Annie's Virtual Pre-Grouping, Grouping and BR Layouts & Workbench

[Annie]

I do agree about the shop fronts Martin.  At some stage I'm going to pull them all into Paint.NET and give them a work over.  The problem with Trainz is that when it comes to shops on the DLS the building itself might be old, but the model maker was often modelling the BR error era so they did a modern shop.  I have quite a few shops like that, - nice Victorian or Edwardian architecture, but some nasty modern real estate agent installed downstairs, - or worse still a McDonalds obesity outlet.

[Annie]

Rectangular tank wagons for the fish oil works.  I did spell 'hygienic' correctly on the tank wagons.

 

[Annie]

When it comes to re-doing the shopfronts images like these ones are going to be a big help.  I'm working on putting together a collection of old shopfront photos in readiness for sorting out the shops on Valleyfields.  

 

 

 

[Annie]

Christmas present to myself.  It's from Paulz Trainz and I'm never certain about the veracity of some of his models especially since he had 12 different GWR Atlantics to choose from all numbered and named.  BUT it's an Atlantic and Trainz models of those are rare as anything.  As usual it will have to go into the workshop to have its engine spec and sound files upgraded to something better, but overall it's been quite nicely put together.

I could have got a De Glehn compound, but that would have really been an impossible stretch for a foreign engine passing through Valleyfields.

 

 

 

In other news the double track mainline on Valleyfields reverted back to the horrible old TS2004 version.  The double track mainline was originally done with what is now a totally obsolete method of having two tracks on a spline that's incompatible with all other track types when it comes to attempting a global change to another type.  Somehow yesterday I fluked it, but the new save file rejected it when it written so it's now all back how it was.  Manually replacing this track type is tedious and horrible  and with a 30 scale mile mainline to do Annie is not a happy girl.

[Annie]

Update:  Good old Wikipedia.

 

Quote:

Scott series

 

First series No. 181 Ivanhoe as built as a 4-4-2

Whilst 171 was undergoing trials in 1905 nine further locomotives were ordered to be built at Swindon to a similar design (Lot 154) followed by a further ten (Lot 158). Thirteen of these were built as 4-4-2s and six as 4-6-0s. However, by January 1913, Churchward was persuaded by the superior adhesion provided by a 4-6-0 and they had all been converted to this wheel arrangement.^[9] The new locomotives were numbered 172–190 (renumbered 2972–2990 in 1912). Twelve of the series were named after characters in the novels of Sir Walter Scott. Directors of the GWR accounted for most of the other names. The series was withdrawn between 1931 and 1951.

 

End Quote:

 

Sooooooooo I can run one of these Atlantics just by the skin of my teeth regarding time period.  Lovely.

[Annie]

GWR Atlantic 'Ivanhoe' on Valleyfields.  Runs a treat now after its visit to the workshop.

 

[Hroth]

Nice!

 

It does look a bit skinny around the firebox, or is the cab a little too tall?  Apart from that....

 

171 (Albion) didn't stay an Atlantic for long, and was converted back to 4-6-0 status by mid-1907, I was surprised that the GWR built so many convertible Atlantics before reverting them to 4-6-0s.

[Annie]

I knew about 'Albion', but I thought it was the only convertible Atlantic.  That's why I thought at first that the ones being sold by Paulz Trainz weren't real, but were 'what if' design exercises instead.

 

Edit: yes I do think the cab is slightly too tall, but I think I can live with it.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Annie

[Annie]

Testing in my new copy of TS2019.  That must've given them a surprise at Bodmin Parkway.

 

[Martin S-C]

You can see from the photographic grey image that the lettering on the tender of the simulated model is wrong. Its the wrong font entirely I think. The GREAT -(crest)- WESTERN was a more squat and chunky font called Clarendon.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarendon_(typeface)

 

https://fox-transfers.co.uk/gw-locomotive-lettering-yellow-red-for-black-engines-60057

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/337269/Modelmaster_Transfers_MMGW001_GWR_lettering_and_emblem_transfers_for_Great_Western_locomotives/StockDetail.aspx

 

and a very Happy Christmas to all, I hope everyone has a merry week.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Martin S-C

[Annie]

Yes the lettering is wrong Martin.  All I've done with it so far is compress its height a little so it doesn't look quite so wrong.  I do have the Clarendon font in my collection of fonts and I will make a proper job of it at some stage when I'm feeling a bit more alert.

