Topic: Contributing graphics to pak128.Britain

[The Hood]

Moderator note: Some of these guidelines have now been updated: see here for details of the revised guidelines.

Seeing as a couple of people have shown interest in producing graphics for pak128.Britain recently (which is highly welcome!) I am writing this as a guide to style of pak128.Britain artwork, and also demonstrating how I do the graphics in blender (using this method and starting with the examples provided will mean the results are going to be comparable).

Graphical consistency is a big thing in pak128.Britain, as it helps make the pak look better in game.  For that reason, I'm quite strict about what gets into the pak, but I don't want to discourage people from getting involved.  There are some great graphics out there which just don't look good alongside other graphics in the pak128.Britain style, so if I don't think something you draw fits well, don't take it as an insult on your efforts or graphics ability

I hope this will encourage people to draw things for pak128.Britain, and for them to be consistent enough to make it into the pak.

Style Overview

The screenshots below show the differences in style between standard pak128 and pak128.Britain - you can see that pak128 is generally less bright, and textures are smoother.  That's why pak128 and pak128.Britain graphics don't look too great when seen next to each other.

http://simutrans-germany.com/files/upload/pakBritainshowcase.jpg
http://simutrans-germany.com/files/upload/pak128.jpg

Scales
Length scales in pak128.Britain are fairly arbitrary, the best rule being that if it fits then it is good.  As a general rule though, 1 tile should represent 30m, this allows a double car tram to fit on one station tile.
Moderator note: It has been dsicovered that the existing buildings in Pak128.Britain are closer to a scale of 15m/tile: see here for details. It may be better to use this scale for buildings to avoid inconsistency.

Using existing graphics
All current pak128.Britain artwork is available under the terms of the artistic license at http://sourceforge.net/p/simutrans/code/HEAD/tree/pak128.Britain/ - you may use it in your creations if you give credit to the original creator.

Using blender to create graphics
The best way to produce pak128.Britain graphics is to use blender - free from http://www.blender.org/
A very good blender tutorial can be found here: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro (this is how I learned to use it from zero computer graphics experience)

You can download a ready set up template for ak128.Britain blends here: http://simutrans-germany.com/files/upload/template-blend-128-Britain.zip
Or alternatively, pak128.Britain blends are now all available on GitHub between the following locations:
https://github.com/JamesHood/pak128.Britain-blend-files
https://github.com/jamespetts/Pak128.Britain-blends

If you want to adapt an existing model or use it as a base for whatever you are drawing, PM me and I will dig it out for you to use as a basis for your work.

Note: the below set of steps describes an out of date work-flow. For a detailed description of how to use the new, much easier and quicker work-flow, see here. (Jamespetts, April 2017)
For vehicles, 8 renders 45 degrees apart are required, buildings need 4.  To create these from your model in blender, follow these steps:
1) select all objects in layer one (press "1" followed by "a" in object mode). 
2) Then press shift+3 to bring in the lighting settings.  Press "numpad 7" to get top down view. 
3) Hit "F12" to render, and save the png.  Then hit "r" then type 45 or 90 depending on whether you are doing vehicle or building.  This should rotate the object, but importantly, not the lights or the camera.
4) repeat step 3 until you have saved all 4 or 8 pngs.
5) now finish the job by going into GIMP/Paint and changing the background black to #e7ffff and getting everything aligned correctly and make any other alterations necessary to tidy up the image - you may want to use a template from SVN: http://sourceforge.net/p/simutrans/code/HEAD/tree/pak128.Britain/

Standard colours for Blender
To produce vehicle graphics using the same colours for liveries as existing graphics (which is important for maintaining consistency), see this list of standard colours for Blender.

dat files
This post isn't about writing dat files - do these the same way as for any other pak.  The german wiki is very good (if you can read some german or generally decode the non-translated bits).  Or just ask for help on the forum.

