Continuing with Questions Regarding Scale...

H

Hack

The Big Kahuna
This is a continuation of questions I had in the Making Model Trainz post. My apologies for having gone off-topic.

itareus said:
Have a look here:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/Trainzoptions.txt

-SurveyorFOV might be worth a try.

Note for the casual reader: Many of the settings which were in trainzoptions.txt can be set in game nowadays, apart from these it's normally best to leave other settings possible in trainzoptions.txt alone.



Not quite sure what you mean here, a screenshot would help. Remember you will need to use a brick wall for the 'room' that is scaled to your chosen working scale (in your case 'N').



Your baseboard top needs to be at about 185 (18.5 x 10m baseboard squares) above the floor. Remember that anything you are using to judge the appearance of the 'room' from needs to be scaled as well (to what would be full sized at your chosen working scale)..



I'm not aware of any settings to do this. You could set the track at 'x' distance above baseboard level using the Advanced settings (Vertex Height) in the Track tab and then use a scenery object or objects to represent the ground under the track. You might also want to see if putting items in different layers helps when editing.

Chris
Click to expand...

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the informative post. I had been messing about with a trainzoptions.txt with only -cabinfov, -driverfov, and -surveyorfov, but I hadn't noticed too much of an effect. It wasn't until seeing your post that I tried greater and lesser values to see the changes, and now realize I was too close to default to notice, plus I failed to restart the game after each adjustment. I finally settled on a value of =40 for each, as this matches my eye compared to what my shop looks like. I just need to remember to remove the file when wanting to run a prototypical route. :p

As for height measurements, I think I understand what you're saying, but allow me to adjust my question. Are the measurements in various tool measurements not the same as the measuring tool? They don't appear to be, as measuring out 4' or so doesn't match the settings indicated in the adjust spline height section. Given that I'm attempting N-Scale, what is the unit of measurement for height?

Thank you again.
 
Hack said:
...As for height measurements, I think I understand what you're saying..
Click to expand...
.
I'm not sure I do :D ! This is a difficult subject to get the mind around, especially with the somewhat abstract concept of measurement in a '3D' space which is actually 2D :confused:.

Hack said:
...allow me to adjust my question. Are the measurements in various tool measurements not the same as the measuring tool? They don't appear to be, as measuring out 4' or so doesn't match the settings indicated in the adjust spline height section......
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the only thing that the Route 'scale' function does is change the ruler tool, nothing else.

Hack said:
...Given that I'm attempting N-Scale, what is the unit of measurement for height?...
Click to expand...

Well I'm a great believer in the "if it looks right it is right" principle for models, which is an oblique way of saying I don't know accurately (off hand). I'll have to get my head round the maths, but I can't do that until tomorrow or possibly Monday - fence repairs here after the gales of the last few days. If some kind reader with a better mathematical brain than mine cares to step into the breach they are very welcome

We could really do with a 'measuring stick' for each of the model scales, they would save a lot of wear and tear on the communal cerebral cortex.

Cheers

Chris
 
From my experience doing a Model Railroad project the height is still in "real" scale, i.e. a value of 20 = 20m above datum, even if working in N scale or HO. A bit confusing to get your head round as on the one hand as if you leave the actual ruler/grid size in real scale you are constantly converting the feet and inches from the plan.
 
I can't think of any reason to use any model RR scales in Trainz, as full size seems the best feature ... perhaps someone can enlighten me why to use model RR scales ?
 
cascaderailroad said:
I can't think of any reason to use any model RR scales in Trainz, as full size seems the best feature ... perhaps someone can enlighten me why to use model RR scales ?
Click to expand...

Others may have a different opinion, but for my own needs creating a virtual model layout helps me visualize ideas and concepts before committing saw to wood. I have a good sized shop behind my house, and wanting to start fresh, I tore out my old layout and have been stalling on starting another for fear of creating a mess. Kimo's idea on creating a realistic "model" of a layout in Trainz is better, IMHO, than using CadRail, X-TrackCad, etc., as I can see what the layout will look like when built. It also helps that the learning curve in Trainz is easier to handle - at least in my case. I use 3DS Max to plan out where everything goes in 2D, and will use Trainz to see it in 3D, combining the best of two worlds.

To paraphrase James Whitmore in The Shawshank Redemption: "Easy peasy..." :)
 
Hack said:
Others may have a different opinion, but for my own needs creating a virtual model layout helps me visualize ideas and concepts before committing saw to wood. I have a good sized shop behind my house, and wanting to start fresh, I tore out my old layout and have been stalling on starting another for fear of creating a mess. Kimo's idea on creating a realistic "model" of a layout in Trainz is better, IMHO, than using CadRail, X-TrackCad, etc., as I can see what the layout will look like when built. It also helps that the learning curve in Trainz is easier to handle - at least in my case. I use 3DS Max to plan out where everything goes in 2D, and will use Trainz to see it in 3D, combining the best of two worlds.

To paraphrase James Whitmore in The Shawshank Redemption: "Easy peasy..." :)
Click to expand...

This is absolutely true and one of the reasons for the scale sizes. One can build a mock up without wasting materials. In the old days, I remember reading, people made mockups out of cardboard and modeling clay. We can do the same in the virtual word and even run a layout to test the curves and track work before a single piece of anything is cut, plastered, or built for real.

This can be taken one step further with mocked-up, as in real scale objects, furnaces, workbenches, washing machines, and anything else found in a basement, a modeler can then mockup their complete train layout area way ahead of time and get a picture of what their layout space will look like.

John
 
Guilty. :)

I found that by dividing known heights (inches) by 2.4 and then multiplying that value by 10 (the approximate distance between yellow grid lines), that the resulting figure looks about right. I was even able to ditch my trainzoptions.txt and use default FOV values mentioned above. Now all that's needed are some bigger assets to detail the room (door, light switch, etc.), as now the stuff usual items used are too small (the smaller the scale, then larger the "real world" items need to be). Time to break out the CCG and do some reading. :)
 
Sure they would be useful, Chris. Thanks. I had planned on whiping a few up, but got stuck over the weekend getting some older assets back into the game. :p
 
Hack,

First one nearly ready - N scale (NRMA standard of 1:160).

If you would like a sneak preview PM me your email and I'll send it.

C
 
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