Putting more than one track on any route to be created with Surveyor 2.0
- Thread starter Rub22
- Start date
ColPrice2002
Well-known member
As far as I know, the only was to lay a double track in one operation is to use a spline that is called “double tracks.
Otherwise, you lay another track alongside. Use the spline circles to help keep a constant spacing.
Otherwise, you lay another track alongside. Use the spline circles to help keep a constant spacing.
I think this needs a post in the Suggestion Boxcar.
I posted this in the Suggestion Boxcar:
Creating double-track and parallel roads is a painful ordeal in Trainz. For tracks, we have to resort to spacing tools to keep the track spaced a set distance apart or resort to using Classic Surveyor (S1.0) with the large spinning circle spline points to inaccurately line up the tracks by eye. To make this easier, why not create a parallel spline tool.
The tool should allow combining any spline and place them in parallel such as tracks with a fence, two or more tracks to be laid in parallel, or even track with a fence and road.
The tool could work this way.
The user selects the first spline or track in the interface.
A small dialog box pops up and the user uses that to select the second. If they are using the same spline, then the user can hit the next button without selecting a second spline.
Once the splines are chosen, spacing can be set in meters with positive being further away and negative being closer along with the number of parallel splines. (Edit: I forgot this... there is also an option to select which side the parallel spline is to be located) With this spacing adjustment, it will mean creating track with a third-rail spline much easier than it is now with manual placement because the spline can be placed on the track as needed.
After selecting the spline and setting the parameters, the user simply drags the cursor along normally as they are laying down tracks, roads, or whatever spline they want in parallel at a set spacing.
Such a tool would work not only for parallel mainlines or passing loops on a mainline, but also for created rail yards, or for laying parallel roads at a wide spacing to create grids for towns and housing subdivisions.
Once the splines are placed, they act like any other spline and can be cut, raised, lowered, or deleted. The tool only places them in parallel.
Creating double-track and parallel roads is a painful ordeal in Trainz. For tracks, we have to resort to spacing tools to keep the track spaced a set distance apart or resort to using Classic Surveyor (S1.0) with the large spinning circle spline points to inaccurately line up the tracks by eye. To make this easier, why not create a parallel spline tool.
The tool should allow combining any spline and place them in parallel such as tracks with a fence, two or more tracks to be laid in parallel, or even track with a fence and road.
The tool could work this way.
The user selects the first spline or track in the interface.
A small dialog box pops up and the user uses that to select the second. If they are using the same spline, then the user can hit the next button without selecting a second spline.
Once the splines are chosen, spacing can be set in meters with positive being further away and negative being closer along with the number of parallel splines. (Edit: I forgot this... there is also an option to select which side the parallel spline is to be located) With this spacing adjustment, it will mean creating track with a third-rail spline much easier than it is now with manual placement because the spline can be placed on the track as needed.
After selecting the spline and setting the parameters, the user simply drags the cursor along normally as they are laying down tracks, roads, or whatever spline they want in parallel at a set spacing.
Such a tool would work not only for parallel mainlines or passing loops on a mainline, but also for created rail yards, or for laying parallel roads at a wide spacing to create grids for towns and housing subdivisions.
Once the splines are placed, they act like any other spline and can be cut, raised, lowered, or deleted. The tool only places them in parallel.
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So it takes a bit of work to lay parallel tracks, that's just like IRL. To be a bit of a contrarian, this is why I made track guides in the first place because I needed to have several tracks in parallel. I have found placing a second or more tracks parallel to an existing track using track guides easy enough. Also, since this is supposed to be a simulator, I think that should include the construction of the ROW where that is possible. 
How to make perfectly straight tracks in Surveyor 2.0:
1. Draw a single track along route West-East axis. (you can also take North-South)
2. Go to the "Info" panel. (bottom right corner of the screen)
3. Select the first vertex of the track.
4. In the "Info" panel, expand "Pos" section, and edit the "x" field by truncating fractions, then copy the value. (use "Y" field, if you chose North-South orientation)
5. Select the second vertex of the track
6. Go to the "Info" panel again, expand "Pos" section and paste the value from step 4 into the "X" field
Now you have a straight track perfectly following the chosen axis.
7. Press Ctrl, click on the track and drag it to create a copy.
8. Repeat steps 3-6 for the copied track, but with small modification in step 4:
- paste the value from the original track, then add/substract the desired separation distance
- example: original value was 576m, you want 5m separation, so you set the "X" coordinate in the copy to 581m
Now you have two parallel straight tracks. At this point you may also want to adjust "Y" coordinate to align the endings. This is your template that you can copy into different places of the route and adjust.
