TransDEM YouTube Tutorial
- Thread starter hminky
- Start date
Harold is this the thread? https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...orial-video&highlight=transdem+tutorial+video
Links to the same video. I dl'd it a while back for reference.
Bob Pearson
Links to the same video. I dl'd it a while back for reference.
Bob Pearson
Missed the original thread.
Found the reference in this thread.
https://forums.auran.com/trainz/sho...ing-Topographic-Maps-to-Create-Baseboard-Maps
Things get buried on forums, easy to miss them.
Thanks for the video, explains clearly.
Harold
Last edited:
aradralami
New member
followed video and now have my route in Trainz 2019. put an engine on it and drive, oh wonderful. Thanks for a wonderful video. make more.
I followed it and also had good results. second for more like this.
It's a great video tutorial. 
I do create a "project', per se, by putting all of my separate components into a folder for that particular route and name the components by their function. For a current route, for example, I have a folder named Downeast ME. In that folder is the decompressed .img file and all of the tile.tga files and the groups. The downloaded zipped DEM img is kept in a separated Downloaded DEMs folder. The reason for this is in case I need to go back to the original and retrim the DEM because I messed up something, or didn't like the original results.
The purpose of doing this is many-fold. Having a "project" folder allows me to go back to previously downloaded and setup data in case I need to regenerate the raw data again. This is more important, however, when there's lots of tiles and the route is quite complex because the route-path is saved as well. The base-path, the one for the initial image is saved under that name, and the other path used for the tiles is saved as well in case it's needed again.
I also name the different components by their function. The base-map, as I call it, is the original initial map download. The tiles, are named map-tile_name_, where name = the route. So using this example, we have map-tile_DEME_. The underscores are good for spacing, and the last underscore is to separate the tile number. The first image download is referred to as Base_Map, for example.
Once downloaded tiles are done, I will then save them into groups - this is a list of all the tiles with the extension LGB. By doing this, it means that each individual tile doesn't need to be clicked on for loading, and a whole swath will be loaded again. This is also very helpful if multiple paths are needed due to a missing image. Sometimes when downloading along the path, a corner or tile area might be skipped due to how the path is drawn in the first place so smaller sections might need to be downloaded afterwards.
The DEM can be trimmed, not the image. This is why he can't trim anything. Using the select tool, draw a box, the use the cut-tool to remove either contents inside the selected area or outside of it.
The area too is also used, as indicated in the video to reduce the size of the data saved when exporting.
When all is done and ready, I create a route-name folder. These have to have a maximum of 8-characters so you need to be creative. I put this under my TransDEM Export folder. The purpose of doing this is to keep these routes out of the Trainzediting folder because if a repair is done, the data can be deleted, at least in TS12 and below. The other reason too is to preserve the completed TransDEM export in case the route needs to be imported again, and this exported data can be archived as well.
Perhaps I work differently with my data, but that comes with over three decades of MIS and IT work, and having my data saved at various stages and organized in this fashion allows me to go back to various stages in case things need to be adjusted and re-exported again. There is one thing that needs to be mentioned here. If the route needs to be re-exported again, delete the contents of the Route-export folder, otherwise the data can get messy and Trainz doesn't like that.
I do create a "project', per se, by putting all of my separate components into a folder for that particular route and name the components by their function. For a current route, for example, I have a folder named Downeast ME. In that folder is the decompressed .img file and all of the tile.tga files and the groups. The downloaded zipped DEM img is kept in a separated Downloaded DEMs folder. The reason for this is in case I need to go back to the original and retrim the DEM because I messed up something, or didn't like the original results.
The purpose of doing this is many-fold. Having a "project" folder allows me to go back to previously downloaded and setup data in case I need to regenerate the raw data again. This is more important, however, when there's lots of tiles and the route is quite complex because the route-path is saved as well. The base-path, the one for the initial image is saved under that name, and the other path used for the tiles is saved as well in case it's needed again.
I also name the different components by their function. The base-map, as I call it, is the original initial map download. The tiles, are named map-tile_name_, where name = the route. So using this example, we have map-tile_DEME_. The underscores are good for spacing, and the last underscore is to separate the tile number. The first image download is referred to as Base_Map, for example.
Once downloaded tiles are done, I will then save them into groups - this is a list of all the tiles with the extension LGB. By doing this, it means that each individual tile doesn't need to be clicked on for loading, and a whole swath will be loaded again. This is also very helpful if multiple paths are needed due to a missing image. Sometimes when downloading along the path, a corner or tile area might be skipped due to how the path is drawn in the first place so smaller sections might need to be downloaded afterwards.
The DEM can be trimmed, not the image. This is why he can't trim anything. Using the select tool, draw a box, the use the cut-tool to remove either contents inside the selected area or outside of it.
The area too is also used, as indicated in the video to reduce the size of the data saved when exporting.
When all is done and ready, I create a route-name folder. These have to have a maximum of 8-characters so you need to be creative. I put this under my TransDEM Export folder. The purpose of doing this is to keep these routes out of the Trainzediting folder because if a repair is done, the data can be deleted, at least in TS12 and below. The other reason too is to preserve the completed TransDEM export in case the route needs to be imported again, and this exported data can be archived as well.
Perhaps I work differently with my data, but that comes with over three decades of MIS and IT work, and having my data saved at various stages and organized in this fashion allows me to go back to various stages in case things need to be adjusted and re-exported again. There is one thing that needs to be mentioned here. If the route needs to be re-exported again, delete the contents of the Route-export folder, otherwise the data can get messy and Trainz doesn't like that.