Well, I'm not going to tell you what exactly this surprise is! All you need to know is that it is a train for MSTS and Open Rails and in due time whenever I work it out part naming, animations etc, it will become available as a high poly model in Dovetail Games Train Simulator 2019!

This is the only hint about this surprise! As you can see that I am building it in Blender for all the harder parts that Train Sim Modeler cannot do "Well I have no idea how to do them". Please don't ask when I will distribute this model

I thought someone would have guessed by now!!! There are still some things that needs to be fix and added, I will get back to it later on tomorrow

Nice work there Phil.

How are you finding Blender?

Nice work there Phil.

How are you finding Blender?

Cheers, Marek

I am finding Blender terrific mate! I watched a 20 part series on Youtube on 3d modelling a car and that helped me finished off this cab part in Blender! Which is now finished, however I may need to split the entire cab part as you can see some issues "Attached image below" and begin modelling the main body "Outer shell" and then "Inner shell" and interior and so on or I could finish the model off easily in TSM

The only thing I haven't really learnt in Blender is animations, using the curving tool for modelling hoses etc and trying to get the XYZ axis to move along a part to allow better animations of pantographs and mirrors "I will get there"!

Anyway's, this is the final cab product for now! Just finished it off this morning and it was giving me a lot of trouble while using the boolean for the light area on the bottom "Left" but I worked around it by added loop cuts on the bottom area which seems to solve the issue I was having. But I will keep everyone updated until this model is completed

Hoses are easy. Here's a 2 minute tutorial on one way of doing it.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn_Hn2je4uo

I've only lightly dabbled in animation but will look into it further when I need to.

Have you seen the Robot Dog Animation tutorials by tutor4u? Pantographs and robot dog legs appear to have a lot in common.

Cheers,

Marek.

That damn Robot voice! Drives me mad watching tutorials It's even creaper when watching mysteries on Youtube! HA HA
I try to advoid videos with that robot voice, the last time I watched a video regarding mysteries of Australia it was a nightmare listening to the female robot voice

Interesting, I have to look that up! I never thought animal animations would be equial for pantograph animations! But it makes sense, thanks for letting me know mate

In my opinion regarding Blender 2.8 when it's released! I don't think I will update it unless I know that they are fixing a few issues such as the boolean as well as sinking in faces and a lot more that Blender needs fixed "I haven't worked out those yet"

Sometimes when I've used the Boolean, faces seems to "Bleed" over the boolean area and cuts are created automatically on some faces after using boolean pretty much how I was having some issues with the bottom section of this model including the faces doesn't look straight pretty much if your building a roof for a house you'd noticed that the roof doesn't look good it seems to sink inwards that's also the issue I had until I added loop cuts at the bottom solved the issue but when smoothing the model it doesn't look good so I just turn on the auto smooth function allowing the simulator to correct or control smoothing if exported from Blender or I may export it from Train Sim Modeler, this will allow me to easily texture the model and add animations and of course split it, until I get used to using Blender more and more but I will never give up on using TSM still comes in handy!!!

Sorry if that all sounds confusing, but if you were to build a simple roof for a house and used the boolean onto any one of the 4 corner faces as a chimney you will see the isses that I believe that needs seriously fixed in Blender so I do hope that those issues do get fixed for Blender 2.8, but if nothing's changed I will just stay with Blender 2.79b

Well, this isn't a good start! I have successfully imported my model into Train Sim Modeler, only to find out this model is now screwed The only option I have now is using the cab part made in Blender as a guide to help model it in Train Sim Modeler, not exactly what I was hoping for since it's going to delay the project but luckily I have time on my hands!!! But at least with 3DC I can import back into Blender if needed for exporting into TS2019 I just hope this doesn't happen again!!!

I find it's not uncommon to loose smoothing groups, non-welded vertices, flipped normals, rotated and/or mirrored geometry when porting meshes between modelling applications. More so when you use .3DS. You should have less issues if you use OBJ between 3DC and Blender.

I find it's not uncommon to loose smoothing groups, non-welded vertices, flipped normals, rotated and/or mirrored geometry when porting meshes between modelling applications. More so when you use .3DS. You should have less issues if you use OBJ between 3DC and Blender.

