Is this session/layout animation possible with TS2010?

[beach_rail]

Noob here with a question as I try to get a handle on this awesome and amazing product.

I'd like to build a small marine terminal layout which has the following animation features:

1. A cargo ship sitting along side of a wharf, discharging pallets of cargo to the docks using it's own shipboard crane(s).

2. A manned forklift operates between the palletized cargo on the wharf and a local warehouse about 100 yards away. The forklift cycles back and forth by pulling up to the cargo on the wharf, lifting a single pallet, and driving it to the warehouse dock bay.

3. A 2nd forklift operator works inside the warehouse by lifting pallets of cargo deposited on the warehouse dock bay and delivers them to a storage area within the warehouse.

4. A 3rd forklift operator within the warehouse cycles back and forth between the pallets sitting in warehouse storage and delivers a pallet to a boxcar which is part of a chain of boxcars on rail inside the warehouse.

5. At a point in time determined by me, a yard switcher pulls the chain of boxcars out of the warehouse to a yard railline on the terminal.

6. At another point in time determined by me, a locomotive attaches to the boxcars and drays them off the terminal onto a mainline and beyond.

I know animation is possible in this product but I'm too green to know what's really possible at this point, but this is the kind of realistic operation I'm really hoping to create. Any ideas, feedback, suggestions to help me out would be sincerely appreciated. Right now, my biggest question is...is this possible within the product without having to use other 3rd party products like Blender, 3DSMax, etc.

Thanks!

 

[JCitron]

Noob here with a question as I try to get a handle on this awesome and amazing product.

I'd like to build a small marine terminal layout which has the following animation features:

1. A cargo ship sitting along side of a wharf, discharging pallets of cargo to the docks using it's own shipboard crane(s).

2. A manned forklift operates between the palletized cargo on the wharf and a local warehouse about 100 yards away. The forklift cycles back and forth by pulling up to the cargo on the wharf, lifting a single pallet, and driving it to the warehouse dock bay.

3. A 2nd forklift operator works inside the warehouse by lifting pallets of cargo deposited on the warehouse dock bay and delivers them to a storage area within the warehouse.

4. A 3rd forklift operator within the warehouse cycles back and forth between the pallets sitting in warehouse storage and delivers a pallet to a boxcar which is part of a chain of boxcars on rail inside the warehouse.

5. At a point in time determined by me, a yard switcher pulls the chain of boxcars out of the warehouse to a yard railline on the terminal.

6. At another point in time determined by me, a locomotive attaches to the boxcars and drays them off the terminal onto a mainline and beyond.

I know animation is possible in this product but I'm too green to know what's really possible at this point, but this is the kind of realistic operation I'm really hoping to create. Any ideas, feedback, suggestions to help me out would be sincerely appreciated. Right now, my biggest question is...is this possible within the product without having to use other 3rd party products like Blender, 3DSMax, etc.

Thanks!

This stuff is quite doable in TS2010. For the yard switchers to pull cars out of the warehouse, all you need to do is assign a driver to a switcher with some commands to pull the cars from a warehouse, that has the cars there already, to a trackmark on a siding or mainline. This can be timed so that the switcher shows up with the cars only after a mainline train pulls in. This is done with a trigger setup.

Forklifts may already be available and scripted to move either as a locomotive, or as an animated object. If they're a locomotive, they can be put on invisible track so they look like they're running on a road.

There are some assets available, both built-in and on the Download Station, for marine terminals includine cargo lifts, container ports, ships, and warehouses.

Good luck and have fun, I hope I was helpful. Feel free to ask more questions. You're asking the right ones, and no, you're no more of a Noob at this than anyone else here. This is all a learning process when using Trainz. Remember nearly anything is possible with this program, and your imagination and creativity can make a lot happen that is nearly impossible with any other program.

If you want to try 3ds-Max, or some other program, ask some questions here and in the creator's forum. We'll answer your questions and point you, hopefully in the right directions towards the tutorials.

John