Azimuth Angle and You

[spec5sx]

The azimuth angle in the default Railworks TimeOfDay files (as well as the Horseshoe Curve TOD files) are set too low for North America.
Whats more is that all the seasonal default TOD files have their azimuth angle all set to the same parameter of -1.0000. This not only puts the position of the sun in the wrong part of the sky for North America, it also means the sun is in the same position every season.

I was experimenting last night and made a set of TimeOfDay files that more accurately depict the position of the sun in the sky in North America for each season.
I blueprinted a custom set using the parameters from the Horseshoe Curve route since It has the best color pallet. I then adjusted the azimuth angle to position the sun in the sky according to where my route is located in the northern hemisphere. I'm pleased with results so far.

Let me show you what I mean:

A screenshot of the route using the the default TOD files. High noon in Summer and the camera is facing due east. However, as you can see by the shadows on the ground, the sun is off to the right when it should be almost over your head and off to the left.



Now a screenshot with the azimuth angle properly adjusted. High noon, in Summer facing due east. As you can see, the position of the sun is just about where it should be. Almost over your head and off to the left.



Comments welcome. After a little more tweaking, I'll offer them to anyone who wants to use them in your route projects.

[PapaXpress]

This was one of the first things I noticed on my route when I loaded it up in RW3. The freeroam I do my work in was set to for 12 noon, and I saw long shadows. I am very interested in how to adjust these settings.

[krellnut]

That's awesome John, what are your thoughts on maybe making a package and uploading. That's a big difference. Thanks for everything.

[Trainguy76]

I would very much appreciate this.

[Hawk]

You might also consider passing your findings on to the RW dev team. They might appreciate it.

[spec5sx]

To further elaborate here are the screenshots I took for each season with the camera facing the same direction. As you can see the shadows on the ground elongate as the sun moves further south.

Spring


Summer


Autumn


Winter

[g_nash]

To further elaborate here are the screenshots I took for each season with the camera facing the same direction. As you can see the shadows on the ground elongate as the sun moves further south.

Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter

That looks good , I'm still using the using the figures Bill (t1metraveller) came up with for RS , maybe it's the use of the HSC palette but that looks sweeter than I've got .

[Toripony]

Uhhh.... uh-hmm.... did you happen to notice that you are also fixing the "Blue" problem?

I suspected this might happen if the Sun angles were corrected.

Thanks; where can I download these scripts right NOWWWWW!!!????


ADDED: In that first screenie... the route's default setting... if that's looking east, where in the heck did they have the Sun posi......... OHHHHHH...... ok, someone at RSC pass around a sticky telling everyone that the U.S. is not at the 55th latitude! Well, actually, their shadows are wrong too then cause the Sun never shines straight down on England either.

[Bananarama]

Nice work! I did the same with several of my routes, and changed my copy of Cajon to -5, which is about right for So Cal. Major difference in the look and feel of a N American route.

[Kali]

Oh, that's better! does the weather system actually pay attention to the lat/long of the route origin when it's setting the sun up, or are we going to have to set this for every route? ( can you set it for every route? )

And yeah, our shadows are even longer in summer :P

[Shortliner]

I would love to have this for my route. I hope you can upload it very soon!

[spec5sx]

I'm going to tinker a bit with the Summer TOD file as their seems to be a lot of color washout and "blueing" in that one, particularly in mid and distant objects. I think it needs an ambient color adjustment. Once I do that I will make them available for download

[micaelcorleone]

Sounds very interesting. Any updates?

[SCLALINE]

nice work :) im betting -5 would be good for florida as well

[bsrrco]

please upload this