We shall build a steam locomotive ...

[mrennie]

Next step is to create some blueprints. We can close 3DC in the meantime.

First a bogey blueprint for the driving wheels.

Run the Utilities.exe (it's located in the railworks root folder - I have a shortcut on the desktop, to make it easier) and click on the Asset Editor button. This will bring up the blueprint editor and the shape viewer 3D screen.

In the blueprint editor, navigate down to the Bogies folder. Left-click on the folder to highlight it, then right-click to bring up a menu, and select New Blueprint. This will bring up Choose Blueprint Type. Scroll down and select Bogey Blueprint.

ScreenShot031.jpg

Right-click on the new blueprint and rename it as BaldwinTenWheelerDrivingWheels. Then double-left-click on it to open the blueprint in the editor.

To measure the Wheel radius, you can go back into the 3DC model and select the highest point in the tire (not including the lip) of one of the driving wheels and use the Set Point Position tool to find the y coordinate. In my model, it's 2.3517 (and the point on the opposite side is -2.3517). Converting 2.3517ft into metres gives 0.71679816, which is what we have to put into Wheel radius.

Wheel gauge is 4ft8.5 inches, converted to metres, i.e. 1.4351.

Leave Geometry and Animation blank.

Set Powered to True.

Leave the Suspension values as they are.

Expand the Axle section (click on the + sign) and click on "Insert first" three times, to make three axles.

Expand the three axles and enter the values as shown below:

ScreenShot033.jpg

Remember those z-axis offsets we measured for the axles? In the blueprint, they go into the "Horizontal offset" fields.

Leave Pivot offset alone. The default values are 0, which is fine for us because our engine will pivot about the centre axle.

Click "Save" to save the blueprint. There's no need to export it, because it will get exported when we export the entire engine a bit later on.

[mrennie]

Before doing the engine blueprint, we need to create a couple of very simple LUA scripts that need to be referenced from the blueprints.

In the Engine folder, create an ASCII text file called BaldwinTenWheelerEngineScript.LUA. Copy this text into it:

Code: Select all

gPlayerDriving = false
gInitialised = false

--++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
function Initialise ()   
            
   Call("BeginUpdate")
     
end -- function Initialise
--++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

--++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
function Update ( time )

   if (Call( "GetIsPlayer" ) == 0) or
      (Call( "GetIsEngineWithKey" ) == 0) then   
           
      -- Player not driving. Do stuff that's only for AI locos.

      gPlayerDriving = false
   else
      if gPlayerDriving == false then
        -- Player has clicked on the loco (become its engineman)

         gPlayerDriving = true;
      end
   end

   if gInitialised == false then
   
      -- Do the initial set up, such as turning off smoke and steam emitters.

      gInitialised = true;
   end

   -- Do stuff that has to be done on every update.

end -- function Update
--++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In the Simulation folder, create an ASCII text file called BaldwinTenWheelerSimulationScript.LUA, with this in it:

Code: Select all

function Initialise ()
   -- Nothing
end

function Setup ()
   -- Nothing
end


function Update (interval)
   -- Nothing
end

[mrennie]

Now that we have the scripts (albeit just skeletons), we can make the engine simulation blueprint.

In the Blueprint Editor, highlight the Simulation folder, left click and select New Blueprint, then Engine sim blueprint. Rename the blueprint to BaldwinTenWheeler, then fill it in as shown below:

ScreenShot034.jpg

Now highlight the Engine folder, left click and select New Blueprint, then Engine blueprint. Rename the blueprint to BaldwinTenWheeler, then fill it in as shown below:

ScreenShot035.jpg

ScreenShot036.jpg

ScreenShot037.jpg

Click Save.

Click Export. When it's finished, you'll see a "Successful build" message at the bottom of the BlueprintEditor.

[mrennie]

The wheels will appear in the game as Baldwin Ten Wheeler.

Make a Free Roam scenario to try them out. Here's what mine looks like:

2013-03-26_00001.jpg

[mrennie]

Today I'll take a short break from the FEF-3 to carry on with the tutorial. I'll make a simple version of the side rods and show how to animate it with the wheels turning and get the model into the sim as a driveable locomotive.

[jpetersjr]

Sounds great.

[mrennie]

I'll begin with the side rods. The first thing to say is that in my own models, I use the original drawings, and as these indicate clearly all of the dimensions, including the curves and radii for all the rounded bits, they are almost (within the limitations of polygons) exact replicas. However, for this tutorial, we have only a sketchy side elevation drawing, so I'm going to make a relatively simple side rod. Feel free to make yours more detailed if you want.

Drag a new cylinder object into the scene and rename it as "SideRodL". Also rename its group to "SideRodL". Use the Shift Selection tool to rotate it 90 degrees about the z axis. Draw the object as a solid outline and also select Draw Translucent.

In the Shape Layers panel, click on Cylinder Primitive and change the Longitude from its default 16 to something better, like 24, to make the cylinder more smooth. Then click on the top line (it should say Shift) in the Shape Layers to get back to the current layer.

In the Scene Properties, right click on the SideRodL group and uncheck Hide. This is so that we can see the crosshairs at the centre of the siderod cylinder.