Thanks for the heads up, Marek! The only issue is that 3DC will only allow me to export into 3ds, Direct X (x), Pov, Rib and the Train Simulator formats

I do have the 3DC open source plugins installed, but 3DC will not read them, I've even checked the Import/Export Plugins list and the plugins are ot available in the list to turn them on! I also contacted Abamilis software telling them that the plugins are not working and they are quite rude and never responded - I would hate to buy the 3DC Pro version only to find out that the plugins won't work in the Pro version, it would be a waste of money since the plugins clearly don't work in the free version of 3DC and surely they will not work in the Pro version

Anyway, if the open source plugins would work in 3DC I would be loading my TSM models into 3DC and exporting them as FBX instead of OBJ format! Only because I think FBX format is heaps better than OBJ... Sorry to the OBJ format fans!!!! And of course I'd load up my models in Blender for more detailing

I think I was too excited to make this thread far too early, because I have ran into some issues that I just don't know how to fix! Yet in Blender. Obviously after I used the boolean and knife tool to make the cuttings for the lights, wiper, buffer, MU and connectors areas there are folds on the faces where I just don't want it to be and I have tried added segments to help reduce it but it's not looking right after I apply the smooth

I think I will have to start all over again, the only good thing that turns out right is the boolean cut outs for the MU's and connectors, but as for the other cuttings into the model it has screwed this project from the start because of the folds on some faces

I will give it another shot in 3ds Max to see if I get the same results, if successful I will finish the model in 3ds Max! Don't worry, the model will still be freeware for both MSTS and DTG TS2019 If however, I do get the same results I will try to fix it in Google Sketchup, as I could simply draw over the folded faces it's a neat little trick! That could turn out ugly!

If successful, will you be converting more of your modules?

If successful, will you be converting more of your modules?

Absolutely! I couldn't let all my MSTS stuff go to waste However, I will need to make a lot of fix up's for my Cityrail H set, Hunter Railcar and 86 Class which I am currectly working on the remodelling stage for my 86 class electric locomotive's all road numbers will be included in DTG TS2019 including liveries Yes, they'll be free And I will include 8650 in the Freight Corp/Rail and Candy liveries

I will post a screenshot of my newly fixed 86 Class Electric Locomotive shortly, I am at the stage of modelling a new roof, adding details and making other fixes here and there. I've already giving this beast a new pantograph which I modelled for my NSW 85 Class Electric Locomotive Now, I will not be talking about my 85 Class project! I'm not saying that I've scrapped it, I'm saying that I will not talk about it for now.... As for the new 86 Class models, they will override my original MSTS models

I was unsuccessful working with 3ds Max to 3d model the cab part for the Cityrail C set I have no issues 3d modelling the body, interior, bogies, wheels, couplers and other parts all except that damn cab! I am thinking that I posted this thread too early because this cab is giving me so much trouble to 3d model

I will separate some parts off the cab to see it that works, if not I will start over until I succeed! If I don't well I have no choice to scrap the Cityrail C Set "Not that I really want to"!

What's the problem with the 3D cab?

What's the problem with the 3D cab?

The Cityrail C set cab keeps folding or adding a crease to faces once smooth shading is turned on from the toolbox menu, I tried using the subdivision surface modifier but it over sizes the polygon requirements allowed for MSTS and DTG TS2019 to handle and I've tried using the smooth modifier which wasn't helpful

After spending the entire night looking to see what I've done wrong to the cab, I must admit it!
First thing I shouldn't have done is created a border on the left and right sides with loop-cuts, the second thing is that I should have correctly aligned all vertices to where they should meet other vertices, the third thing I should have done is separate some faces from the cab where needed

As I'm still learning Blender, there's just a lot one can forget easily! After realizing all my mistakes I made within the cab I can use that as some sort of reference to make sure that further mistakes can be managed to a minimum I know that there is a way to fix or reduce folds and creases on the faces in Blender, but that didn't help!

Anyway, I'm not giving up as I still want a C set for MSTS and now for DTG TS2019 but sadly no Aussie routes are available for DTG TS2019 yet which I wouldn't have the time or patience for route building, I gave MSTS route building a try and failed numerous of times and all my route projects remain unfinished on my hard drive, I did have 80% of the track fixed on my North Coast route for MSTS until I killed my Windows 7 laptop drive by a bump which cracked the glass disk inside the hard drive so I gave up since then, lets say I didn't know that the hard drive disk was made out of glass!