Trainz modelers seem to lack realistic indoor lighting.

JonMyrlennBailey

Active member
Trainz still thinks every route is out of doors and lighting effects is according to the movement of the sun. There is no artificial or indoor lighting setting in Edit Environment as far as I know but I could be wrong.
I used one of dave snow's backdrops as a floor to ceiling wall mural all around the room. In a real-life train room I might also paint the ceiling in sky colors to blend in with the wall background. Note that certain sections of the backdrop are darker than the ones on adjoining walls. This room is L-shaped like the train table in the center. The whole room is a train layout presented as a 360 wraparound diorama. Humans could, in theory walk all the way around the large G-scale train table which is 105 FEET long. It just looks more natural for my mountain and forest to be against the rural skyline than a brick or plaster wall.

r77pnc.jpg
 
No, it is spelled "asinine". What I really want to know is if there is a way to make lighting effects for indoors. I won't lose sleep if that is not possible. Yes, model RR's were an afterthought.
 
What I really want to know is if there is a way to make lighting effects for indoors.
There is no question in your post. In fact, you indicate that you aren't interested in indoor lighting because you have modelled your route as an outdoor scene.

You should not require people to comment on the post before indicating what your actual question is - just ask what you need to know without the irrelevant additional commentary.
 
I thought the original post was a fair comment but it would be nice if one of the model railroad specialists, such as PhilSkene, made a comment on this.

Perhaps it would be nice to mimic overhead lights, such as you might have in a garage setup, just like the lighting effects one can do in 3D modelling. 3D modellers go to extraordinary lengths to set up correct lighting in their 3D scenes. None of that is applicable to Trainz since Trainz provides its own lighting.

There was a post in the TrainzDev forum some time ago where one of the members played with some settings outside of TANE. I'll have a look to see if I can find it. Warning! These settings would affect all of TANE routes and not just a particular routes or session. If I find it, I'll send the OP a link via PM.

(Edit: I did find the thread in question, but after a quick review, I cannot recommend the changes suggested in it. It can easily break your TANE installation.)
 
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Having been dabbling in model railway making I can understand what the OP is talking about.
A backdrop changes colour when it turns a corner and can totally change the ambience of the scene.

Here is an example in which I painstakingly made a flat backdrop curved to try and avoid the colour change, the other corner has been left as a normal join.

From the left side the backdrop turns left 90°, then a short run and turns right 90°.

New-Coal-Loader%21.jpg



As you can see, it doesn't look good.

I should add that on all my Modelz routes I turn shadows off.

Some of the earlier comments are a bit unfair on the OP who is trying to make a valid point.
 
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Hi Paul --

You rang?
_____

Part of the issue here, I suspect, is the transparency, or lack thereof, of backdrops. The walls that I use on my model railroadz are fully transparent and do not cast a shadow. I've searched to the far corners of the Universe for backdrops that behave likewise. Unsuccessfully. So, to the original poster, make backdrops that are transparent. Or convince someone else to do some for you.

As for the lighting. Just set the time to midday. Or if you have windows, adjust the time to make it appear that the sun is shining through the window.
 
Part of the issue here, I suspect, is the transparency, or lack thereof, of backdrops. The walls that I use on my model railroadz are fully transparent and do not cast a shadow. I've searched to the far corners of the Universe for backdrops that behave likewise. Unsuccessfully. So, to the original poster, make backdrops that are transparent. Or convince someone else to do some for you.

As for the lighting. Just set the time to midday. Or if you have windows, adjust the time to make it appear that the sun is shining through the window.

Phil, I can help you in your search! There are two by username xawery :D.

<kuid:145599:100136> X Backdrop 01
<kuid:145599:100211> X Backdrop 02

Plus these by the same user
<kuid:145599:100157> X Floor 01
<kuid:145599:100155> X Fascia 01

Changing the time to midday doesn't make any difference.

Environment set at June 7th at midday.
Tree shadow, no backdrop shadow but change of tone between the backdrop at a corner.................

backdrop-02.jpg




So looks like we are stuck with this feature.
 
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euroM --

I've gotta admit there is nothing to beat an actual experiment (except, perhaps, where it proves me wrong - as yours has).

Funny, though, I've just done your experiment with "HUGE wall brick, spine"". I was also wrong when I asserted it did not cast a shadow. It does, but in the opposite direction to backdrop spines. The shadow goes away from the visible face. And for reasons I don't understand, the change of tone in the corners is significantly less than your image above. Interesting.

Now if we had backdrops with the same characteristics as the brick wall spline maybe the Original Poster's problem would be mostly solved.

Phil
 
Phil, I wasn't trying to prove you wrong, I was trying to help by showing you what I had found.

In my experiment, it looks like the backdrop on the right is absorbing the shadow and keeping it on the surface!!

Is there a difference in surface composition betwen a spline and a 'building' type backdrop?

One for the creator experts to solve I think.

Anyhow, I'm done with this now, I can't cure it, so time to move on :)

Graham.
 
Graham -- if my post came across as being critical of you it certainly was not intended. My apologies.

But it is interesting. Now all we need is for the talented backdrop creators to read this thread and see if it's possible to give us backdrops that have similar shadow and lighting characteristics to the brick wall spline.
 
To be fair to JMB, the OP does make a reasonable point! TMR was put out using the basic TANE game engine with little to no adaptation done as to how it could more accurately reflect the intended use.
 
@ Phil, No problem Phil, I didn't think you were being critical, written words don't display mood as good as an actual face!

BTW, I have in development something in model railroadz form that you (and others of course) might be interested in using, early January release hopefully :)

Graham
 
I'm not sure if this is what you're after but try setting the sun colour to black or almost black to get rid of the shadows and shading.

I think you could also get rid of the shading on backdrops if their normals were all pointing upwards.

Brendan
 
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