Scaling models

[ahardy]

Hi all

Im unsure if this is the right place to post this but I am currently working on a little project and need a bit of guidence. I need to scale up some models from UTKS I can obviously do this with Shape File Manager. (Thanks Paul) but if I was to do this would I need permision from the authors of the models. I would also need to edit the REF file in the route so that the buildings come under a new class. I may also need to edit the filename but dont think so. All the buildings would only be approprtiate for this little route. What about the Kuju models as I would also want to scale them. Any Help would be appreciated.

Andy

[JohnKendrick]

If the changes to the models are for your own use only and they will not be included in a published route, only you will know about the changes!

If you intend to release the models in a route I guess there is no hard and fast rule. Some authors provide the model creator program files (ie TSM, GMax etc) to build alternative versions, if they give the OK in their documentation then I would guess all would be well to change them (or else why include the files).

Most authors request getting the OK to include their items for routes that will be released as freeware (but not all). If you have to contact an author about getting the OK to include it, an extra sentence about resizing/retexturing it wouldn't take much longer. If you do that you know what you are doing will be OK.

I think quite a few route builders have used SFM on the default objects. The EULA is not really clear as to whether it is OK or not to do that so really it would be at your own risk. Providing you do not intend to sell the changed default models I doubt if you would incur any problems, but really it is between you and the model owner (MS/Kuju), and the outcome would depend on the use you intend to make of them. My bet is that you wouldn't even get a reply, but..............

John

[mikesimpson]

Hi Andy,

If you resize one of the default items with SFM, say you want to increase the length of a bridge to fit nicely across a river. Then you are better off to change the name of the shape file, the .sd file, and the reference to the .s file which is within the .sd file.

e.g. change MyBridge.s to MyNewBridge.s etc

You will also have to add a new entry to the .ref file, just copy and paste the MyBridge entry and edit it as MyNewBridge.

Doing this you will then have both models available to use in your route, and you will not have any confusion later when you have two shapes with the same name, but different sizes.

[ahardy]

Cheers Guys! Im haveing a bit of fun. Im a miniture railway enthusiast and own a 5" gauage "Butch" tank engine. (Thanks Mum and Dad!) Its currently being worked on in time for next years running season. Due to this I wondered if it would be possible to make a miniture railway like the ones found in parks around the country. I have laid some track and have scaled up a few buildings by a factor of 3.3, thus giving the trains a rough gauage of 15 inches (I think). Looks ok, although I am going to have to make some coaches of my own when I get a bit better with 3D Canvas. Am working on some scenery now. Using really just default items plus a few extras from other places. Ill see what it looks like in the future!

Thanks again.

Andy

[JohnKendrick]

Have you downloaded the narrow guage track to run them on? I wouldn't recommend resizing the default track sections as you'd give yourself a bit of a headache!

There are the UKNG pieces available by Tim Bridge, but better would be the updated versions which are part of XTracks now which are textured more uniformly and fixes an odd error with some points.

Hopefully your end result will look quite interesting - are you building the track on a raised platform, or is it just a miniature guage running on the ground?

It is possible to resize locos and rolling stock with SFM too, but the files may need some manual adjustment for wobbly looking wheels!

John

[ahardy]

At the moment I am just experimenting running them on default track sections with the buildings scaled up. This means anyone wishing to see there loco on a miniture railway could just run it on the route. Im having a few problems at the moment as every time I wish to use a building, person, tree, I have to scale it up! If I knew how I would try and make some 15 inch gauge true scale track, but alas I dont have the skills Ill see what hapens with my little experiment in the future.

ANdy

[JohnKendrick]

Building new track sections is a fairly complex matter. Not impossible, but no way simple. If you were to give it a go you'd have to get them added to the standard tsection.dat file.

Xtracks contains the items you need. There are two downloads you would need. The shape files (about 3mb) and the textures and route builders instructions/utilities (about 18mb). You would then have several versions of narrow track sectons (approx 2ft & 3ft guage versions). I'm sure they would do.

Some have built narrow guage routes like you are doing - scaling up the objects. It's a long winded business but not as long as building objects from scratch in TSM or GMax etc.

If you want it to look like a garden railway, you would probably need to include some features that look full size to give it an element of scale, such as a green house and flower pots, and miniaturised trees along the track.

If you intend to include a lot of detail in a small area, scaling up would probably give a better looking route than building it very small due to the fact that terrain changes in height can only happen on an 8 metre grid - that's a pretty low resolution for standard guage, let alone track nearly one quarter of that. Scaling up would effectively make the terrain like a 2 metre grid and allow more subtle changes.

Probably best to give both methods a good try and see which works the best for what you want to do.

John