layout/overlay

hi all,

i don't know if this is exactly the proper place on the forum for this question, but here goes. I have created a trackplan and saved it as a .bmp file. Is it possible to bring this into trainz and use it as a template to trace while laying track? If so how?

thanks for any help/tips,
Regard's,
Jordan

Proper place probably would have been here:
http://forums.auran.com/trainz/forumdisplay.php?5-Surveyors-Operators-amp-Engineers
O well, thats for next time. Dont go and create new topic there now.

Anyway,

I would create a pane in some 3d tool and add the BMP as texture of that thing and then add that asset to the route.
Bit complex if you dont know any 3D tool and how to create content though.

oknotsen said:

Proper place probably would have been here:
http://forums.auran.com/trainz/forumdisplay.php?5-Surveyors-Operators-amp-Engineers
O well, thats for next time. Dont go and create new topic there now.

Anyway,




I would create a pane in some 3d tool and add the BMP as texture of that thing and then add that asset to the route.
Bit complex if you dont know any 3D tool and how to create content though.

Click to expand...

If a post needs to be moved the Administrator will move it.

I know that someone made a set baseboard over lay assets that you could paste a google screen shot on with a paint program then commit and place it on a blank base board.

You don't need a complex 3D program.

Found Them! On DLS
Author Kuid 119912 ID
Author "Kevin Hale"
1km Square Basemap for 'tracing' contours, roads etc. over. Copy a scan of your map over '1km square I.jpg' and restart Trainz. When 'tracing' complete, delete the basemap object.

1km Square Basemap map scans must be 1024x1024 resolution and either tga, bmp or jpg image files. If you wish to use other than the default jpg format, you will need to change the 'Primary=' line in the '1km square i.texture.txt' file to reflect the new file extension, but keep the main part of the image file name the same.

NOTE: Depending on the scale of your baseboards, this 1km square will probably be larger than 1 board.

Check his site for tutorial: www.FireLine.biz

The 720x720m basemap1 (kuid2:97008:7201:1) by willem2 might be easier for your own plan since it is exactly 1 board in size.

The problem with basemaps is that the image can look washed out and of course working on a solid object as opposed to a map painted on the tile (Transdem style) makes it harder to place or select items.

Coincidentally I started a thread on the offical Transdem forum today to explore whether there is any means of importing a plan "as is" using the capabilities of Transdem. Basically what's needed is for Transdem to export the image (scaled to the prototype size) creating flat baseboards as necessary with no world projection, so the plan retains its proportions and shape. However not sure if that is possible as there would not appear to be any way of exporting from Transdem without including DEM and even using a flat area (on sea or a large lake) would result in your square or rectangle being turned into a parallogram as it is adopted to the real world terrain.

Not sure whether HOG might help, but having downloaded the utility it doesn't seem to want to run under Windows 7/64 bit.

At the moment I can't think of any other way of painting a model plan on a standard non-terraformed baseboard(s).

Hi Guys,

My apologies for putting this in the wrong spot. Thanks for the replies, got both of these base maps to work with my image. My next question is in order to scale it down a new base map asset would have to be created correct? What I'm trying to do is take a 4'x8' track plan and create in trainz, and instead of eyeballing track placement i was hoping to use an basemap or similar to trace the track rather than eyeball it.

Thanks Again,
Regards,
Jordan

A 4' x 8' track plan would take up only a tiny fraction of one Trainz baseboard. Each baseboard square equals 10 metres in real life - that is just over 32' 8". An 8' x 4' baseboard in 4mm scale would represent 576' x 288' approximately, less than 18 x 9 baseboard squares in Trainz. There would be a lot of unused space and you would be left with the usual model railway/railroad problems of tight curves and short distances between stations.

It can be done, of course, and there are several threads on this topic. My preference (and I've done this a good few times) is to take a model railway/railroad plan and to expand it to take full advantage of the unlimited space offered by Trainz. For example, I expanded a plan 4m x 3m onto 7 x 1 baseboards, making it linear instead of convoluted - station plans are identical with the originals but lengths of run are much greater.

However, the great advantage of this hobby is that anyone can do whatever they like - the choice is up to the individual!

I have quoted 4mm scale since this is popular in the UK and one that I am most familiar with. The math(s) can be done quite easily to illustrate other scales.

Ray