60 Ton Boxcab

[stationmaster101]

Alright decided to make a post to follow my progress on the 60 Ton Boxcab I plan to make freeware and so I could have a place to ask questions if I need to seeing as how this will be the first train I've built. (if this is in the wrong place feel free to move it to the right board)

I will be making this in several liveries including, Lehigh Valley, Erie, C.R.R of N.J, C.& N.W.R and the Ingersoll-Rand Demonstrator model.

[stationmaster101]

Here's an update, still need to add the brake system before i start on the other side and build the connecting bits

[stationmaster101]

And this is as far as I got before I realized I screwed a few things up, one being I used the wrong measurements so the model itself is the wrong scale, and I apparently used the wrong version of the program as the one I have is missing features that the Tutorial I was following had. So for now this means I have to completely restart from the ground up, which means it'll be a few more days until I can update this again.

[Chacal]

May I suggest you start with some expendable project, like a few simple shapes, and get them all the way in the game, textured and shaded and the correct size.

[jpetersjr]

Think the modeling looks great so far.

One of these would definitely be a welcome addition to the sim, awesome engine.

But Charcal is right, getting a locomotive, or a train car into the sim is no simple task, I'd suggest starting out with some basic scenery for starters, maybe model a simple house, or a garage.

Something small and basic, not so much the modeling part, but the getting it into the sim part.

[stationmaster101]

Think the modeling looks great so far.

One of these would definitely be a welcome addition to the sim, awesome engine.

But Charcal is right, getting a locomotive, or a train car into the sim is no simple task, I'd suggest starting out with some basic scenery for starters, maybe model a simple house, or a garage.

Something small and basic, not so much the modeling part, but the getting it into the sim part.

I'll have to search for a new program because I didn't realize I'd have to buy the $60 version of the program I was using in order to export files that I could use to import into railworks, so as of now this project is dead until I can find a different free program I can use since I don't have the budget to spend on buying a 3D program to use.

[BoostedFridge]

Blender is free.

https://www.blender.org/

[stationmaster101]

Blender is free.

https://www.blender.org/

Alright I can give it a try with blender, is there a tutorial I could use that is specifically for Blender? or do I have to try and take PapaXpress' tutorial and work with it in Blender?

[stationmaster101]

Nvm I found some tutorials for Blender, I'll get back to building the train tonight and post pictures sometime later

[Ryan93]

Be sure to keep an eye on your poly count now or you will have to re-model several objects later down the road.

For example, when you first create a cylinder in blender, the properties panel in the bottom left will have a box called vertices.
This usually defaults to 32 but that is almost always overkill. If you do not change that to a lower number when you first place the object, you won't be able to access that panel later on.

Just a quick tip so you don't complete 75% of your model only to find out just one of your trucks has 28,000 tris, lol.
I've added at least an extra 5 or more hours of work because I didn't even think about poly count in the beginning.

Be sure to stick with it, looks like you're off to a good start.

[stationmaster101]

Alright having a bit of trouble, I'm trying to place down a decal or something so I can use it as a scale in order to build the engine against the blueprints I have for it. But when I go into Object Mode the decal just vanishes from the plane I put it on, anyone know how I can fix this so in the Object Mode I can view the decal in order to position everything correctly?

[PapaXpress]

you can move components around in edit mode. its how I get around it.

[stationmaster101]

you can move components around in edit mode. its how I get around it.

Seams the only way i can view the decal is in the Texture Paint mode, every other mode it just appears as a white blank plane

[stationmaster101]

Here's what I got done with Blender, Also not to sure on if I'm grouping/naming the parts right or not since I don't know Blender's child/parent system.

[Chacal]

http://railworksamerica.com/index.php/l ... 2-modeling