The Wichita Lineman is Back and Working for TSRE GenX

[scottb613]

Hi Folks,

I'll just leave this here.





Regards,
Scott

[Whatever2006]

For a long while, I have not noticed that there's wires... Have I been lied to whilst I countlessly traveling around the Seligman and Green River divisions?

[scottb613]

For a long while, I have not noticed that there's wires... Have I been lied to whilst I countlessly traveling around the Seligman and Green River divisions?

Hi Eoin,

Hah - no - I think there are supposed to be wires.

Eric had made a tool around 10 years ago to add wires via his WolrdFileHacker program - Piotr had some ability to add wires in his original TSRE code.

This just does it a different way and is still a work in progress. The concept - TSRE needs to know where to attach wires to - therefore I edited my old basic telephone pole to name the objects used for the insulators - their origin is the attachment point - center of mass. The Wayne/Pete exporter - for efficiency and performance - combines many of the objects in Blender into a single object on export. This would normally invalidate my changes - however - the exporter does have a list of approved terms you can use as a prefix assigned to an object - to avoid being combined on export. I chose the prefix of "MIRROR" - so my insulators are named MIRROR_W1, MIRROR_W2, MIRROR_W3, ...MIRROR_W16. Now - TSRE has the needed attachment points to string wires and will string all (16) wires for kilometers - in a single operation. TSRE GenX strings wire from MIRROR_W1 to MIRROR_W1 on each pole - with the applicable settings - no matter the offset.

I plan to handle fences the same way - both barb wire and boards.

I plan on adding a new ruler object - that will place all of the above on the ruler if desired - so you get terrain following poles and fence lines - anywhere.

The rendered wire will be baked into a - segmented arc (wire sag) - cruciform textured wire shape - respecting the settings of wire type (wire, barbed, boards), width, and sag - with each of the 16 wires (any number of wires) connecting with precision to their respective connection point. The wire shapes are generated automatically - from within TSRE - without having to make static shapes in 3D modeling software.

Thanks for the interest.

Regards,
Scott

[scottb613]

Hi Folks,

In Open Rails now.

OK - baked actual shapes from my rendered wires - max specular and 3 LOD's.

• 000-300 - triangle wires with 10 segment arc if there is sag.
• 300-750 - double faced shape with 5 segment arc if there is sag.
• 750... - no shape.

I can't get Specular Shine or Shadows to appear - I am using UNSTABLE for testing - not sure how Eric managed it. I did try cruciform, triangle, and cube shapes for wire.

I use Specular Shine all the time on my models - not sure why it is not showing up on my shapes.

I can't believe Auto Place did not have an option for terrain following - - - now - - - it does.





Regards,
Scott

[scottb613]

Hi Folks,

OK - the full monte - test.

The poles go up - the poles go down - the poles wobble left - the poles wobble right - - - and the wires always make perfect connections.

Terrain Following and Wobble for auto placed objects are two new features.

This entire string of wire and poles - node to node - that started about 4 km behind where the video starts - the entire operation took less than 30 seconds - to place all the poles - to place all the wires - and to bake wires into shapes.


TSRE GenX Wire Test



Regards,
Scott

[pwillard]

I remember way back when Paul Fowler was showing off being able to do telephone/telegraph poles with wires. He seemed rather proud of it, rightfully so.

But, YOURS look great!!!

[scottb613]

I remember way back when Paul Fowler was showing off being able to do telephone/telegraph poles with wires. He seemed rather proud of it, rightfully so.

But, YOURS look great!!!

Hi Pete,

Yeah - I remember Paul - so many have come and gone - it's turning into a game of ten little indian braves.

Thanks - yeah - I'm trying to take on the tasks that consume the MOST time for route builders - making them better, faster, and more efficient.

Bare naked poles have always been an eyesore for me - chronically catching my attention - and none of the routes I typically use had wires.

Along those lines - I have a bunch of plans for this style of work - such as automating Mile Post placement with custom mile posts along a full route - with a couple of clicks. In order to better facilitate this - could you add a new keyword to your exporter "SNAP" to be excluded from object merging on export. Search the code where "MIRROR" or "WIPER" is carved out. It just bothers me using a keyword intended for another purpose - such as animation. SNAP would simply paint a target on a shape that I can use for various things in TSRE. Thanks for the consideration.

Regards,
Scott

[EldoradoRailroad]

Great Scott! You have been "holding out on us" all these years, shame on you!

