TransDEM- What do i need to know?

When I personally first used TransDEM it took me a solid 2 days stint, and many cups of tea to produce a result. The manuals contain all required information, but I found that I was jumping from place to place in them while determining what to do next to produce the result I wanted. ModellerMJ's expanded texture set for TransDEM (if you want to use it) and his advice on selecting your optimal "eye height" when getting imagery from Google Earth adds additional jumping around in manuals as well. So I recommend from experience that you take your own set of notes and produce your own workflow document that suits you and is written your way. Then you have a sequential workflow procedure that you can repeat at a later time without having to go through the manuals in detail again. Now each time I use my own workflow document, I end up refining and clarifying it each time so it gets easier and faster to follow.

Your first route build with TransDEM will be difficult, but taking notes in this way - even though time consuming - will likely make your second attempt much much easier. HTH
Just got back to Trainz after a few years. I also bought Transdem last week. Is it possible for you to share your workflow document? I've watch numerous YouTubes and done the sample that came with the program but still have a lot to learn.
 
I tried TranzDEM a few years ago, and posted my learnings at https://forums.auran.com/threads/tranzdem-us-route-import-into-trainz.170481/.

I strongly suggest you start with a small area to practice. Large areas have additional challenges.

I imported track from OpenStreetMap. But a large amount of corrections are required to make it look good, and even more to make it accurate.
I tried OpenStreetMap with poor results and ended up using the maps from the National Map server since I am in the US. On the map server are both current maps and DEM files as well as historic pdf-based maps. Using the built-in capabilities in TransDEM, the historic maps can be converted and loaded in TransDEM.

A recent project of mine is the former Erie Greenwood Lake Branch that was abandoned in the 1920s to 1980s. Using TransDEM, I loaded a modern DEM and placed topographic maps from the 1930s and 1940s. These maps still showed the hills and ROW on them even though the late 20s or early 30s Monksville dam destroyed the majority of the route.

With the topographic information in place, I used some artistic license to dig out the Wanaque River valley from beneath the water and restore the ROW. With the more recent Tilcon sand and gravel quarry destroying Federal Hill, I again used some artistic licensing and splines to rebuild the side of the hill based on the topographic lines that are on the maps. The route still has a lot of work to go on, and it's far from being finished. The biggest issue is finding assets and information as I trace the ROW which in some places is long gone due to construction.
 
Just got back to Trainz after a few years. I also bought Transdem last week. Is it possible for you to share your workflow document? I've watch numerous YouTubes and done the sample that came with the program but still have a lot to learn.

Sorry, been on holidays. Is this still wanted or did you work it out?

The other thing is, I bought TransDEM 10 years ago and my notes might not work with the current edition of manuals, or even the current version of the program itself - I don't know how much is has changed in that time.

It really does wonders if you can put all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together, definitely recommended.

A71
 
Sorry, been on holidays. Is this still wanted or did you work it out?

The other thing is, I bought TransDEM 10 years ago and my notes might not work with the current edition of manuals, or even the current version of the program itself - I don't know how much is has changed in that time.

It really does wonders if you can put all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together, definitely recommended.

A71
Would like to get your notes if you don't object. Sometimes multiple views on how software works is very helpful and other viewpoints is always good.

After much grinding of teeth and frustration I did manage to get one short route extension exported/imported to T:ane and TR22+. However the quality is not what I wanted and when I merged the new short route with a route I've been working on for years there was a 100 foot cliff (60 feet vs 164 feet) between the two. The new short route extension is at the wrong height since the last track in the merged route was set by a survey marker altitude/height.

This is not a new problem I guess from the number of posts about it. I've tried which route merged with the other and changing the world orgin height but neither worked. If the difference was 0-30 feet I could work with it, but 100 feet is just too much. The old route, made from a dem from Smooz many years ago, probably used a different set of maps to create the dem. Can't find any way to contact him in Trainz Forum. The trick will be trying some and see if I find it.

Hope you had a great holiday. Thanks for getting back to me.
 
