Track sans ballast

[Approach_Medium]

Hi;
I am looking for a good looking mainline USA track without ballast.
I am using the US Mainline 4m Kuid: 35848:70510 by sg1, and the US Old Light / dark, by same. I like these tracks, but I think I could get a more realistic look if I didn't have the ballast with the track; just the sleepers. Then I could lay the track over the gravel and it would be consistent with the surrounding ballast instead of seeing a sharp line between the track ballast and that surrounding the track.

I have found one good track without ballast; VR sg wood no ballast, KUID2:103475:38166:1 by s301, but this track is just a tad too light for my mainline, which uses 132lb rail.

Thanks

FW

 

[JCitron]

Hi;
I am looking for a good looking mainline USA track without ballast.
I am using the US Mainline 4m Kuid: 35848:70510 by sg1, and the US Old Light / dark, by same. I like these tracks, but I think I could get a more realistic look if I didn't have the ballast with the track; just the sleepers. Then I could lay the track over the gravel and it would be consistent with the surrounding ballast instead of seeing a sharp line between the track ballast and that surrounding the track.

I have found one good track without ballast; VR sg wood no ballast, KUID2:103475:38166:1 by s301, but this track is just a tad too light for my mainline, which uses 132lb rail.

Thanks

FW

Could you make the ballast "invisible" using an alpha-channel and an all black texture on another track such as the RTS track, or the RBMN track, which is also very good?

John

 

[Approach_Medium]

Actually, I have tried that. I was somewhat successful using Adobe Photoshop, but since the ballasted track hides most of the sleeper, it didn't look right without it. Perhaps I could clone the sleeper texture from the un-ballasted track that I mentioned onto the track I am now using.

I'll have to do some playing in Photoshop.

FW

 

[wreeder]

Track creators often create a "bridge" variant of their track without the ballast. You could try looking for that.

William

 

[TorenHynes]

There is Austin Rails Only Track (SG) that is built into TRS2006.

 

[Approach_Medium]

I looked into changing the Alpha in Photoshop, but decided that I wasn't going to do any better than I already have with the JK "A01-00-02 Default 2m", <kuid2:122285:4100:10> which I photoshopped to make the ballast a little lighter, and the edges feather a little more.

I looked at the RBMN track; it's a great looking track, but I don't like the way it displays in the distance; ie; it doesn't. Just like the Auran TS09 track, it only shows its hi-res when you get closer to it, and as you drive, you can see the track appearing in front of you.

I like the JK track for a couple of reasons:
>It is 2m, so it bends very well (but of course it probably takes slightly higher resources to display)
>It displays nicely at all distances
>It matches the JK points track I am using. Again, I have photoshopped the track a bit, so what I have is slightly different than the original.

I have been using the "TS09_05" as ballast, and it looks pretty good.
Maybe I will try the un-ballasted track I mentioned previously, but then I will need to add it to the JK texture library so I can also use it in the JK junction.

Or, maybe I shouldn't ask for anything more. I'm looking for absolute perfection in an imperfect world

I'll also take a look for "bridge track" and see what I can find.

And lastly, I might be able to create some track and/or ballast myself; I just need to get familiar with the tools of the trade.

FW

 

[TorenHynes]

The KUID for Austin's superbendy ballastless track is 316:38003.