Big Bertha Build - Tender Final

pcas1986

Well-known member
Well I think I have about finished the tender for Big Bertha. These are two screenshots in game:

bb_tender_view1_13may.jpg



bb_tender_view2_13may.jpg



I've used a new technique (for me) and included an ambient occlusion layer in my image editor (Paintshop Pro X4) to create the main texture. The layer was created using the ambient occlusion render tool in Blender.

I then added the ao layer and set the opacity at 20% and used the "hard light" blend option. The hard light idea came from one of the Katsbits tutorials. The ambient occlusion renders an approximation of light shadows on the texture and looks like this:

ao.jpg



I'm still learning the best way of doing this but I have gotten some interesting effects.

The tender has an animated load for the coal and an opening water tank filler lid. To add some realism I also added some "loose" lumps of coal both in the cab area next to the coal doors and also on top of the water tank.

This particular version of the tender has the LMS legend on the side. This is an attachment rather than a submesh in the main Blender file. This means I can change the legend to a BR loco without touching the original tender mesh.

The tender now has a new shadow mesh. The temporary shadow mesh from PEV's QuickShadows showed rather odd shadows in the centre of the water tank.

The only thing left to do for the tender is the LOD which I will leave to last after my beta tester has played with it.
 
That's absolutely fantastic! I can't wait to see if we hear what the beta tester thinks! It looks great to me.
 
captainkman;bt864 said:
That's absolutely fantastic! I can't wait to see if we hear what the beta tester thinks! It looks great to me.

Well he should get it later today after I pack it into a CDP. Note it will have the same kuid number as the last one.

I've removed the left rear vent as the picture I have shows a vent only on the right side. The pipe still looks a bit skinny to me.
 
Well, now that the cat's out of the bag (Points to Mr. Cass) I can say that I won't be able to test for a while, due to school stuff, but I will pop into the Forums.
 
That sounds rather formal. :eek:

That's OK. I have been cleaning up the textures on the two bogey assets and I think I'm done with them until I get around to LOD.

I'm still messing with the textures on the loco.

And I've yet to start on the cab interior.

Curiously the engine sound now works. No idea why. And there appears to be more smoke from the funnel.

Last time I was in school, not counting uni, TVs were only in black and white. :eek:
 
I have ASD, one of its traits is formal speaking. :) And having a passion for one thing. For me, trains! :D

And I respect my elders. I'm only 15.
 
You're not the only one with exams coming up. I've got the last of my A level exams coming up. Then, I'll have two months off before I go to University. Hopefully. Provided my grades are good enough.

Glad to hear that the engine sounds are working at last, even if you're not sure why. Don't suppose there's any chance of a preview video?

I haven't a clue as to how the Bertha's cab is laid out. I would have thought though, that it would at least be similar to other Fowler locomotives.
 
captainkman;bt888 said:
I have ASD, one of its traits is formal speaking. :) And having a passion for one thing. For me, trains! :D

And I respect my elders. I'm only 15.

Is this the autism problem or the heart one? Being formal is something I grew up with and particularly with 20 years in the Navy. But you can call me Paul or anything that is polite.

I don't remember much of being 15 but I was working at the time. School leaving age at the time was 14 and the change of cultures after emigrating from the UK at 13 was a bit much for me at the time so I left school. But I did go to uni as a mature age student.

My passion at ages 11 and 12 was loco spotting and my mate and I would cycle from Fareham (Hampshire) to Eastleigh to see the locos in the Eastleigh sheds and watch the steam expresses go by enroute from London to Southampton.
 
Edweird;bt889 said:
You're not the only one with exams coming up. I've got the last of my A level exams coming up. Then, I'll have two months off before I go to University. Hopefully. Provided my grades are good enough.

Glad to hear that the engine sounds are working at last, even if you're not sure why. Don't suppose there's any chance of a preview video?

I haven't a clue as to how the Bertha's cab is laid out. I would have thought though, that it would at least be similar to other Fowler locomotives.

The engine sounds just started working without any special effort by me. I had fixed a script problem for the tender (couplers) but why that would change anything is beyond me.

I haven't done any screen capture videos although my Snap5 tool supposed can do it. Maybe I'll have a look after I finish the textures and fix the shadow mesh.

I don't have any pictures of BB's cab so it will be guess work. Most of the cab internal stuff I have done before. The most interesting item will be the firebox doors where the animation will move different parts in different directions.

Maybe I'll do a mockup of the cab and post it here for comment.


What do you plan to do at Uni? One of my daughters did a fashion degree and later did a masters (business stuff) and now works as a web manager for an international company. The other did a commerce and law degree and works as a lawyer.

My degree was in computing studies but that was back in the 80's before Windows and the web.
 
Hi Paul,

ASD is Autism Spectrum Disorder, or Aspergers Syndrome.

Wish I could go train spotting. I rarely get the chance. :(

Looking forward to the mock-up and getting time to test the tender!

And Edweird, it's not exams, but two assignments.
 
Hi Kieran,
Thanks for being so candid. :)

As for trainspotting, I was looking at the steamsounds.org.au site yesterday and much of the recorded sound is from Queensland so you don't have to go far.

The mock up will be a week away at best so you will have plenty of time for assignments. I could always tell when exams or assignments were due for one of my daughters when she came home with a six pack of Red Bull. It was not unknown for her to study all night which is just as well since she didn't study for the first 7/8ths of the semester. But she did do well so I'm very proud of her.

I've overcome my problem with ambient occlusion (baking shadows) which has wasted a lot of my time. Maybe I'll write a tute on it when I finish BB.

Cheers
Paul
 
I'm looking to to electronic engineering or automotive engineering, depending on which Uni I am accepted into. Hull's electronic engineering development areas were very interesting, like wireless heart monitors in the home that are connected to hospitals via satellite internet and 'energy harvesting'. Sheffield Hallam's automitive engineering course was it's shiny jewel for me. They've got a dyno-test bed for engines, suspension simulation systems and all sorts of cool thermodynamics equipment, plus they did a sandwich year in industry and one of their associated companies was Network Rail, which grabbed my attention. The formula student racing runs at both Universities, although Hull has never competed before, but that ought to be good fun.

I live just south of the river Humber, between Scunthorpe and Grimsby, and wanted to stay close to home. I'd drive to Hull in my lovely old Suzuki SJ or get the First Transpennine Express (sparkly class 185s) from Barnetby to Sheffield, which would be a pleasant commute.
 
That would be a good goal. We always need bright engineers. In my last job before retirement, I managed a group of communications engineers in a government department. While I didn't understand the deep technical aspects of what they did, I did understand, and could explain, the vague user requirements for the systems they designed. I used to run a software development section but it was outsourced and fortunately the "minor" part of my degree was administration so I just moved to that for the last part of my working life.
 
I'm using your loco in a school project, but just the front. It's for a Computer Studies assignment. We have to make a short (5-10 second) intro for a YouTube logo/intro thing. Very useful for me!
 
Sounds more interesting than some of the projects I did for uni. For our final (group) project we did a database system for the Australian National University (ANU) that tracked hours worked on jobs/projects. One of the other groups built a Windows (3.1) Software Development tool that I thought was terrific. This was in the very early days of Windows.
 
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