scale

[jow104]

when looking at brick and blockwork in MSTS the scale is not very convincing on buildings.
What do other train sim players get when creating there own buildings using paint programs as regards scale.
Does anybody achieve on a 24ft. stretch 32 bricks and on a 1ft height 4 courses of bricks.
If so which paint program are you using?

john engine mad.

[CaldRail]

You can scale things as much as you like. Trouble is, if you want super fine correct scale you're going to need an truly enormous texture - sorry, thats a bad move. I wish people would realise you cannot get a photographic reproduction with 3d modelling in MSTS (unless you own a Cray supercomputer) . The trick is to try and make it look as if you have. I'm not particularly good at this so I tend to manipulate the default Kuju textures. As I've said before, and I'll continue to say it, true full 3d (and texture) detail is NOT always desirable. Face it - most of the time that detail simply isn't visible.

[trackdancer]

Scaling and drawing bricks is really easy. Here are the steps:

1]. Build the basic model first.

2]. Get a screen shot of each elevation of the building (or if you are using TSM, there is a "Create Texture Template" function that does this for you.

3]. Open up your paint program and transfer the relevant part(s) of the s/s or TSM template to your texture, Try and squeeze as much as possible to a single 512x512 texture. Make sure you retain the same scale ratio for each side of the building that needs brickwork.

4]. You should know how high your building is so with a little bit of math you should be able to figure out how many rows of bricks you need. Now draw a single row of bricks. Just use cut and paste to fill in the rest of the textures that needs the brickwork.

5]. You're done. Note that there is no sense being absolutely accurate, just "close enough" will be good enough. You can get really fancy with the texture qualities of brickwork so have fun with it.

<b>Tip:</b> The really EASY and EFFECTIVE way to make brickwork is to use a picture of a brick wall, scale this and apply it to your texture.

[qzdcg8]

If you've got a REALLY big surface to cover which is basically repeatable, use the Tiling feature in TSM - I got the whole Piccadilly Station wall out of a repeated brick wall texture. Now I know it doesn;t look good at the momeent but I am currently working on that texture to put the windows and repeating brickwork features in - all on a 256x256 repeatable texture for 200'ish yards worth of wall.

[CaldRail]

Could I add that I would NEVER use a photograph to texture a surface without some retouching work. Photographs are rarely square on, and have lighting details that can look distinctly odd. So to be positive...

1 - Change the size of your photo image to something smaller and usually smaller than your intended texture.

2 - Choose an area of your photograph as the base texture. This might be quite small but that isn't a problem. Copy the area and paste as a new image (you won't need to save it). If its blocks or bricks, try to line up the area so that it will tile neatly.

3 - Use your paint package (I use PSP7) to paint the background using your temporary image. Use a tiling rather than stretch option.

4 - Go back to the photograph. Choose one window, the one that looks distorted the least. If necessary rotate the image to get it lined up. PSP7 can rotate in tenths of a degree. Copy the window. Go back to your texture and paste the window wherever you want it on a NEW layer. This is so so important and saves headaches later. You can paste more windows in place on this layer if you want. Take time out to line your windows up.

5 - Repeat the procedure for doors. Remember to paste on a new layer if you think you need to.

6 - Repeat the procedure for details such as drainpipes, decorative stonework, etc.

7 - Roofs? Don't waste your time trying to get a texture from a photograph. Perspective means the image will look wrong. I ALWAYS use a Kuju texture as the basis of a roof.

8 - Create a new layer. On this layer you will draw shadows. Beneath the roof, under window sills etc. use a very dark colour but don't worry about the contrast. Soft images rather than hard lines usually look better, but trust your judgement. When you're satisfied the shadows are drawn in the right place, use the layer controls to reduce the transparency of this layer. There's no hard and fast rule as to what looks right, you'll simply need to see what works for you.

9 - Happy? If not go back and change what you don't like. When you're done save this image as another file and then merge the layers.

10 - Use copies of your saved image to draw snow or night textures.

11 - Create your ACE files. Done.

Now thats a little simplified but basically thats what I do to use a photo as a texture. Now take a look at this screenshot. I used these techniques to produce this model taken from work in progress at the Highworth Branch.

[trackdancer]

Very nice ...

[Horgy]

Sorry to bump this up (well actually, i'm not, so there )

But i'm having trouble with this tiling lark. Obviously I want to use my texture to the best efficiency and minmise white space. I've got a 512x512 texture for the Platform (it will have other bits as well) and have got the platform top section on it so far. When I want to tile this along the polygon though, it shows the white as well, and does not tile just the selected area of the texture. Any ideas?

Horgy

[ianmacmillan]

A good way to get brick and stone textures is to scan in some model brickpapers or printed cardboard kits.

[Horgy]

I have the texture sorted ok, but its the white bits that erk me off

Horgy

[scefhwil]

I have the texture sorted ok, but its the white bits that erk me off

Horgy

You can't tile part of a texture file. TSM will always use the full width (or height) of the texture file. So try placing the platform texture in a 256x256 file all on it's own.