Scale and movement basic stuff

Bista

New member
Afternoon everyone!:)

Appoligies for only appearing here with questions not answers but I hope this is simply some direction to a thread or site.

Been fiddling a bit with Gmax and manage to create myself a loco (of sorts, looks like a 40 to me anyway)

virtual 40 assy


Thing is, can someone direct me to a site which explanes (in duffer speak) how to get everything to the right scale and how all the elements get identified and rigged together for use with TRAINZ UTC.

I figure that things are drawn together with config files (parts, performance, mass, sounds etc) but I lack the knowledge of how the parts get to the stage where they can be called in the first place. Problem is I'm a train person dabbling with computors rather than the other way round.

I know this is probebly quite basic but being new to this I want to get an idea what I'm aiming for. It took some time to put the thing together and having thought about it I fear that the method I used may be wrong. IE I've constructed it in a way that won't fit the way TRAINZ works (maybe)

It only started out as a bit of fun to see if I could create something but you kinda get to the point of wondering "can I make this go?"

Sorry if this has been answered before but I've done a search and come up blank, in all likelyhood because I don't know the terminoligy for what I'm trying to do in order to search for it!

As ever, any guidance gratefully recieved.

Bista
Birmingham UK
 
Afternoon everyone!:)

Appoligies for only appearing here with questions ...
virtual%2040%20assy


Thing is, can someone direct me to a site which explanes (in duffer speak) how to get everything to the right scale and how all the elements get identified and rigged together for use with TRAINZ UTC.

...
Bista
Birmingham UK

It's harder to learn if you don't ask questions. :)

As for scale, that's easy. Everything you create in GMax should be made full scale, that is 1:1. That way it will fit in proportion with other objects in Trainz.

Identified? you mean inside GMax? Every part should be named as to what it is so you can find it again in the selection list. "Box1" doesn't mean much, "Main cross beam" means something. After you export it to Trainz, the name you give it in its config file will appear in the Trainz selection list for objects.

Rigged together? You mean when you export to Trainz not every part appears in Trainz? Don't have any part selected when you export because then only that part is exported. No selection means select all for export. You could also select every part before exporting but that's just extra work for nothing.
 
Scaling and basic stuff

Ah! right. Sorry didn't explane that very well.

I'm kinda part way through the tutorials (and yes they're great). Thing is to practice I've been creating things and as I hadn't seen anything relating to how things scale and so on I was concerned that what I was creating would be unsuitable fo the TRAINZ envioroment if I wanted to use it later.

On the issue of scale, I'm a bit lost. 1:1 yes but in Gmax what is the scale of the grid? is each square an inch, centimeter, foot? Had a hunt through but didn't find anything (prob as I said cos I'm looking for the wrong thing!)

I'm not as far as exporting things yet (or anywhere near understanding it) but where I guess things are going to need to be independant I've been sub dividing stuff IE with a diesel loco, once I get all the proportions looking sort of right I divided up the body, bogie frames and wheel sets into different files as I suspect they will need to be called separatly if and when I get as far as exporting them. That is right isn't it?

I hadn't seen anything to help glancing through the later tutorials and didn't want to get to the end and find all the practice stuff I'd created was all wrong and a waste of memory space.

Best keep plodding at the tutorials and limit what else I do until they answer my questions for me (hopefully).

Thanks for promp response, hopefully in the future I should be "putting stuff ashore" rather than "hoisting a distress flag"!:)

Cheers all

Bista
Birmingham UK
 
After drawing a primitive box or whatever by eye, I then go to the modify tab and input the correct dimensions. That way, everything is drawn to scale. When you do decide to export all the parts will need to be merged into one drawing before you export. If you check slugsmasher's website, www.steammachines.com he has a tutorial on using a scale box.
Norm
 
Ah! right. ...

On the issue of scale, I'm a bit lost. 1:1 yes but in Gmax what is the scale of the grid? is each square an inch, centimeter, foot? Had a hunt through but didn't find anything (prob as I said cos I'm looking for the wrong thing!)
We were all lost when we first entered the wondwerful world of GMax.

First, make sure that your units (Customise / Units Setup) are metric and that meters is showing in the select box.
In Customise / Grid and Snap Settings / Home Grid, I have a grid spacing of 10.0m and Major Lines every 10, so for me, 0, 100m, 200m etc are bolder.
In Customise / Preference Settings / General, I have System Units Scale 1 unit = 1.0 meters and Automatic Unit Conversion checked. That way, if I enter say 4'8.5", it will be automatically converted to 1.435m
I'm not as far as exporting things yet (or anywhere near understanding it) but where I guess things are going to need to be independant I've been sub dividing stuff IE with a diesel loco, once I get all the proportions looking sort of right I divided up the body, bogie frames and wheel sets into different files as I suspect they will need to be called separatly if and when I get as far as exporting them. That is right isn't it?

I hadn't seen anything to help glancing through the later tutorials and didn't want to get to the end and find all the practice stuff I'd created was all wrong and a waste of memory space.

Best keep plodding at the tutorials and limit what else I do until they answer my questions for me (hopefully).

Thanks for promp response, hopefully in the future I should be "putting stuff ashore" rather than "hoisting a distress flag"!:)

Cheers all

Bista
Birmingham UK
The only reason to split your model is to be able to reuse various parts in other models. The config files would then reference them to attachment points in the model. Items like bogys are usually made once and then used in many models.

Since you appear to be starting in the creation side of Trainz, I would suggest you make simpler objects first, wooden crates, barrels, etc. The lessons learned will be easier to master and the same principles will apply to more complex objects. Just getting the textures to look right is a whole topic by itself. And then there is animation!
 
scaling and basic stuff

Many thanks, will keep all that for future reference.

Didn't intend to start with anything complex just used a loco to practice what I was learning because theres a drawing of it pinned to the wall next to my PC and I thought why not. Didin't think about the issues of how it might work till later! Trying to do 300 miles and hour before I know what I'm doing (or is that the short bloke off the telly?)

Anyway. Thanks for the guidance.

Cheers

Bista
Birmingham UK
 
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