Railworks America

I've been thinking about the idea of doing a tutorial on creating a simple (very simple) engine in Blender 2.9, creating a texture in Paint.net, and exporting it to TS2021. It would be a very simple tutorial aimed at those who might want to try their hand at creating TS content in Blender. The end result would not be the engine so much as the steps it takes to create it and get it into the game. It would involve a very basic use of Blender and Paint.net.

Some here will remember when Rail Simulator was the new kid in town. If my memory serves me correctly, an update to it provided the Developer Docs and example content consisting of diesel, electric, and steam locos, and examples of scenery. audio, particles, etc. This content gave myself (and many others, I'm sure) a path to getting rolling stock, scenery, etc., into Rail Sim and was carried over to Rail Works and now TS20XX.

Among the Developer Docs was - 9.01 Create an Engine.pdf. This .pdf gave instructions on creating the geometry, textures. blueprints, and engine script for a simple engine and also getting the engine into the sim. The big down side to this was the use of 3ds Max to create the geometry and Adobe Photoshop to create the texture.

My tutorial would be roughly based on this .pdf, but would use Blender 2.90.1, BRIAGE 2.83, and Paint.net 4.2.14 - all free software. And, instead of text, I would do a number of videos, the first on how to install BRIAGE in Blender. Subsequent videos, would include creating the engine in Blender, creating the texture(.dds fromat) in Paint.net, creating the source folders in TS, using the Blueprint Editor to create the blueprints and export the .igs into the sim, and adding the engine into a route. I don't intend getting into the installation of Blender or Paint.net.

Is there any interest in such a tutorial? I'm not an expert at this, but would just like to pass along a little of what I've leaned, to someone who may not know how to get started.

Anything that has a creative side to it is very welcome by many in the community. Thanks for your offer, I look forward to it.

Sounds like a great idea.

Just what I need.

Thanks for the positive replies! Here's a test video, on installing BRIAGE. There's no audio and it's a little rough, so feedback would be welcome. I may try to add audio to the finished video(s). This video assumes you have Blender (2.8x and up) already installed.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rejowjjpp9iyj ... n.mp4?dl=0

I am hugely interested.
Years ago, I have followed the "Create an Engine" tutorial, using Blender and the exporter available at the time, and successfully got a primitive engine working in the game. So it is possible for sure.

Chacal wrote:I am hugely interested.
Years ago, I have followed the "Create an Engine" tutorial, using Blender and the exporter available at the time, and successfully got a primitive engine working in the game. So it is possible for sure.

Thanks for your interest! The one thing I want to stress, is that the tutorial would be about getting started with creating something in Blender and the steps necessary to get it into the sim. So, the engine would be very primitive - a box on wheels.

The initiative is more than welcome.

I understand your choice of videos vs. pdf files, yet my experience in transmitting technical information, is that textual and graphical presentation of complex concepts are an essential complement. Each medium has its advantages and drawbacks.

I have experience in producing tutorials, both professionally and here to the TS community, thus I would gladly offer my contribution to this promising project.

At any rate, best of luck in your endeavor ...

Bernard

I would love to see a tutorial using the new exporter for Blender. Consider that your first tutorial could be an object,or freight car. And then a more advanced one for a loco. I need custom objects for my route,and the lack of those has held off the route being finished. Either way,I am looking forward to your presentations.

I would just like to learn how to make child objects and stuff like that and I'd be a happy camper.

QcRail wrote:The initiative is more than welcome.

I understand your choice of videos vs. pdf files, yet my experience in transmitting technical information, is that textual and graphical presentation of complex concepts are an essential complement. Each medium has its advantages and drawbacks.

I have experience in producing tutorials, both professionally and here to the TS community, thus I would gladly offer my contribution to this promising project.

At any rate, best of luck in your endeavor ...

Bernard

I agree with you about the importance of a textual and graphical presentation and had already started doing screen captures of the original video of the test tutorial I've posted above. But, I realize I need to be more organized, so I'm listing what needs to be done and outlining it in a more organized fashion. So, the first tutorial will be redone and probably end up being the second tutorial. Thanks for the interest and kind offer! I may take you up on it.

RAILSOHIO wrote:I would love to see a tutorial using the new exporter for Blender. Consider that your first tutorial could be an object,or freight car. And then a more advanced one for a loco. I need custom objects for my route,and the lack of those has held off the route being finished. Either way,I am looking forward to your presentations.

Thanks for the interest! Trust me, this example loco will by no means be 'advanced'. It's a simple box on wheels. The difference between it and an example freight car would be the blueprint (engine vs. wagon), plus the simulation blueprint and engine script. The purpose of the tutorial is show the steps needed to successfully get an object into the sim. The engine is just a product of those steps. The tutorial will not cover items such as audio, particles ,and couplers. Just enough to get a 'box' moving on the rails under it's own power. Hopefully, it's a place to start.

buzz456 wrote:I would just like to learn how to make child objects and stuff like that and I'd be a happy camper.

Child objects are touched on in the creation of the bogies and wheels, so hopefully it will give you a place to start. Thanks for the interest!

Behold, my SimpleEngine, in all its glory.

i for one use blender to make basic objects like tunnels, traffic lights, street lights, buildings. for me i use the Blender_2.6x_TS20xx_exporter_v1.4.7 add on to import blender model in to train simulator. i also use blender 2.79. but tutorial would be good idea for BRIAGE add on to ts2021. would signals be on list of tutorials that if you got in to that area?