Railworks America

I would like to do a series of locomotive reskins that require the numbers at a different location on the body. Has anyone had success with creating a new set of child object numbers that can be placed anywhere on the units?

What loco are you working on?

Harry,

You raise an old issue and an important subject for all painters and repainters. We have been blessed with the concept of autonumbering, if not user-friendly, as a vehicle to change numbers of all types of rolling stock. As a seasonned repainter, I had many instances where it was imposible to move the location of the numbers were they should appear. Furthermore, one can move the number when changing the X,Y or Z parameters within the .geopcdx but the results are very, very limited; or, the results are bizarre.

The use of decals as a child objects works well so why not integrate the concept to autonumbering ? now the possibility MAY exist, but if the autonumbering mechanism is imbeded in the game it gives little flexibility to alter its finite results!!! I, thus, plead for an update to provide an option to have autonumbering as a child object. This specific option would have a large audience and a wide use; even a logical programming choice (I place it among the concept of modular design).

If I'm alone to express this request, then I'll will not bitch anymore; if not, be numerous to express your needs in the hope of a positive change.

QcRail

That is a awesome idea.

I would also love to see this done, as I have had a few projects halted because of not knowing how to create child objects, much less move autonumbering.

It's been done before by a member who recently left. Requires a bit of Lua knowledge. I don't remember the specifics on how it works, but I can look into it.

BNSFdude wrote:It's been done before by a member who recently left. Requires a bit of Lua knowledge. I don't remember the specifics on how it works, but I can look into it.

If you all remember cleartracks p32acdm in empire corridor heritage paint...

I have a feeling the guys at Armstrong Powerhouse have some understanding and maybe some other British guys

I would like to do some Missouri Pacific diesels. They have their numbers on the sides of the long hood.

Weren´t these numbers obtained by using transparent 2D "placements" with a texture (actually an object with a geopcdx), that were in fact childs with autonumbering? You can move and scale the child of the the 2C placement changing the child matrix values (tutorial by Chacal in the learning center)
I don´t think it requires LUA knowledge for that. Or if it requires, it has to do with the autonumbering process being taken from the loco body Geo to the 2D placement child.

P.S.

I found this:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16067&p=182469&hilit=autonumbering#p182469
This seems to be the case the Geo is editted. Since the Geo can`t be distributed it would require a .exe so the Geo be changed by the user.

I for one am all for it. I have been repainting ore cars, and being able to have the auto numbers in the bottom center of the chute, instead of on the frame bar below the chute would be great. Like the DM&IR used.

I read Chalcal's tutorial "Manually editing an object's position" and it is thorough. Man, I wish I had paid more attention in math. I wonder if someone could use Chacal's concept and create a graphics-based app. It's okay to dream...

harryadkins wrote:I read Chalcal's tutorial "Manually editing an object's position" and it is thorough. Man, I wish I had paid more attention in math. I wonder if someone could use Chacal's concept and create a graphics-based app. It's okay to dream...

Harry,
You will need an expert programmer and many hours of work to get such an application.
If you forget that this is about Mathematics because it´s called matrix math, try to reread the tutorial. The process is just a matter of replacing numbers in a matrix using a trial and error method.
You may want to complement Chacal´s tutorial with this I wrote nearly four years ago. It helps with scaling (smaller or bigger numbers holders) and use some data from the editor to help on the process.
My problem here with numbers would be using a modelling program to get those number placements. It would be much more difficult for me than playing with children matrix.

I've actually used Chacal's technique to place a steam tractor load on a wooden flatcar model a few years ago. It wasn't so hard due to the fact that part of the matrix was already set for a lumber load. What document are you referring to in this statement "You may want to complement Chacal´s tutorial with this I wrote nearly four years ago"?

However, I have some questions regarding number placement as a child object. First, are the number placeholders based on a picture of the sides of the locomotive? For example, would it be profitable to take a side view pic of the original model and impose a graphic grid over it to help with placement? Second, I assume the number placement is 3D so I would have to not only move numbers left and right but also in toward the locomotive body.

Perhaps some of our model builders can help with this process. Maybe they have created some shortcuts that might help us. I am certainly willing to experiment as I did with the tractor load.

Harry

harryadkins wrote:However, I have some questions regarding number placement as a child object. First, are the number placeholders based on a picture of the sides of the locomotive? For example, would it be profitable to take a side view pic of the original model and impose a graphic grid over it to help with placement? Second, I assume the number placement is 3D so I would have to not only move numbers left and right but also in toward the locomotive body. Harry

Harry, you beat me to it. I was pondering a similar question and may I phrase it differently to expand the debate. As is, autonumbers are placed on what appears to be the outer skin of the model; and a blueprint is the mechanism to achieve this result, much like gluing a poster on a wall. Since I never built any 3D model I may be in left field; please do correct me for any mistake!

Let me go further ... could we not build a «false virtual wall», for argument sake 256 x 256 pixels as a one dimension «plane», similar to a layer in Photoshop - thus this virtual plane would be another .geopcdx file. On which we would paste the autonumbers (or any decal for that matter). We, also know, that a .geopcdx file needs a .bin file to function (again similar procedure used to place a steam tractor on a flat car). but, instead of a tractor we place a virtual plane in a 3D space using the child object call.

Again, I may be way out in my own space - if so What would be the better option?

Yours to ponder,
Good night, QcRail