cascaderailroad
New member
There a 2 or 3 MARS routes on the DLS that essentually show as a desert ... It might give you some ideas ... (I also liked the MOON routes) :hehe:
Eastland Rocket Progress
- Thread starter Kris94
- Start date
William0d0
Active member
I think I may have mentioned this in the past, but you should really consider adding an extra baseboard just to have a palette of textures.
Here is an example of what I'm doing.
Even a little mountain.
Add a little stretch of track and see what I think blends well together.
Here is an example of what I'm doing.
Even a little mountain.
Add a little stretch of track and see what I think blends well together.
Will there be a level crossing for the carts, or a little bridge to ride over? A train should make for an interesting hazard, where do you place the ball if it hits one, or do you just add a stroke?
What??
Kris I got your list of textures. William0d0’s shot of his area for a palette of textures and trees is an excellent suggestion. That is also how I work. Look at his color choices for textures, there is nothing too harsh as far as textures. Some grasses and desert textures when overused can look almost florescent. I picked 2 textures that you have, Dry longgrass tuffs and Desert Dirt. I added Grass&Dirt . If you want to try this you can download that one. I blended an area with all three textures. (keep rotating each time). I then started copying and pasting in the area I want to cover. Once again, keep rotating. After I made a little hill I added some rock texture in a few places around the hill. I hope this helps. Like oknotsen said, keep experimenting. My first route looked like a giant golf course with trains running through it.
Gordon
Gordon
mezzoprezzo
Content appreciator
Never cut/paste ballast under tracks. It isn’t possible to place it accurately under curves. Apply it directly from the Paint flyout. Set the radius to minimum and the scale to best match the size of the track ballast, then carefully paint under the track/s.
You also don’t seem to have got the hang of rotating textures to avoid the repeat pattern “checkerboard” effect on your general terrain. Looking at your recent images it looks as if you have used the ‘[‘ or ‘]’ key as advised by others, but it only seems to have been set to two different directions, and applied in those directions over quite large areas.
You need to hold one of those keys down the whole time you are applying. It also helps to hold it down for a second or two before painting the texture with the mouse key. It can take a moment before the rotation kicks in.
The other trick is to vary the scale of the texture and apply the odd smallish blob here and there after you have applied a nice uneven “spun” texture. That way you can achieve a completely unique area of well textured landscape with no visible repeats; this can be achieved with just one texture! Of course things look a good deal better with more than one, but you need to master the technique of applying uneven results with one texture before moving on.
Listen to what others have advised, practice a bit more and I’m sure you’ll get there.
William0d0
Active member
How about that?
That is a start.
Remember, this baseboard is NOT an actual part of your route. It is an EXTRA baseboard with textures for you to refer to as you build your route.
Add more textures to it. Try blending them together and see what you like. You can try using different combinations around the baseboard for comparison.
If you run out of room, add another extra baseboard.
Ideally, you should have in these baseboards examples of every texture your route uses.
Once the route is finished delete these baseboards. Their only purpose is to create a reference for things you like.
William0d0
Active member
Boo hoo.
Come back to me when you are living in a tent in Doha in July and the temperature is over 110 degrees Fahrenheit with something like 99% humidity and the ground is so hard you need to use a power drill to punch holes in the ground for the tent stakes. When you are on the flight line the reflective temp from the tarmac is more like 140 and sweating doesn't help because you are soaking wet from the humidity.
Spend several months working 12+ hour shifts without a single day off.
And enjoy your off-time in your own little private space of about 4 feet by 7 feet in a stupid hot tent (and that's if you were smart enough to bring extra sheets to use as walls).
Don't even think about telling me what "sucks".
How about running a fever of 104 and given motrin, yeah I had a few rough days at work. Just gotta push through it.
So yeah, get out there and cut the grass. And don't complain.