After recreating several TransDEM maps of existing rail lines from around the world I thought it might be fun to unleash my inner railway engineer and build a railway where none has ever been built. Using data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) which provides free 30 meter or 1 arc-second resolution data for most of the globe's land surface, I can build a basemap with TransDEM of just about any place on earth. If you've visited the area in person, it helps to interpret the topography and fill-in the gaps and details. But even if you've never seen the place, just apply some logic and imagination. Think of it as a super-charged Transport Fever but where the maps are way bigger. Just be careful to not bite off more than your computer can chew or you'll be looking at a jerky slide show as it tries to render your masterpiece.
 
Would like to get your notes if you don't object. Sometimes multiple views on how software works is very helpful and other viewpoints is always good.

After much grinding of teeth and frustration I did manage to get one short route extension exported/imported to T:ane and TR22+. However the quality is not what I wanted and when I merged the new short route with a route I've been working on for years there was a 100 foot cliff (60 feet vs 164 feet) between the two. The new short route extension is at the wrong height since the last track in the merged route was set by a survey marker altitude/height.

This is not a new problem I guess from the number of posts about it. I've tried which route merged with the other and changing the world orgin height but neither worked. If the difference was 0-30 feet I could work with it, but 100 feet is just too much. The old route, made from a dem from Smooz many years ago, probably used a different set of maps to create the dem. Can't find any way to contact him in Trainz Forum. The trick will be trying some and see if I find it.

Hope you had a great holiday. Thanks for getting back to me.

No prob. You will need to PM me your personal email address so I can send over the document.

On the topic of inserting new DEMs to existing routes and having mismatched edges, I just recently completed a huge job like this, as detailed in this thread here, starting at about page 10:


Unfortunately, until there is a global "master" set of terrain data there will be mismatches around the edge like you describe above. It took weeks of work to "sew" the preexisting terrain onto the new dem without high cliffs remaining between them. There is no escape. I say that only 60 feet is pretty good. I had cliffs of several hundreds of feet in some places because the original dem was generated in a different program altogether and "stretched" slightly as well.

It's laborious - there is no escape from that, other than generating the whole route from scratch in a single pass and rebuilding the whole thing - which is still laborious.

HTH
A71
 
After recreating several TransDEM maps of existing rail lines from around the world I thought it might be fun to unleash my inner railway engineer and build a railway where none has ever been built. Using data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) which provides free 30 meter or 1 arc-second resolution data for most of the globe's land surface, I can build a basemap with TransDEM of just about any place on earth. If you've visited the area in person, it helps to interpret the topography and fill-in the gaps and details. But even if you've never seen the place, just apply some logic and imagination. Think of it as a super-charged Transport Fever but where the maps are way bigger. Just be careful to not bite off more than your computer can chew or you'll be looking at a jerky slide show as it tries to render your masterpiece.
I do that sort of thing now. When I expanded my Gloucester Terminal Electric, formerly George Fisher's Gloucester Terminal, out to Eastern Point, I took the DEM and put in the rails where none have ever been. Being an electric interurban, the tracks have some tighter curves and a steeper grade in one location but overall, it's quite convincing the way the tracks run along the route. While laying the track, I paid close attention to the grades, where streets are located and sighted the tracks carefully along the way. This was quite challenging and a fun way to build a route.

I also did this with my own Cape Ann Transport route. This is an all-encompassing version of the same area and includes Magnolia and Rockport. On this route, I ran the line on its own ROW and connected some of the old quarries to the rail line. In real life there were once many isolated quarry railroads serving the many granite quarries in Rockport and Gloucester. There were a couple that had some substantial lines that lasted until the late 1950s with the larger operation in Rockport running a narrow-gauge system. Today, some of the old ROWs are still visible and that helped me place the connecting "mainline" up to these branches. Like the previous route, I used ground-level sighting and grade checking to ensure that the rails were reasonably smooth and had easy grades.
 
For the first time ever I ran into the kuid limit in the Create UTM tiles dialogue. It wants an integer between 90011 and 99999. I had reached 99989 and didn't have room to create the whole set for my next route. Did a reset with the warning that I might have duplicate kuids. I guess they will be very old UTM tiles from the early days of TransDEM created maps. Since they will have been created long ago, it shouldn't matter any more.
 
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