Post by AirCoaster on Oct 24, 2013 9:24:18 GMT -5
With all the new events regarding TS2014, I thought I would try my hand at making a route. As daunting as that may sound, my choice is to make an experimental route for learning purposes (the learning curve). Two things come to mind right away when I think about my experiences so far, and I have only been at this for about 1 1/2 weeks. The editor doesn't record the proper world coordinates for the route main location without some fiddling, and you really need to stay within the route template assets to make the route available to all. Assets come from the template used and others can be added while building, which then will require that route source template when placing your route in the workshop. Otherwise I have found the learning curve quite easy, no harder than Photoshop. One thing I found very useful were the tutorials of tension69 on the Workshop link in Steam, very well done I think.
Laying track is in all reality fairly simple once you learn the proper handling of the tool. Each tool has many aspects to it and some get quite mind boggling, but can be handled. The goal posts, as many call them, are guides to whether you have created a properly drawn track arrangement. Snapping, crossovers, welding, separating, gradiants, and connecting tracks all work as expected, and are also a great learning tool in regards to learning other tools. Believe me, after creating some complicated track arrangements, one can become quite familiar and fairly good at handling trackwork.
Object placement is straight forward and works a lot like the old MSTS editor. Those object lists seem to go on forever, but there are ways to filter them, still. I'll have to post my dioramic scenes I have made from just simple object placement. The thing I do need to learn is how convert 3D models from 3DsMax to the formats used in TS2014. I know they have plugins available for Blender and 3D Creator comes with built-in conversion, but I am not willing to spend $70 on a new applications just for 3D model creation, nor relearn a new application to create 3D models. Besides, I find Blender not very intuitive compared to other tools. Learning this process would make a more personalized and route oriented asset base.
Signaling, track based assets, and speed related items are all connected to the trackwork thru links and no real scripting is needed, a great improvement over past simulators. Even the platforms have ways of controlling where the people spawn and walk. I still am having trouble finding a linear object that is void of passengers for a freight dock, there must be a way to turn them off, something more to learn.
The ease at which one can create scenarios is totally awesome, but your layout or route needs to have the proper assets placed for some situations to work properly. The AI respond nicely to most commands and I haven't had any problems yet with broken AI.
All in all, if one would be interested in learning to build with the Editor in TS2014, then I suggest viewing as many video tutorials as possible and taking what you have learned from these and the creation manual and build a small experimental route. Its actually great fun.
I'll add some images later in the week of some of my diorama shots.
Laying track is in all reality fairly simple once you learn the proper handling of the tool. Each tool has many aspects to it and some get quite mind boggling, but can be handled. The goal posts, as many call them, are guides to whether you have created a properly drawn track arrangement. Snapping, crossovers, welding, separating, gradiants, and connecting tracks all work as expected, and are also a great learning tool in regards to learning other tools. Believe me, after creating some complicated track arrangements, one can become quite familiar and fairly good at handling trackwork.
Object placement is straight forward and works a lot like the old MSTS editor. Those object lists seem to go on forever, but there are ways to filter them, still. I'll have to post my dioramic scenes I have made from just simple object placement. The thing I do need to learn is how convert 3D models from 3DsMax to the formats used in TS2014. I know they have plugins available for Blender and 3D Creator comes with built-in conversion, but I am not willing to spend $70 on a new applications just for 3D model creation, nor relearn a new application to create 3D models. Besides, I find Blender not very intuitive compared to other tools. Learning this process would make a more personalized and route oriented asset base.
Signaling, track based assets, and speed related items are all connected to the trackwork thru links and no real scripting is needed, a great improvement over past simulators. Even the platforms have ways of controlling where the people spawn and walk. I still am having trouble finding a linear object that is void of passengers for a freight dock, there must be a way to turn them off, something more to learn.
The ease at which one can create scenarios is totally awesome, but your layout or route needs to have the proper assets placed for some situations to work properly. The AI respond nicely to most commands and I haven't had any problems yet with broken AI.
All in all, if one would be interested in learning to build with the Editor in TS2014, then I suggest viewing as many video tutorials as possible and taking what you have learned from these and the creation manual and build a small experimental route. Its actually great fun.
I'll add some images later in the week of some of my diorama shots.
