Rod animation problem

Hi

It has been a few weeks since the last post. The Model is on it’s 3rd rebuild and is beginning to look a bit more acceptable. I still need to work harder on the textures and I intend replacing them as I go along. I am pleased with the 3d model itself. It is a representation more than accurate within the boundaries of looking at a few photoraphs and a line drawing. It appears each loco I look at is different in someway as some were modified in appearance by their operating owners.

I am also looking at making a 3d animated cab. I have not got a clue if this will work. What I want to do is to build up a mock up cab and texture it, take a screenshot photo of it and use it as a texture for the working model. Also I would like to animate the mock up cab to make a working cabview for the model. Does this sound far fetched or do you think it might work?.

cheers

Mick

Hi there,

The model seems to be coming along quite well. It looks Peckett-ish. Only I do have a problem. It seems that the more detail goes into the model the poorer the animator in 3DC works. To the point that by the time I had fitted the handrails the animator seems not to work at all.

thought I would run the chassis through the rod animator and I keep getting the same error. So I went to the original Engineer generated chassis and I still get the same error.

It says a type error. Is this a Typing error? or a file type error?

I don’t know what to do next.

With this in mind, I copied and pasted the model into another folder and deleted all objects above the running plate just to leave a chassis and the animator did not work much better.

Hi Mick – have you been through this thread?

[img:2hzjk5s6]http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=235andt=79817andp=955340andhilit=rod+animator#p955340[/img:2hzjk5s6]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=235andt=7981…rod+animator#p955340">http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic. … or#p955340</a><!– m –>

That ‘error’ usually only happens when you are animating an object with no rods attached and can be ignored.

Hi Paul,

many thanks for the link to the ukts post. The information looks usefull I am printing it off to study and compare with my model.

cheers

Mick

Hi Paul,

please don’t laugh too hard at my poor attampt to make a model.

I got the rod animator working again but still could not get it to animate inside 3DC. So I exported it to MSTS and had a look in shapeviewer. I have still got the animations wrong but more noticable is the size of the .s file I have generated. At 7mb, I think it is a bit too big. I did not delete any hidden faces and I colour textured it as I went along. The file size, I am am sure is the reason why it will not animate in 3DC. So I am now deleting hidden faces in an effort to reduce the size of the file.

I look forward to any suggestions you may have.

cheers

Mick

Hi there,

I have totally rebuilt the model with some parts from the first attempt and some new ones. I learned a new trick and that was to compact the file at the end of each session and it has produced a much smaller file. I am also getting use to the idea of creating a textures and making a texture map. Though I still have a long way to got to get to Paul’s standard I think.

So what I have got is a fully textured model, When I animate it inside 3DC it works lovely. I am trying to export it to MSTS and I am losing the rod animation each time. A big problem is that the Simulator Wizard is renaming some of my components and changeing their position in the hierarchy. I produce a model in shapeviewer that partially shows in white with the rods uncoupled and I then have to re-run the rod animator to re-animate the model in 3DC. I have looked through the tutorial for exporting to MSTS hoping to find an example of a good hierarchy layout which I can aim at.

I think I am missing something. Help please?

mickrik

Hi Mick,

Skip the parts identification – that is what is renaming and changing the animations.

The trick is to not use the train sim wizard <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>
I generally use it once to set up the folder in MSTS and produce a basic SD and ENG file. After that I always use the File/Export/TrainWorks/MSTS option.
(Select an object in the main group before exporting)
I always use AceIt for texture conversion.

Hi Paul,

Hmmmmmm……..thanks for the info. I will experiment with the assumption that if the model is working in 3dc, It should work if I export it manually.

I am determined to make this model work. <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

cheers

Mick

Hi Paul,

I had a problem similar to Mick’s, with the animation of a steam loco. I followed your instructions to him, but the animation didn’t work in MSTS, or so I thought. After watching the loco for a short while, I realized the rods and wheels were moving, but very slowly. I have Key Frames set at 16 and Frames Per Second at 8 in 3DC. The .s file reads: animation ( 16 30
Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Mike Adams

Mike – check the ENG file wheel radius – that controls the speed at which the animation is played.

(The animation line also needs changing to 16 60)

Hi there,

I managed to do an export as Paul suggested and it worked first time and runs in the sim also with the wheel rotation slow. I knew about the animation ratio line in the .s file from a previous model I had experimented on and also upped the ratio to 16:60.

Well if you look at the model I have made, it has a pretty naff texture file and I can see some obvious mistakes. I have been looking in some other loco folders done by other modelers. The approach some seem to take is to make separate texture files for different parts of the model other than using a texture map. I can see by my model that the resolution of the map sections is way too low. I used a 512 x 512 template and have used less than half of it.

One thing I have noticed is that the model is a lot brighter in the sim than in 3DC. So a question I ask is, Is there a way to view the textures in 3DC the same as they will show in the sim?.

Is it something to do with the lighting on the 3d template grid I am using.

The big thing is that I can see a working model with textures that is all of my own work with somen answered questions along the way.

Thankyou Paul.

From here I can go back and re-do certain aspects of the model and produce something I hope presentable for MSTS.

mick

Mick,

Does your loco glow at night?
If so then you will need to re-apply or update the materials with the specular value set to 1 (or about 50 if you want a shiny effect)

On the whole, the models should look similar in 3DC to MSTS.

The best thing you can do for efficiency is to keep the number of textures, groups and materials to an absolute minimum. Use one 1024×1024 texture in favour of 4 x 512×512

You’ll soon find out that good textures are about 75% of the modelling work!

You do get a great sense of achievment, driving your own creations.
The next model is always an improvement on the last and eventually you get the hang of it after 6-8 years <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

Hi Paul,

The animation on my loco works fine in MSTS now. Thank you very much.

Mike Adams