I looked at the "youtub" video and I will ask the horrible question:
Does auto placement of telephone/telegraph poles also include the ability to randomly vary their angle with the terrain they are on? Basically, and don't punch me in the mouth on this one if I get the axis wrong, is the angle on the Y axis variable and random if this user wants this? Often in old pictures of these poles I notice that the perfect vertical angle when they were put in the ground has long gone over many seasons/years. It makes it visually more interesting.

Aside from that, you have outdone yourself. My only quibble with the video is that you have re-textured the Alco RS with a different livery and it looks like there is also a 3D Cab! Just imagine the happiness that would be gained by sharing this, yeah "gimme pig" language, sorry about that.

Regards,
Steve

PS: The "youtub" reference is a comedic one. Some years back on a TV show a reference was made about highly oversized men posting videos of themselves on an alternate platform that was NOT youtube!

[scottb613]

Great Scott! You have been "holding out on us" all these years, shame on you!

I looked at the "youtub" video and I will ask the horrible question:
Does auto placement of telephone/telegraph poles also include the ability to randomly vary their angle with the terrain they are on? Basically, and don't punch me in the mouth on this one if I get the axis wrong, is the angle on the Y axis variable and random if this user wants this? Often in old pictures of these poles I notice that the perfect vertical angle when they were put in the ground has long gone over many seasons/years. It makes it visually more interesting.

Aside from that, you have outdone yourself. My only quibble with the video is that you have re-textured the Alco RS with a different livery and it looks like there is also a 3D Cab! Just imagine the happiness that would be gained by sharing this, yeah "gimme pig" language, sorry about that.

Regards,
Steve

PS: The "youtub" reference is a comedic one. Some years back on a TV show a reference was made about highly oversized men posting videos of themselves on an alternate platform that was NOT youtube!

Hi Steve,

Hah - I always appreciate your enthusiasm. AND I am precisely where I - DID NOT - want to be - wrangling code instead of building models, working on routes, and running trains.

Yeah - I'm dying to hang up my code spurs and get back to my Alco. There is not a huge amount left to do - full 3D cab - I need to turn my Phase III into a Phase I for the LHR. Crewless cabs are another pet peeve - LOL - perhaps I am just turning into a grouchy old man. So, I built out half a dozen fully poseable (bones) crew members to include with my locomotives.





Concur - perfectly aligned poles do not look good. As far as the poles go - yeah - I added three new params to auto place - aside from my wire. Range (limits how far an auto place will run), Stick to Terrain, and Wobble. Since the lines are rendered virtually first in TSRE - then baked into actual shapes in TSRE - the baked wire shapes line up perfectly to connection points - wherever they may wander.





Regards,
Scott

[pwillard]

I never wanted to wrangle code either, since it is NOT my profession (or official training)... But look where I am... remaking tools that have been ignored far too long and maintaining the Blender Shape Exporter. Not complaining, just surprised it's being done by me... supposedly a guy who does network security as a trade, not coding. But I'll see what I can do, Scott.

In the works:

Release 5.2.2,  Add SNAP as an object-name keyword that preserves export hierarchy without reusing animation-oriented names such as MIRROR or WIPER.

Packaged up and available. Does it work? Damifino, it's your idea. :-P

[scottb613]

I never wanted to wrangle code either, since it is NOT my profession (or official training)... But look where I am... remaking tools that have been ignored far too long and maintaining the Blender Shape Exporter. Not complaining, just surprised it's being done by me... supposedly a guy who does network security as a trade, not coding. But I'll see what I can do, Scott.

Hi Pete,

Not urgent - at your leisure - and thanks.

MIRROR works for now.

Regards,
Scott

[pwillard]

https://github.com/pwillard/Blender_MSTS_ORTS_Exporter/releases

I know the exporter still works, just not if it's doing what *you* want.

[scottb613]

https://github.com/pwillard/Blender_...orter/releases

I know the exporter still works, just not if it's doing what *you* want.

Hi Pete,

JEESH - a full 8 second ride - you'll be taking home the prize belt buckle today.


Thanks.

I'll take a look.

Regards,
Scott

[scottb613]

https://github.com/pwillard/Blender_...orter/releases

I know the exporter still works, just not if it's doing what *you* want.

Hi Pete,

Worked perfectly - thanks.
SCOsnapPole.zip


FYI: Your 5.2.2 has the 5.2.1 meta data still showing.

Regards,
Scott

[pwillard]

FYI: Your 5.2.2 has the 5.2.1 meta data still showing.

The downside of being fast, I guess.

I fixed it in export_msts.py but forgot it in __init__.py... Doh!