 

 

All the very best for Christmas Martin and also for the coming New year.

Edited December 25, 2018 by Annie

[Annie]

Had a session shunting and trip working with Tram engine No.7.

 

The yard at Elgar Wood.

 

 

 

Inside the 'shed'  The interior is quite simple, but effective enough.

 

 

 

The windows need cleaning this end.

 

[sem34090]

Very nice!

[Annie]

Testing going on with my Cairnrigg to Balessie layout.  I've just uploaded a TANE version of it to the DLS and it's awaiting approval.

 

[Annie]

Paulz Trainz picture not mine.

 

I've just gone and purchased three De Glehn compounds from Paulz Trainz.  I'd been thinking about getting one, but Paul had all three GWR De Glehn compounds for $US9.00 or just over NZ13.00.  The GWR 'Scott' Atlantic cost me $NZ9.00 so I definitely wasn't going to say no to the De Glehns at that price.

Some old misery on the Auran forums went on about how he couldn't believe that anyone would spend good money for the rubbish from Paulz Trainz, but then another member gave some useful perspective.  He'd been a young teenager when these models from Paulz Trainz had first gone on sale back in the TS2004 days and he said that they had really been cutting edge back then and there was nothing else like them around on offer at the time.  So I personally think it's unfair to compare these old digital models to the ultra realistic ones that are being made now.  Yes they do have their faults and yes they can stand a little tidying up, but I don't mind that so much.  Possibly it might be because I was a tinplate/coarse scale 'O' gauge modeller for so long so I tend to see a model locomotive as being not necessarily an assembly of ultra fine detailed parts, but instead I place more weight on whether a model conveys the character of the prototype or not.  

[Martin S-C]

Mm. Something isn't right about that. I do not know the prototypes well at all, but it looks "off". The front footplate seems too big, or maybe its because its bare of any detail. I think the texturing is not terribly well done - it sems to lack surface detail - and the clunky smokebox handrail looks just, well, a bit amateur. If it were freeware I'd forgive all those points but in my very humble opinion payware needs to be better.

 

Sorry for the moan!

[Annie]

Oh I agree that the texturing is simplified and old fashioned Martin and that the model has its faults, but at $3.00 each I don't mind too much.  I asked one of the better digital locomotive makers for a quote on a LNWR Precursor recently and he told me he'd want $500.00 for making me one to the current modern standards.   Soooooo I sort of lost any ideas I had about commissioning models.

This old TS2004 era model will do me fine and in the absence of anything else much in the way of an Edwardian era GWR express engine being available I'm happy enough with it.

 

[TurboSnail]

How difficult is it to make Sim models? I ask as I'd be happy to provide some of my CAD models to be converted to digital locos if that would appeal.

[Annie]

That's a very kind offer Tom, but apparently having a static 3D mesh is just the beginning because then it has to be fully animated.  The other problem too is the mesh has to have the minimum number of 'polys' (not sure what these are exactly) necessary to do its job or else the memory loading in game ends up being excessive,  Then there is all the texture mapping which is dependent on the mesh being properly optimised and so the list goes on.

A member of the creator group I belong to is putting together a LSWR B4 as his very first locomotive for Trainz and I've seen all the trials and tribulations even with making such a small and basic locomotive.  There's certainly a lot to it and with the cognitive problems I have with narcolepsy I haven't got a hope of doing anything like that.

[TurboSnail]

That's a very kind offer Tom, but apparently having a static 3D mesh is just the beginning because then it has to be fully animated.  The other problem too is the mesh has to have the minimum number of 'polys' (not sure what these are exactly) necessary to do its job or else the memory loading in game ends up being excessive,  Then there is all the texture mapping which is dependent on the mesh being properly optimised and so the list goes on.

A member of the creator group I belong to is putting together a LSWR B4 as his very first locomotive for Trainz and I've seen all the trials and tribulations even with making such a small and basic locomotive.  There's certainly a lot to it and with the cognitive problems I have with narcolepsy I haven't got a hope of doing anything like that.

