What software do you use to create 3D models for Trainz?

[BuzzKillington]

Yeah but if you knowingly download Sketchup models from DLS, you sort of deserve to get hosed on the poly count. It's much more beneficial to just go to the source and download from Sketchup's 3DWarehouse. I use 3DWarehouse almost exclusively for buildings, cars and people. If you have a working knowledge of Sketchup you can easily dumb down most models to work in Trainz. i.e. houses. It's not that difficult to edit a house with a full interior down to just the basic shell (which is all you will see most of the time anyway) and take a rather large poly count down to something more manageable to use on your layout. And texturing them to suit your taste is much more easily done in Sketchup than working in CM edit, which I find tedious at best and frankly have come to avoid with a passion. Through the process of learning how to edit other peoples incredible models I have almost learned enough about Sketchup to begin creating my own models. Of course, the models that I downloaded and edited from Sketchup will never be made public because they are not my models and are used for my personal layout only. But I have a '58 Plymouth on my layout that was well over 200,000 poly and I dumbed it down to less than 30,000 which makes it useable and looks great parked in front of my old McDonalds restaurant, which I "kitbashed" from several models. I'm sure that when I become more confident in my own ability to create my own models, and upload them to Sketchup, I will do so with the average Trainz user in mind who may not have the computer resource for a billion faces...but I really don't understand the Sketchup bashing except for the people who upload 400,000 poly models to DLS. I think it's great software and you don't need a BA in autocad to understand what you're doing.

 

[YellowDoor]

Can we ignore the sketchup please. Let's not make a game that glorifies programs that makes a super high poly count on a box and horrid textures. Sure, some things look good and aren't too detrimental on performance but they're a rarity rather than the norm.

The last question makes sense if you're not using Blender already Kieran. If someone is using GMax, which is now considered obsolete, (although it does still make a good model) it is a worthwhile question to see if they would move onto Blender, which is much more up to date.

Jamie

all users that import high poly to trainz can only be a beginner.
sketchup have plugins for UV etc.,too.

all user tell others, ignore Sketchup...dont´know Sketchup really.

Sketchup have the same power like blender.

if you would look in the

https://extensions.sketchup.com

or http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore

registration required

you will find so many plugins..you will never find in blender
the most plugins is freeware
sketchup is for architectures and game developer, too.

if i find a high-poly file in the

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/ registration required

than i must make a lowpoly from this mesh or i design a lowpoly by my self.

you can design hight AND lowpoly in sketchup.
if users will tell you, sketchup make only high polys..this is not true.

the user is the bad boy. without knowledge about game development you will ever find highpoly in games. i can produce highpoly in Max or blender,too and i have the same result... bad framerate and other thinks.

Please dont ignore Sketchup..

sketchup is the easiest 3d enviroment i know. this is so easy, kids could be use this. any schools in the U.S.A. use Sketchup for teaching and edjucation.

the learning curve is very flate.

if you search via google picture..search for Sketchup and you will see what possible in Sketchup.

go to youtube and search for sketchup...this will open your eyes.

best regards

 

[captainkman]

I would like to create content (especially multiple track street crossings) for a layout I'm working on. The only street crossings I have found are straight crossings, that allow for 1 or 2 lanes of traffic and 4 tracks. I have several crossings that are 45 or 315 degree crossings, but only 1 or 2 tracks. I need to create (or find) crossings for other "angled" crossings, and that cover between 1 and 10 tracks, 2 lane, 4 lane, 6 lane and 8 lane crossings.

Many of my "tracks" are at angles of 350, 320, 300, 330, 310, etc., and a 315 or 45 degree crossing does not work for me, when roads are at 90 or 0 degrees, or at other odd angles when they cross my tracks.

