Tutorials -- Microsoft Train Simulator Materials

Please note: This tutorial was originally written for 3DCrafter 7. It has not been fully updated to reflect the changes made in 3DCrafter 9/8. An updated version will be made available in a future version of 3DCrafter.

Microsoft Train Simulator Materials

In this tutorial we will give an overview of the material requirements for Microsoft Train Simulator models.

Note that if you are using 3DCrafter Pro, the features of 3DCrafter Trainworks need to be enabled before you can export to a train simulator format. To enable the Trainworks features:

	Select Options... from the Tools menu.
	Click the Misc. tab.
	Check Enable Trainworks Features.
	Close and re-open 3DCrafter Pro.

This tutorial assumes familiarity with 3DCrafter and that the earlier train simulator tutorials have been completed.

In the previous tutorial we exported a model to Microsoft Train Simulator. We noted a few problems with the model. In particular, the windows were transparent not translucent.

In order to improve performance, Microsoft Train Simulator assumes that a translucent layer in a texture is transparent unless otherwise indicated. To indicate this in 3DCrafter we have to create a custom material called "Tx Alpha" and set it's value to Translucent for translucent textures and Transparent for transparent textures.

The first time the Train Simulator Wizard is run, it automatically creates the "Tx Alpha" custom material field. You can create this field manually via File -> Properties -> Custom Fields.

In addition to setting the "Tx Alpha" custom material field, you may also want to set an alpha priority via the "Alpha Pr" custom material field. Set this field to 1 if the texture is translucent and it will be possible to see out the other side of the model through another layer of translucency.

To make the glass of the windows look translucent rather than transparent, we will have to set the "Tx Alpha" field appropriately.

The first step in setting the "Tx Alpha" field is to sample the material at the location where the material needs to be translucent. Change the "Tx Alpha" custom material field on the Material Palette to Translucency to indicate that this material is translucent.

Note: if you are creating a model that has exterior glass and interior glass, the exterior glass should have the "Alpha Pr" field set to 1.

Now select the faces that you want to update. It is important that you only update the minimum necessary number of faces. If you select too many Train Simulator will run more slowly or even not be able to load your model. Run the Update Material plug-in to update the material.

A negative aspect of selecting a restricted number of faces is that occasionally gaps will be visible between the translucent and non-translucent faces. If this is a problem you can increase the translucent area to hide this.

You will not see any visible difference in the model in 3DCrafter by setting the "Tx Alpha" custom material field.

Repeat this procedure for the other parts that require translucency.

Run the Train Simulator Wizard to export your model. You will be able to simply click Finish since all of the other settings were saved the last time you exported.

The translucency on the model now looks correct in Train Simulator.

3DCrafter has many material settings available, but Train Simulator has a much more restricted ability to use materials. Many 3DCrafter materials are either not recognized by Train Simulator or are only supported in a limited way.

As a rule, materials look best in Train Simulator with an Ambient value of 20, and a Specular value of 1 or higher.

The Translucent and Diffuse values are not used at all by Train Simulator.

The Specular value indicates that a material is shiny. Any number higher than 0 is appropriate. But non-specular materials have another attribute. They are much brighter than specular items. In this picture, the left-bottom section of the cab uses a Specular value of 1. The right-top section a Specular value of 0. It is much brighter.

At night this is particularly obvious. Generally a Specular value of 1 or higher should be used for everything except for items that are to be self-illuminating at night.

A Specular value of 50 results in the material being visibly "shiny" in Train Simulator and 75 or higher results in the material being "very shiny" in Train Simulator. This visible shininess comes at the price of slower rendering. By default Train Simulator turns off specular highlighting, so in order to see any visible shininess, you need to enable Specular Lighting in Train Simulator's advanced display options.

Note that the use of the Specular value is restricted since Train Simulator averages it for all of the shapes in a group. So if you want to use a variety of Specular values be sure to group the shapes by Specular value.

The Ambient value is used to indicate that relative brightness. The standard value of 20 is shown on the wheel on the right. A value of 0 is shown on the wheel on the left. Notice that this is on the sunny side of the train. On the shaded side of the train there is no difference between the two.

The standard Ambient value of 20 is shown on the left. An Ambient value of 100 is shown on the right. Notice that this is on the shaded side of the train. On the sunny side there is no difference between the two.

At night there the difference is more pronounced. The left side is the using the standard Ambient value of 20. The right side is using an Ambient value of 100.

Note that the use of the Ambient value is restricted since Train Simulator averages it for all of the shapes in a group. So if you want to use the Ambient value be sure to have the shape located in its own group.

Train Simulator models must be entirely textured. This does not mean that simple colors cannot be used. To have the ability to use colors as well as textures, a single large texture can be created that combines a number of smaller textures and colors. The texture can then be cropped as it is applied to provide the desired texture or color.

3DCrafter permits virtually any texture size, but MSTS only permits textures that are 64x64, 128x128, 256x256 or 512x512 pixels.

You may use multiple textures per shape also if you wish, but Microsoft suggests using as few textures as possible in order to improve performance. Also, 3DCrafter requires a single texture per shape in order to automatically generate distance-based Levels of Detail. These Levels of Detail improve Train Simulator performance.

Much of your material painting will be done using the Paint Tool. The Fill operation can be quite useful for filling a selected group of faces with a material. If you are filling a subset of the faces with a material all three wrapping modes (flat, cylindrical and spherical), can be used. If you are filling the entire shape, only the flat wrap can be used or distortion will occur. The UnWrap and UVMap operations are particularly useful with models created for Microsoft Train Simulator because they allow for precise application of textures.

Translucency layers can be used with 3DCrafter Plus/Pro by using Targa (tga) files as textures.