News:

Want to praise Simutrans?
Your feedback is important for us ;D.

Arend - old Dutch locomotive (1839)

Started by Magic_Gorter, August 10, 2010, 09:25:24 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Magic_Gorter

I've just found about Sketchup and that it's not to difficult to make some nice 3D models. Right now I'm trying to make the Arend (Patentee) which was made it's first ride in 1839 in Holland.

I'm not ready yet. It still needs some painting and some minor parts are not drawn yet. But the moment of trying to make it a 2D png file is near and I have a question about that part.

Does somebody knows an easy way to export a model out of sketchup (to open it in paint). I have no problem with the cameraview (the direction) but more with the scale of the model. I find it difficult to have the right size of the object when creating an export and opening in paint. Does anybody have an easy trick for this or is it just trail and error to find the right camera distance.

First example of the arend:

Zeno

At very first I had the same problem with blender. What I did is to fix the camera distance to an acceptable value (simple aproximation) and then I rendered a SW or NE view (the one which the vehicle appears completely horizontal): that way I could mesure the length in pixels, and adjust it to the required size with a simple division. Once I had the correct size, I saved the model to use it as a template in further designs. I hope it helps :)

Magic_Gorter

Thanks Zeno,

Yes it will. I already found something about making scenes. The only thing is indeed finding the right camera distance.
I have however another question. Have trains a shadow in simutrans??? In other words should I turn shadow on ground on (already have shadow on for object) to see the silhouette of the train.

As soon as I have completed the model I will post a new picture.


Fabio

Quote from: Magic_Gorter on August 10, 2010, 12:42:16 PM
I have however another question. Have trains a shadow in simutrans??? In other words should I turn shadow on ground on (already have shadow on for object) to see the silhouette of the train.
AFAIK, the answer is NO, there is no shadow. Few objects are (mostly trees), also because ST manages extremely badly shadowing (B/W dithering).

Anyway, welcome among painters :)

Magic_Gorter

Thanks Fabio,

It's not the first thing a painted for simutrans however.... :)
In 2009 I started with a tulipfarm. I was trying to create a new industry for it but because lack of enough free time I had to stop the project. Now I found sketchup things look easier to paint (for me). So when I have finished this project I might pick that one up again. 

Fabio

Nice to see 3D modellers. I must say I'm from the old school working with plain 2D images, using Gimp (for Win), a good choice in free software ;)

ӔO

my current method of properly scaling from sketchup is just to paste a screen shot into a an image that already has 256x256 tiles painted in a checker board pattern. Something like 8 tiles across and 3 tiles tall will make the image 2048x768. If you crop away everything that's not needed, then it should fit more or less perfectly into one of the tiles.
You need a program that supports layers for this to work, like gimp or photoshop.

the other way is to create a 256x256 square image and paste it into your sketchup or screen shot export.

unfortunately, it's time consuming and I wish I found a faster and easier method.
My Sketchup open project sources
various projects rolled up: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17111233/Roll_up.rar

Colour safe chart:

Magic_Gorter

I'm thinking I have a good method founded to export a sketchup model to use in paint (hope it will work for other painting programs). I have to try it at home with my train and see if it's really working.

When you have finished your model make it a component. An component is always a rectangle. Find the center of it by drawing an x on it. Now move your object to the center of an simutrans template (I used yours AEO). Because it's in the exact middle of the square and it's an component you can easily turn the object all directions needed.

Next thing I did was setting up the camera view as descriped in your tutorial. Right click on the object(s) you want to export and pick zoom all (mayby you need to zoom manually a bit more to fit the whole screen).

Now pick export 2D model and press on options (it's just below the export button). Set the height at 256 (assuming you have 128x256 or 256x256 tile and export your model.

After doing this I opened it in paint and the tile had the correct size.