constar261
Active member
I have a track plan that i want expand to full scale and put into trainz so that I set up the tracks in the diagram. Can anyone Help me please?
Track plan in Trainz Help?????
- Thread starter constar261
- Start date
Scan your route so it's a jpg or TGA file.
Use a Basemap object or multiple Basemaps, and replace the place-holder image with your bitmap or a portion of your bit map.
Place the Basemap object on a baseboard
Lower the Basemap a couple of meters, and lock it on another layer.
Make your baseboard into a mesh only view.
Lay your track.
Check out my Scenic and Relaxed. This was done by importing the track plan from Atlas' Nine N-Scale Track Plans. There's an online version, which I used as my as image, and laid my tracks from there.
John
ray_whiley
Active member
You may find a summary of my views on using model railway track plans to develop a Trainz route helpful:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/raywhiley/layout.plans.html
Ray
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/raywhiley/layout.plans.html
Ray
constar261
Active member
Hi Cayden,
Thanks for posting the link to your site. The tutorial links there are great.
I followed the Basemaps tutorial which is fantastic, but I've got stuck on where to put my new basemap jpg image in TS2010.
Can anyone tell me where the basemap image files are stored? (I did a search on c:\program files(x86)\Auran\TS2010 and located all of the basemap images. I replaced them, but I still see the old images.)
Sorry, I am totally new to Trainz, and have only begun developing routes in it.
Thanks for posting the link to your site. The tutorial links there are great.
I followed the Basemaps tutorial which is fantastic, but I've got stuck on where to put my new basemap jpg image in TS2010.
Can anyone tell me where the basemap image files are stored? (I did a search on c:\program files(x86)\Auran\TS2010 and located all of the basemap images. I replaced them, but I still see the old images.)
Sorry, I am totally new to Trainz, and have only begun developing routes in it.
stagecoach
75377
I would do a copy of the map then mark out 1000m square sections as that is what the basemap uses. You need one 1000m square for each basemap you use.
When you open the basemap folder your new image must be saved in as a replacement of the old image including the exact same name, size and type (jpg or tga). Your image will then show when you select the basemap in surveyor.
When you open the basemap folder your new image must be saved in as a replacement of the old image including the exact same name, size and type (jpg or tga). Your image will then show when you select the basemap in surveyor.
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constar261
Active member
the map i am using is not in full scale this is a track diagram of a union station. Can someone help me find out what scale this drawing is in?
stagecoach
75377
3280.8399 feet = 1km. So divide into squares to give you the 1km size that will fit the basemap. The scale is shown bottom right for 600 feet so a bit of calculation is required to get an approx 1km square.
Well the "scale in feet" on the drawing should give you a clue
!A trainz "baseboard" is 720m x 720m and 720 metres = 2362.20472 feet so you could figure it out from there, too late at night for me to do the math...
constar261
Active member
Okay but how do I turn the diagram into base maps for use in trainz?
I looked at the posted tutorials and I get confused when trying to set up the 720m x 720m sections because the diagram is very small when I go into ink scape.
The reason I say its small is that when setting up the grids one 720 x 720 cube takes up the entire drawing and I know that the all this track work cannot fit on one baseboard because the station itself takes up one baseboard without the track work.
What would I need to do to make the diagram large to have a larger base map for the station module I am trying to build?
I looked at the posted tutorials and I get confused when trying to set up the 720m x 720m sections because the diagram is very small when I go into ink scape.
The reason I say its small is that when setting up the grids one 720 x 720 cube takes up the entire drawing and I know that the all this track work cannot fit on one baseboard because the station itself takes up one baseboard without the track work.
What would I need to do to make the diagram large to have a larger base map for the station module I am trying to build?
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stagecoach
75377
I would suggest you make an enlargment of the plan first. You then need to split the plan into 1km squares and save each square as a single image to transfer to the basemap. You will need to use the scale on the map to measure 3280.89 feet (5 x 600 + 200 + (100 minus a little bit)). Looking on google earth from seventh st on the left to the last road on the right (before liberty st) is 1km. You could get all measurements from google.
constar261
Active member
How would I make an enlarged copy of the map and how much resizing would I have to do to be at full scale?
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How much to scale it is on you. My math stinks and it's too late for me to figure it out.
To enlarge the map, you need to use a scanner and a graphics program to enlarge the size.
You'll have to work fairly high resolution in order to keep the details because just by enlarging the image in a paint program will not keep the resolution and you'll end up with lots of pixels instead an actual picture.
John
constar261
Active member
Can anyone suggest a free easy to use program that I can use to enlarge the image please?
I don't know if GIMP will do it or not, I use Paint Shop Pro 7 which will resize in whole percentages, it will resize 123 percent but not 123.7 percent for example. Most image editors should be capable of percentage resizing, using your images I ran a test in PSP 7. Main problem is figuring out what it needs to be resized to.
1024x1024 is a better size than 512x512 to work with. Baseboards are 720 meters on a side.
1024 divided by 720 = 1.42 meters per pixel.
Opening your images, I selected the scale and cropped that, came out to 156 pixels long.
Okay, so current image 600 feet = 156 pixels. 600 feet divided by 3.3 = 181.8 meters. 181.8 meters x 1.42 pixels per meter it should be 258.156 pixels, so divide that by 156 and I get 1.65.
Try resizing 165% and I get 257 pixels for the scale, probably due to rounding errors, so try 166 and get 259. Live with that, resize images to 166%, then copy and paste whatever will fit into a series of 1024x1024 TGA images. I didn't bother with all the creation fiddlefaddling, I just cloned 720x720m basemap1,<kuid2:97008:7201:1>
a few times and resized the basemap1.tga to 1024x1024, then pasted the sections of the map into those.
And had to rotate them 90 degrees, so might be better to rotate all the images 90 degrees before using. Some overlap is probably desirable, best bet is to put register marks - a simple X or + at the edges of the 1024 pixel squares before copying and pasting the sections should do it.
1024x1024 is a better size than 512x512 to work with. Baseboards are 720 meters on a side.
1024 divided by 720 = 1.42 meters per pixel.
Opening your images, I selected the scale and cropped that, came out to 156 pixels long.
Okay, so current image 600 feet = 156 pixels. 600 feet divided by 3.3 = 181.8 meters. 181.8 meters x 1.42 pixels per meter it should be 258.156 pixels, so divide that by 156 and I get 1.65.
Try resizing 165% and I get 257 pixels for the scale, probably due to rounding errors, so try 166 and get 259. Live with that, resize images to 166%, then copy and paste whatever will fit into a series of 1024x1024 TGA images. I didn't bother with all the creation fiddlefaddling, I just cloned 720x720m basemap1,<kuid2:97008:7201:1>
a few times and resized the basemap1.tga to 1024x1024, then pasted the sections of the map into those.
And had to rotate them 90 degrees, so might be better to rotate all the images 90 degrees before using. Some overlap is probably desirable, best bet is to put register marks - a simple X or + at the edges of the 1024 pixel squares before copying and pasting the sections should do it.
May a gif format be used or do I need to convert it to jpg first?
Just getting started with designing a TS layout and wanted to know before getting into it to much.