beach_rail
New member
Trainz enthusiasts - I've got a question regarding what the capabilities and possibilities are with regards to being able to program Trainz 2012. There isn't much information out there on this topic and the Trainz manuals don't give the matter much coverage. Specifically, I am developing automation software for a large maritime terminal railyard including usage of GPS, RFID and IP Camera OCR to monitor and track movement of inbound/outbound trains/railcars hauling shipping ccontainers. The primary goal is to provide a virtual railyard environment through automation so that field labor can perform many of their duties within an indoors Operations office facility without having to be physically out in harms way. I've been running Trainz for several years for personal fun as a model railroading hobbyist, but I can imagine and envision the graphic realism of Trainz being a perfect fit for developing a virtual railroading environment in an industrial-zone business setting.
In a nutshell, are there any provisions within Trainz to permit first developing a layout which models the industrial zone being automated, and then being able to drive the Trainz rendering and A.I engine via programming code & logic (Visual C#) to display automated movement of trains, railcars, yard cranes shuttling containers, containers being ramped & deramped from railcars, etc. The Trainz asset movements would be triggered by combinations of GPS/RFID/etc. alerts captured and managed by my application, and dispatched as messages via a Trainz API. This big pipe-dream would of course presume that a Trainz graphics engine and A.I API exists to accommodate something like this. The end result would be the display of the Trainz layout on large wall-mounted widescreen Hi-Def monitors or TV's in the railyard Operations office area.
So - am I daydreaming here like someone from Mars, or is any of this possible? The alternative would be that I'd have to go to a tremendous amount of effort using something like Maya or 3dsMax to design and program the railyard environment - a real pity considering how great and realistic Trainz already looks and feels.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
- br
In a nutshell, are there any provisions within Trainz to permit first developing a layout which models the industrial zone being automated, and then being able to drive the Trainz rendering and A.I engine via programming code & logic (Visual C#) to display automated movement of trains, railcars, yard cranes shuttling containers, containers being ramped & deramped from railcars, etc. The Trainz asset movements would be triggered by combinations of GPS/RFID/etc. alerts captured and managed by my application, and dispatched as messages via a Trainz API. This big pipe-dream would of course presume that a Trainz graphics engine and A.I API exists to accommodate something like this. The end result would be the display of the Trainz layout on large wall-mounted widescreen Hi-Def monitors or TV's in the railyard Operations office area.
So - am I daydreaming here like someone from Mars, or is any of this possible? The alternative would be that I'd have to go to a tremendous amount of effort using something like Maya or 3dsMax to design and program the railyard environment - a real pity considering how great and realistic Trainz already looks and feels.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
- br