 

Fair enough, just a thought

[Martin S-C]

A poly (or polygon) is a 2D face of zero depth made up of the minimum number of mathematical points - in other words three points - or a triangle. All 3D models are made up of triangles and they can be aligned at angles relative to each other in 3D space to create curves and spheres and any other shape. A plain rectangle such as one face of the pitched roof of a house would be made up of two triangles (polys). Both sides of this pitched roof is 4 polys. The two gable ends are 1 poly each. Add a basic rectangular column for a chimney gives 10 polys more (4 sides and a top... you never create faces you cannot see, in this case the bottom). Add 4 walls gives 8 more polys. That's about your most basic building - 24 polygons. Multiply that by however many buildings you need near a station (10? 50?) and you begin to see the load a processor needs to handle. Clothe these basic 3D shapes in different texture sheets all of which use more video memory to render and it goes on.

 

In the early days of Trainz 1 and MSTS 1 making low-poly models was critical and many beautiful models were created which were gorgeous but useless as they had too many polys. MSTS locos ran well with 1,000 to 4,000 polys and rolling stock needed to be under about 500 polys. Easy for a box van or open wagon but start using bogie coaches with 3D rendered bogies and pow, you got PC crashes too often. Todays multi-core processors with Gigs of video RAM are able to crunch many more numbers per second and so its common to find 3D loco models of up to 20,000 polys.

 

LODs were (and still are) a useful trick to reduce load on your PC. LOD stands for Level of Distance. If you render a 1,000 polygon bogie coach close up, it looks superb, but if its at the end of a 10 coach train or worse, standing in a stock siding as your train rushes by at 50mph, those 10,000 polys are just not seen by your eye - but your PC must mathemtaically compute and render them, so the coach wastes PC power. LODs are a trick that involves building several simpler models of the same 3D coach that use fewer polys and which you instruct the simulator's engine to call up and draw the further away from the camera the model is. A 1,000 poly bogie coach viewed at 10m becomes a 500 poly model at 250m, a 100 poly model is rendered at 500m and over that the game can be instructed to display the most basic model, just a rectangular box; say 10 to 20 polys, because either your eye cannot see any detail at that distance and because by then, on your screen, the coach is just a blob of a few pixels.

 

The problem is not all 3D modellers know about or use LODs. They take a good bit of planning and extra work as well.

 

All sims are different. A flight sim aircraft such as a Spitfire for example can have many more polys, about 75,000 and these models look stunning, but the game engines can handle that because apart from up to a couple of dozen 3D planes there is not that much else for the computer to do other than calculate all the physics. Even smoke and cloud effects can be rendered very efficiently these days using volumetric algorithms and a ground texture, even one showing detailed trees and cities, can be extremely simple until you get down to very low altitudes, by using LOD models.

Edited December 27, 2018 by Martin S-C

[Annie]

Thank you very much for that excellent explanation Martin.

[Annie]

Possibly having too much fun.  Paul sent me five GWR De Glehn compounds altogether with 'La France' being in three livery variations in case you were wondering how there could be more than three.  I'm using the 'Scott' Atlantic tender with the De Glehns because I think it's the better representation of the tender than the one that comes with these digital models. At some stage I'll colour match a copy of the 'Scott' tender model to the De Glehns, but while I'm sorting out the locomotives' specs it will do. 

The locomotives themselves are nice though and while elements of their texturing are a bit dated with some small details not so finely modelled as they would be these days they do look the part.

I had been thinking about making some more GWR coaches, but then Steve Flanders made available a good many of his1870s and 1880s GWR coaches on his website and I only had to take one look at them to give up on any idea of making pre-grouping GWR coaches ever again.

 All snaps were taken on my WIP version of Valleyfields layout  (TS2012).  Hopefully they should all be in order.  (And hopefully that early TS2004 track will be going soon too!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passing Hopewood on Sea on the other side of the hedge.

 

 

Passing Bluebell Sands.

 

 

Bluebell Wharf and the Hopewood Tramway goods shed.

 

 

Bluebell Woods station.

 

 

And away from Bluebell Woods and onwards.

 

 

I think that should do.  Enough of abusing the history of the GCR-GWR Joint  by running a De Glehn Compound over GCR metals for one day.

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by Annie

[Martin S-C]

Hi Annie, any chance we could have a close up of the schooner and steam coaster moored at the dock please?

[Annie]

Not a problem Martin.