Why is my route so dark?

A

Approach_Medium

Trainz Addict
Hi;
I've got a large route I created in TransDem and exported DEM & Ground Textures, using TransDem custom colours. I exported track splines as well. When I move about on the route, the area I am looking at starts out well lighted, but immediately goes darker. I can see that in the distance the route is still well lighted, but they darken as I approach.
I have tried changing all of the settings (one at a time) but nothing works.
This does not appear to happen in routes that were not created in TransDem, so I am suspecting that it has to do with the custom colours being used. These are the 128 "web safe" colours as described in the tutorial.

Here is a screenshot:
2018-04-10%20203415_zpstihq72r0.jpg


Any ideas?
Thanks
CP
 
From the screenshot it almost seems like you have a large circular cloud (or a UFO from "Independence Day") hovering over the Surveyor cursor. Have you looked up to check?

What about behind you, does the darkness lighten as you move forward? Can textures have LOD settings? Is it an effect of the map object that TransDEM has placed onto the baseboard? Just throwing possible causes or red herrings.
 
I played around with the lighting in 'environment' settings and have removed the shadow, but at the cost of darkening the entire route! I don't see any UFO's or even clouds. I have set sky to no clouds and time to high noon.
I'm going to play around with this for a while, but I don't think it's a 'bug' in TANE. I get the same effect in build 90955 as I do in beta build 92487.
I am also going to ask Ronald Ziegler of TransDem about this.
 
norfolksouthern37 said:
It is the textures themselves. They have an improper normal map iirc and that is why they are dark when you are near them.
Click to expand...
Is there a way to change the normal map? I did try to brighten up many of the colours by editing them in Photoshop, but I didn't notice any difference in my route. I did rebuild the database, but I think I read somewhere that the cache needs to be cleared. Eventually I will be re-painting the entire route with new textures, so I guess all of this is moot.
 
The textures had a generic gray normal map image instead of a real normal map - at least that is what I remember from some time ago. The image can be edited and applied to the others if you need it, or maybe there are updates with proper maps.
 
clam1952 said:
Updated Textures for TANE are on Rolands site under Downloads http://www.rolandziegler.de/StreckeUndLandschaft/startseiteTransDEMEngl.htm
Click downloads then the appropriate link.
Click to expand...
I can't find any texture downloads on that site, but I sent and received e-mail from Ronald and he informed me that the file "TransDEM Ground Textures Orthoimagery 128 V2.cdp" is the latest set of colours. In his reply, Roland included a link to a thread somewhere in these forums on the subject of using 3-D UTM tiles for higher res orthoimagery, but whenever I have attempted to create and use UTM tiles I have become so frustrated I gave up. I tried to generate 3-D UTM tiles for my route in TransDem today, but an error was thrown, so I just gave up.
When I installed the new TransDem textures and re-generated my route using them, I did not see any difference in ground texture or the shadow.
I seem to have lost that e-mail now, so I don't have the link he sent me, but I think I can find it again by searching this forum.
 
I have light and dark areas on my TransDem, topographic map-textured routes that don't have anything else on them. It's as though the distant sun is lighting up the hills in the distance.

From the picture posted, not my super cell, there appears to be some loss with the colors as if the table has been compressed down. This may cause the highlights to disappear due to the dropping of other colors. What clued me in on that are those black squares scattered in the darker textures. This could be a T:ANE thing, or maybe it's the textures themselves. Have you tried the original TransDem textures and not the updated ones?
 
I've tried it with both the old and the new. Same effect. It's OK though. After all said and done, I will be painting the entire route with new textures.
Anyone suggest which ground textures are the most realistic? I know the 'TS09' textures are good, but perhaps something even better has come along since '09?
I'm looking mainly for textures that are high-res for close-up.
 
Approach_Medium said:
I've tried it with both the old and the new. Same effect. It's OK though. After all said and done, I will be painting the entire route with new textures.
Anyone suggest which ground textures are the most realistic? I know the 'TS09' textures are good, but perhaps something even better has come along since '09?
I'm looking mainly for textures that are high-res for close-up.
Click to expand...

I still use those myself along with JR textures, which are pretty nice as well. Just don't swirl them though, otherwise, you'll get a weird pattern with the 3d images.
 
Approach_Medium said:
I've tried it with both the old and the new. Same effect. It's OK though. After all said and done, I will be painting the entire route with new textures.
Click to expand...

Yeah in the end, but I have explained what the problem is. The only way to fix it is to provide a proper normal texture or remove it entirely.
 
JCitron said:
I believe they're on their website www.jointedrail.com, but may come with a route if not available.
Click to expand...
The only (free) textures I found on the JR website were a file "tr_ground_texture_set_1.cdp", which I downloaded and installed. When I looked for the textures in T:ANE all I found were what looked like low-res textures like the ones from TS2004. Nothing interesting.
Perhaps I need to look into payware instead of freeware, or do I have to purchase one of their routes in order to buy the textures?
 
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