,<kuid2:60238:15077:1>
BNSF Aircraft Fuselage Clearance Flat Car,<kuid2:60238:15076:1>

 

[Kris94]

Scratchy were did you get those textures?