NS G-85R "TopGon" Coal Hopper

[ABStudios]

Hello RWA!

I could not find a subforum to introduce myself, but I am new here and I am glad to start contributing. I've been playing on and off for the past few years and officially been hooked for the past few months.

I also am new to modelling and this is what I've been working on the past week ever since I installed blender:



It is coming along, but I am taking 1 step at a time.

This is an original texture made by me (but referencing the actual Hopper made by NS). I'll be using 2048x2048 for real crisp textures.



Let's see where this goes!

~ ABStudios ~

[BKRR605]

Your hopper looks pretty darn good

[Fleegle411]

and so far so good! Keep it up and good luck!

[Metrarailfan]

I see these a lot by me. Looking forward to trying it!

[wlenz781]

Looks good so far, would love to see what the finished project looks like.

[NStrains]

One happy NS fan here!!!

[ABStudios]

Thank you for the positive feedback!

Got a lot of the details done such as handle bars, panels, tub straps, etc... Now on to the hard part, bogies and couplers!

Also, do you guys think 4,563 vertices, 2,554 faces, 5,440 tri's is too much?

[ZekTheKid]

That looks superb! It's about time there's a different coal gondola on the NS coal route!

[thebigroyboyski]

Also, do you guys think 4,563 vertices, 2,554 faces, 5,440 tri's is too much?

If you use LODs you can have way more.
I think my Frontrunner is 18000+ tri's but with many LODs on small parts.

You don't need to worry about a coupler as you can use either RSCs or Britkits or anyone you like really. Just link it in the blueprint.
If your model is freeware your best using a coupler like Britkits or the standard RSC then the end user can choose their own to use.
Your model is looking good so far

[ABStudios]

If you use LODs you can have way more.

What do LOD's mean?

Got the bogies & wheels completed. Right now I'm looking at around ~8,100 vertices, 4,600 faces, and 9,700 tri's.

Now onto the couplers. Does anyone know of a good couplers thread or tutorial?

[PapaXpress]

Have you checked here?
http://thegradecrossing.blogspot.com/20 ... tives.html

[imnew]

Really nice work there ABStudios

[thebigroyboyski]

If you use LODs you can have way more.

What do LOD's mean?

It means Level Of Detail.
It basically means that you can set the view distance of different parts of the model.
You can model down to nut and bolt detail but you set with the name the distance that the game renders them.
A name like 1_0500_partname would be seen from 500m and closer but a small detail could be 1_0010_partname so it would only be seen when you are close to the part.
This way your not wasting computer power rendering parts that you will never see in a long consist.
If you look on papas blog he gives a much better explanation.

[Joshua7318]

I saw your work and I am impressed! Are these going to be made in HO scale? I'd like to get a few....

[buzz456]

I saw your work and I am impressed! Are these going to be made in HO scale? I'd like to get a few....

Since all of these posts are from almost a year ago I would say this is probably a dead topic.