I have been using Blender but find it a pretty mean beast having never done 3D before but Sketchup seems like a very easy to use basic 3d but I am not sure if it would work for Trainz12. Is there a certain thing (lack of word) that it needs to be able to do to create? I am trying to create factories and stuff for my Medicine Hat route that is not already named to something else, they won't be scripted or anything.
Would SketchUp Make (Google) work for Trainz?
- Thread starter Chris750
- Start date
Models made in Sketchup result most of the time in assets that have a terribly high poly count and as a result are terrible for game performance.
My advise is to hang in there and keep learning Blender; you will enjoy it in the long run.
May you just did not find the right information yet to learn Blender. Let me post you a bunch of links that I considered very helpful when I was taking my first steps in learning Blender:
Blender WiKi:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Tutorials
Blender export guide:
http://www.mickberg.com/blenderexport1.html
Trainz tutorial for Blender:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/...al_for_Blender
Most useful "tutorial" video (in 2 parts) that I could find, excidently trains related:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sROnLfkPgzA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyJQ99I5yUw
It shows key combi's in de video's and that helped me a lot!
Hint: Pause and rewind.
Blender 2.6 tutorial on UV-mapping:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obB9T3jXlak
My advise is to hang in there and keep learning Blender; you will enjoy it in the long run.
May you just did not find the right information yet to learn Blender. Let me post you a bunch of links that I considered very helpful when I was taking my first steps in learning Blender:
Blender WiKi:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Tutorials
Blender export guide:
http://www.mickberg.com/blenderexport1.html
Trainz tutorial for Blender:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trainz/...al_for_Blender
Most useful "tutorial" video (in 2 parts) that I could find, excidently trains related:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sROnLfkPgzA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyJQ99I5yUw
It shows key combi's in de video's and that helped me a lot!
Hint: Pause and rewind.
Blender 2.6 tutorial on UV-mapping:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obB9T3jXlak
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Blender is *NOT* difficult to learn. It took me 4 hours (minus one little menu setting nobody told me about that added 8 hours to that and caused so much gray hair) from watching my first tutorial to completing my first model. You still have to roll around in 3-space, select vertices and faces, and paint or texture them. Please follow Oknotsen's advice.
This is what I have managed to do so far of the Richardson Pioneer grain Silo outside Medicine Hat, Alberta. This took me at least 10-12 hours using a tutorial on how to make a building with much frustration.
I just noticed my top lateral roof is too short. That some people can learn this quickly is a bonus for them, but it has been frustrating to me and to think that I have a 5 Roses Flour mill to do along with several others still kind of makes me sad and is why I am looking at quicker alternatives.
I just noticed my top lateral roof is too short. That some people can learn this quickly is a bonus for them, but it has been frustrating to me and to think that I have a 5 Roses Flour mill to do along with several others still kind of makes me sad and is why I am looking at quicker alternatives.
Best bet would be to bite the bullet and learn Blender. I did the get a box in game thing and just really didn't enjoy doing it. Blender isn't really all that bad. Probably easier to learn it than all the conversions going from program to program. If I take another run I would just stick with Blender.
I never noticed that the middle is the same size as the smaller, I must have messed up and the opening is still missing the ramp too. I haven't touched this since Jan 2013. The over all sizing was done using Google measuring but I think it is off. I would measure the building on Google and enter it into Blender so the results are as above.
Ok, looked all over the internet and can't find out what the heck a 'poly count' is. I found clubs and everything else, but nothing saying "a poly count is XXXX".
Ok, looked all over the internet and can't find out what the heck a 'poly count' is. I found clubs and everything else, but nothing saying "a poly count is XXXX".
stationmistress
By comparison JAFA
Poly or polygon count is the amount of triangles used to make an asset. The higher the count, the more load it puts on a system.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
If you have two planks that intersect that's 24 polygons or 24 triangles in Blender, GMAX etc. but because of the way that Sketchup works it becomes 60 polygons, the more complex the model the bigger the difference. Also sketchup tends to use more than one texture file, there is a 200 poly equivalent overhead per texture file so that adds more demand for machine resources.
The other thing to watch is curves, use smoothing for pipes with say 8 or fewer vertices rather than 32 vertices for a column, Pev's mesh viewer is useful for getting a poly count of a model. When you come to build a moving asset you'll need to add attachment points, I don't think this can be done with Sketchup and when you start creating larger models you'll need lod to bring the load down, again I don't think I've seen lod on a Sketchup creation.
Cheerio John
Zeldaboy14
Owner of ZPW.
I use sketchup, and it is simple to use. But, as I am more a beginner, I use it for scenery and train making. But, with the train making, I still have to export it out to Blender for finalizing, and bringing the poly count down.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
I wouldn't bother bringing it into Blender to reduce the poly count with a poly count reduction tool. The best way to keep the polys down is to plan it out first and use the toools in something like Blender to do things like use smoothing rather than polys in the first place.
Cheerio John
Zeldaboy14
Owner of ZPW.
I smooth the model in Blender as well, because in Sketchup, they are given individual edges, which need to be smoothed for the most part.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Humour me and in Blender go to the add menu, add a mesh, cylinder change the cap fill type to none, its down the bottom on the left using the default settings. Look at the number of faces at the top.
Now change the number of vertices on the left to eight. Note the number of faces. Multiply the number of faces by two to give a poly count.
In Trainz if you apply smoothing to the faces of the cylinder 8 faces normally will give you the same result as 32 but at a quarter of the poly count.
Cheerio John
Surprised that no one mentioned the Absolute Beginner Blender for Trainz tutorials. I made notes as I learned Blender and posted them to my website. I have often wondered if anyone uses, or has used, them as I don't specifically monitor visits to the pages, only to the website as a whole. Have been thinking of expanding them but not sure if it is worth the effort. It takes away from my time for making assets in Blender and routes in Trainz.
Cayden
Cayden
I decided to take a look at sketchup and was able to build in two minutes what took me hours and following a tutorial to do in blender. I have been told there are a few programs and tricks to reduce the poly count in SU once you have finished it too. I never plan on building rolling stock, just want my factories for my MH route. I will give SU a go and see how the result is and post against what I have done in blender.
Thank you all for your input and replies.
Thank you all for your input and replies.
Took a look at your route construction tutorial, wish I had seen the TransDEM before I started my MH route. I used baseboards for my route but again only after I had already begun. I may look at TD when I do my Ontario Northern route.
