Then curiosity got the better of me, and I wanted to build my own route. I wanted to model a portion of Chicago & Northwestern's Western Division. A single track line that ran across northern Nebraska, lots of switching in towns along the way. Grain elevators, LP gas, fertilizer, scrap metal etc.. I bought RW tools, and didn't get the hang of it at first, so I shoved it aside and convinced myself that I didn't need it anyway. I got on Google Earth measuring the line, noting directions, compiling notes and actually laid 25 miles of track. I downloaded topo maps and created all the terrain by hand.
Owning almost every North American Railworks route, I included then all in the editor, desperate to find assets that look right, as I live along that route and it needed to accurate. One day, I just stopped myself because I knew that I needed to have a file structure for the route, and if I was ever to publish the route that I would never be able to get permission from all the creators that I had borrowed assets from. SO....I took darn near a year off from trying to create anything, I was frustrated and needed a break.
11 months later, I sat down and read through the RW tool tutorials. I was able to actually set up the route, with a little guidance from Mike Simpson of RW tools. I almost did a backflip when I opened it up and I was at the right coordinates. I learned how to use Google Earth, Microdem, RWDecal, BILxSRTM etc.. I was able to get my terrain files ( 1 arc-second, and I know 1/3 arc-second is way better) to load up, my route markers all showed up in the route too. I quickly laid the 65+ miles of track for my route, created the sidings etc., and I was off to the races. I used RWDecal and started laying down streets and other features that I wanted to be included on the route, and that is where I am today.
I had the idea of just creating my own assets for the route. Oh sure, I'd include a couple of the bigger more popular routes that a lot of people have like Sherman Hill and Marias Pass, but I wanted almost everything that I wanted to be accurate for the route, and I decided that I would have to learn to create my own. I looked around, and darn near crapped myself when I looked and the price for 3DS Max. even 3D Crafter was too pricey for me. I stumbled upon Blender and downloaded it. I opened it up, and having no prior experience with 3D modeling software, and it looked as confusing to me as setting down at the controls of the space shuttle!! So, that got shoved to the side on my desktop as well.
Until I found google sketchup, and found out that I could actually use it! I started to create buildings that I needed, and I was pretty impressed at how good they looked. I started scouring the internet on how to get things from SU to railworks. I was glad that I had kept Blender, as people have had luck exporting .dae files from SU into Blender, then exporting them as 3DS files into 3D Crafter. So I took the plunge and purchased 3D Crafter Pro.
And now I'm sitting here with half a dozen SU buildings that I can get into Blender, but when I try to import them into 3DC I get error msgs. Not as easy as importing the files, adding texure, then exporting the work to Railworks as I had envisioned.
Am I giving up....HELL NO! But I sure wish that Railworks wasn't so dern hard to work with. I think they stifle so many creative people, that otherwise would be offering up a lot of assets and content. Are they afraid of someone creating that might rival their bland assets?? Anyway, I just wanted to vent and take the time to thank everyone on here that has answered my questions on RWA forums, you'll never know how much I appreciate the guidance and knowledge that gets shared on here.
---cnw1970