License conditions for inclusion
If you want your work included in the pak128.Britain project, you will need to give permission to me for it to be released as open source.  You can specify your own license or terms, or just adopt the artistic license used for the rest of pak128.Britain.

What needs drawing?
Draw whatever you want to include.  But if you want to help with the priority things I am working on, PM me or post in this thread: http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=1467.0

[jamespetts]

This is a very useful guide, thank you! One thing, though: wouldn't it be better to ask that all things in Pak128.Britain be released under the same licence terms, or else it could get rather a mess when people want to make derivative works...?

[The Hood]

I'm no licensing expert.  Timothy has offered for me to adapt his underground set to fit the pak128.Britain style, but I think he would prefer less strict terms than the artistic license.  If I go ahead with this plan, I will make a note in the license file on SVN.  The idea is all derivative work would be allowed with credits for all work released.

[VS]

Guide:
It's heavily oriented towards rendering, which makes sense since you want to keep style uniform. Bu I lack some information about houses...


Liceses:
The stuff I gave you from 128 is under Artistic v2, and that license is quite lenient regarding distribution and mixing with even "proprietary" content, so there should not be a problem at all from this angle.

[The Hood]

What information do you think is missing about housing VS?

[VS]

Height of floor. Normally it's given in pixels, you could perhaps relate that to tile side...

[Shunter 08]

Does anyone have the blender model for the BR Class 20? I want to re-model and render it for a Class 08 to give us a yard Shunter (i could do with one at my Bolton Goods depot ), it seems a fairly close in shape.

Also, has anyone got any idea on a Class 08's running costs?

[jamespetts]

The Hood should have the model for the class 20. However, please note that shunting does not feature in Simutrans - Simutrans (both Standard and Experimental) tend to focus on the macro rather than the micro of operations. Perhaps you could model a class 09 or 03, which were used for very local goods transport?

[Shunter 08]

I kinda simulate shunting around a local yard with multiple types of wagon/hoppers as the city (Bolton, ack bless her) is a main goods hub and has the odd fact of multiple bulk and goods producers within a few tiles of the depot, so a shunter would suit very well.

But yeah your right a 09 would work perfectly and cover the macro, thanks for the idea, I think I'm sold on the 09 idea.

[The Hood]

I'll upload the blend for the class 20 when I get home, which may be early today given the weather and the fact I'm the only one in my office so I'm boss for the day   I'd also go for the 09 as well, but I still think it would be pretty niche.  However if someone (e.g. you) wants it, and then draws it, no reason not to include it!

[Shunter 08]

Thanks Hood, I'm "snowed in", unfortunately I can work from home :(

[The Hood]

Shunter,

here's the link to the class 20 blend:

http://files.simutrans.us/files/get/xED8QPgSus/br-cl20-green.blend

[Shunter 08]

Hey Hood, sorry for the delay, really busy at work.

Thank you very much for the file, I'll get to work!

[Milko]

Hi

Files from http://simutrans-germany.com/files are unavailable....

Giuseppe

[jamespetts]

Seems to be working again now.

[Milko]

Hello

I explained myself badly ... I meant that the files indicated by the Hood are no longer available on the server.

Some questions ...
1) The sun must have the same position pak128? (ie to 60 ° in height and come from south?)
2) The colors .... there is a rule of thumb on how to choose? that is, parameters to be met in brightness, saturation or...?
3) I'm working on blender_747 made by vilvoh (thanks) as a test, the pak_britain currently contains no planes, how do I do for the size? 30m for tile if you consider a 747 it would take just over 2. For airplanes, you can create larger models of 128 (as was done for some ships) or should decrease the airplane to keep him in a tile of 128? In this case it is better to define a universal scale ... ie one tile = 70m so that their size is at least respected from one plane to each other.

Giuseppe

[The Hood]

Milko,

Thanks for your interest!  If you already have a blender model, it should be quite easy.  I'll upload some blends later when I get time, so all you need to do is append your model into one of the template blends and then do the rendering.  The settings will all be OK then (sun, lighting etc).  With colours, the main rule is whether it looks right next to other game stuff.

