Landscape Creation Tutor

I

Ian_Coleman

New member
I'm looking for a good landscape creation tutor. I know there's some out there, but I don't seem to be able to locate one!

Can someone help please?

Ian
 
Do you mean a tutorial? Or a tutor who can come to your house after school for $50 per hour? I know where you can locate a tutor, but for a tutorial you might need to think about using the internet.

Bernie
 
Oh Mr bernhart_lossiemouth!

What a funny man you are! I'm amazed at your wit! I can't stop laughing!


Thanks for your reply, davesnow.

No, I don't have Photoshop. I just meant a tutorial to enable me to build a decent landscape, with good smooth tracks!

Ian
 
Ian_Coleman said:
No, I don't have Photoshop. I just meant a tutorial to enable me to build a decent landscape, with good smooth tracks!

Ian
Click to expand...

Not sure if it meets your needs but have you checked the Tips and tricks - Surveyor thread ? In between the other stuff im sure there is some landscaping things ( I don't read the thread so i wouldn't know )

Anthony
 
If it's a fictional route I'm doing, I always lay the track first, but make sure it isn't all a dead straight track by adding plenty of curves.

There is always a reason to have a curve in a railway, as it's more expensive than laying straight track, so on your layout you need to show a reason for doing this - a hill, hollow, water, houses, mines, forestry, factories and so on. Some ruthless railway builders ploughed through houses and such, but you can take a more sympathetic approach.

I would make sure not to lay any track at zero level. I would add a few gradients so that track can go over track and roads and water. Get some tunnels built and raise the land over them to suit. Rivers came first so get a river dug out. Roads came second and usually followed the rivers. Same with the railways. They can intertwine many times in the course of a route.

******************************************************

Double track

When I'm laying double track I select a double track from anyone one of those with the correct spacing between tracks. In my case 3.5

I lay the straight sections with double track and then join the two ends with single tracks. I then delete the double track and join the gaps up with single track and use the straightening tool on them. If you have a long sweeping curve, it may pay to check on the gap between the two track. They can sometimes come a little too close together in the centre of the curve and/or cause a wobble in the running of the train.

With a long curve I add a very small section of double track over the exsisting track, line it up and then break the single sections apart by adding spline points. I join the single track to the short section of double and then delete the double track as above.

Watch out for gradients, don't make them too steep. A rise of 1 metre across a baseboard equals a gradient of 1 in 75, which is quite steep. Aim for less, say half a metre.

Practice makes perfect.
 
Re Track Laying.

Thank you Dave. This is just the sort of advice that I was hoping for!

Just one clarification please - Regarding what you say about laying the track first, but not at ground level, do you mean that you lay the track on the virgin baseboard, then lift it by means of the 'raise spline height' control?

I presume then, that having done that, allowing for ny gradients that you require, you then use the 'smooth track height' control to lift the ground up to meet the track.

I plan to start a new layout, using that method, later today. But I just wanted to be sure that I had fully understood what you were saying.

I knew that using double-track is not recommended, so I always use single track, but your way of using double-track, and then changing to single seems a very good idea, as I find it very difficult to keep the spacing even.

Ian
 
Mostly I lift the track and use the 'smooth track height' control, as you say. It's just a matter then of checking out the height of the raised ground level and applying it roughly around the track.

Sometimes, as in the layout I'm working on, which has a gradient from 90 metres to 300 metres. I will raise the ground level on a patch of each baseboard, getting higher and higher with each board and copy and paste it around. It forms 'steps', which I smooth out later and then either build up further, or reduce in height.
 
It's a pity the displacement maps don't work on raised ground. All they do is take it back to the level it would have been before you raised the ground level.
 
I had this Derby station on another route http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/escafeld01/Screen_184.jpg, which was at a ground level of 10 metres. I merged it onto another route at 300 metres and had to raise every spline point by 290 metres. I added a blank baseboard to the route and raised the level to 300 metres and copied and pasted several squares of it to where the elevated station was and it worked fine. The platform ends have been fixed, by-the-way
 
Last edited:
There are about a dozen textures I like, which are default textures and are all in a block. I'll pull out the kuids later. I only use three or four in any one place, but swap for darker or lighter colours as I go along.

I try and keep off splines, which is difficult.

Have a look at the 'Tips and Tricks' forum. Several people have posted in there, myself included. There are some really useful tips.
 
escafeld said:
It's a pity the displacement maps don't work on raised ground. All they do is take it back to the level it would have been before you raised the ground level.
Click to expand...

You can use the displacement map on an empty baseboard and then copy and paste the new terrain to your map using the relative setting in the copy panel. This adds the terrain variations to the existing level of the land without the return to zero problem. It works on hillsides too.

TS2009 has added the ability to use Displacement maps as terrain shaping brushes. Just choose a displacement map before using one of the ground shaping tools. The cursor changes to a square and the radius dial controls the size of the area effected.

William
 
wreeder said:
You can use the displacement map on an empty baseboard and then copy and paste the new terrain to your map using the relative setting in the copy panel. This adds the terrain variations to the existing level of the land without the return to zero problem. It works on hillsides too.

TS2009 has added the ability to use Displacement maps as terrain shaping brushes. Just choose a displacement map before using one of the ground shaping tools. The cursor changes to a square and the radius dial controls the size of the area effected.

William
Click to expand...

Thank you for the tip on TRS2009. This is cool!, I have to give it a try.

John
 
Displacement maps are something that I know absolutely nothing about.
A brief explanation would be greatly appreciated.

Also, could someone kindly explain the purpose of the split spline button?

I'm getting on a bit, and it takes a little longer before things sink in!

Thanks,
Ian
 
OK, Split Spine first since it is the easiest.

You have a section of track that you have laid. It has five spline points in its length. If you use the split spline tool on one of the spline points in the middle you cause it to become unconnected and have two spline points in the same place instead of one. Use the move tool to grab one of the spline points and drag it away from the other.

Here is a very good tutorial on using displacement maps in trainz.

http://www.uktrainz.co.uk/faq/Displacement_Tutorial_0.1.pdf
 
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Re Split Spine

Thanks wreeder
What is the advantage in using the Split Spine tool, as opposed to just crating a new spline point wherever it is needed?

Ian
 
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