Unlock y and z. Select SideRodL and move it so that it's aligned with the front end of the side rod in the drawing.

Use Scale Selection to scale the cylinder along y and z so that it's the correct size. I found that 0.9 was about right. Scale it along the x axis by about 0.2.

Lock x, y, z. Then on the face that's facing you, select the top and bottom points and connect them with a line.

Select that line and use Divide Selection to split in two.

Select the leftmost and rightmost points on the face, together with the point in the middle of that new vertical line, and connect them. We now have a "crosshairs" that will be useful when it comes to doing the animation.

ScreenShot002.jpg

[mrennie]

On the rear face of the cylinder, make the crosshairs in the same way as before.

Make some more lines, on the front and back faces, as shown below:

ScreenShot004.jpg

Use the Rectangular Selection Tool (RST) to select the six points (3 front, 3 back) as shown:

ScreenShot005.jpg

Use Equalize Selection to align them along the z axis.

Do the same with the top 6 points, but aligning them along the y axis.

ScreenShot006.jpg

Now, I've just noticed that there's a clearer view of what I want to model at the other end of the side rod So, select the cylinder and use Flip Shape to flip it about the z axis. Unlock the z axis and slide the cylinder until it's over the other end of the siderod in the drawing. Don't forget to lock the z axis afterwards.

Select the top 6 points, unlock y and slide the points upwards as shown:

ScreenShot007.jpg

To make the curves gentler, select the four lines (two front, two back) as shown and split them.

ScreenShot008.jpg

[mrennie]

Make lines between the new points and the centre of the cylinder.

Select the new points and re-position them, to make a curve, by shifting them upwards and then scaling them (not shifting) sideways. Scaling them sideways is an easy way to make sure that the points are mirrored on either side of the vertical centreline of the object. When doing this, make sure only one axis is unlocked at a time, otherwise you'll end up making a mess.

Repeat as necessary to get a pleasantly smooth curve:

ScreenShot009.jpg

Use the same technique to shape the left side of the cylinder:

ScreenShot010.jpg

Incidentally, we're doing all of this by eye, with the drawing as a guide, but when I do it for real, I actually place guide cylinders of the correct diameter behind the part, to use as accurate guides. Sometimes I have to place two or more and then line them up to make sure the tangents are exactly right.

[mrennie]

Now for the centre of the side rod ...

Select the object in the hierarchy, then copy and paste it (make sure to click in an empty space in the scene before you paste).

Select the duplicate SideRodL and, with only the z axis unlocked, slide it across to line up with the side rod's middle hub.

Scale it to fit with what you see in the drawing. 0.8 in the y and z should do it.

ScreenShot011.jpg

Select the points on the left side

ScreenShot012.jpg

and delete them.

Select the original SideRodL then the duplicate. Click on Shape Merge.

In 3D mode, select the faces as shown:

ScreenShot013.jpg

Extrude those faces until they're overlapping the other part of SideRodL.

ScreenShot014.jpg

Select the points belonging to what was the duplicate of SideRodL

ScreenShot015.jpg

The zoom in and slide the points downwards until the horizontal centreline is accurately aligned.

[mrennie]

ScreenShot016.jpg

Select these points (using the RST to get all 6 points)

ScreenShot018.jpg

Connect them with lines.

Then select these other points and delete them:

ScreenShot019.jpg

Select these two points (the one on the right angle first, then the other one) and weld them.

ScreenShot020.jpg

Repeat at the bottom and on the reverse side.

Select the faces we'd extruded before, and delete them.

ScreenShot021.jpg

[mrennie]

Select these points and weld them:

ScreenShot022.jpg

Repeat on the reverse face.

Now, we can do a bit of tidying by select and merging some faces (using Merge Faces from the Plug-Ins menu). Make sure you delete any orphan points (points along a line that aren't connected to any other points) that get left behind.

ScreenShot023.jpg

Select the object and click on Mirror Shape (making sure you've got Z Axis selected in the parameters). Then (this is very important!), click on Optimize Shape Geometry - this ensures that 3DC doesn't keep two points at exactly the same position, but instead merges them into a unique point.

Now unhide the three drivers and draw them as wireframes, making sure that they are locked.

ScreenShot025.jpg

Select the side rod and slide it down to align its horizontal centreline with the horizontal centreline of the boss on a wheel.

Then select the SideRodL points for each hub and align them with the vertical centreline of each wheel.

ScreenShot026.jpg

In plan view, align the side rod against the wheels.

[mrennie]

Select the SideRodL, copy and paste it, rename it and its group to SideRodR and position it against the corresponding wheels.

In the hierarchy, drag the groups SideRodR and SideRodL into the locomotive's bo02 group.

ScreenShot027.jpg

[mrennie]

Pour some red paint over the side rods, like we did with the wheels, just so that they can be exported into RW. If you feel up to texturing them properly, go ahead (in which case, it's better to texture one before you copy and paste it).

From this point on, I won't spend as much time explaining step-by-step how to make the geometry of each part. By now, I hope you'll be able to manage to make the shapes yourselves without too much trouble. Instead, I'll concentrate on how to bring all the parts together into a working model, explaining about the blueprints, animation, scripts and so on.

[Logan20131]

Then What?