Scales: because of the tiles, you have to have several different graphics scales in parallel.  For trains, buses and trams, 1 tile = 30m approx, but this doesn't allow large ships on this scale, so for the boats I've just adopted arbitrary scales.

As the 747 is one of the largest planes, I would render it at either 192x192 or 228x228 pixels and then apply offsets in the dat files to centre the 192x192 images on a 128x128 tile (see the ship dats for examples).  Probably best to assume 1 tile = 40-45m or so for the planes in that case.

One final thought - if you do produce some planes, could you please do them in British airline colours (e.g. British Airways, BMI, EasyJet etc) as this is pak128.Britain?  That will make them distinct from normal pak128.

[The Hood]

First post modified to fix broken link - I've replaced it with a blank 128x128 template blend.

[Milko]

Hello

If you apply the livery of the model directly in blender, you have an idea or a good tutorial on howdo it ?

Giuseppe

[jamespetts]

Liveries are generally done by making the vehicles out of different sections each with different colours: for example, if the side of a vehicle has a stripe of two colours, make it using two planes each of the requisite colour, rather than making it an object of one plane.

I suppose that it is possible in theory to use textures, too, but this, I suspect, is more complicated, and I have not tried it.

[The Hood]

As James says, I generally do liveries by creating polygons of the right shape/size and colouring them the correct colour.  This isn't that easy for corporate liveries, but at the level of detail of pak128.Britain renders, a few stripes are usually enough.  Alternatively you can use a texture method: use a jpg image which has the correct pattern of stripes or whatever and apply that as the texture.

[Milko]

Hi

This is my first attempt to build an airplane. This is an Airbus A319 of EasyJet, the model is made in blender. I show you a visual ... the airplane is not to scale, I'll fix it later. I would ask how you manage the back ground, now the back ground is black, as you set? there is a default color?
I believe that after rendering the need to set the back ground as a "transparent color" which graphics program you use? GIMP?

Since it would be the first plane I have no files. "dat" from which "copy" there is a template from which I can draw?

If you have suggestions for improving the model does not hesitate to ask.

Giuseppe

[jamespetts]

My first impression is rather positive - it's excellent that somebody's making a start on aircraft graphics! One small thing is probably that it needs to be made somewhat darker - do this by reducing the brightness of the colours of the body (etc.) in Blender. The easiest way to do the background is to use the GIMP, and select all black with the want (remembering to set the tolerance to 0), then simply paint over with a large brush with the appropriate colour.

Alternatively, if you are doing what we normally do in Pak128.Britain and putting all of the rotations in one image, copy and paste the aircraft alone (select all black, invert selection) in each rotation onto a blank template graphic with the bright pink guidelines, lining each rotation up with the guidelines, then erase all the pink guidelines at the end by selecting by colour and going over the whole image with a large brush of background colour.

[Milko]

Hi

Such as "engine_type"and "waytype" I use for the A319?

Giuseppe

[jamespetts]

What do you mean by "such as" here?

[Milko]

Hi

How have I to set "engine_type" and "waytype". in the ".dat" file. 

Giuseppe

[jamespetts]

engine_type=diesel
waytype=air

[wlindley]

1. If someone would double-check this, and fill in details about Windows Python, I will add this to... where? the wiki? Advise please.

=== Building pak128.Britain from Source: Instructions ===

These instructions are for Standard.  Experimental, I believe, requires a different makeobj.

You will need:

• The latest source code from the repository: http://simutrans.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/simutrans/pak128.Britain
• The latest makeobj from the current release: http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=6870.msg66107
• MOSE from http://moscript.sourceforge.net/

To create a local copy of the version-controlled repository, make a new subdirectory, go into it and type:

Code: [Select]

svn co http://simutrans.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/simutrans/pak128.Britain .
Note that you will have to edit makeALL.mos and update the makeobj parameter, or else put a copy of makeobj in the current directory.  I changed mine to /usr/games/makeobj which is where I installed makeobj... Yes, this means your local copy will differ from the version-controlled one; this is not ideal but until someone has a better idea it's not so bad.

