Creating Custom Content

[dej]

I would love to be able to create my own custom content(mainly buildings right now for the sake of simplicty.) I'm just not sure where to begin, could someone point me in the right direction with some tutorials and/or step by step guides or videos. I mainly wanna do this to be able to make buildings for routes i'm working on, but also to give back to the trainz community thats has been there to help me out so very much. I would greatly appreciate any pointers!

 

[KenGreen]

See a similar query asked on Tuesday.

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?96617-New-to-blender

Ken

 

[angelah]

Hi,
You may have noticed my content on the DS so I can speak with a little authority on the matter of creating it.
My personal choice was Gmax. I did try Blender but could not get along with it and the book I bought didn't tally with what was happening on screen, which wasn't a great help. So Gmax it was.
But both are hard to learn and take quite a while to get to grips with, commonly known as a steep learning curve. There are several tutorials out there for Gmax and some for Blender as well so that should be your starting point.
Here is one http://trainz.christrup.net/TRS/tut5.html and this is another http://www.tafweb-trainz.co.uk/tutorial_bank_1.html
Both are basic but will get you on the road to success, just like me.
Once you have texturing off pat (ask Pat first though...ha ha) you will find a whole vista of other tools will open up.
If you need help PM me.

Good luck,

Angela

 

[johnwhelan]

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?96642-New-Blender-Tutorials-for-v2-65-and-up have a read through the posts.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/Tutorial_for_Blender#Newcomers_start_here

Paul Hobbs has created tutorials for both

http://www.44090digitalmodels.co.uk/

The learning curve is high on both in other words you will be investing quite a lot of time in which ever you decide to commit to so do a bit of research first to save time later.

Cheerio John

 

[ray_whiley]

As one who started contributing at the ripe old age of 75 (six years ago) the only thing I can add to the above is - have a go, and start with something simple like a building. I had half-an-hour's tuition before making a start, the rest came from learning on the job - and I can confidently say that you will learn more from your mistakes (and working out how to correct them) than from your successes - although there is greater satisfaction to be had in sucesses! Above all, enjoy what you do.

Ray

 

[dej]

Thanks Guys I Will Try To Do This I Really wanna i just hope i have the patience to do it.:hehe:

 

[oknotsen]

Hi,

I am having a lazy Friday morning, so I am just going to copy-paste a post I made recently.

Blender WiKi:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Tutorials
Blender export guide:
http://www.mickberg.com/blenderexport1.html
Trainz tutorial for Blender:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/...al_for_Blender

Blender 2.6 tutorial on UV-mapping:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obB9T3jXlak

Most usefull "tutorial" video (in 2 parts) I could find, coincidently about a train related topic:
http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/cr...e-part-1-of-2/
http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/cr...e-part-2-of-2/
Not for Blender 2.6, but really usefull: key-combinations needed are shown in the video which ha!
Tip: Put it on pause and rewind a lot after you have seen the movie in total.

For future questions related to content creation, please use this forum:
http://forums.auran.com/trainz/forumdisplay.php?12-Content-Creation-Support
​

Blender is opensource, so no costs.

When trying to make content: Patience is key.

Good luck on your discovery tour.

 

[martinvk]

Just to add to what was already said, be sure to take it easy and start simple. Nothing kills enthusiasm faster that going for a big showy and complex object too soon, getting stuck, frustrated and then giving up. The learning curve, more like a cliff, is something that has to be tackled one step at a time. First get a small box into Trainz. Time enough for fancy animation, poly optimization, texture libraries, etc for later.

 

[pcas1986]

Before you get carried away with the model making, I suggest you understand the process of getting your creation into Trainz. If you decide on Blender then this should help http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php5/HowTo/Export_from_Blender

Unlike Angelah, I couldn't get a grip on GMax and opted for Blender. You have a choice and both are free! In fact most of the tools you will need are freeware on the net. When you think you need special Trainz content creation/management tools then check out PEV's contributions at http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~villaump/pevsoft.htm

Houses and scenery objects are a good place to start.

The Trainz Dev WiKi at http://online.ts2009.com/mediaWiki/index.php5/TrainzDev_Wiki has lots of good stuff although notoriously difficult to search. Also the WiKiBooks Trainz pages at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz - scroll down to Asset Creation.

And for the dozens of questions you WILL have - ask here!

 

[oknotsen]

And for the dozens of questions you WILL have - ask here!

To be even more specific:
Here.

 

[falcon500]

I've been using Gmax for a couple of years. I tried blender, not so much harder to use once you get past the difference. Main problem I found was with exporting to Trainz. Had Python Exporter and Trainz Exporter installed. But couldn't get anything into Trainz. It would help if the instruction for installing these were less vague. Of course if N3V supplied a plug in for blender wouldn't that make life a whole lot easier? Not likely to happen really given their level content creator support.

 

[johnwhelan]

I've been using Gmax for a couple of years. I tried blender, not so much harder to use once you get past the difference. Main problem I found was with exporting to Trainz. Had Python Exporter and Trainz Exporter installed. But couldn't get anything into Trainz. It would help if the instruction for installing these were less vague. Of course if N3V supplied a plug in for blender wouldn't that make life a whole lot easier? Not likely to happen really given their level content creator support.

The N3V importer is based an an xml file being fed into the importer. This means it is very simple to verify if the correct file format is being sent and where the problem is if there is a problem. The Blender python script just has to create the appropriate xml file. XML files are verbose but can be read by things like notepad++ and are pretty well standard when you transfer data from one system at another because it isolates the two systems.

If you install Blender 2.65 64 bit to c:\blender and copy in the python script and importer to the addon folder under scripts and remember to set it in preferences you shouldn't have any problems.

Cheerio John

 

[pcas1986]

To be even more specific:
Here.

Absolutely! Sorry, I thought it was in that forum.

After my post I was wondering if it might be useful to create a TrainzDev WiKi page with the type of information posted in this thread. The question comes up often enough. And yes there is the "Newcomers begin here" page on the other WiKi.

I try to stay neutral on the Blender vs GMax or even 3DSMax. In my opinion you should use whatever suits you. I use Blender because of a number of reasons and I cannot afford 3DSMax! I'd rather spend my money on a good graphics program.