Track and General Ballast-Consistancy

[boleyd]

Two examples of ballast being a uniform color and texture within the track and along side it. I find it very difficult to get a match with the official TANE track and good resolution ballast on the DLStation. One problem is the shadow from the track changing the color of the ballast nearby versus the general ballast.

 

[cascaderailroad]

You can see a slight difference where the original ballast way off to the side was not reworked when the ballast undercutter, and regulator reworked the tracks.

I agree that Trainz tracks have allot that needs improvement, as they are much to immaculately clean and highly polished, are sitting much to high several inches on top of the ballast ... and matching ballast splines and textures do not match quite right

 

[JCitron]

This has always been a peeve of mine too with Trainz and it's one of the most difficult things to overcome.

Jointed Rail has some nice ballast to match their tracks and so does SAM. The SAM grey ballast is similar to the photos. Sure this is a bit too nice and spiffy looking, but I've managed to get some dirtier ballast from others and use that as a base first then using the track ballast to match the track. One of the other things I do is use a cinder type ballast as an underlayment first then put the closest track-matching ballast down on the track once I've laid the track down.

The thing is don't be afraid to mix ballast brands from various users and find one that suits or is close and blend them if necessary by putting down larger areas then blending in textures around and on it.

John