Key West Enginehouse

[RonMays]

Any interest in an old time wooden 2 bay enginehouse? I made this for the Key West Extension I am building. Modeled using TSM, with a combination of textures by Ron Picardi and myself.

The smokestack is a separate model, and is a scaled down, re-textured version of the very large one used many places on the SeaView Route. This stack has animated smoke that is simple in design but quite realistic looking on the route.

I did not detail the interior because I am going to park two static FEC light mountain steamers in the bays. The windows are nearly transparent. The concrete pad is ramped at the ends to blend in better with the terrtex textures.

This is one of about 30 structures I have built so far for the Railroad That Went to Sea, and I believe there will be over 100 if and when I ever get done.

If you have an appetite for circa 1910-1935 railroad structures speak up and I will post some shots of the others.

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/115504.jpg

[GreatNortherner]

YES!!!

Ron, this one looks simply beautiful! Please show us more of the other structures! Early 20th century models are still badly lacking in MSTS.

Also, Ron, if you were to upload your model(s?) individually, I think you would make many people around here very, very happy! :-)

Thanks for your efforts! Looking forward to the Keys Railroad!

Michael

[SCL-A-Line]

Ron That looks Sweet :) early era buildings are lacking, post what you got, this is beautiful

[RonMays]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I just uploaded the enginehouse to the library so it should show up tomorrow or Saturday. Enjoy.

Here are some other samples of structures and some simple items too. In order, they are - HQ at Marathon, Warehouse, Waiting Shelter at Key West, light trestle (low poly), Freshwater tank, Marathon weather tower, two-sided bench, crosstie bumper, and hotel at Marathon

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/115549.jpg


http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/115550.jpg


http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/115551.jpg


http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/115552.jpg


http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/115553.jpg


http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/115554.jpg


http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/115555.jpg


http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/115556.jpg





http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/up1/115558.jpg

[SCL-A-Line]

really really interested in that trestle :)

[RonMays]

>YES!!!
>
>Ron, this one looks simply beautiful! Please show us more of
>the other structures! Early 20th century models are still
>badly lacking in MSTS.
>
>Also, Ron, if you were to upload your model(s?) individually,
>I think you would make many people around here very, very
>happy! :-)
>
>Thanks for your efforts! Looking forward to the Keys
>Railroad!
>
>Michael

Michael

Thanks for the kind words. You are obviously no slouch either. I just took a good look at your uplad and they are terrific. Are you modeling in TSM or 3DC?

[RonMays]

>really really interested in that trestle :)

Jason

Check your email

[SCL-A-Line]

which e-mail? try jason.prime65334@gmail.com

i didnt get anything but i will check

[Noisemaker]

Nice work indeed Ron. :) Do any of these structures have Night Textures as well? I'd bet that hotel would look pretty by the waterfront in the moonlight regardless. ;)

Great work!

[RonMays]

Sorry, I have not made any night textures yet

[rpicardi1]

If windows are pasted on polys, you can set the Materials to SolidHalfBright on those polys and do away with the need for a night texture. Similar trick can be used for a lighted porch.

SRV Ron

[RonMays]

Ron, you had given me this tip a long time ago and I have put it to good use on many structures. In this particular case, the window is part of the wall texture and is translucent. With an open building like this one, with open doors and see-through windows I don't know how to do an effective night lighting design.

I would certainly like to learn if anyone has any tips.

[rpicardi1]

Do the inside walls, floor, furniture, and ceiling with the SolidhalfBright. That will solve the problem as you will have lighted interior showing through the windows and open doors.

You may need creative use of polys to create light and shadow effects outside doors on unlit porches, or simulate lighting on the exterior.

The problem with night textures, besides having to use twice as many textures, is that they snap into place all at once, you don't get the interior lighting on late morning or evening, and buildings with night texture won't illuminate properly with train headlights.

Hopefully, the new sims would provide for using light sources other then the engine light which would make street and porch lighting much easier to emulate.

SRV Ron

[RonMays]

Thanks Ron. I'll try that and post the result

[Hack]

Ron,

Provided your object has a sorted hierarchy (alphas need not be present), you could use the ESD_SubObj ( ) in the SD file. The object would require a separate texture for the item to be illuminated, and that object must be the first child in the main object's hierarchy. Not only do you get night lighting effects needed, you don't need a separate set of textures in the NIGHT folder. As an added bonus, the object will be illuminated by the locomotive's headlight. The light object MUST be the first child of the main object - other items, whether sorted or not, have no effect on the ESD_SubObj parameter, and will always be viewable (unless hidden by alpha).

The only drawback is that by having a hierarchy, dynamic shadows won't work. You could, however, create a separate model to be used as a shadow object, and then have a single texture with an alpha channel so that it's not viewable (except the shadow itself). Sure it adds to the tile object count, but the shadow object can be very basic and low poly (basically a cube, if you like), and would probably only be needed for a few items close to the tracks.

The scene below consists of a single house "block" module. Houses are used for the main, with the lights, trees and other tid bits as child objects. Total number of textures is around 20 (not counting SNOW or other seasons if needed). It does take some careful planning, but the results are worth the effort IMHO. :)

http://www.3dtrains.com/screens/chey01.jpg

Cheers!
Marc - 3DTrains
http://www.3dtrains.com

[link:www.3dtrains.com/products/index.shtml|http://www.3dtrains.com/images/pro_funit_atsfmain.jpg]

Pro Series v4.0 SuperPacks

[RonMays]

Thanks Marc, I'll give this a try. Clearly I still have a lot to learn

[SCL-A-Line]

You and me both, if we kept up with all the revolutionary stuff that Marc, SRVRon, and the rest have done man oh man i do not know what would happen.

I may try this trick on the A Line after a bit, i want to get the track laid and scenery finished, then i can release and update after that, but by then the other rail sims would be out, but i want to finish the one for msts 1 first and then work on the new sim