Setting up Cameras along the route for Sessions

I would like to set up focused cameras along the route for the optional viewing of chosen views as Trainz allows. Do I just set the Cameras in place and then expect them to operate automatically if the player presses the "3" key for the progressive camera views as the train goes along returning view control to the driver in between placed cameras?

i know that the cameras need to be fairly close to the track.

i was not sure how to activate them i did figure out how to create and place them using Surveyor but was not sure how to make them active.

thanks for advice on this. this is NOT the cimematic camera that is added with a driver rule, at the start of a session but the cameras that are placed along the route for custom views.

thanks

Chris

the adventure continues.

Hi Chris. there is quite a bit to placing camera but the two things to remember are they can be static or tracking and they only have so much range, therefore the further the camera is from the track the less time any passing train will be in range however you will see more of your creation. May I suggest you browse pages 50 and 162 of the manual which can explain the detail far better than I, then come back and ask what you are still trying to tweak. Peter

http://www.trainzportal.com/files/TANE/trainz_a_era_manual_digital_en_150513.pdf

Trackside rotating cameras are best placed in surveyor, approximately 600 feet (or is it meters) from one another.

Blue Trackside Camera Guides are best placed from looking down from above at approximately a 45 degree angle, so that the center of blue post is approximately 20 m from the track, and so that the outer edges of the circles overlap like a figure of eight, by about 20 m.

As far as I know, rotating cameras, and static cameras, cannot be combined, as sometimes they conflict with each other, and start flickering.

Looking down from directly from straight above, place a trackside camera right on top of the blue camera guide center post, you can fine tune it by using the mouse.

Using the mouse, zooming in all the way, then pressing the page down key, or up/down arrow keys, to slam the camera down to the ground.

Then gently tapping the page down key, or up/down arrow keys, approximately four times, make the camera tilt up so that it is looking down from approximately 20 m high, and gently tap those keys to approximately four times to make the cameras zoom out a bit.

Since a rotating trackside camera looks directly down at the rail head, following approximately the center of the locomotive, zoomed in all the way, and placed directly on the ground, looks very unprototypical, and goofy as the train rolls by, looking down directly at the railhead.

You will develop your own way to place trackside cameras in surveyor, so that they end up approximately 20 m high, and are looking down on an approximate 10 to 20 degree angle, and are approximately 20 m from the track.

You will find that to final set a camera, you need to hit another button above, to get out of the positioning mode.

You can look down directly from straight above in surveyor, and move around with the mouse, to see where your cameras are positioned.

Cameras that are placed too close together will result in multiple views flickering back and forth.

Clicking on any locomotive, or on any rail car, then pressing the number 3 key will activate the camera viewing mode.

It takes much practice to precisely place trackside cameras, and I hope my terminology is not confusing you

thank you both. i am guessing from what you both say that YES the camera will operate once placed....triggered by the train going by....i had wondered if i had to place a driver command or some kind of link between the cameras and the train activity but it looks like once i place them they will work with the "3" command ...our route maker did place them already but for sessions i want to do some extra key items in focus... you were both very helpful thanks.

and yes i found it a bit tricky to get the camera where i wanted it but after a liftetime or more accurately about 45 years of taking slides for my landscape paintings, i am pretty used to looking for and finding the right viewpoint. thanks again fellows for the help much appreciated.

Chris

I seem to recall that line side cameras have a range of about 200yds. So if you can imagine a tracking camera with a circle round it and a fixed camera with an arc in front of it, of that sort of distance, and that any train travelling on the piece of track within those circle/arc will automatically trigger the camera it might help you determining where to site them. It's where adjacent circles/arcs overlap each other or additional tracks other that those intended are within the viewing range of the camera you can get some unexpected results like trying to view trains through walls and buildings etc. Peter

OK Peter thanks

i have placed figures and some details along the track pretty close, the only one that is iffy is up on a ridge but it is very steep above the track on a sharp horsehoe curve so i hope it is ok, it has a nice string of pack horses and a rider i wanted to place in the foreground of the shot with the train going by down below around the curve.

will be fun to learn about this. trickiest part was finding where in Surveyor the cameras were hiding ...but i did find them

and we have a single track route so that will help not have issues with overlap

cheers and thanks

Chris