Show Off Your Routes *Potential For Large Screenshots*
- Thread starter 817TAYLOR
- Start date
Yes, but not the grass though. 
AMTRAKwannabe
Norfolk & Western Lives
Yea, I'm not a fan of the grass either...
AMTRAKwannabe
Norfolk & Western Lives
Yes. Now can we see a surveyor shot of that?
Too many spline points for my taste.
Now, I have been told that my route's grass looks too cluttered.
I am basing this route on how I see my area today. Along the right-of-way of the Sacramento Northern, there are a lot of shrubs, there is a lot of vegetation even on the fills in some places. When you run electric trains to begin with, there is not really a lot of fire danger. However when you start out as a steam based railway, cinders fly, sparks fly, and other things that can potentially cause a fire do get around and can cause fires. However, electric locomotives, or electric motors, whatever you want to call them, get their power from above, or third rail, and there is not a lot of potential for sparks and stuff to fly, granted at times overhead wires can cause arches going over trolly frogs and other things like that, but rarely does it cause a fire because it's so far up above the ground. I am basing my route on reference photos that I have taken from my area, such as the photos below:
This is the location of Vacaville Junction along the Vacaville Branch of the Sacramento Northern. My camera is facing West, looking towards the leg of the line that ran to Fairfield, CA.
As you can see, there is a lot of overgrowth and other things, and yes I know it wouldn't be THIS bad but still would have been grass there.
This photo was taken coming out of the curved cut looking towards Rio Vista Junction (Campos North)..
Note how the dead and alive grass leads right up to the tracks, both in the fill, and on the top of the hill side cut. Some may note that there are dirt piles and therefor less grass, however those are dirt mounds from ditching the cuts to proved water flow and other purposes.
The main thing I am trying to say is I am basing the grass and everything else on my route, from my local area, being I am from Vacaville California, and Rio Vista Junction is not that far from me (20 Min Car Ride).
-Taylor.
Now, I have been told that my route's grass looks too cluttered.
I am basing this route on how I see my area today. Along the right-of-way of the Sacramento Northern, there are a lot of shrubs, there is a lot of vegetation even on the fills in some places. When you run electric trains to begin with, there is not really a lot of fire danger. However when you start out as a steam based railway, cinders fly, sparks fly, and other things that can potentially cause a fire do get around and can cause fires. However, electric locomotives, or electric motors, whatever you want to call them, get their power from above, or third rail, and there is not a lot of potential for sparks and stuff to fly, granted at times overhead wires can cause arches going over trolly frogs and other things like that, but rarely does it cause a fire because it's so far up above the ground. I am basing my route on reference photos that I have taken from my area, such as the photos below:
This is the location of Vacaville Junction along the Vacaville Branch of the Sacramento Northern. My camera is facing West, looking towards the leg of the line that ran to Fairfield, CA.
As you can see, there is a lot of overgrowth and other things, and yes I know it wouldn't be THIS bad but still would have been grass there.
This photo was taken coming out of the curved cut looking towards Rio Vista Junction (Campos North)..
Note how the dead and alive grass leads right up to the tracks, both in the fill, and on the top of the hill side cut. Some may note that there are dirt piles and therefor less grass, however those are dirt mounds from ditching the cuts to proved water flow and other purposes.
The main thing I am trying to say is I am basing the grass and everything else on my route, from my local area, being I am from Vacaville California, and Rio Vista Junction is not that far from me (20 Min Car Ride).
-Taylor.
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Taylor,
While my previous post was just a compare between your work and Blake's, here is the explanation behind the "not the grass though" post. In case you didn't realize it was a link or clicked on it, it highlights the transparency issue with all grass splines in Trainz as of now.
For example:
http://hostthenpost.com/uploads/d0974b631ee593529b7445ae757bb253.jpg
The see-through effect is really bad here, partly because of the low camera angle. And there's nothing you or I or anybody can do about it if N3V continues with their SpeedTree-only hardline approach. In fact, if Blake went back and took that same shot from a low angle he'll see the train right through all the grass and it'll look terrible as well.
