TransDEM inquiries

[ccowan2126]

I am seriously considering taking the plunge and buying TransDEM for Trainz. Will this be fully supported/work in T:ANE ? Is this really something that the "average" trainzer could learn to work with ?

Thanks.

 

[JackDownUnder]

If you intend to make your own routes up based on actual transport systems then this is the way to go.

 

[JCitron]

It should be compatible with T:ANE. Geophil (Roland) will be the one to answer this specifically, but I'm sure it will work fine since TANE handles TS12 routes.

It's not more than what an average Trainz user can handle. There's a bit of a learning curve, but if you follow the tutorials, which are very well written, you'll have no problems.

John

 

[Chris750]

It took me quite a while to get the handle of it, mainly because I found the tutorials a little hard to follow and they were in two places. Ignore the videos they were the ones that screwed me up big time, but once I followed the PDF (they are a bit buried, about half way through) and asked a few questions I got the hang of it. It is very nice having the terrain, hills and track all laid out for you, but you still have to straighten, fix curves and switches and work on gradients. But it still saves a ton of time, once you learn it.

 

[Vern]

Worst case scenario until Roland updates the programme, is that you can create your basic route for TS12 in Transdem then port it across to T:ANE.

 

[ccowan2126]

Worst case scenario until Roland updates the programme, is that you can create your basic route for TS12 in Transdem then port it across to T:ANE.

Hey, that is a great idea! I want to get started as soon as I can. Also trying to learn Blender over the winter. Not going to do much with T:ANE until late February anyway !!

Thanks.

 

[mjolnir]

ccowan2126, it might be worth considering that TransDEM generates a baseboard, and though I don't have any specific knowledge of the changes being developed for the new game engine, I would not expect them to change the base map. At most, they will change the way the base map is interpreted by the game engine. The changes will mostly be in things you put on and around the baseboard: track, roads, locomotives, rolling stock, vehicles, and environment.

ns

 

[Thai1On]

ccowan2126, I've used TransDEM for a few years now and to be honest I'd be lost without it! As people have said it's a little tough to start out with and the new vocabulary will seem a little strange, but once you do the tutorials and then make your first map on your own you'll be hooked. Now I have version 2.5 and using the new USGS site makes it a little easier. Now the USGS has historic raster maps that can be placed directly on the baseboards so making older style better than ever.

I've finished the first part of a fictional route based on real locations and I find it very helpful and fun. I've started part 2 of my route and I'm using raster maps from 1914 and these old maps have a wealth of information on them to help lead to a more interesting route.

Dave

 

[clam1952]

Worst case scenario until Roland updates the programme, is that you can create your basic route for TS12 in Transdem then port it across to T:ANE.

Just imported a quickly knocked up new Trans dem map into T:ANE all working including 3d map tiles, layers etc, nothing to worry about that I can see.

 

[Thai1On]

Just imported a quickly knocked up new Trans dem map into T:ANE all working including 3d map tiles, layers etc, nothing to worry about that I can see.

This is truly great news! :clap:

Dave

 

[Vern]

Malc - I assume that was importing the "virgin" route content direct into TANE CMP and not going via TS12? Excellent news either way.

 

[clam1952]

Malc - I assume that was importing the "virgin" route content direct into TANE CMP and not going via TS12? Excellent news either way.

Yes, done with a completely new set of files created by Transdem and imported or rather just dragged and dropped into T:ANE.

 

[ccowan2126]

Hey, I appreciate all the input. I have a route in progress in TS 12 that is only about 20% complete that is based on an actual route: Yadkin Valley RR from Rural Hall, NC thru Elkin, NC to Wilkesboro, NC. I already have changes I would like to make to the route, so starting again from scratch with an actual DEM of the area is not that big of a deal. The route was started on completely FLAT baseboards (about 90 of them !) and I have been manually raising and lowering the terrain to suit the different areas. I would LOVE to start over with an actual DEM with the elevations already there ! I think it is worth the effort to learn the new program. Be prepared to see me asking more questions in the future as I delve into this.

Thanks, again, to all.

 

[ccowan2126]

I went to the USGS site and looked at TOPO maps. When viewing them on the site, the RR lines appear. However, when actually downloaded, they are NOT visible. Should I be using different maps?

 

[JCitron]

I went to the USGS site and looked at TOPO maps. When viewing them on the site, the RR lines appear. However, when actually downloaded, they are NOT visible. Should I be using different maps?

Connel,

The process has changed a bit since the servers have been down due to an address change.

1) Download the DEM information from your selected area. This will be a large .zip file that contains the .img or large. arc-grid file.
2) Open the .zip and take out the .img or other file. If they're really small, then that's not the one you want. You need the largest file in there.

