TrainSimDev.com

A first attempt to use Blender. Getting used to the controls and had a bash at a freehand semi trailer. All good fun.

Looking pretty good. I remember modelling some (never released) OHLE using blender. Hugely powerful but steep learning curve for me with zero modelling experience.

Baby steps for now. Quite addictive though.

Questions to the more knowledgeable regarding model use in TS.

For an item like this if it were to be used in TS, what would be considered a reasonable Tris count ? Currently this trailer is at 732.

Do you still use modifiers like subdivision or will that not show up in a TS model.

Is it normal to keep parts separate to aid unwrapping.

Sorry for what probably seem like beginner questions. Its ok learning blender, but better if I know earlier how it will translate to TS.

Cheers...steve.

Stone75 wrote:Questions to the more knowledgeable regarding model use in TS.

I'll bite, but I'm a 3ds max nerd with very limited experience in blender. Excuse the occasional mix up between terms.

For an item like this if it were to be used in TS, what would be considered a reasonable Tris count ? Currently this trailer is at 732.

I'd say that for a trackside objects thats a respectable number. Triangle counts aren't nearly as important as they used to be 5-10 years ago. Modern graphics cards are really, really good at crunching numbers to render polygons. Other factors influencing performance are number of materials (textures), number of 'hard' edges, and the way it's been unwrapped. For now don't worry too much and just use the minimum number of polys to make something look decent.

Do you still use modifiers like subdivision or will that not show up in a TS model.

I have no idea how the Briage exporter works. Julien has done a great job at writing a manual, so perhaps it's stated there. Here's what I like to do. I have a 'working' and a 'pre-export' file. In the working file I make the model. Leave all the modifiers on, leave objects seperate for ease of acces, have loads and loads of background pictures and such. Then when ready to export, save it again say as "FancyTrailer_PreExport.blend" - now assign the correct materials, attach stuff together, do the entire naming of your objects et cetera.

Is it normal to keep parts separate to aid unwrapping.

Unless you'd want to end up in a padded room, this is very good practice. Just add them together before exporting. I do highly recommend cramming the entire object in one UV map, so that you'll need just one material. This for performance reasons. Also keep in mind that TS is still 32bit, and as such the number and size of textures is a major bottleneck. You simply won't be able to pull of the sharpness of textures that you see in modern triple A games.

Sorry for what probably seem like beginner questions. Its ok learning blender, but better if I know earlier how it will translate to TS.

Cheers...steve.

You're asking all the right questions. This business is rather confusing at first, but you'll get better at it with practice.

Thanks for the quick response and what you have said helps a lot. I think first step, I should get an object into TS that's not too complicated.

Cheers...steve.

Stone75 wrote:Thanks for the quick response and what you have said helps a lot. I think first step, I should get an object into TS that's not too complicated.

Cheers...steve.

People always recommend getting a textured box in the game first!

This is my box. There are many like it, but this one is mine. I will never forget the day I got that box into TS20??

I still don't know what I'm doing though Steve.