Need ShapeViewer/FreightAnim help

OK.. i have found the cause… it’s that damn bumpmap that i never used on any of my objects…
Inside the shape i have this pretty texture <!– s:D –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!– s:D –> image ( 3DC 6.6.ace )

Now i know which is the solution…

Just made a NG boxcar using 3DC and because of it’s 9924 Poly count I used FreightAnim. Problem is that I can’t get either .s file to display in Shape Viewer. Each time I try, SV gives an ‘Error 5 G�� invalid procedure call or argument’-� message. Does anyone have any idea what that means? Paul?

My folder files are;
rbox4325.ace, rbox4325.s, rbox4325.sd, rbox4325.wag, and rbox4325_parts.s

The first part of the modified .wag file reads;
SIMISA@@@@@@@@@@JINX0D0t______

Wagon ( RBox4325
Type ( Freight )
WagonShape ( rbox4325.s )
FreightAnim ( rbox4325_parts.s 1 1)
Size ( 2.37744m 3.03648m 8.687422m )

which I am sure is correct.

Thanks in advance for any help, Bill

Bill,

Most likely a space in a texture name or group name. I’d need to see the S file.

With the latest 3DC, you do not need to worry about poly counts any more. It does the same job as shape fixer – poly counts of over 30,000 have been achieved with MSTS.

Paul.
Got it, it was a space in a group name. This program sure is picky isn’t it? <!– s:-) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:-) –>

Now that I have it in SV there is one more problem. The car appears sunken about half way into the roadbed. I tried to adjust it using SFM and the car was raised but the truss rods and air hoses stayed in place. The car and wheels were in the proper position but the truss rods and air hoses remained underground.

Also tried to adjust by selecting the main body part with the shift tool, and dragging while the control key was depressed, as described in Ian Morgan’s Wagon Tutorial, but could not find the main body part axes.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance, Bill

What you’ll need to do is open the model in 3DC and reposition the centre of the model.
To do this you will need to select something that is in the Main group not a sub-group. Select it with the Shift tool ( the square in a square in the right margin ) then while holding down the Control key, move the centre gizmo to the centre of your scene and about 6 inches (o.1524m)up. That should have the model very close to the right height.

wmalder,
Got it adjusted. Your post confirmed that I was using the right procedure so I went back and tried some more. I still could not find the axis (gizmo) so I placed a temporary cube in main, repositioned it’s axes, and then deleted it.

Now another problem has cropped up. All four wheels rotate about a point Aprox 30′ out from one end whil in SV, with all four maintaining a horizontal alignment and passing through their normal position. Sort of like a side rod on a locomotive. I can’t figure out what caused this because rotation was normal when I first checked it when the car was in it’s sunken position.

Man, I sure hope I master this stuff before I die of old age. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

Thanks for the help, Bill

When I saw that type of behaviour I tended to find that I had the hierarchy out of whack somewhere. Are your wheels defined as a group Wheelsxx where xx is the number of the bogie and axle? Are those groups set up as sub-groups of group Bogiex? I’m not saying these are wrong but they’re just suggestions to look at when you see what you’re seeing. If the problem persists perhaps you can post the actual hierarchy you’re using.

wmalder. Checked the hierarchy and I think it should work. The two shoes and the board are out of their groups to enable me to select the entire hierarchys.

Try the ShiftGroupsandAnimations script I wrote.

MSTS requires the model origin to be 0.05m below the rail top (KRS is at the rail top)

Make sure only the wheel groups are under the bogies.
The position of the wheel group itself should be on the rotational axis of the wheel.

Also, once you are happy with an objects position, drag the object out of all the groups into the main group.
Fewer groups makes the model more efficient.

In the example below, the brown objects at the bogie level are part of the bogie.

The bogie group should be centered around the vertical rotational point of the axis (usually the centre) and usually about half way up the bogie model.

Run the train sim engineer plugin and take a look at where it places all the group axes.

Got it working. The wheel sets axes were out of place (don’t know why) so I repositioned them and everything looks good in SV That came to me in the middle of the night and I could hardly sleep afterwards because I was so anxious to try it. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

Paul – Didn’t know about the script so moved the axes ‘the old fashioned way’. Will play with it tonight as it sounds like something I can use.

Thanks for the help, Billl

Hello <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

After 1 month and half of full immersion into RS, now I’m tired of all the glitches it has so i’m reverting back to my route into MSTS <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>
I have exported one of my old bridge as test and as bpratt i have the SV ‘Error 5 G�� invalid procedure call or argument’-� message

[BLOCKQUOTE class=’ip-ubbcode-quote’][div class=’ip-ubbcode-quote-title’]quote:[/div][div class=’ip-ubbcode-quote-content’] Most likely a space in a texture name or group name. I’d need to see the S file. [/div][/BLOCKQUOTE]Groups and texture havn’t spaces… and the shape isn’t working into MSTS too. The shape is the same from 3DC 6.6.5.16 and for RS I have done a new dir with a copy of the file.

UPDATE: i have done a test with the old .s and .sd of my backup copy.

If i use the .s from 3DC 7.1.2.0 with the .sd done with the 6.6.5.16 i have no problem into SV or MSTS.
Into the .sd there is only a difference.. ESD_Bounding_Box instead of a list of ESD_Complex