Hi I have no problem helping with graphic drawings, but I find a problem with scaling them down to fit the template.
I have been playing around with a cargo ship from about 1978. Have a look and see what you think I have downloaded a few different views.
Looks good! Might need some stylistic tweaking though, but first lets try and get it rendered and in the game. What program did you use to do the model? I can help if its blender (and even if not, maybe I can import into blender somehow?)
yeah - looks nice - i think cruise ships and normal ships could be used
while cruise ships only transport tourists only pick and drop off at cruise ports
normal ships (ferries) one is overnight/day ferry - transports passengers and tourists plus freight and cars
rail ferry - this one is simllar but only transports trains and freight
the models are made using google sketchup 7 pro 3D programme and are saved as .skp files. To save them as a flat 2D I usually use macromedia fireworks.
I currently have a few ships in progress inculding a car ferry and a small foot passenger ferry.
OK, I think there is a way of getting them into blender, but I know Sketchup has been used by others to create simutrans models. The main thing is getting the camera and lighting setup right (but I think you may have done that for the livestock wagon you drew?).
One other comment - for ships you will need to get rid of everything below the waterline, so that the model is only what you can see when the ship is on the water...
Have just finished a small ferry. It is based on a UK design from the 1960's. It has a capability of 8 cars or 4 large vehicles (e.g. lorries or coaches) or a mixture of both. Its passenger capability is 75. Have a look and see what you think.
Looking good, although it may be lacking in detail (it's hard to tell without seeing it in game). Have you made any progress getting the camera set up properly? There are some possible leads for you here:
http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=3650.0
Looking forward to seeing them in the game!
Right I've managed to get the camera angles set up with sketchup, and if I can I will make a .skp file with guidelines on it. I will then upload it so anyone can download it and use it as a template for model creation by simply lining up their 3D sketch up drawing with it. They can then save it as a png file and all should be well. Work in progress.
Right I have had a go at shrinking and fitting the cargo ship to your template. This is what gives me the problem. I can draw and create graphic but getting them into the template for the game gives me a headache probably because I don't know how you do this. Have a look at this png and tell me how far off I am and what I am doing wrong if you can.
???
Looking at that png, the first image (on the left) looks about the right orientation. The others don't quite seem right though (e.g. the last two on the right look like completely side plan views, rather than looking down from an angle). Also just check the camera is set to orthographic, I can't tell from those images because it is quite small.
Let's assume the first one is set up properly (I'm pretty sure it is). All you need to do is rotate the ship by 45 degrees about a vertical axis, then render the image again (the camera and lights should't get rotated). Keep doing that until you have all 8 images. That should then make sure the 8 images are in the correct orientation.
Once you've got those 8 images I would use one of the existing pngs from the svn and superimpose the your images. That should get the alignments roughly correct, then you can tweak it in game.
Finally I'd suggest the images as you have them are quite a bit too small for a ship that size. Each of the 8 images should be 128x128 pixels, and I suggest that for a ship that size, the ship occupies most of the width of the 128 pixels.
Followed your instructions and now have this does it look anybetter, maybe you should look at it the game to check. Thanks for the help with this as I find it so frustrating to get this part right, drawing is the easy part. :-X
I've tried it in game, but it's still not quite right. The angles don't seem to line up properly with the tiles, which suggests the camera angle isn't quite right. Not a lot more I can suggest myself as I don't have sketchup.
I have 2 suggestions:
1) Send me your model as a .kmz / .dae file (I can then import these into blender and have a go at rendering it myself).
2) Learn blender (it's free, and fairly straightforward, and once you've done that I can send you all the templates so you don't have to worry about setting up cameras). But then I can understand you might not have the time/might not want to learn a new program.
I know both of those might be quite faffy, but it would also help make sure the style of what you draw is closer to the existing stuff. One artistic/stylistic comment I have from the latest images is that they seem quite pak96.comic style with all the black edge-lines. These don't really fit the pak128.Britain style.
@druid:
No that probably won't work. The graphics overlap and they appear to be too big as well.
Here, check this graphic for the actual tile size in a 128x128 square segment. The pink area is the tile in game. You can also use that as a reference for angles.