If you installed makeobj and mose.py both in the current directory, you could probably just run makeALL.mos directly -- but putting non-version-controlled files inside a version-controlled local copy is bad practice.  So --

Assuming you installed mose.py in /usr/games/, use the command:

Code: [Select]

/usr/bin/python /usr/games/mose.py makeALL.mos
on Linux (on Windows, you'll invoke Python ... however it's done there, someone double check this please)

That creates a build subdirectory called pak128.Britain-built which you can copy to a new subdirectory below your simutrans installation directory. 

NOTE: Although the script is called 'make' it does not work 'intelligently' like a real makefile -- it always rebuilds everything.

[jamespetts]

I have finally got around to trying this, and it is very helpful. Attached is a modified version of the .mos file for Pak128.Britain-Ex (which also includes an update to enable it to build the aircraft). This makes building a pakset much easier. One oddity that I have found, however, is that the logo does not build when making this, for reasons that I am not entirely clear.

Incidentally, to build this on a Windows system is very easy - just install MOSE then double click on the makeALL.mos file in Windows Explorer, and it will be built.

[jamespetts]

May I ask The Hood (and I'll ask publicly here rather than send a PM, in case others want to know the answer, too): how does one set up a tall 1x1 building such as those on the right in "70's-office.png"?  (Incidentally, I notice that the snow images of the buildings on the top left are incorrect in rotation and also have black instead of background colour near one of the entrance areas). Perhaps you could upload a sample of a .blend file set up for this purpose?

[wlindley]

I made the tall 1x1 office building, just by drawing it, with Gimp, in a 64x128-pixel region.  This works because Simutrans does hidden line removal by simply drawing the tiles by progressively moving toward the viewer (i.e., from the top to the bottom of the screen).  The rendering engine doesn't care whether you draw pixels "outside" the diamond-shaped regions that TileCutter uses -- no, the rendering engine dutifully draws whatever you put in your however-many 64x64 squares.  Indeed there are probably tricky ways of using "illegally" placed pixels for various effects.

[jamespetts]

I notice that the "style overview" image links are broken.

[The Hood]

I guess it must have been 999 days since I uploaded them    Should be fixed for the next 999 days now...

[jamespetts]

I thought that it might be helpful for future reference for those producing vehicles (and other objects relying on standardised colours) to have a list of the Blender HSV values for each of the colours to ensure consistency, as, in the past, and, to some extent even now, there are inconsistent colourings for vehicles that are supposed to be painted in the same livery, and there has been a change of one of the liveries (Southern Railway malachite green) in the last year that has not been fully propagated yet.

In principle, I am able to sticky this myself, but I thought it best to see whether Kierongreen or The Hood are content for this to be stickied before I do so.

I organise the list into categories. Only standardised livery colours are mentioned here: colours for non-standardised items, e.g. private owner canal boats, or colours for parts other than liveries (wheels, etc.) are not listed. The one non-livery standard that I should mention, however, is that interior windows (and only interior windows) should be 0,0,0. Any "black" colour should actually be 0,0,0.1 or similar. All are in HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) format, as I find this easier than RGB because it allows things such as darker versions of the colour for roofs, etc. to be specified easily. The intensity value should be 0.800 unless otherwise specified.

Aircraft

Textures are used instead of Blender colours for aircraft.

Boats

British Waterways blue: 0.667,0.777,0.429
British Waterways yellow: 0.152,0.950,0.800

Road vehicles

Note: London trolleybuses use tram liveries: see below under "trams".