I need to create angled road intersections that are the same type of "road" (T-intersections and 4-way) and intersections that are 5 or 6-way intersections (such as many intersections found in Chicago, IL). I need to create corners that are not 45 or 90 degree corners (such as 15 and 30 degree corners) as well as 45 and 90 degree corners and without sidewalks (using different road textures - but mostly using or based on Yarn road textures).

Please contact me offline (at *removed*) if you can be of any assistance here. Thanks.

Hello,

This may not be seen by mabspc, but if it is, I am curious to know why an earlier post of mine was quoted in the post I have just quoted above.

Was mabspc directly asking me for assistance with the level crossings? Because I sure as heck can't provide that kind of assistance! :hehe:

Kieran.

 

[pcas1986]

Hello,

This may not be seen by mabspc, but if it is, I am curious to know why an earlier post of mine was quoted in the post I have just quoted above.

Was mabspc directly asking me for assistance with the level crossings? Because I sure as heck can't provide that kind of assistance! :hehe:

Kieran.

Beats me, but the question was asked back in February 2014 so I wouldn't worry about it.

Threads that are dormant for more than six months should automatically be closed. It just confuses people. Especially me when I read a post I made 15 months ago and cannot recall what it was all about.

 

[bnsf50]

I would like to create content (especially multiple track street crossings) for a layout I'm working on. The only street crossings I have found are straight crossings, that allow for 1 or 2 lanes of traffic and 4 tracks. I have several crossings that are 45 or 315 degree crossings, but only 1 or 2 tracks. I need to create (or find) crossings for other "angled" crossings, and that cover between 1 and 10 tracks, 2 lane, 4 lane, 6 lane and 8 lane crossings.

Many of my "tracks" are at angles of 350, 320, 300, 330, 310, etc., and a 315 or 45 degree crossing does not work for me, when roads are at 90 or 0 degrees, or at other odd angles when they cross my tracks.

I need to create angled road intersections that are the same type of "road" (T-intersections and 4-way) and intersections that are 5 or 6-way intersections (such as many intersections found in Chicago, IL). I need to create corners that are not 45 or 90 degree corners (such as 15 and 30 degree corners) as well as 45 and 90 degree corners and without sidewalks (using different road textures - but mostly using or based on Yarn road textures).

Please contact me offline if you can be of any assistance here. Thanks.

Look for my crossings with the name NRC in it. These can be used for crossings of any angle and any number of tracks. You cannot make a crossing that has a road hookup for more than 4 tracks anyway, as the crossing would not stop the cars on the road that you attached to it. Its just the way the games crossing .gs is setup. So your best choice is the NRC crossings along with a thing called a car stopper. If you search the forum for ATLS, you'll find plenty of information about it.

 

[Zeldaboy14]

Since this post began back in 2014 when I still used Sketchup, I now say to newbies to learn Blender fully. You can do so much more with Blender, and you can create to your hearts content. (That is, once you fully learn blender) You can bake texture's in Blender, you can do animations, and you can also do proper UV mapping. It will take time to fully learn Blender, but once you do, it will help by a longshot (Zelda pun intended).

 

[n8phu]

As a 3dsmax user, I would actually tell new modelers to get Blender....

Then later if they wished, to learn 3ds max

Having two programs to model in isn't a bad thing at all.

As for Sketchup... for making models for a game, you need to be an EXPERT user to keep down the poly count. You need to know how Sketchup produces shapes to keep the poly counts low. New users DO NOT have that knowledge, nor does it have the mechanics to keep polys low. Additionally, the way people model in Sketchup, they use MULTIPLE graphics files instead of consolidating them.. these multiple graphics files means more processing is needed and slows the program way down.

 

[captainkman]

Beats me, but the question was asked back in February 2014 so I wouldn't worry about it.

Threads that are dormant for more than six months should automatically be closed. It just confuses people. Especially me when I read a post I made 15 months ago and cannot recall what it was all about.

Yes, I do realise the time it was posted. But, there's always a small chance. Plus, I only saw the reply yesterday.

But did you see the post above mine?

Kieran.