Constructive criticism welcome. (Large Images)
- Thread starter nuni727
- Start date
Your track work looks to be well done.
Okay; constructive criticism: I sense the areas you have shown us are not finished scenically because there's no reason to have tall grass growing on the right of way if all the other grass in the area is golf course short.
Okay; constructive criticism: I sense the areas you have shown us are not finished scenically because there's no reason to have tall grass growing on the right of way if all the other grass in the area is golf course short.
cascaderailroad
New member
Alot of route builders make extremely deep river channels, with 100's of feet of shear drop off chasim cliffs ... when in fact the Earth's topography is generally a gentle rolling landscape, with shallow river channels only a meter or so deep ... unless you are modeling the Canadian Rockies or Himalaya's.
Another great mistake is a backwoods rail line, that operated by cutting costs by every means possible ... but some modelers install concrete track in the backwoods, with hundereds of high tech turnouts and massively expencive trestles, taking up unrealisticly huge expances of land ... when in fact a RR only owned a 20' narrow path, and had precious little land to build on, and too little money to build with.
Another great mistake is a backwoods rail line, that operated by cutting costs by every means possible ... but some modelers install concrete track in the backwoods, with hundereds of high tech turnouts and massively expencive trestles, taking up unrealisticly huge expances of land ... when in fact a RR only owned a 20' narrow path, and had precious little land to build on, and too little money to build with.
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@Euphod: Yes, the trackwork is fully A.I. compatible and the turnouts are not too sharp. The route is signalled so that the A.I. will solve any problems and also prevents cornfield meets. Yes, I plan to put more grass on it but the grass that you spotted is on an abandoned siding.
@cascaderailroad: Actually, the story of the railroad is that it was an ex-Conrail line, then CSX bought it, then the LPRR(route railroad) bought it from CSX with the INRD and CSX having trackage rights. That would explain the Stone bridges and the non-rusty track. About the depth of the lakes, I think I'll take your suggestion and convert it into a modification, so to speak.
Thank you both for your responses.
@cascaderailroad: Actually, the story of the railroad is that it was an ex-Conrail line, then CSX bought it, then the LPRR(route railroad) bought it from CSX with the INRD and CSX having trackage rights. That would explain the Stone bridges and the non-rusty track. About the depth of the lakes, I think I'll take your suggestion and convert it into a modification, so to speak.
Thank you both for your responses.
mezzoprezzo
Content appreciator
It is a brave Trainzer who invites criticism.
I like the atmospheric good weather fog effect you have achieved, nicely fading into the distance.
Here are a few ideas on landscaping which I hope might be helpful. Apologies if you know all this already, but others might find it useful
First post.
Shot 1.
Put some “shadows” under the trees. A different texture, like a dark forest green, will do. Short bursts, on minimum radius, here and there under the trunks will transform them by anchoring them to the ground. Right now, they look as if they are floating because the eye has no visual reference as to where the ground is.
Shot 2.
The grey coloured cliff (I assume that’s what it is) could do with a bit of texture work. At present it is all one colour/texture and looks as if it’s set at the same radius and rotation setting. Hence the repetitive pattern. Try blending a second similar texture, and vary the radius and rotation setting of each. Apply randomly in short bursts.
Shots 5 & 6.
The water looks a bit too transparent. There aren’t many places in the world where you have that level of clear visibility to that depth. You could make the water shallower and paint darker texture, perhaps more than one, on the river/lake/seabed.
Shots 6 – grass.
This appears to have been painted in a single texture, with the rotation tool spinning. You perhaps need some visual variety by breaking it up a bit. The shot has around 25% of the image showing the same colour. The addition of a couple of extras could help. First, in addition to the “spun” texture, stop the rotation and give a quick dab of texture set on small radius, wherever it stops. That will blend a slightly more detailed texture than the spinning version of the same one. Repeat so that the rotation arrow stops at a different angle and splash another “non-spinning” very quick burst somewhere else. Repeat, with the scale changed. You can get some good effects that way and still only use one texture. It’s subtle, but often not enough on its own.
A second texture, applied sparingly could transform the bank. Try a different, more mottled texture and blend a bit in, just here and there, on the slopes. The one called “Oz dirt” works particularly well with the grass colour you are using and gives a more eroded look.
Shots with steep slopes.