National red: 0.000,0.900,0.599
National green: 0.300,0.600,0.400
LGOC early dark red: 0.000,0.875,0.275
LGOC red: 0.000,0.715,0.388
LGOC cream: 0.159,0.180,0.563
LT red: 0,0.916,0.602
LT red wheel: 0.000, 0.800, 0.280
(The red wheel colour is also used as the overall LT austerity colour, also used for the rooves)
LT Lincoln green (country): 0.327,0.600,0.330 (modified 6 December 2016)
LT early green (country): 0.300,0.600,0.300 (modified 24 December 2016)
LT early green (relief): 0.238,0.433,0.412 (modified 24 December 2016)
London United grey: 0.000,0.000,0.350
London United white: 0.000,0.000,0.550
Metroline blue: 0.646,0.701,0.502
London Country yellow stripe: 0.174,0.956,0.879
London Country green (as LT Lincoln green)
Chocolate express brown: 0 0.07942,0.869,0.301
Green line green (main): 0.271,0.875,0.210
Green line green (lining): 0.271,0.600,0.650
East Surrey blue: 0.645,0.700,0.500
East Surrey lining: 0.150,0.100,0.600
East Surrey wheels: 0,0.700,0.300
(The later East Surrey livery uses the same colours as the London General)
Southdown dark green: 0.299,0.785,0.299
Southdown light green:  0.299,0.785,0.500
Southdown cream: 0.136,0.350,0.780
Tilling early red: 0.000,0.865,0.385
(The later red is the same as LT red)
Birmingham dark blue: 0.630,0.750,0.200
Birmingham cream: 0.115,0.325,0.650
Glasgow orange: 0.085,0.935,0.625
Glasgow cream: 0.136,0.175,0.790
Glasgow green: 0.267,0.700,0.280
Glasgow dark red: 0.000,0.750.0.200
Glasgow vermilion trim: 0.000,0.713,0.447
GGPTE green: 0.382,0.500,0.310
GGPTE yellow/orange: 0.120,0.900,0.750
GGPTE white: 0.000,0.000,0.800
Strathclyde orange: 0.050,0.935,0.650
Strathclyde black: 0.000,0.000,0.150
Bradford blue: 0.590,0.700,0.450
Bradford white: 0.000,0.000,0.700
SYPTE brown: 0.090,0.625,0.184
SYPTE buttermilk: 0.137,0.200,0.700
WYPTE green: 0.402,0.800,0.460
WYPTE cream: 0.137,0.100,0.700
GMPTE brown: 0.106,0.606,0.312
GMPTE orange: 0.066,0.876,0.630
GMPTE white: 0.000,.0000,0.566
GM Buses black: 0.106,0.606,0.100
(Other GM Buses colours as for GMPTE)
Ribble maroon: 0.00,0.875,0.380
Ribble cream: 0.145,0.140,0.795

Post Office red: 0.000,0.849,0.435
Post Office yellow: 0.177,0.734,0.644

Maglev

The .blend files for these do not appear to be in the public domain at present

Narrow gauge rail

Locomotives
Ffestiniog Railway scarlet: 0.992,1.000,0.489
Ffestiniog Railway green: 0.370,0.900,0.275
Ffestiniog Railway maroon: 0.992,1.000,0.250
Lynton & Barnstaple green: 0.320,0.425,0.225
Lynton & Barnstaple lining orange: 0.050,0.900,0.335
Lynton & Barnstaple frame brown: 0.050,0.900,0.200

Rolling stock
Ffestiniog Railway Royal purple: 0.943,0.415,0.150
Ffestiniog Railway Royal purple trim: 0.124,1.000,0.750
Ffestiniog Railway Cream (goes with royal purple): 0.124,0.127,0.750
Ffestiniog Railway Cherry red: 0.992,1.000,0.280
Ffestiniog Railway red:  0.992,1.000,0.489
Ffestiniog Railway Cream (goes with red): 0.124,0.127,0.600
Ffestiniog Railway green: 0.370,0.900,0.220
Ffestiniog Railway cream (goes with green): 0.125,0.127.0.750
Ffestiniog Railway Col. Stephens red: 0.992,1.000,0.250
Ffestiniog Railway Col. Stephens green: 0.370,0.900,0.275
NWNG brown: 0.05415,0.657,0.300
Lynton & Barnstaple red: 0.006,0.875,0.400
Lynton & Barnstaple white: 0.000,0.000,0.775

