Railworks America

Anybody out there use Blender? I've been using 3dc, but it seems like it's dying a slow death. Blender looks like it has a pretty lively community, but I won't waste the effort if it won't export to RW... .??

I have been using Blender for some time. It is a very capable tool for making RW models. I like it and use it exclusively, but it requires a considerable investment to learn it. It has a large set of features, many that you won't use, but that do tend to complicate the program. So if you are willing to spend the time learning it, you won't be disappointed with its capability.

wacampbell wrote:I have been using Blender for some time. It is a very capable tool for making RW models. I like it and use it exclusively, but it requires a considerable investment to learn it. It has a large set of features, many that you won't use, but that do tend to complicate the program. So if you are willing to spend the time learning it, you won't be disappointed with its capability.

WA, where does one find RW pluggins for Blender?

BTW, here is an interesting tutorial on crazybump and blender for anyone interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W07H7xeUnGE

Being that my 3DS max student license will expire in the near future and Crafter will never likely see another update, I am interested as well.

Blender is available here:

http://www.blender.org

The Railworks exporter is provided as an add-on for Blender here:

http://www.railsim-fr.com/forum/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=263

The download package includes instructions in English.
The program is supported in english at UKTrainsim and perhaps elsewhere.

You can get the current IGS exporter for Blender at UKTrainsim and other sites.

As a test I made the "simple engine" from the RSC dev docs. I adapted the tutorial to Blender. Of course I started by reading and viewing on Youtube all the tutorials I could find on using Blender with Railworks.

Here are some tutorials I used. If I could do it using those tutorials, anyone can.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/218 ... plebox.pdf
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/218 ... plebox.zip
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/218 ... Engine.pdf
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/218 ... engine.zip
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/218 ... ft1000.zip

Having been away for a while (hoping all the while that 3d Crafter would get improvements/fixes) I too am considering tossing it... (sadness) and picking up Blender. Thanks for the information.

The more in this community adopting Blender, the more likely that future updates will included RW specific features.

BTW, nice to see you're still around, Pete.

1) It's an uphill climb at the moment, since I'm starting late in the Railworks/Blender scene. But yes, Blender seems to have potential.
2) thanks.

It seems that some advice says "use blender 2.49 and BIGEX exporter" while others say "use 2.63+ and DOM107's newer exporter." It seems a tricky choice to select either at this stage... though I'll admit that 2.6+ and newer seems to have a much improved user interface. I'm more inclined to go for newer...

It also seems quite logical to me at this point that Blender is poised to replace both the abandoned GMAX and the seemingly abandoned 3D Crafter. That said, the first step into the Blender domain is quite overwhelming. Well, for me at least.

pwillard wrote:1)
It seems that some advice says "use blender 2.49 and BIGEX exporter" while others say "use 2.63+ and DOM107's newer exporter."

I highly recommend DOM107's newer exporter.
- It is fully capable - I haven't found anything that its missing.
- It works with the current active branch of Blender, so you can benefit from new Blender developments that come along
- BIGEX has stopped development, whereas DOM107 continues to improve his regularly
- DOM107's exporter is GNU open source, so you can customize it and add capability if you have some programming skill
- being open source, even if DOM107 ceases development, others are likely to pick up the ball and continue work

Excellent Advice... much appreciated.

It's sort of tricky, since a lot "Google" results and very limited Youtube video's would have you go down the BIGEX path, which I quickly saw as a bit of a dead end.

Paul Hobbs did an excellent tutorial on building a steam loco in Blender (although incomplete, unfortunately). While his tutorial uses 2.49 and is actually for Trainz, most of it is applicable to building for TS201x. The main differences are in the naming conventions and exporting. It gives some good insight into the techniques used and the capabilities of Blender.
http://www.44090digitalmodels.co.uk/tutorials/blender1.html

I did a tutorial on animating a steam loco in Blender using 2.49 and Bigex, but it's applicable to the latest Blender release and Dom107's exporter. I've started to update it, but haven't gotten very far.

Also, there are many excellent tutorials for Blender on YouTube. While they're not specifically for TS201x, they are still great for learning the various functions of Blender.

Hack wrote:The more in this community adopting Blender, the more likely that future updates will included RW specific features.

BTW, nice to see you're still around, Pete.

WOW!! There's a name out of the past!!
Likewise... nice to see you still around Pete.

Side note: While I create a distraction for myself so me head doesn't explode with all the new Blender concepts, I've picked up some old fonts for renewal or release considerations. The PressureTank.ttf font is nearing readiness for release.

I am currently working on converting my ADMX Co2 Pressure tank car to Blender and subsequent attempt at export to TS2013, so the font work is loosely related. Turns out I need better detail from the fonts if I'm going to make better textures.

While looking for tutorials I found this. Hopefuly it will help:
http://www.gryllus.net/Blender/Lessons/Lesson01.html