Tangara Progress

I spent a fair bit of time this weekend moving verticies around. Tiny changes, sometimes just moving a point only a couple of millimeters. Ive been working mainly on the cab. I moved the side windows slightly, and cut out the holes for the front windows. I also cut out the panels below the windshield, and covered them over. This will allow me to texture them easier later.

I also spent a fair bit of time playing with Textures. I have been trying to create a texture set for the Buffer Stop that looks realistic, but although Ive been using graphics packages for years, Ive never really done a lot with layers and things like multiplying and subtracting layers. Im learning as I go. For the Buffer, I wanted to create a layer for the wood grain, and then put a layer over the top of that for the white paint, so that you can see the grain under the paint, as you can in the real world. I have also been playing with Specular Maps as I think they will help me achieve the effect that I am after, though I am not sure yet if Trainz supports them. I guess I should keep it simple, but if I simply texture it with a white paint job, it looks too flat, and kind of like it hasnt been textured at all (Trainz renders an untextured surface as white). I'll keep experimenting. It took a bit of time away from the Tangara, but you want me to get the Tangara textures right, dont you? This trial and error will help me in the longer term, and by the time I am ready to texture the Tangara, I will have already learnt a lot about texturing.

Part of my testing of the Buffer textures required me to load it up and see how Trainz rendered it. I created a config file (remembering to make it a signal) and exported the mesh and textures, and then used CMP to import it into Trainz. I set up a test track, with a few Sydney trains on it (Mainly the S and M sets, but also 81, 48, and 73 class locos) and placed a Buffer at either end.

At first it was a little small. I did the math again, and it seemed right, so I just visually scaled it until it fit on the track. Perhaps my memory of Sydney track gauge isnt what I thought it was. After scaling, I exported it again, and it looked great. Then it was time to play with the textures. I set up a layered image in Gimp (like Photoshop, but open source) and experimented. I found that when Trainz rendered the texture, it always looked a lot lighter than in Gimp - to the point that in my initial tests, you could not see the wood grain at all. A bit more experimenting and it looked ok, but not good enough for me to post a screen shot. I'll keep playing with it periodically until Im happy, and then I will build the second variation (style) that I am thinking of.

I should do a bit more on the S Set Cab. Hopefully I have some research material arriving soon, and I want to be ready for it. Speaking of research, I discovered today that the ARHS (Australian Railyway Historical Society) Research Center is just a few blocks from my house - no more than 10 minutes walk from here, so that will be very handy. I will have to check it out next weekend. Who knows what new projects I might find there to suck up even more of my time :)

Current poly count on the Tangara: 850