Texturing routes in Surveyor (newbie...)

[AdorableRuffian]

Well I bought TRS2006 a little while back, and have spent a few weeks finding my way around, putting together a few very simple routes and so forth. I'm amazed at how easy Surveyor is to use, but I'm finding one aspect of it extremely difficult to get my head around, namely ground texturing. I can't quite figure out how it all works.

To begin with, I painted all of my baseboards with a single grass texture just by holding down the ] key and dragging the texture tool. This resulted in a smooth but bland-looking grass surface, resembling a billiard table in appearance. However, when I tried to add some different textures on top of this to make it look realistic, I ended up with an awful, jarring "patchwork quilt" effect, no matter which textures I used or which way I rotated them.

Many of the routes supplied with TRS2006 look absolutely wonderful - the textures completely blend into each other and look like real terrain. I've tried to study how this ultra-realistic texturing is done, having moved the "texture passes" performance slider all the way to the left so I can see the individual texture squares, but try as I might I just can't reproduce these techniques in my own routes at all. The texture tool seems to be too coarse even at the smallest radius setting, painting multiple texture squares at once.

While I'm having great fun learning and playing with the other aspects of Surveyor, it's frustrating that I haven't been able to progress on the texturing front. If anyone is able to steer me in the right direction, I'd very much appreciate some pointers!

 

[trackplate]

First of welcome to the forum and the world of trainz
Texturing can be a little frustrating in the beginning unfortunately practice and a good eye are the best tools for improvement
Full areas can be textured using the area selection tool and then filling this is handy when making fields for example but this only works with the lines on the baseboards
Remember trees hedges and buildings cast shadows and the north side is usually the darker
Darker areas along hedgerows for undergrowth and the change of vegetation under trees have also to be considered when applying textures
When working with textures to represent crops, crop lines normally run parallel with the field boundaries so here the correct direction is important for a good effect
Remember clouds also cast shadows giving a dappled effect so here adding a few darker patches can give good results
As a last thought for now the North side of riverbanks, cuttings and hills are also normally darker and cooler in vegetation due to the lack of sunshine
Trusting this helps a little
Regards, Bob V

 

[lewisner]

If you download ECML South and ECML Central they are well textured and fun to drive.Remember that its possible to just tap the mouse lightly to produce subtle shades,There was an old thread "Trees and Grass vs. Frame Rates"-I"ll bump it up.

 

[AdorableRuffian]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. That "Tips and Tricks" thread looks very useful, and I have bookmarked it.

I will certainly have a look at those ECML routes. I must admit I haven't checked out much of what is available on the DLS yet.

I've done some more experimentation, filling in small areas and then building them up with other textures. It looks better than what I ended up with before, although clearly I still have a long way to go...

 

[lewisner]

I nearly forgot the most important one-look at Google Earth satellite photos for the area you"re modelling.You get a better overview of how fields look and if you use the highest resolution it helps you with details such as trees.

 

[Alan_Yeomans]

Some textures just dont go together.
Some just aren't very suitable for everyday situations.

Try this.

Download these 4 textures from the DLS

Mossy Grass 01 texture kuid 46219:21005
Mossy Grass 02 texture kuid 46219:21007
Mossy Grass 03 texture kuid 46219:21009
Mossy Grass 04 texture kuid 46219:21011

They are excellent to experiment with and can be easily made to look really good.

 

[trackplate]

Some textures just dont go together.
Some just aren't very suitable for everyday situations.

Try this.

Download these 4 textures from the DLS

Mossy Grass 01 texture kuid 46219:21005
Mossy Grass 02 texture kuid 46219:21007
Mossy Grass 03 texture kuid 46219:21009
Mossy Grass 04 texture kuid 46219:21011

They are excellent to experiment with and can be easily made to look really good.

Alan is totally correct in this observation you will find the used in combination to great effect on the Lambourn Valley Railway
Also worth mentioning crops don’t get planted under trees, run under tracks or do ploughed fields the same applies generally to very steep gradients
Bob V

 

[Tokkyu40]

I might also point out that some textures are good for fill and some give a checkered appearance. A little experimenting on a blank baseboard can let you find which textures look good in large areas.
Some look best with the texture size dialed all the way up and some all the way down. Try varying the size of the texture for best effect.
Also, for adding variation, a similar texture to the main texture can be added with light taps to make a faint wash as lewisner suggested. This works best for me with the area dialled all the way down. The edges get feathered nicely that way.
My favorite technique is to brush on my detail colors in small patches, working with a few similar textures, add contrasting textures for highlight, then use a smoother texture for a baseboard fill to blend everything. This will cover any gray baseboard you missed without covering your previous work.

Claude

 

[Dinorius_Redundicus]

......Remember trees hedges and buildings cast shadows and the north side is usually the darker...............As a last thought for now the North side of riverbanks, cuttings and hills are also normally darker and cooler in vegetation due to the lack of sunshine

Regards, Bob V

How very Northern hemispheric!

Remember, there is a full 50% of the planet (or more if you consider the tropics) which don't work like this.

 

[leader2302]

How very Northern hemispheric!

Remember, there is a full 50% of the planet (or more if you consider the tropics) which don't work like this.

Not entirely accurate, most of the population of the world lives in the northern hemisphere (i.e.-China, Russia, US, Europe, etc.)

 

[Alan_Yeomans]

But AURAN is in the Southern Hemisphere. We win.

 

[leader2302]

LOL...oh brother!

 

[Euphod]

How long must this thread run until someone mentions holding down the "[" or "]" keys while texturing to rotate the textures?

This may help the original poster with blending and blurring the textures he uses.

Pikers......

Ed

 

[Dinorius_Redundicus]

Not entirely accurate, most of the population of the world lives in the northern hemisphere (i.e.-China, Russia, US, Europe, etc.)

Yeah true, but I said 50% of the planet, not 50% of the people.

BTW, if you guys keep populating like rabbits, the world will tip over and you'll be the Southern hemisphere!

 

[Kelly88]

I am sure I saw somewere that if you use a lot of textures and a lot of rotation it bloats the embeded code in your route and has a big hit on the frame rate

How long must this thread run until someone mentions holding down the "[" or "]" keys while texturing to rotate the textures?

This may help the original poster with blending and blurring the textures he uses.

Pikers......

Ed

​

 

[Euphod]

And I saw that someone experimented with this and found no real difference......
Ed