Railway vehicles

Pre-grouping
LNWR brown: 0.060,0.503,0.244
LNWR cream: 0.178,0.179,0.796
LNWR black: 0.000,0.143,0.119
LNWR red lining: 0.000,0.713,0.447
LNWR northern division red: 0.000,0.887,0.394
LNWR southern division green: 0.293,0.487.0.450
Midland lake: 0.000,0.712,0.490
Midland dark red (carriages): 0.000,0.712,0.350
Midland green (locomotives): 0.321,0.520,0.250
GER blue: 0.700,1.000,0.350 Edit: New for 29 December 2015
GER red trim: 0.000,0.713,0.447
GER austerity grey: 0.000,0.000,0.325
GNR teak: 0.06924,0.798,0.600 Edit: New for 3 January 2017
GNR teak trim: 0.131,0.798,0.700 Edit: New for 2 February 2016
GNR red roof: 0.000,0.468,0.389
GNR locomotive green: 0.30, 0.703, 0.357
GNR dark green: 0.30, 0.482, 0.166
GNR frame brown: 0.000, 0.503, 0.326
GNR early frame brown: 0.020, 0.720, 0.450
GNR white trim: 0.000,0.000,0.878
GWR Windsor brown (pre-1908): 0.06667,0.620,0.137
GWR light cream (pre-1912): 0.125,0.131,0.701
GWR lake (1912-1922):  0.000,0.680,0.277
GWR chocolate (post 1922): 0.067,0.780,0.210
GWR cream (post 1922): 0.125,0.350,0.725
GWR locomotive green: 0.299,0.332,0.346
HR ochre: 0.142,0.957,0.575
LBSCR ochre ("improved engine green"): 0.09373,1.000,0.489
LBSCR Stroudley red trim: 0.000,0.713,0.447
LBSCR goods green: 0.249,0.813,0.182
LBSCR Craven green: 0.334,0.626,0.310
LBSCR Craven copper trim: 0.06318,0.582,0.560
LBSCR early boiler: 0.09367,1.000,0.400
LBSCR early green: 0.290,0.434,0.420
LBSCR early red trim: 0.000,0.634,0.400
LBSCR carriage green: 0.379,0.705,0.271
LBSCR umber: 0.04444,0.750,0.220
LBSCR white: 0.167,0.150,0.945
LBSCR teak: 0.05239,0.910,0.600 Edit: New for 3 January 2017
LBSCR teak trim: 0.168,0.724,0.750 Edit: New for 3 January 2017
SECR austerity grey: 0.000,0.000,0.250
LSWR salmon: 0.07955,0.542,0.994
LSWR carriage brown: 0.06667,0.531,0.172
LSWR pea green (Adams): 0.300,0.430,0.410
LSWR royal green (Drummond): 0.298,0.700,0.250
LSWR sage green (Urie): 0.250, 0.416, 0.381
LSWR holly green (goods): 0.320,0.500,0.145
LSWR chocolate lining: 0.06667,0.750,0.300
LSWR purple brown: 0.050481,0.474,0.280
LSWR dark green/cream: 0.192,0.276,0.435
LT&SR locomotive green: 0.265,0.950,0.260
L&TSR locomotive brown: 0.020,0.80,0.220
L&TSR carriage brown: 0.075,0.650,0.300
Mersey Railway mossy green: 0.378,1.000,0.343
Mersey Railway maroon: 0.000,0.900,0.315
Mersey Railway gold trim: 0.141,0.612,0.800
NER Tyneside orange: 0.02146,0.887,1.000
NER Tyneside yellow/cream: 0.145,0.438,0.800
NER locomotive green: 0272,0.703,0.576
LMR boiler brown: 0.0534,0.526,0.348
LMR boiler trim: 0.149,0.540,0.738 (intensity 5.00)
LMR green: 0.392,0.489,0.385
SDR green: 0.265,0.885,0.700
SDR red trim: 0.000,0.713,0.447
SDR carriage red: 0.010,0.750,0.360
LYR carriage brown: 0.020,0.649,0.467
LYR carriage cream: 0.125,0.597.0.749
LYR black: 0.000,0.143,0.119
LYR red trim: 0.000,0.713,0.447
LMR yellow: 0.150,0.526,0.693
LMR blue: 0.555,0.360,0.693
B&DJR yellow: 0.155,0.750,0.693
B&DJR blue: 0.659,0.650,0.500
Leicester & Swannington blue: 0.600,0.675,0.525
L&BR grass green: 0.350,0.400,0.240
L&BR first class yellow: as B&DJR
MCR carriage green: as MR early locomotive green

