Update on Station Buildings
Since posting last week about modelling the NSW Railways "A" pattern buildings I have made significant progress. Once the first builsing was done (A1) creating the others was easier as they all follow the same basic shape and share a lot of the same elements. I have completed the buildings A1 to A4. The remaing members of the "A" set have slightly different designs and are more substantial buildings, thus requiering more time.
Below you can see some shots of the buildings in-game as they appear in Trainz 12. The platform has also been created by me and comes in three parts. Two end pieces (flat end and ramp) as well as a spline segment that can be made to any length. The two end parts have attacment points alloowing the spline to snap on to the ends and complete the platform.
A group shot of building so far. As you can see, the overall design is much the same. Each version builds apon the last.
A close up of the A4 building. This version includes a waiting room, Station Master's office, Ladies toilet and waiting room as well as a parcels and goods room.
This shot shows the A4 next to the modular platform kit. The two ends are seperate models, with the spline based platform in the middle.
While working on these buildings I have also managed to solve (or at least come closer to solving) an issues I have been experiencing for a while. All models I have created and brought into the simulator have had odd specular highlights. This turned out not to be a material issues as I first thought but an issue with the export/import process from Maya to Blender. The reason for going from Maya to Blender is one of only two programs you can export modles from into the simulator. I had been using FBX to transfer my models from Maya to Blender. After playing around with some of the export settings in Maya I have found a fix. There are still things I need to learn about materials in Trainz and how these are set up in Blender but will be the next step.
That's all for now, stay tuned for more progress on these buildings as well as other projects.
