kyrebel_44
New member
Which should be 1st ...build the terrain or lay track.....just wondering!
Which should be 1st
- Thread starter kyrebel_44
- Start date
Ian_Coleman
New member
It's a matter of which you prefer really! Both options will work! I've used both options over the years. I have probably used the terrain first option more often, but as I have said, in the end, it's the one that you feel more comfortable with!
Ian
Ian
kyrebel_44
New member
Here is a pic of the level in google....it is 381...so do I make this as my 0.0
cascaderailroad
New member
I prefer to leave baseboards blank gray, and not apply textures until the route is ready for distribution ... as if you cover up the grid, you can not see, to adjust grid height corners (except using "Wireframe Mode" dialed/dimmed down to a chocolate color, dusk/dawn time of day).
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I am using TransDEM for my route and I'm laying the track first then adding the buildings before thinking of adding the ground texture, trees, weeds and grass. The only reason is because having the embedded raster map on the route I can use landmarks to add details before covering them up with ground textures.
Dave
Dave
kyrebel_44
New member
I am stuck using Goggle Earth for now....Here is a pic of a place I have been wanting do In trainz for a long time. It Barkley Dam area around Graind rivers, KY.
OOOHHHH! Paducah and Louisville - If you want a DEM for most of the PAL I have one, shoot me an email...
Back on-topic: Lay Track > Sort out the terrain > Lay roads > Sort out the terrain > Spline Grass (if you use it) > Rough in the Ground Texture > Trees, Buildings etc > Detailed Ground Texture > Tweak
Andy
Neither?
You'll laugh, but instead of laying track first, I lay down the route using the catenary (overhead wire) spline that will be used - specifically, the multi-track splines available on DLS. I then lay my track under the wire, ensuring both that the contact wire stays well centered between the rails and that the track spacing is correct. (In other words, I use multi-track catenary splines as a track gauge.) This is more "track first" than scenery or topography first, but I also do topography (especially rivers, coasts and shelving foothills) by laying track, raising or lowering it, then deleting the track.
You'll laugh, but instead of laying track first, I lay down the route using the catenary (overhead wire) spline that will be used - specifically, the multi-track splines available on DLS. I then lay my track under the wire, ensuring both that the contact wire stays well centered between the rails and that the track spacing is correct. (In other words, I use multi-track catenary splines as a track gauge.) This is more "track first" than scenery or topography first, but I also do topography (especially rivers, coasts and shelving foothills) by laying track, raising or lowering it, then deleting the track.
kyrebel_44
New member
OOOHHHH! Paducah and Louisville - If you want a DEM for most of the PAL I have one, shoot me an email...
Back on-topic: Lay Track > Sort out the terrain > Lay roads > Sort out the terrain > Spline Grass (if you use it) > Rough in the Ground Texture > Trees, Buildings etc > Detailed Ground Texture > Tweak
Andy
I do not have transdem....I tried looking into it, but everywhere I went I had to buy it...so I have to want on it...maybe if I am a good little boy I will get it for Christmas...
kyrebel_44
New member
If you're going to be faithful to prototype methods, the obvious answer is to construct the terrain first, since in almost every instance on the prototype, the terrain was already there when they began to survey the route. If one has even a minimal understanding of geology, it is usually pretty obvious in looking at any route to determine in which order the bits were constructed.
My general procedure is to start with a piece of graph paper, and superimpose a 9 x 9 grid on the preprinted graph. I then sketch in the other features, roughly to scale, in the approximate locations, starting with water features (oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, &c.) then the railroads, then highways, and finally major buildings. Then using the sketch as a guide, I either use splines (fences, telephone lines, &c) to transfer the sketch directly to a set of TS baseboards, or more lately, use the sketch to prototype the baseboard to scale in a 3d modeling package (my choice is Blender, but I don't know any reason that other versions won't work), and export the prototype as a Trainz object, which I can place on a baseboard. I've adopted this method of prototyping for a couple of reasons. First, no terrain feature less than 5 m can be reasonably modeled in Trainz, meaning that it is impossible to model a stream such as the one at http://maps.google.com/maps?q=32.94...97.010661&spn=0.004502,0.00809&num=1&t=h&z=17, or features such as vertical cuts along a railroad or highway right of way. Second, I sometimes find that while I conceived of a particular route in one orientation, it works better rotated 180 or sometimes 90 degrees. Since Trainz does not (yet, and may not ever) permit rotation of a baseboard, using a prototyped model of the proposed baseboard provides a work around.
There is another way to use the prototyping technique, too, as an alternative to some of the other methods. You can take images of 720 meter square sections from your favorite source, convert them to appropriate formats and use them as a texture on a plane scaled to baseboard size (I've done it in Blender; I'd assume one can do it in other 3d software as well), export that as an object, and place it on the baseboard as a guide to laying track, and other terrain features.
ns
kyrebel_44
New member
I have been looking into those other program's they seem to a bit over my head for time I have allotted to me to use....looking into this blender now..thx for everyone's input.....!!!! :Y:
cascaderailroad
New member
If you are not using a DEM, and are winging it, laying track on flat baseboards, gradients can be applied later on to trackage.
Once you get all the curves, the right radius, and the track and switchs unkinked, then you can hit the "Smooth Spline" tool button and make cuts, and fills.
I can tell you that a DEM is the hardest way to make gradients, and lay curves ... but it does create the multitudes of miles of terrain automaticly.
Once you get all the curves, the right radius, and the track and switchs unkinked, then you can hit the "Smooth Spline" tool button and make cuts, and fills.
I can tell you that a DEM is the hardest way to make gradients, and lay curves ... but it does create the multitudes of miles of terrain automaticly.