Auto Paint miles of ROW in seconds...

[scottb613]

Hi Folks,


RE: [F2] [Load] [Texture] - Select Brush and Size.

Now I get it !!!

For a long time I've been asking Goku to give us the ability to paint ROW faster - as the only way I knew how to do it was [ctrl][click] on each and every track piece... When it was brought up and discussed - several people kept mentioning - no - just paint between track nodes - in my infinite wisdom - I thought they meant to just continue what I was doing and to [ctrl][click] on each and every track piece - as it was fast enough... Pretty tedious even though it's certainly light years better than using Mosaic to perform the task...

DOH - what a difference a day makes...

Now imagine my surprise - when I accidentally [right clicked] near some track and this new little window popped up [Auto Paint] - - - hmm - - - wonder what that would do ?? Low and behold the last choice on the list is track nodes - - - and as soon as I clicked on it - my ROW texture magically materialized underneath the track for as far as the eye can see... Holy crap - this isn't your Dad's old Route Editor !!!

Goku - you're a bloody genius - thank you so very much for this amazing feature... I'll never drive a train on a route with an unpainted ROW again... So simple a caveman could do it... Woohoo !!!


Auto Paint.jpg


Regards,
Scott

[NW 2156]

Scott, Very interesting discovery. I was wondering if such a utility existed in TSRE5.

Is there any way to draw a grid or box to do perfect texturing under buildings? A way to restrict the brushes to a confined space in order to make perfect squares or rectangles like a transfer file for texturing under buildings would be a God send. The idea could work for circles and triangles. etc.

Robert

[scottb613]

Auto Paint miles of ROW in seconds...

Hi Robert,

I forgot to mention the menu in question comes up with a [rigjt click] on the mouse...

Yep - buildings are covered and works fine... Just use the “selected object” option...

Doesn’t work on “transfers” unfortunately - the route I’m working on has a tone of those and I’m painting crop textures in the mesh instead...

I have a hard time with straight lines - myself - I’ve tried the ruler but it’s still less than ideal...

Regards,
Scott



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[NW 2156]

Interesting Scott. I do hope these features are developed further.

Robert

[scottb613]

Interesting Scott. I do hope these features are developed further.

Robert

Hi Robert,

I do as well - the freedom to paint the mesh opens so many doors to add some real pop to routes... LOL - I still chuckle every time I see my ROW texture appear for as far as the eye can see - on a single mouse click...

Regards,
Scott

[Vince]

Auto_paint Output Ace File Size.

I've tried this. Works very well once I got the width set right.

Thing is it generates a lot of new terrtex ace files, several hundred just doing some local work around Lewistown Pa. maybe 8 miles of track row painted as a test. These 285 new ace files were all 771 KB.

Unfortunately using any version of Route_Riter so far I have been unable to do a global DXT1 compress these new ace files and I spent many hours yesterday getting maybe half of them done manually, one at a time. Pain . . .Route size is probably a factor.

I have tried splitting the terrtex folder but no joy.
The method that worked so well compressing the terrtex on Austin Yoder's Horseshoe Curve route does not work.

I have put a request in at Goku's new site asking if it were possible to have the TSRE user select a compression type (24bit, ZLIB, or DXT1) used for the Auto-Paint output ace files.

Manual compression gets the 771KB files down to 140KB, a big saving that I do need for the route for distribution.

regards,

[scottb613]

I've tried this. Works very well once I got the width set right.

Hi Vince...

Hah - come now - 771K - mere child's play - my 1024x1024 ACE's are coming in at 3MB a piece...


I could swear I saw someone on Elvas post about using 4096x4096 - I could be mistaken...

As you mentioned previously - this may become problematic... If it's just space - disks are cheap - we'll see... Figuring on quadrupling the route size with custom Terrtex... I have no plans on tackling anything on the scale of your epic routes - we'll see how it goes...

Anyone tried converting to DDS files for this purpose - will they work in ORTS ?

Yeah - I'm actually painting two tone row - a dirt base - then the ballast - size 30 then 22 respectively - looks pretty darn good...

