Is there a way to insert a spline point on a track

[JonMyrlennBailey]

without altering the track's height at the spot where the spline point was inserted?

For some odd reason, Trainz likes to raise or lower the track considerably wherever a spline point is inserted.

What I am trying to so is replace a section of ballast track with wood ties that is embedded in a concrete slab used as a station platform with another type, rails only (no ballast or ties).

I want to change out a piece of track with a different type without molesting the original track geometry.

Anytime you embed ballast track into flat, level splined objects, there tends to be some annoying "ghosting effect" when viewed high from the overhead camera. The ties and ballast that are supposed to be hidden under the concrete "flicker" like a strobe light when the track is viewed overhead and this is not very impressive when showing your route to friends and family members: it is just another one of those graphics artifacts issues in the program. Faint images of what is supposed to be buried clean out of sight rapidly appear and disappear and this ruins the aesthetics of the layout. Many Trainz objects don't conceal other objects inside them well if the interior objects are too close to the surface of the outer object. There is some "translucency" with many Trainz objects.

Using rails-only track for embedding into surfaces solves this undesirable ballast/sleeper flicker.

The embedded-object flicker problem even continues in TANE.

 

[JCitron]

Unfortunately the insert spline point now alters the height of the track as it now zeros the height down to the ground level. This was never the case prior to TS12 SP1 and above, but this was something that should have been done way back in the beginning as it solves the floating track for the most part. What I do is get height of the spline point nearby and use that height for a very close spline point. If it is for one farther down the line, I will get the height of the terrain and add .20 or .25 meters to that in the track height, which seems to work out the difference.

The flickering is an anomaly found in all 3d-rendered programs/games. The issue actually stems from the video card and is caused by Z-buffer fighting between two co-planar flat surfaces that are very close to each other. The issue is the video card attempts to render both surfaces at the same time and gets confused. To get around this offset the surface a tiny amount, just enough to prevent the flicker.

What's interesting and is related to this but in a different fashion is my brother had this issue with his 3d printer. He made some flat objects, such as medallions or coins with some raised text, which he uses as a master for spin-casting. When the model was printed, there were some distorted surfaces which he couldn't figure out the cause from. He then did some poking around and adjusted the text a tiny bit off the surface and that solved the problem. He reported this as a bug back to the printer manufacturer as it is caused by how their software was interpreting the coplanar surfaces.

For a concrete surface, I edited one of those YARN roads, replaced the texture to something else such as concrete or stone blocks, and then ran the track through it. With these thick roads, the rails stick up just enough out of the surface. Sometimes I've had to adjust the track, but only a tiny bit to get the affect I want. The new proto-track and Auran Oak track in T:ANE is pretty good. I've also had good luck with the SAM track, available from the DLS, and that by Jointed Rail as well. Some of the older flat track-types don't work well, and the flat floating roads don't work at all. The really thick YARN road are good because they bury the ballast below too.

If you are interested in this, you simply set the carrate to 0 (zero) in the config.txt so there are no cars, and replace the road texture, whatever that's called, with one of your choice but use the same texture name as the original. So if the texture is called road.tga, you need to call your new one road.tga, and overwrite the one in the folder with yours.

John

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

Thanks, John.

I know what I have to do to embed track into a flat surface. I use an object like a wooden crate with bands to mark the track where the spline point is to be inserted. I position and rotate the box so the band on top of the crate lines up with a track rail. I adjust the height of the box so the track rail protrudes just slightly above it. The box is acting as both a track position marker and a crude vertical height gauge. I then insert my spline points where I set up my crates as markers. I then cut out the section of track between the new spline points and insert my new track type. I use the boxes I set up earlier as a visual reference to reposition the track back into place as closely as possible to the original track "coordinates". Any particular spot anywhere on the top of a track rail has three dimensions: latitude, longitude and altitude. Then the boxes are handily deleted when I am done. Static objects make great vertical gauges. I use the figure of a standing man as a vertical ruler to adjust the height of spline railing posts along sloping platforms so the posts are the same height along along the graded surface. I use spots on the man's body for reference like the pocket on his pants or his belt buckle. I place the person objects on the concrete slab and adjust their height so their shoe soles just touch the surface. This is rather crude because non-spline object heights can only be adjusted to increments as little as 0.05 m (5 cm, 2"), but visually, this works out well for getting things to look uniform in height, more or less.

 

[cascaderailroad]

If you have a long piece of "straightened" track, when you place a spline point in the middle, one section will stay straightened, and the other will be un-straightened ... to check this ... temporarily connect a track, and swing it around in a circle, you will see the un-straightened track wobble around ... now straighten it, and erase the swinging track.

If you have placed spline points all over a straightened track (like turnouts spline points), check for any un-straightened tracks, and straighten them ... Now place a long temporary track right next to that spline point infested track (using the "Hold Shift" key) ... straighten the temporary track, and this will be your straight edge ... measure the extreme R and extreme L spline point heights on your spline point infested track, and apply these 2 measurements to your long straight edge track.

if you want to know what height to apply to your spline point infested track, just carefully place a spline point directly across from the turnout spline point, on the straight edge track ... measure that height, and lock the numeral into the height box ... and press undo, and this will erase the temporary spline point ... now apply that saved numeral to the height of the turnout spline point.

After all the trackwork spline points are done, you can place this straight edge directly over top of your spline point infested track, and move the spline points all in line with the straight edge track.

Now that I have you totally confused: To lay a precision spline point, "Hold Shift" and stretch a temporary track to an exact location, release the Shift key, and place that spline point to an exact area, wiggle the tail around, noting what track is un-straghtened, and straighten it ... now delete the temporary track tail.

Warning: If you are using multi track, pressing "Undo" will cause the surveyor session to crash, losing all your hard trackwork

 

[stagecoach]

Select the rail only track and use the shift key and place the track in the correct location. Raise or lower the two spline points so the track height matches what you already have. Delete the original track beneath and insert new track from the rail only spline points to the spline points on each side..

 

[martinvk]

I'm not clear as to why you want to do this the hard way

What I am trying to so is replace a section of ballast track with wood ties that is embedded in a concrete slab used as a station platform with another type, rails only (no ballast or ties).

I want to change out a piece of track with a different type without molesting the original track geometry.

Why not just do a local track replace?

 

[cascaderailroad]

You can swap in another track kuid, in the platform config file ... or you can float the track @ 0.20m higher, covering up the track underneath.

 

[JonMyrlennBailey]

Because I want only a certain type of track embedded in the slab and nowhere else. To cut out a piece of track, it has to be between two spline points. How does a "local replace" work anyway?

 

[cascaderailroad]

edit the slab config file, and swap in the desired track kuid in 2 places (top & bottom)

work on a clone as an experiment: name the username line: "Test Slab Blah Blah Blah"

 

[martinvk]

... How does a "local replace" work anyway?

When you do the "Replace assets", change the range to "In selected area." Then in the Tools, (F5) , Select Area (B) before you click on the "Replace"button.