Pullman
Pullman mahogany: TBC
Pullman bronze green: 0.226,0.850,0.135
Pullman rose roof: 0.980,0.550,0.135
Pullman umber: See LBSCR umber
Pullman ivory: See LBSCR white
Pullman cream: 0.130,0.500,0.825
Pullman white roof: 0.000,0.000,0.500
Pullman gold trim: 0.155,1.000,0.500

Grouping
(For GWR, see pre-grouping)
SR olive green: 0.288,0.416,0.394
SR malachite green: 0.375,0.871,0.394
SR sunshine yellow: 0.159,0.948,1.000
LMS red: 0.000,0.872,0.351
LMS straw trim: 0.186,0.800,0.560
LMS Coronation Scot blue: 0.575,0.890,0.425
LMS Coronation Scot trim: 0.000,0.000,0.700
LNER apple green: 0.389,1.000,0.493
LNER garter blue: 0.592,1.000,0.641
LNER white: 0.000,0.000,0.777
LNER silver: 0.000,0.000,0.593
LNER teak: 0.06924,0.798,0.600 Edit: New for 3 January 2017
LNER team trim: 0.131,0.798,0.750 Edit: New for 3 January 2017
(For LNER Tyneside units, refer to the NER colours)
MSJ&A Green: 0.326,1.000,0.250

London Transport
District Railway varnished wood: 0.0524,0.910,0.790
District Railway varnished wood trim: 0.168,0.724,1.00
District Railway brown: 0.0524,0.775,0.470
District Railway brown trim: 0.0524,0.775,0.700
DLR blue: 0.664,0.901,0.839
DLR red: 0.01236,0.926,0.691
DLR white: 0.000,0.000,0.790
DLR new red: 0.01236,0.926,0.604
DLR new light blue (logo): 0.520,1.000,0.892
Metropolitan red: 0.965,0.770,0.325
Metropolitan yellow trim: 0.152,0.861,0.650
Metropolitan teak: 0.0524,0.910,0.600 Edit: New for 3 January 2017
Metropolitan teak trim: 0.168,0.724,0.750 Edit: New for 3 January 2017
Metropolitan carriage brown: 0.0524,0.775,0.470
Metropolitan brown trim: 0.0524,0.775,0.700
LT scarlet: TBC
LT unpainted aluminium: TBC
LT unpainted aluminium dark: TBC
LUL white: TBC
LUL red: TBC
LUL blue: TBC

