Smooth Ground Under Selected tracks with attached objects issue

[martinvk]

I've got some tracks running through a DEM generated baseboard. I've set the track at a specific elevation as well as some roads that parallel the tracks. In some places the track is above the land surface and in other places it is below.

In S2.0 I select several track segments in my route and picked "Smooth Ground Under Selected." I expect some nice cutting and filling in the land under the tracks. In most places this is the case but in several places where there are trackside objects attached to the tracks, the results are rather silly. If the track was above the land surface, it is raised even higher. If it was below the land surface a massive hole is dug and the track sinks to the bottom of the hole. The roads are not affected when they are selected and the command is applied to them and so can be used to bring the land back to were I expected it to be. The command "Apply Height" does not cause this strange behaviour in the track.

Tried the same thing in a new blank single baseboard with a10m grid. Created some undulating terrain. Placed a few tracks, parts above the surface, parts below with a station in the middle. Using the Smooth Ground Under Selected command causes the station and the attached track to raise or lower spectacularly. Another track beside without a station behaves normally. Converting to the new HD terrain just makes the anomalies smoother. Every time I select the Smoothing effect, the foreground station raises higher and higher, dragging the attached track with it.


Has anyone else seen this?

 

[Fierogt87]

this is a real problem for mesh assets, because their elevation cannot be locked like spline assets can. I have petitioned for locking mesh assets, but alas, it falls upon deaf ears or indifferent minds... one reply said "I can't imagine why you would want to do that"... but there lies the problem, a good mind should be able to imagine anything.

 

[stagecoach]

You need to select just the station asset. You can then select smooth ground under asset.

 

[martinvk]

True but that kinda defeats the new feature of being able to select multiple track segments and applying a single smooth ground under command to all of them at the same time.

 

[pware]

Technically, an industry with attached track is not a "track segment".

My very limited and basic experiments in this have indicated that the "Smooth Ground Under Selected" does work for non-spline scenery mesh assets but its effect seems to depend on the size (and possibly shape) of the asset and the selected grid resolution. In addition, of the different scenery mesh assets I tested, on only one did the ground move up to cover the entire size and shape of the raised asset - and it matched it perfectly. In the others part of the asset was left "hanging over a precipice".

My recommendation would be to continue to do what we have always done in Surveyor Classic (but with the S20 tools instead) and use the Brush Ground Height tool to raise or lower the terrain to the required height under scenery mesh objects.

 

[Fierogt87]

My recommendation would be to continue to do what we have always done in Surveyor Classic (but with the S20 tools instead) and use the Brush Ground Height tool to raise or lower the terrain to the required height under scenery mesh objects.

But if you hit the origin, the asset will move too, this is really more difficult to avoid than it sounds. And, is especially a problem when one has the asset aligned with other assets.

 

[JCitron]

But if you hit the origin, the asset will move too, this is really more difficult to avoid than it sounds. And, is especially a problem when one has the asset aligned with other assets.

This annoyance has been with us since day one. It's truly more than annoying because after getting the object in the right position and place, adjusting the terrain around it lifts it up or down which requires fiddling with it all over again. I've been going through this all afternoon as I rework a very old route and adjust buildings and other objects.

 

[pware]

It's truly more than annoying because after getting the object in the right position and place, adjusting the terrain around it lifts it up or down which requires fiddling with it all over again.

All true. However, one big advantage that S20 has over Classic is that all scenery mesh objects can be height adjusted. What I do in this situation is once the ground height has been correctly set I am able to use the Fine Adjustment Tool to lift (or lower) the asset to match the ground, with any variations as required (e.g. lowering a building into the ground to hide the ground floor).

 

[BuzzKillington]

This problem with objects moving isn't just affected by moving terrain. Painting seems to also move the terrain and upsets any nearby object as well, forcing fiddling and refiddling again and again. Painting near or under road splines has given me aneurisms because I have yet to find any way to prevent this and have yet to find any help for this issue. It's not just a S2.0 thing.