Regards,
Scott

[Vince]

Hi Scott,

I'm concerned about the distribution download size only.

regards,

[oliver2]

I've tried this. Works very well once I got the width set right.

Thing is it generates a lot of new terrtex ace files, several hundred just doing some local work around Lewistown Pa. maybe 8 miles of track row painted as a test. These 285 new ace files were all 771 KB.

Unfortunately using any version of Route_Riter so far I have been unable to do a global DXT1 compress these new ace files and I spent many hours yesterday getting maybe half of them done manually, one at a time. Pain . . .Route size is probably a factor.

I have tried splitting the terrtex folder but no joy.
The method that worked so well compressing the terrtex on Austin Yoder's Horseshoe Curve route does not work.

I have put a request in at Goku's new site asking if it were possible to have the TSRE user select a compression type (24bit, ZLIB, or DXT1) used for the Auto-Paint output ace files.

Manual compression gets the 771KB files down to 140KB, a big saving that I do need for the route for distribution.

regards,

Hi Vince,
Check the tips&tricks thread, where I wrote down a solution for batch compressing the painted terrtex files.

[scottb613]

Hi Scott,

I'm concerned about the distribution download size only.

regards,

Hi Vince,

Understood - was just joking with you...


Regards,
Scott

[peacockg]

Hi Scott
You have got me interested in this Auto Paint ROW function.
I see from your image that you have a grey texture under the rails, and between the sleepers (are they ties in the US?). What texture are you painting there?
Before you painted the texture did the track have a texture or did the ground texture show through?
Also what does it look like in Snow?
Garry

[scottb613]

Hi Garry,

Sorry - the image I posted was just a how to on the "before" - I didn't show the after...


The ballast Paul chose for his route appears to be a river rock - so I tried to match it's look - makes a big difference...


Since it's so easy to paint - I use a two texture ROW - dirt first at size 30 first - then ballast at size 22 on top...

It's all trial and error - adjusting to your personal taste - it's super simple to try textures - then replace of you don't like it... Find something you like before doing large chunks... You want "seamless" textures so they blend together without edges... Just search for "seamless dirt texture" or "seamless gravel texture" there's plenty out there for free... You may need to adjust for scale in an image editor - as the stones for ballast need to be miniscule to work with these resolutions... I'm using 1024x1024 textures to paint with and I'm applying them to my base 1024x1024 Terrtex tiles... The images you paint with assume the resolution of the underlying Terrtex texture...



Here's the after shots...


Regards,
Scott

[scottb613]

Hi Scott
You have got me interested in this Auto Paint ROW function.
I see from your image that you have a grey texture under the rails, and between the sleepers (are they ties in the US?). What texture are you painting there?
Before you painted the texture did the track have a texture or did the ground texture show through?
Also what does it look like in Snow?
Garry

Hi Garry,


A close up for good measure...


Regards,
Scott

[peacockg]

Wow Scott. Absolutely amazing!!
I will say that it depresses me a bit. My artistic skills are at the level of a 4 year old, so I find "painting" a bit daunting.
I will do a search for some textures and see how I get on.

I love the rock face on the right in Ballast2.

Garry

[scottb613]

Auto Paint miles of ROW in seconds...

Hi Garry,

Bah - it’s super easy - it’s actually kind of fun - give it a shot - it’s so worth it - really - not much skill required... The results are immediate and can be quite dramatic... The rock face on the cliffs took all of 60 seconds - pick a texture you like and spray away... The rock texture is just a “seamless rock texture” I found online - unedited - drop it on AceIt to convert to an ACE - then place the ACE in your Terrtex directory... I preface all my custom textures with my initials so they are all grouped together and easy to find... I’d recommend using at least 1024x1024 on all your base Terrtex - makes the painted ACE size about 3MB a tile - you can compress them when done so they take up less space if desired... I’m painting all the shorelines, cliffs, ROW, roads, and crop fields on the mesh...

Any questions - just give me a shout - more than happy to help...

This is a complete game changer in ORTS...

Regards,
Scott


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