WVRR1964's Stuff

[WVRR1964]

I tried using TrainDecal.fx as the shader and got the same results. The insulators was see through but once the sky is in the background the insulators disappear. Here is what I mean...

2013-10-26_00006.jpg

I'm assuming that I'm not getting any help on this is because nobody really knows how this works, or very few people know.

My goal here is to get realistic looking insulator before making the rest of the poles.

[RvA944]

did you see this blog post by Derek..... ???

http://the-art-of-rws.blogspot.com/2009 ... assfx.html

[WVRR1964]

did you see this blog post by Derek..... ???

http://the-art-of-rws.blogspot.com/2009 ... assfx.html

I have looked at this but it doesn't help with the setting in Blender. So I'm basically only getting half the instructions.

[PapaXpress]

I'm assuming that I'm not getting any help on this is because nobody really knows how this works, or very few people know.

Seriously?

If the object of that comment was to get people's goad up, then count me one of them. Do you really expect people to jump at your requests? I haven't even had time to work on my own projects because its harvest festival time at two of my kids schools, then there is cub scouts, progress reports (with teacher meetings), oh, and my wife is pregnant with our fourth child, and I have missed every single appointment (which never happened with my other three boys) because I don't get PTO from my new job (I'm a contractor) so I am a bit peeved. SO while I am tired from an hour long commute home, have less than an hour to play with my boys before wrangling them into bed, I just have to have enough energy left to work on other peoples modeling problems. NOT.

Here is a little secret. Here is how I learned about train glass. I opened the train glass texture from the free Justin Cornell GP38-2 and looked at how the RGBA was done. Then I saved this file as a 32 bit TGA and as an ACE and for a year I used that for everything I needed glass for.

Here is the cheat sheet for 3DC


TrainGlass.fx need a 32bit image. For 3DC I need to include a dummy emv.bmp which is just a small 16x16 black bmp for the environment. Forget the RailSimX column it 3DC specific and is no longer needed anyway. You will probably need to do something similar for Blender.

Good Luck.

[WVRR1964]

Seriously?

If the object of that comment was to get people's goad up, then count me one of them. Do you really expect people to jump at your requests? I haven't even had time to work on my own projects because its harvest festival time at two of my kids schools, then there is cub scouts, progress reports (with teacher meetings), oh, and my wife is pregnant with our fourth child, and I have missed every single appointment (which never happened with my other three boys) because I don't get PTO from my new job (I'm a contractor) so I am a bit peeved. SO while I am tired from an hour long commute home, have less than an hour to play with my boys before wrangling them into bed, I just have to have enough energy left to work on other peoples modeling problems. NOT.

I thought this was a place to get help. Also, nobody said that you had to answer this post. Are the only one that know how to do this stuff? I don't need somebody jumping down my throat every time I ask a question. Let this be a lesson to you and all the newbes out there...Don't bother coming here for answers, you'll only pee people off. For me, I'll go somewhere else.

[buzz456]

WVRR1964,
"I'm assuming that I'm not getting any help on this is because nobody really knows how this works, or very few people know."

This is a correct statement. Many of the people who do know only visit the forum occasionally. We as moderators try to help everyone or at least steer them in the right direction, but at the end of the day this is a forum about trains and Rail Simulator not a modeling forum. Perhaps you would at this point be better off trying to find a good modeling forum to figure out some of your issues rather than here. I suggest that Papa is just a little stressed at this time. We all have those moments.

We who try to keep some order around here do get a bit sensitive when anyone infers that no one cares or knows about whatever it is that has a member excited at that moment. For that I urge you to stick around. Your next problem may have all kinds of folks that can help. And if you have some success this is a great place to share it. This community is very appreciative of creative folks.

[jpetersjr]

I'm assuming that I'm not getting any help on this is because nobody really knows how this works, or very few people know.

That is correct, not only do I not know how to do lights and get them in the sim with the lights working but I also don't know how to use Blender. If you used Crafter and were willing to learn to build buildings I'd be more then happy to teach you.

And of course, I would say that you should start with something simpler then lights or power lines for your first project, may I suggest that you try to do a simple building and get that into the sim, it would be far more easier for you to learn how to get buildings into the sim first and then try your hand at doing power lines.

When I first started 3d modeling I thought I could get a locomotive into the sim right off the back, but how I was wrong. I was advised to do buildings first by my mentor, and I have to say that he was correct.




...Cheers...

J


If you can get 3D Crafter Pro I can teach you how to do buildings in it, fully texture and get it into the sim. I'll teach you everything from modeling a simple house to modeling a complicated skyscraper from the top down.

