Best way to "blend" or "smooth" in surveyor?

[treblesum81]

Hi All,

I've been working on merging together some of my maps to make some super long routes (500+ miles of track), but I've been running into trouble trying to get the edges of the terrain to blend together in surveyor. I've already been somewhat careful to make sure that the terrain at the joint isn't that far apart, so I've only got a hilly ridge that isn't very high and a flat explanse to deal with, but every time I try to raise the flat to meet the ridge, it pushes the ridge up, and vis versa when I try to lower the ridge, it lowers the flat... I've tried tediously raising and lowing carefully to avoid hitting either, but it ends up being a lot of work for a very unnatural appearance. Is there a "blend" or "smooth" command that I can use to bring the two together better?

Thanks,
Greg

 

[duckblaster]

Use the "plateau" tool

 

[narrowgauge]

I have not experienced the problem but I suggest that you could run track centered along the join and use the track smooth tool, then delete the track.

Peter

 

[Approach_Medium]

When I am building a route / map that is going to be merged, I do not raise or lower the terrain at the edges where the merge will take place. Leave at least 20m space between terrain and the edge of the baseboard. Then, after you do the merge, you just blend the terrain together.

FW

 

[Euphod]

That's a fine idea when you know the route is going to be merged, but I believe our friend is merging routes he downloaded.

Some of the differences in heights can be astounding, and a realistic grade between them could require many, many baseboards to be achieved.

Sometimes you can place a backdrop or two between the two joined boards, then work to the left or right until you can connect them, dropping or raising the height gradually.

 

[treblesum81]

Lets see if the screenshot will work here:

The idea is going to be to put a tunnel joining dual track on the other side of the ridge at about the point where the small piece of track is laid in the unfinished flat. By itself that isn't so hard, but I want the junction between the two layouts to be a little more believable, which means blending the hills into the plains both in texture and in terrain, all while keeping the track in place. Again, the smooth track command should be very useful here, but I'm still at a loss as to how to make the two kinds of terrain blend properly (at least somewhat so) across that unfinished area. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Greg

 

[treblesum81]

One other question I've got is whether I should be going out of my way to preserve "portals" the UMR 2009 layout has nice double track running into portals, which I could delete and run straight into the double track of the MRL layout without messing too much with this. All I'd have to do is delete the portals... What exactly would I be losing there?

 

[Euphod]

All I'd have to do is delete the portals... What exactly would I be losing there?

The Portals. You could always add them somewhere else. I can't see your screen because I'm at work, and they have a little monkey that throws a fit if you try to display a picture on a computer!

 

[greywolfretired]

Have you tried laying track from the edge of one board to the point where you want it to blend.Lay the track close together and use the shift key to keep it separate then use the smooth track tool . When that is done delete the track. I do this all the time.

 

[treblesum81]

Have you tried laying track from the edge of one board to the point where you want it to blend.Lay the track close together and use the shift key to keep it separate then use the smooth track tool . When that is done delete the track. I do this all the time.

Giving this a try right now... its a little tedious, but it seems to work pretty good...

 

[treblesum81]

Just was reminded of the most important tool of all... save... lovely work I had roughed out down the tubes now

 

[wreeder]

Greg,

Besides the track trick, you can also use the copy and paste tools on terrain, textures and objects. It takes some practice but once you get the hang of it you can cover large areas quickly.

And I believe you are using TS2009 so you can make use of a new tool by choosing a displacement map while using the height adjustment tools. Choose a displacement map that looks like a grey cloud and turn the sensitivity pretty low. Now left click the square box over the terrain.

A combination of all three should give you good results.

William

 

[Euphod]

The track trick is more effective if you can find a wide spline to use...the wider the better. If there was a spline of my derrière', it would be perfect!

 

[jkinzel]

The idea is going to be to put a tunnel joining dual track on the other side of the ridge at about the point where the small piece of track is laid in the unfinished flat. By itself that isn't so hard, but I want the junction between the two layouts to be a little more believable, which means blending the hills into the plains both in texture and in terrain, all while keeping the track in place. Again, the smooth track command should be very useful here, but I'm still at a loss as to how to make the two kinds of terrain blend properly (at least somewhat so) across that unfinished area. Any thoughts?

I have had issues with blending different geographic areas and never been really happy with some of my work, but sometime the difference can be as dramatic as from one side of the road to the other. There are a couple of passes going from western to eastern Washington that have very dramatic terrain and vegetation changes, its like turning off a light switch. So going from mountains to fields in the distance of from one side of the road to the other is not so strange, Just don’t do it in a straight line.

 

[Tokkyu40]

And take some of the textures from the left side of the pictures and paint some ragged patches on the right side to shade the textures from one side to the other.
I'd set the circle to the smallest diameter and make short fast passes to lay down a light dusting of color.

Claude

 

[gfisher]

The track trick is more effective if you can find a wide spline to use...the wider the better.

The width of the spline makes no difference, they all work the same way and effect the same width of baseboards.

 

[ajho]

Don't forget you can use the plateau tool to simultaneously raise an lower ground to a mid-point.

 

[treblesum81]

Ok here's a little before and after on the terrain... any thoughts about how to make it blend better would be much appreciated..

At first blush, the tools in surveyor are a little crude, but, at least in the 2009 version, I'm seeing how they can be pretty powerful if you don't mind a little tedium...

 

[Euphod]

The width of the spline makes no difference, they all work the same way and effect the same width of baseboards.

I wouldn't dare take issue with someone who has mastered surveyor as yourself, but I seem to remember someone else stating they use a four track spline to level terrain, each track having a spline point at each end. I could be wrong.

Greg, I like the texturing and the terrain, I think you've done a fine job!

 

[treblesum81]

I wouldn't dare take issue with someone who has mastered surveyor as yourself, but I seem to remember someone else stating they use a four track spline to level terrain, each track having a spline point at each end. I could be wrong.

Greg, I like the texturing and the terrain, I think you've done a fine job!

Thanks, I'm glad it turned out ok... Can you give any tips on smoothing the trees out? I used the spline the original author used in UMR and then a buch of the new 3D spruce trees to give it some fade in, but I still feel like the transition to trees happens pretty suddenly... I've tried putting more and varied single trees, but it starts looking even more drastic...

Thanks,
Greg