How to place the tracks in the target location and rotate them:
1. Select both tracks, press Ctrl and drag to make a copy.
2. Move the copied tracks to the target location.
3. Place any scenery object next to the tracks, make sure that it has the rotation of 0 degrees (you can use "Info" panel > "Rot" section > "Y" field to type the rotation directly)
4. Select everything in the following order:
- firstly all tracks to rotate,
- finally the object
5. Go to "Info" panel, expand the "Rot" section and type the desired location in the "Y" field.
6. You're done.
Personally, I'm using this technique for all kinds of splines, not only tracks. It allows me perfect right angles for fences, curbs, etc. - I start with two splines with 0 - 90 degrees angles, I rotate them to the desired orientation and then multiply all splines by copying. Gizmo allows me expanding all splines to any length, preserving the angle. For tracks, I combine this technique with various templates e.g. for junctions, and sometimes I just copy the existing track and measure the approximate distance with an ordinary ruler.
For rotating, it's good to choose an object that is neither too big nor too small. I'm using "n kamaz 1" <kuid:370528:1036> for this (for this reason, I call it "Kamaz rotation"
). I'm not going to use this asset in my scenery, so if I see it anywhere, I know that this is a rotation left-over.
In general, the gizmo, the ability to copy individual objects by dragging, and "Pos"/"Rot" sections are together a very powerful Surveyor 2.0 swiss knife. If you master them, you can achieve great results in much less effort than in Surveyor Classic. The steps may look complex if you do them for the first time, but later they become very natural. Preparing the the track/spline templates takes me currently 1-2 minutes, then I can copy them anywhere and resize, saving hours of positioning by trial-and-error.
1. Draw a single track along route West-East axis. (you can also take North-South)
2. Go to the "Info" panel. (bottom right corner of the screen)
3. Select the first vertex of the track.
4. In the "Info" panel, expand "Pos" section, and edit the "x" field by truncating fractions, then copy the value. (use "Y" field, if you chose North-South orientation)
5. Select the second vertex of the track
6. Go to the "Info" panel again, expand "Pos" section and paste the value from step 4 into the "X" field
Now you have a straight track perfectly following the chosen axis.
7. Press Ctrl, click on the track and drag it to create a copy.
8. Repeat steps 3-6 for the copied track, but with small modification in step 4:
- paste the value from the original track, then add/substract the desired separation distance
- example: original value was 576m, you want 5m separation, so you set the "X" coordinate in the copy to 581m
Now you have two parallel straight tracks. At this point you may also want to adjust "Y" coordinate to align the endings. This is your template that you can copy into different places of the route and adjust.
How to place the tracks in the target location and rotate them:
1. Select both tracks, press Ctrl and drag to make a copy.
2. Move the copied tracks to the target location.
3. Place any scenery object next to the tracks, make sure that it has the rotation of 0 degrees (you can use "Info" panel > "Rot" section > "Y" field to type the rotation directly)
4. Select everything in the following order:
- firstly all tracks to rotate,
- finally the object
5. Go to "Info" panel, expand the "Rot" section and type the desired location in the "Y" field.
6. You're done.
Personally, I'm using this technique for all kinds of splines, not only tracks. It allows me perfect right angles for fences, curbs, etc. - I start with two splines with 0 - 90 degrees angles, I rotate them to the desired orientation and then multiply all splines by copying. Gizmo allows me expanding all splines to any length, preserving the angle. For tracks, I combine this technique with various templates e.g. for junctions, and sometimes I just copy the existing track and measure the approximate distance with an ordinary ruler.
For rotating, it's good to choose an object that is neither too big nor too small. I'm using "n kamaz 1" <kuid:370528:1036> for this (for this reason, I call it "Kamaz rotation"
). I'm not going to use this asset in my scenery, so if I see it anywhere, I know that this is a rotation left-over.In general, the gizmo, the ability to copy individual objects by dragging, and "Pos"/"Rot" sections are together a very powerful Surveyor 2.0 swiss knife. If you master them, you can achieve great results in much less effort than in Surveyor Classic. The steps may look complex if you do them for the first time, but later they become very natural. Preparing the the track/spline templates takes me currently 1-2 minutes, then I can copy them anywhere and resize, saving hours of positioning by trial-and-error.