[Bananarama]

I'm assuming that I'm not getting any help on this is because nobody really knows how this works, or very few people know.

RvA944 and I provided an answer. Whether you choose to heed the advice is up to you.

In order to balance a good model with good performance, you must use full transparency on the object. Greyscale alpha should be reserved for windows and other items that don't load up a scene. To use that type on a set of insulators, something that there might be hundreds of in a small area, is asking for trouble. TexDiff.fx or TrainBasicObject.fx with the Trans flag set is all that's required. Setting the error bias to -1 and adding for view-facing doesn't add any overhead (pardon the pun), but might actually improve results over your previous trials.

FWIW.

[WVRR1964]

I told myself that I would not post on this thread anymore until I get an apology from the site admin that likes to bite peoples heads off when they ask a question. Since people keep posting here it's time to make a few things a bit clearer on where I'm coming from.
I've been creating items for a long time, I'm no dummy when it comes to building a model in Blender. I spent the last 10 years in another train simulator. I came to TS2014 for something new to learn and also adding to the fact that models for this sim can also be made in Blender. I felt that graphics for TS2014 are far better then what I'm used to. I understand that there is not a lot of people creating for this sim and I can understand why. Current documentation on creating for TS2014 is few and far between or at best, out dated. Add Blender to that mix and there is even less information. For the last two week all I've done was to find a way to texture stupid insulators on a telegraph pole. The closest I got was the pictures in the other thread asking about the shader. In my last attempt the insulators where showing up white in the game for some unknown reason. I've since given up on them. I'm also giving up on creating for TS2014...at least for right now. If there is more information in the future about creating, I might revisit the idea of content creation for this sim.

I really appreciate the help folks have been trying to give but I'm seeing a consistent problem. The few folks that do know what they are doing are trying to give help but throw out phrases and procedures that are complete unknowns to me or most newbies. Take Hack's last post for example...I have no idea what a "trans flag" is. The phrase "Error bias" has been brought up a few times now but in all my searches on the what it is, I turned up nothing. I've come to the conclusion that the only thing that will really help me is a video tutorial on the use of every shader. It's not likely to happen but to get more people into this sim, these tutorials are definitely needed. It wouldn't hurt to have a few involving Blender either.

For now I'm going back to what I know and what I'm used to.

[Chacal]

Your assumption that no answer means no people know how this works is true, from my experience. People on this forum will readily help if they can. If not, they won't answer to avoid cluttering the thread with dozens of "I don't know".

Your questions are about a very narrow field of knowledge so that is to be expected.

You've been here a couple of weeks so you should already know to not take a random rant from one individual who probably misunderstood your post, as the average response from people here.

[mrennie]

oh, and my wife is pregnant with our fourth child

Congratulations!

[mrennie]

I've never used Blender, but let me know if you want me to show you, with pictures, exactly how to make glass in 3DC. Obviously, it's not that much different from what Derek Siddle explained in his "art of RW" blog, but expressed in terms of 3DCrafter.

Mike

[WVRR1964]

Obviously, it's not that much different from what Derek Siddle explained in his "art of RW" blog, but expressed in terms of 3DCrafter.

Mike

That blog post is another example of confusing the basic newbie...I was told not to use greyscale alphas, but what's used in that tutorial? A greyscale alpha.

[mrennie]

Obviously, it's not that much different from what Derek Siddle explained in his "art of RW" blog, but expressed in terms of 3DCrafter.

Mike

That blog post is another example of confusing the basic newbie...I was told not to use greyscale alphas, but what's used in that tutorial? A greyscale alpha.

You'd need to experiment with the alpha. I find that with 3DC, if the greyscale goes below a certain percentage (it might be 50%, I can't remember exactly), the glass simply goes from tinted to completely transparent, as if there were no glass there at all.

There are a couple of things about "confusing the basic newbie" that people should try to understand - 1. without knowing the person asking the question, it can be hard to strike the right balance between a reply that sounds either patronising because it explains the most obvious (to all but complete "newbies") terms and procedures, or "know-it-all" because it assumes (or hopes) that the reader will understand the geek-speak; 2. if the answer really does need to assume no prior knowledge and the person posing the question does indeed need a tutorial for novices, the reply would need to be very extensive, and that takes time and effort that many of us (see above) don't have.

Anyway, tutorials are gradually starting to appear on RSC's own Engine Driver, so that would be a good place to keep an eye on.

[Toripony]

Sometimes when I can't find an answer on the US trainsim boards, I go to the UKTS forum. There are more people posting there, thus a bigger collective body of knowledge (???). But then I still don't find all the answers; sometimes you feel like a pioneer.