Starting Out

[plicpriest1]

Hello all,
I have never made a locomotive before so Im gona need some help. I would love to create the American Standard 440 steam locomotive.
It is my vision to release it as a freeware. Why? Because I have benefited from freeware for years. Time to give back I guess. So with that said I need help.

Starting out I need a list of all programs to start and complete locomotive. Of course free is always good. Besides since this first one will be a freebee shouldn't have to worry bout crossin any lines. Also I will probably need a mentor I can email with questions.

Anything yall got would be appreciated.

Brian

[arizonachris]

Did you take a look at this Topic here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4864 Might help get you started.

[buzz456]

I would suggest you start out by reading the thread 'er will build a locomotive not because it is easy' above and then go from there.

[plicpriest1]

Yes I have visited the thread and read through quite a bit. Most of it at this point is WAYYYY over my head. Many posts refer to tutorials done by SMM digital. I understand that his site is no longer around, sooooooooo does anybody have any of the tutorials that he hosted? Or have I missed something?

Thanx for your patience and help

Brian

[RvA944]

Making a loco is no easy task. It wasn't in MSTS and it sure as hell isn't in Railworks. Now my first suggestion is to master your tool set. Learn how to 3d model an item and texture it first. Then you can come back and start on a loco. You have to crawl before you can run a marathhon.

[PapaXpress]

SMMDigital's tutorials are now on my blog...
http://thegradecrossing.blogspot.com/20 ... tives.html

[plicpriest1]

Would love to master my tools. Solid advice. Though since I have no experience with this sort of thing, at all, I figure best learn by doing. From what I understand the tutorials were there to aid in that. I did download 3dc and did a little poking around with it. So far I feel like a two year old on a chess set. How to make a scale locomotive with it is where I get lost. Figure Ile work the other details later, just need to know how to make a shape that resembles a train to start with.

Brian

[PapaXpress]

My advice to you is to start slower and smaller.
http://thegradecrossing.blogspot.com/20 ... tents.html

[plicpriest1]

Thanx for pointing me in the right direction. Ya maby I will do an HO scale locomotive, smaller right?

[jpetersjr]

I would suggest you start out the same way I did, by creating scenery so that you can start learning how to model and then start learning how to use the blueprint.

I tried starting out building engines, but I never was able to get one into the sim, much less get one finished since I didn't have any experience in modeling.

This year when I get myself a new, better computer I'm going to try again to build an engine, but this time I expect that I won't fail.

If you can get 3d Crafter Pro I'll give you some tips on getting a fully textured building into the sim.


...For reference here's a picture of what one of my best models look like in the sim after it's been finished and exported. If you have the time to study and show signs that you're taking in the knowledge I'll teach you how to model a simple scenery item in Crafter.

Immes Building.jpg

...Cheers...


Jpetersjr

[GreatNortherner]

I did download 3dc and did a little poking around with it. So far I feel like a two year old on a chess set. How to make a scale locomotive with it is where I get lost.

That sums up very nicely where I think all of us were when we took our first steps in the 3D modeling tools. So hang in there, with enough time and energy you'll get the hang of it. And if you get stuck at some point (which is quite likely), the RWA community is a good place to learn more and get help, UKTrainSim also has a lot of information for 3D modelers.

Also, if you want to make 3DCrafter your main modeling tool, there are some very nice beginners' tutorials on the Amabilis website. Build a small shack, a whale, a house, an open top freight car...

Blender is by the way more powerful than 3DC (and also more intimidating at first glance). But there is an endless amount of tutorials for Blender.

Michael

[Chacal]

To be fair, Blender's interface has been greatly improved with the latests versions.

[plicpriest1]

Thanx for yalls encouragement. I have been doing some poking for sure. As of now I have created a single weelset in 3dc. I have been following the tutorial that SMM had put out.
Here is my snag: I have the freeware 3dc which does not duplicate, and apparently it does not export to RW either. Sooooooooooo, is there any "cheats" out there? Not talkin pirated stuff, I mean is there converters for files and the such out there to at least be able to export?

Thanx much

Brian

[mrennie]

Thanx for yalls encouragement. I have been doing some poking for sure. As of now I have created a single weelset in 3dc. I have been following the tutorial that SMM had put out.
Here is my snag: I have the freeware 3dc which does not duplicate, and apparently it does not export to RW either. Sooooooooooo, is there any "cheats" out there? Not talkin pirated stuff, I mean is there converters for files and the such out there to at least be able to export?

Thanx much

Brian

You really do need to get the Pro version (it's not so expensive - think about how many hundreds of hours of fun you'll get from it and you'll see that the cost in terms of dollar per hour of fun isn't that high) together with the plugins available from the support page at railsimulator.com. You'll also need to be adept at using Photoshop or similar (you can get a version of Photoshop for free now), and get the RSC art plugins for saving texture files in ACE format.

The tutorial I started, on building a steam loco, has only touched on the initial steps so far. There's a lot more to getting a fully-functional model into the game. If you found it hard going, then you really would benefit from folllowing jpetersjr's advice and start with simple scenery items. That's what I did. My first models were things like trees and billboards. There's no shortcut to learning how to do this stuff, and you have to be prepared to go through a lot of trial and error.

By the way, I doubt if I'll be able to continue with the tutorial. Explaining clearly, with pictures, how to do things takes 20 times longer than it does to actually do the thing, and, sadly, I simply don't have the time now.



Mike

[Chacal]

Just get Blender and start doing tutorials for beginners.
You'll be surprised at how easy it is, and you'll learn a real 3D design application that you can use for many games and other uses.