Steep slopes and textures can be disappointing. There is a point at which a slope will distort the texture by stretching it out so far it loses its identity. A bit like stretching a plastic bag with an image printed on it.
Try adjusting bits of the slope in Topology using the Adjust height setting. Set Radius and sensitivity to minimum and pull bits of your slope in different directions. You’ll see changes to the realism of the texture. There is a point at which the angle of the terrain will look good, rather than appear like running paint.
Often, a very small adjustment can make a huge difference. When you have mastered the technique you can vary the radius and sensitivity to suit your needs.
Try it in wireframe occasionally where you will see that the point at which you do the “pulling” or “pushing” of the terrain will be very much effected by where you grab it. For example, if you grab it at a grid intersection, you will form a pyramid shape (on minimum radius) from 4 grid squares. Grab at the centre of a grid line and this will push/pull and deform 6 grid squares. Go back to normal view frequently to check the visual effect. After a while you can become accustomed to how this distortion method is behaving in normal view and can adjust the cursor position as you work.
Time for a beer I think.
Cheers
Casper
I like the atmospheric good weather fog effect you have achieved, nicely fading into the distance.
Here are a few ideas on landscaping which I hope might be helpful. Apologies if you know all this already, but others might find it useful
First post.
Shot 1.
Put some “shadows” under the trees. A different texture, like a dark forest green, will do. Short bursts, on minimum radius, here and there under the trunks will transform them by anchoring them to the ground. Right now, they look as if they are floating because the eye has no visual reference as to where the ground is.
Shot 2.
The grey coloured cliff (I assume that’s what it is) could do with a bit of texture work. At present it is all one colour/texture and looks as if it’s set at the same radius and rotation setting. Hence the repetitive pattern. Try blending a second similar texture, and vary the radius and rotation setting of each. Apply randomly in short bursts.
Shots 5 & 6.
The water looks a bit too transparent. There aren’t many places in the world where you have that level of clear visibility to that depth. You could make the water shallower and paint darker texture, perhaps more than one, on the river/lake/seabed.
Shots 6 – grass.
This appears to have been painted in a single texture, with the rotation tool spinning. You perhaps need some visual variety by breaking it up a bit. The shot has around 25% of the image showing the same colour. The addition of a couple of extras could help. First, in addition to the “spun” texture, stop the rotation and give a quick dab of texture set on small radius, wherever it stops. That will blend a slightly more detailed texture than the spinning version of the same one. Repeat so that the rotation arrow stops at a different angle and splash another “non-spinning” very quick burst somewhere else. Repeat, with the scale changed. You can get some good effects that way and still only use one texture. It’s subtle, but often not enough on its own.
A second texture, applied sparingly could transform the bank. Try a different, more mottled texture and blend a bit in, just here and there, on the slopes. The one called “Oz dirt” works particularly well with the grass colour you are using and gives a more eroded look.
Shots with steep slopes.
Steep slopes and textures can be disappointing. There is a point at which a slope will distort the texture by stretching it out so far it loses its identity. A bit like stretching a plastic bag with an image printed on it.
Try adjusting bits of the slope in Topology using the Adjust height setting. Set Radius and sensitivity to minimum and pull bits of your slope in different directions. You’ll see changes to the realism of the texture. There is a point at which the angle of the terrain will look good, rather than appear like running paint.
Often, a very small adjustment can make a huge difference. When you have mastered the technique you can vary the radius and sensitivity to suit your needs.
Try it in wireframe occasionally where you will see that the point at which you do the “pulling” or “pushing” of the terrain will be very much effected by where you grab it. For example, if you grab it at a grid intersection, you will form a pyramid shape (on minimum radius) from 4 grid squares. Grab at the centre of a grid line and this will push/pull and deform 6 grid squares. Go back to normal view frequently to check the visual effect. After a while you can become accustomed to how this distortion method is behaving in normal view and can adjust the cursor position as you work.
Time for a beer I think.
Cheers
Casper
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zatovisualworks
Veteran but blossoming
:hehe: Constructive
The destructive side of Alberte :wave:
zatovisualworks
Veteran but blossoming
That's the way to go with that kind of posts... chuckling chuckle... I don't know what a nice
The chuckling side of Alberte :wave:
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But even then, there'd still probably be something there like a bar or a shop or even a few houses. (Stationmaster's house etc.)