From a higher angle, things are generally acceptable. This foreground in this one looks good:
http://hostthenpost.com/uploads/bbab91001587f6a5f2fdfc27782d5a01.jpg
---
Suggestion now.
Blake's doing it right with the "too many spline points". This is how vegetation splines are supposed to be applied. Splines are repetitive by design. Nature/grass is not. The only way you can achieve a natural look is to mess up the splines. Stagger, change direction, change length, and so on. What you have done is lay 1 spline, completely parallel to the track, for a long distance. The grass pattern becomes repetitive and unrealistic. The perfectly flat ground exacerbates this unrealistic effect, as your photos show the ROW has undulations beside it.
Cheerio,
Nicholas
While my previous post was just a compare between your work and Blake's, here is the explanation behind the "not the grass though" post. In case you didn't realize it was a link or clicked on it, it highlights the transparency issue with all grass splines in Trainz as of now.
For example:
http://hostthenpost.com/uploads/d0974b631ee593529b7445ae757bb253.jpg
The see-through effect is really bad here, partly because of the low camera angle. And there's nothing you or I or anybody can do about it if N3V continues with their SpeedTree-only hardline approach. In fact, if Blake went back and took that same shot from a low angle he'll see the train right through all the grass and it'll look terrible as well.
From a higher angle, things are generally acceptable. This foreground in this one looks good:
http://hostthenpost.com/uploads/bbab91001587f6a5f2fdfc27782d5a01.jpg
---
Suggestion now.
Blake's doing it right with the "too many spline points". This is how vegetation splines are supposed to be applied. Splines are repetitive by design. Nature/grass is not. The only way you can achieve a natural look is to mess up the splines. Stagger, change direction, change length, and so on. What you have done is lay 1 spline, completely parallel to the track, for a long distance. The grass pattern becomes repetitive and unrealistic. The perfectly flat ground exacerbates this unrealistic effect, as your photos show the ROW has undulations beside it.
Cheerio,
Nicholas
slave-driver
Sacramento Nothern Lives
You also need to figure out how high off the ground for the screen shot. To high and now the planes in the grass splines become evident and take away from the shot. To low and like Nicolas said, "The see-through effect is really bad". Depending on the look your after something that I do is add random tufts of grass or grass clusters, (none spline) to brake up the scene. But with that it's a matter of choosing the correct color for the look your after. For everyone there is always room for improvement. It's just a matter of experiment and learn.
Bill
Bill
jacksonbarno
Alco Spoken Here
Also, adding wildflowers here and there look nice and as Slave-Driver said, it jelps break up the scene. Also, mixing types and colors of grass splines here and there also helps to add variety. I din't think your grass looks too cluttered and I actually like the way you did it, and grass is supposed to be cluttered in a lot of areas. I think that the spline point method is easier than placing a ton of grass objects.
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AMTRAKwannabe
Norfolk & Western Lives
Sweet, what grasses are in there?
Also the reason I'm not too fond of modeling mid-western and western routes is because there is so much grass, I'd much rather model the east coast where it is almost all trees(although I do have a 'grassy' route in the works[tranzdem]):
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You're doing a fine job of it.
AMTRAKwannabe
Norfolk & Western Lives
If you mean the Eastern stuff, thanks! It's rather easy as I can take an hour and a half trip and see the very same mountains :hehe:
Southern1581
Pineapple approved!
But sadly not the same blue SD80MAC's. Nice work!
Rebuilt my cattle storage yard, (not sure if I showed before pics or not)
http://hostthenpost.com/uploads/d26f65ad96315d01181a4e2bbfa45af1.jpg
Also fixed the tree line's gaps. The reason there were gaps is because I laid a dirt texture down in some spots, and wanted it to be open, but if people feel it looks better with the door shut, say so.
http://hostthenpost.com/uploads/d26f65ad96315d01181a4e2bbfa45af1.jpg
Also fixed the tree line's gaps. The reason there were gaps is because I laid a dirt texture down in some spots, and wanted it to be open, but if people feel it looks better with the door shut, say so.