Put these aside for now.

Since the WMS servers for the US are unavailable due to an address change, which I believe Roland is aware of, you need to use GEO Tiff format files, or GEO PDF format. You can download GEO PDFs from the National Map Server Historical Maps.

3) Go here to the "store" http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs...8&uiarea=2&ctype=areaDetails&carea=$ROOT)/.do . There are historical ones as well as current ones.
For GEO Tiff images, you can go to www.topoquest.com and find the area you want.

4) Zoom in and find the area you want, and place little markers.

5) Download and unzip the maps. They range in size from a couple of megabytes to over 20 meg.

Once done you now need to bring these into TransDEM:

1) Click on Raster Map
2) Click on Open Raster Map
3) Click on Transparent Margins 2x (times)
4) Click Convert to UTM.

This will now make the .tiff or PDF ready for use in TransDEM.

5) Close all Raster Maps.

Open your DEM in TransDEM.

It will be quite huge and will take time to open up.

6) Open up your topographic map
7) Crop the DEM to fit your map image.
8) Trace your route.
9) Export as a Trainz route ready to go.

Hope this helps.

John

 

[ccowan2126]

Connel,

The process has changed a bit since the servers have been down due to an address change.

1) Download the DEM information from your selected area. This will be a large .zip file that contains the .img or large. arc-grid file.
2) Open the .zip and take out the .img or other file. If they're really small, then that's not the one you want. You need the largest file in there.

This step I do not understand; where do you get DEM info? Is that from the maps you reference next? I have downloaded the Topo maps of the area that I want (10 of them) and they are in PDF format. Is there some others that I need?

 

[Chris750]

Hey, that is a great idea! I want to get started as soon as I can. Also trying to learn Blender over the winter. Not going to do much with T:ANE until late February anyway !!

Thanks.

This is what I am planning on doing with my two Transdem routes. I sure hope it works, because I would hate to waste all the time I have put into it although there are still lots of people who are sticking to TS12. Here is screen shot of the Cochrane railyard (Cochrane Ontario, Canada) which is the south end of my Polar Bear Express route. All track, switches and elevation were done by TD, some track is still squished together as I haven't straightened it yet.



Also the beta version of T:ANE is using baseboards same as TS12.

 

[JCitron]

Connel,

The process has changed a bit since the servers have been down due to an address change.

1) Download the DEM information from your selected area. This will be a large .zip file that contains the .img or large. arc-grid file.
2) Open the .zip and take out the .img or other file. If they're really small, then that's not the one you want. You need the largest file in there.

This step I do not understand; where do you get DEM info? Is that from the maps you reference next? I have downloaded the Topo maps of the area that I want (10 of them) and they are in PDF format. Is there some others that I need?

You need to download the "earth" height information as well from here: http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/

Zoom in on the map where you want. Click on the download options and choose download map extents. You will then choose your map type which is a 1/3 arc-grid or .img format elevation data this will give you the ground which the geo pdf files are placed. These are the really, really huge .zip files I mentioned above.

Then in the Raster Map section, you open up the Geo PDF files you downloaded, convert them, and they will fit spot on the DEM you downloaded after you've converted them to Geo-Tiff and placed them on the map. You need to trim the DEM because it is a 1 arc-second slice which is really, really huge with lots of wasted land area, and besides, it won't load into Trainz because CM will crash.

How many you'll need? It depends upon how big an area you are covering. They are in quadrants which are cover the mapped area. For one area I downloaded, I needed over 25 maps, while another map I worked on only required 4.

I hope this explains things a bit better.

John

 

[ccowan2126]

It does. Thanks, John. I do not have the TransDEM program as of yet (probably after Christmas) but I am trying to do as much preliminary research as I can. My initial route in TS12, The Yadkin Valley RR, was done by tracing the RR lines in Google Earth and then, while having that pulled up on my laptop, I started laying baseboards and "eyeballing" track placement on them. It worked pretty well, actually, all except for having to manually raise and lower terrain.

 

[JCitron]

It does. Thanks, John. I do not have the TransDEM program as of yet (probably after Christmas) but I am trying to do as much preliminary research as I can. My initial route in TS12, The Yadkin Valley RR, was done by tracing the RR lines in Google Earth and then, while having that pulled up on my laptop, I started laying baseboards and "eyeballing" track placement on them. It worked pretty well, actually, all except for having to manually raise and lower terrain.

You might want to consider another neat thing too. If you can trace the route in Google Earth, then the .kmz file can be imported into TransDEM, when you get it, to plot your tracks in place and ready to fix up and put in the other objects. You'll see that it'll be a lot easier than raising and lowering the terrain manually. I did this once and it was perty good!

John