TransDEM owners: can you do me a favor?
- Thread starter Ericdeman
- Start date
JackDownUnder
Active member
Not possible me thinks. Use of Tranzdem is for personal use only.
cascaderailroad
New member
You are not allowed to manufacture DEM's for the mass's, even for free ... meaning: "Yer' not gonna git' it, no sir, not gonna git' it" !
I have a brand new copy of TranzDEM 2.6.3 and although the license states it is for personal use only it doesn't state that there are any restrictions on the free distribution of TranzDEM generated maps/terrains, if the personal use license did impose such restrictions on the free distribution of maps/terrains then TranzDEM generated routes/layouts wouldn't be allowed to be uploaded to the DLS!
The distribution of maps/terrains for commercial use is not allowed unless you upgrade the personal license to cover commercial use.
If I'm not correct about the above then I expect someone will put me right.
However, having said all the above, I will not be making the terrain the OP requested.
Rob.
Christopher824
CDETrainz.com
I own a copy of TransDEM and from what I see, you can send someone a finished output that can be loaded into Trainz of what you created with the program.
To say you can't would be like saying I made this document with my wordprocessor, but I cant send it to you. What use would the program be then?
To say you can't would be like saying I made this document with my wordprocessor, but I cant send it to you. What use would the program be then?
cascaderailroad
New member
If one person was manufacturing custom DEM's for everybody who requested a particular area, then Geophil would see no more Transdem sales, and he would have a loss of his income
The one who would actually know and tells us specifically will be Roland (GeoPhil).
The best bet is to err on the safe side rather than distribute a route without permission because the route could be uploaded to the DLS, or used elsewhere in a commercial product in whole or in part.
The best bet is to err on the safe side rather than distribute a route without permission because the route could be uploaded to the DLS, or used elsewhere in a commercial product in whole or in part.
You will find a number of postings in the forum on this topic. The whole concept relies on the support by the user community. And this has worked quite well over the last thirteen years. The concept is: Fair use. People should be able to help each other, for example in a route building team, where you are working on a common group project. But running TransDEM on demand for strangers wouldn't necessarily fall under this concept. Again, it's not explicitly prohibited, but users have developed a sense for handling this. And I am grateful for this support which keeps me motivated.
While some of the underlying geo data processing algorithms are implemented in platform-neutral code, others are making use of Windows-specific libraries, like the parallel tasks library, and the user interface is built on Windows APIs.
Nonetheless, there are quite a few Mac users for TransDEM. I understand they are running TransDEM in a virtual Windows environment on top of their native Mac OS. Perhaps, that's an option for you as well. I can't give you any details, though, because I am not familiar with the Mac. (The only Apple hardware I ever worked with was an Apple II back in the early '80s. After that, the company changed focus and I lost contact.)
cascaderailroad
New member
I would like to ask Geophil: As your Transdem program helps bring in money to you, as it is an income to you ... another side business adventure for you, to earn extra cash income, would be to provide custom DEM's to persons that simply can not master your program, and they ask for a DEM, ie: from "Trenton NJ to Wilmington DE, from South Phila Greenwich yard to Paoli and Media PA", for an additional cost of $39.95 per DEM ... Or if you had a trusted person working for you as a business partner, who get's 10%, manufactures these custom DEM's, and in turn Geophil gets 90% of the money taken in ?
I have said it a few times, making route templates for others is not my idea of utilizing TransDEM myself (and I wouldn't have the time anyway). And making money is not the primary goal either (wrong niche altogether I'd say).
TransDEM is a DIY tool, like Trainz Surveyor, like Blender. And I'll provide help and support, if needed, to get people started with it. For some it's unknown territory to conquer, others tell me they didn't have to look into the manual at all. TransDEM users are of all ages, have all sorts of different backgrounds, and come from all over the world. The most complicated thing for a newbie may be the terminology. Geo data lingo is different from railway lingo or PC gaming jargon. And then perhaps there is a challenge to locate suitable geo data sources if want to go for more than standard SRTM or Open Street Map or Google Earth.
I can never understand these threads. If you have the slightest interest in building prototype routes, then Transdem is an essential tool. There is a slight learning curve with the software but, to be brutally frank, if you have the skill and intelligence to produce a route in Trainz then you should have no problem using Transdem. Just do the tutorials and engage brain. As Roland says, there are plenty of simple methods of setting up a template route - SRTM from the Viewfinder site and overlay from OSM or Google. 99 times out of 100 that's all you need to get going with building your route.
casanova419
Member
To Ericdeman I just send you a private email. I made the dem for marin county ca. Just need an email to send.
Forgive me if i am wrong, but there have been many DEMs put up on the DLS over the years, some are gigantic , I was using one of the uintah at first but gave up as it has some issues. My point is, these were freely available to anyone who had a DLS access, so whats the difference if one person makes a DEM route for somebody else to use? Phil's potentially lost hundreds of sales if items made by his program are online, whereas hes only lost one in this case.
cascaderailroad
New member
The same could be said as to manufacturing counterfeit US currency bills, on your own printing press, and handing them out by the hundreds, to everyone you see on the street.
Each time someone makes a DEM, for free, for someone else who requests it, Geophil loses another Transdem sale of $39.95 ... This practice all adds up exponentially, constantly, to a huge loss of Transdem sales to Geophil ... One Transdem sale loss, one at a time, they ALL add up exponentially, constantly ... If everyone did this, Geophil would not have any Transdem sales
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