Blender to TS202X – Create a Simple Windmill.
This tutorial is intended to give anyone interested in creating user content for TS202X, a place to start. It is aimed primarily at those with little to no experience. At times, I may over simplify a step and at other times, I may not be specific enough. I’ll apologize in advance, if I insult anyone’s intelligence.
Everything I cover will be very basic. I have no expertise on any of the topics covered. The tutorial is broken into several sections and is in .pdf format, with accompanying videos for reference.
I’m using Blender 2.9x for this tutorial, although it should work for versions 2.8x and up. Some things, such as keyboard shortcuts, may be different with earlier (or later) versions.
The 9 sections in this tutorial will show you how to:
1. Create the Source folder structure in the Steam/.../Railworks folder. This folder doesn’t exist by default and must be created. This is where user-created content is stored for eventual export into the sim. This part also includes steps to create desktop shortcuts to the Source folder and to the Blueprint Editor.
2. Install the BRIAGE exporter into Blender. This also gives a brief overview of the functions that are added by BRIAGE.
3. Setup a few items in Blender to make it somewhat more user-friendly (optional – based on personal preferences). Also, a short video (with screen text) is included, showing some of Blender’s functions that will be used.
4. In Blender, create a simple windmill. This tutorial is not about modeling, but is intended to show the process of getting a simple, animated windmill into the sim. I won’t get into a lot of the features of Blender, but will stay fairly basic. There are many video tutorials available online that cover all the features of Blender. Basically, I’ll cover - creating the geometry for the windmill, animating it, creating and exporting the UV map, assigning a material and shader to the objects, applying the texture, and finally, exporting the
mesh (.igs) and animation (.ia).
5 & 6. Using paint.net, create a texture from the exported UV map and save it in .dds format. I’ll not get too much into the use of paint.net. Just enough to do what’s required for our task.
7 & 8. Using the Blueprint Editor, create a Scenery blueprint and fill in the necessary items, export the windmill into the sim. I’ll also show how to use the Preview Editor.
9. Finally, when all the above steps are complete, I’ll show how to use the World Editor to add the windmill to a route in the sim.
