What's the best way, and what's the best size?

[mjolnir]

Friends,

I've started a new project, in which I hope to bring the realism of the terrain to the next level, particularly in watercourses (rivers and streams) and rights of way for both rail and roads. I plan to model streams as scenery objects, at least in some places, so that I can capture the look such as the one at http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.942861,-97.010502. So, the quetion is, how would this best be done, as a spline object, on the one hand, or as sections of stream (on the other), modeled in a 3d program, and in the event of the latter, how long should the sections be? For reference, the width of the streams I anticipate are signifianctly smaller than the smallest, 5m grid.

The second issue relates to rail and highway rights of way. In most instances, in the real world, these are bordered on one or both sides by provisions for good drainage, as can be seen in the view between the street and the highway at Henrietta Creek Road and US 377 in Roanoke, TX (cf. street view at <http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.993187,-97.234029&num=1&t=h&z=16>). What is the collective wisdom as to the best way to accomplish this, new track and road splines which include the drainage, a sub-roadbed spline which contains the drainage, and on which the highway or railroad spline is built, or creating the drainage ditches as scenery objects?

(And yes, I know I'm pushing the envelope, and trying to get things in the game that are not really supported.)

ns

 

[JCitron]

There are already lots and lots of waterway-spline objects made by various users including Cyberstorm, GFisher, and other German modelers. You might want to look at these and see how they work and adopt their method to yours. The only issue I can see with using a spline is the performance hit that they cause.

I too create a drainage ditch for my roads and railroads. It's a bit more extra work, but the results are pretty good. I usually mark out my ROW with a road or track spline then use the normal flatten and grading tools to get the height correct. Once all that's done, I then cut the drainage ditch on the side. I make my ditches about 6m which maybe too deep, but we have to remember that we have only 5m minimum (using the hi-resolution 5m grid). Anything less than this is nearly invisible due to the resolution. I also set my cursor to the smallest size and let the area cut in. There will be various lumps here and there that need to be smoothed out using the standard topology tools and even a spline object to smooth the slopes. Once I've created these ditches, I fill in the ditch with grass textures, tress, bushes, and even water in some places.

I agree this added effort goes a long way to making the RsOW for both roads and tracks more realistic.

John