Freelance DEM editor?

[bigricho]

I'm thinking of doing a 40 board freelance layout. After reading about some of the DEM and HOG programs out there, I didn't see any mention of being able to create and edit a file on freelanced terrain. And I hope it would save MUCH time compared to drawing each board in surveyor.

Any suggestions?

 

[barn700]

The route you are taking with DEM and HOG will create the board layout, hills, valleys etc, and lay down some coloured marks for you to lay roads, rivers track and will save a bunch of time.

They are fully editable, per normal in Surveyor.

 

[Dermmy]

In theory you could create a freelance height image using the chroma colour palette, and also in theory you could create an additional layer with the freelance Tiger data and save that layer as a separate image. In theory. I doubt if it would be practical though....

Better to find an area with the sort of terrain you want and use real DEM and Tiger data but build a freelance route. That's exactly the approach I used for my McCall Yard route. I had a DEM-HOG route I had created for yet another dud project, so I swiped the terrain to use on a freelance project. There are plenty of bare-board routes already created on the DLS, and a couple at checkrail.com ...

Andy

 

[gfisher]

HOG will use grayscale images as well, so you could try drawing your own. There used to be a tutorial on how to do this which involved drawing your own contour map and then infilling the spaces lighter and darker shades of gray. When you were satisfied with the result, you used the blurring function in the graphic editor to smooth it all out.

 

[goochy]

Keyboard cheat

For a quick and pretty cool way to auto generate is to hold down SHIFT CTRL ALT and tap P.
This will auto generate a landscape for you. Press ESCAPE to make it stop generating.

I have created a 12 board area and zoomed all the way out and watch surveyor generate away.

Then you play "lay the straightest track you can" between several points and industries.

I'm thinking of doing a 40 board freelance layout. After reading about some of the DEM and HOG programs out there, I didn't see any mention of being able to create and edit a file on freelanced terrain. And I hope it would save MUCH time compared to drawing each board in surveyor.

Any suggestions?

 

[mawilson]

You might also look at Bryce. It can create some fairly realistic terrains using fractals and erosion. Bryce 5.5 is free. Bryce 6 is $100 or you can upgrade from 5.5 for $40. Bryce can export in USGS DEM format.

 

[backyard]

What is DEM...?

Digital Elevation Mapping is using real elevation maps of Earth along with Topographic maps overlaid to create real routes as prototypical as possible with the additional use of track charts from the railroads as a guide to track elevation, signaling, infrastructure(depots, yards, sidings, crossovers,etc).

That is the whole purpose of DEM technology, to recreate the Earth for real-time mapping for a wide range of uses not regulated to just railroads. Military & commercial applications abound.

Created terrain maps using any other source may be a type of digitally produced, but they are not DEM's because they have no prototypical source.

Using operation data such as what a locomotive & train can take as far as grades, curve radius, etc can however be useful in creating a very attractive route!

I applaud your desire to produce something other than a "flat" terrain for our use in Auran Trainz!

 

[bigricho]

I applaud your desire to produce something other than a "flat" terrain for our use in Auran Trainz!

Hard to have a track follow a river with waterfalls and "be level".