Smooth track ballast "support" (blending terrain paint/textures)

[rbunker65]

Hey all!

Still fairly new to this but learning a lot, fast, and man, it is getting easier every day to get things done better and faster. I still run into one problem that I wish there was an easy solution for...

When blending two different textures for painting a surface (ground), I often run into "gridding"... where the results don't "blend well in line with what I am doing. For example, when I am putting dirty ground under the track ballast to get a more realistic result than just "green".

What I did on my yard ladder perimeter was plop objects and splines of grass and rocks, trees, etc... to break up that pattern by "hiding" them....

Isn't there an easier way?????

 

[rbunker65]

I am going to check, but wouldn't it be wise to have the ability to change the surrounding terrain with precision following a track spline? Are there any track spine downloads that just, by default, have say, 10' of "dirty random ground" that would follow the spline as it was applied and adjusted??? That would make a lot of sense...

 

[Christopher824]

Not easy, here are some thing I do...

Use the '[' and ']' keys as you apply the texture to the ground, it will rotate the texture as you apply it, to break up the pattern.

Use a main texture under the track, then around the edges of that add textures like shrub, rocks, cliffs, etc. and go over and feather it more than once to blend it all in, all the while pressing the '[' key to continually rotate each texture until you get the desired effect. Then add some grass and/or shub splines along the edge.

I also elevate the track 0.5 higher that the surrounding ground level, and then use smooth spline to bring the ground up.

Here are some examples;

 

[Sentenal]

take a look at this thread. It is a long thread but will have all the information for painting great looking surfaces.

https://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?84719-Scenery-%96-let%92s-get-real!

 

[JCitron]

Raising the grade up a bit under the tracks works well, besides, the real railroads would have that anyway to bank the ground for drainage along the ROW.

I find that if I put down the ballast wider than I need then blend back the grass, dirt, and other textures back into the area, there's less of a stripe along the grid.

Spinning the textures around using the [ / ] keys helps, but be careful with the textures. Some textures have hi-detail which looks worse when rotated.

 

[DWBennett55]

Raising the grade up a bit under the tracks works well, besides, the real railroads would have that anyway to bank the ground for drainage along the ROW.

I find that if I put down the ballast wider than I need then blend back the grass, dirt, and other textures back into the area, there's less of a stripe along the grid.

Spinning the textures around using the [ / ] keys helps, but be careful with the textures. Some textures have hi-detail which looks worse when rotated.

Changing the scale of the textures can really affect how they appear. I'll find a orientation I like, paint the area I want and then I'll sometimes just change the scale of the texture and over paint the same area with a spot here or there with the new scale.

Experiment!

Take care,

 

[JCitron]

Changing the scale of the textures can really affect how they appear. I'll find a orientation I like, paint the area I want and then I'll sometimes just change the scale of the texture and over paint the same area with a spot here or there with the new scale.

Experiment!

Take care,

Yup that works too. I also put a darker coal-like ballast on the outside first then put the granite-type ballast that matches the track under the tracks. This is how our tracks are ballasted where I live because the B&M used cinder ballast up until just after WWII when the steam locomotives were removed from service. Even today along abandoned ROWs there are cinder paths where the tracks once were. To model this kind of thing, I put everything down as though I am modeling an active line, but fill in the grass textures and trees, put down the dark ballast instead of grey ballast, and then pull up the tracks.

Another thing that's nice too is a rail-trail. I put in a ROW on my big fictional route then ripped up the tracks where the tracks used to be, after smoothing everything out, and then placed a paved path along the route. I found some cyclers and placed those, and also placed a static locomotive and passenger car at one end like they always do for the rail-trails.

Experiment is right!

 

[blueodessey]

:wave: Excellent info on Mountain and Texturing ideas,

Thanks for the great link to the other Thread too.....