Incorrect gap between cars

Thanks !

I used the shift tool (I thought my problem could have to do with the 3DC hierarchy).
I had to deal with the fact that if the coordinates system is centered, one side is OK but not the other one (too large gap).
I would have preferred a way to change the coordinates system origin by entering a shift value.
With the shift tool, you make the change, go to MSTS to see how it looks then go back to 3DC to make adjustments. It’s a long process.

Now the distance between cars is the same on both sides but it is too large.
The door animation is shifted.

[b:3g9r37z4]I guess I’ll have to manually edit the MSTS eng file[/b:3g9r37z4] (cars are exported as engines as needed for doors (pantograph !) animation).

[b:3g9r37z4]Why the MSTS export tool is exporting a bigger car length than what can be seen in 3DC ? [/b:3g9r37z4]
(It’s too bad too that the MSTS export tool is not dealing with texture the same way 3DC does : after some file texture changes, I have to create some ACE files with tgatools2 as the plugin is not exporting them).

Hello,

Left image : 2 cars (one car is the other one flipped) =andgt; gap is not large enough
Right image : 2 identical cars =andgt; gap is too large

How to have a correct gap ?

The gap could be one of two things. It may be the car’s bounding box which is easy to correct in the wagon’s shape definition file or you may have to manually edit the car’s length parameter in the wagon file which is the size line, third figure in the parentheses which is the wagon’s Z length.

It may only take a slight adjustment to fix. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

To try and prevent problems like this from happening try and make sure your ‘main’ axis is in the middle of the entire overall Z length of the model prior to export, although sometimes in doing this you may still need to do s light adjustment post export.

It is actually the size parameter in the WAG file that determines the coupling length, the SD bounding box needs to be a bit smaller than the full size of the car.

what you show is definitely symptomatic of the main axis not being central you will need to shift the main axis (use Shift tool with the Ctrl key held down) slightly towards the end that couples too closely.