British Rail(ways)
BR green (diesel/EMU): 0.370,0.517,0.350
BR light green (for two tone): 0.346,0.551,0.673
BR green (steam): 0.389,0.700,0.200
BR electric blue: 0.658,0.798,0.600
BR black: 0.000,0.000,0.100
BR red lining/logo: 0.000,1.000,0.691
BR blue: 0.627,0.798,0.494
BR grey: 0.000,0.000,0.800
BR warning yellow: 0.163,1.000,0.750
BR carmine: 0.004177,0.957,0,417
BR cream: 0.168,0.267,0.865
BR maroon: 0.003929,0.808,0.267
BR lining out for maroon: 0.122,1.000,0.640
BR Southern Region green: TBC
NSE blue: 0.708,1.00,1.00
NSE white: 0.000,0,000,0.922
NSE grey: 0.000,0.000,0.450
NSE red: 0.000,1.00,1.00
RR dark blue: 0.614,0.709,0.385
RR light grey: 0.000,0.000,0.840
RR beige: 0.132,0.149,0.841
RR light blue: 0.562,0.910,0.797
Provincial: TBC
IC dark grey: 0.000,0.000,0.111
IC light grey: 0.000,0.000,0.841
IC beige: 0.133,0.148,0.841
IC red: 0.000,1.000,1.000
Railfrieght dark grey: 0.000,0.000,0.600
Railfreight light grey: 0.186,0.09091,0.750
Railfreight sector logo blue: 0.649,0.773,0.750
Railfrieight sector logo yellow: 0.163,1.000,0.750
Railfreight red stripe: TBC
"Jaffa cake" orange: 0.07749,0.999,0.917
"Jaffa cake" dirty grey: 0.000,0.130,1.000 (intensity 0.400)
"Jaffa cake" dark grey: 0.100,0.349,0.281


Privitised/franchised companies
Abellio White: 0.900,0.900,0.900
Abellio Red: 1.000, 0.000, 0.000
Arriva Cross Country Maroon: 0.193,0,0.043
Arriva Cross Country Grey: 0.5,0.5,0.5
Arriva Cross Country Pink: 0.922, 0.068, 0.339
Arriva Trains Wales Turquoise: 0.511,1.000,0.438
Arriva Trains Wales Cream: 0.147,0.170,0.841
Arriva Trains Wales Door blue: 0.630, 0.890, 1
Central Light Green: 0.387, 0.625, 0.230
Central Dark Green: 0.002, 0.349,0.145
Central Blue: 0.126, 0.382, 0.904
Central Yellow: 1, 0.928, 0.195
First Group white: 0.000, 0.000, 0.600
First Group purple: 0.715,0.974,0.664
First Group pink: 0.900, 0.900, 0.900
First Group (Dynamic Lines) mid blue: 0.245, 0.359, 0.721
First Group (Dynamic Lines) pale blue: 0.398, 0.511, 0.721
Hull Trains White: 0,0,0
Hull Trains Green: 0.094,0.319,0.218
London Midland dark green: 0.000, 0.336, 0.098
London Midland light green: 0.530,0.874,0.009
London Midland light grey: 0.534,0.527,0.523
London Midland dark grey (doors): 0.288, 0.279,0.269
London Overground White: 0.85,0.85,0.85
London Overground Blue: 0.167, 0, 0.834
London Overground Orange: 0.871,0.199,0.044
Midland Mainline (1) turqouise: 0.259, 0.490, 0.428
Midland Mainline (1) pale turqouise (doors):0.700, 0.922, 0.809
Midland Mainline (1) white: 0.900, 0.900, 0.900
Midland Mainline (1) orange: 0.900, 0.416, 0.142
Scotrail Saltire Blue: 0.1,0,0.411
Scotrail Saltire Grey: .596, .596, .588
Scotrail Saltire pale blue: .256, .530, .684
Southern turqouise: 0.402, 0.696, 0.432
Southern Green: 0.021, 0.279, 0.009
Southern White: 0.850, 0.850, 0.850
South Eastern Blue: 0.458, 0.600, 0.803
South Eastern Purple: 0.115, 0..071, 0.332
Stagecoach White: 0,0,1
Stagecoach Red: 0,1,1
Stagecoach Blue: 0.603,0.875,0.778
Stagecoach Orange: 0.084,1.000,0.904
Strathclyde Maroon: 0.351, 0.067, 0.069
Strathclyde Cream:0.922, 0.829, 0.671
Strathclyde Turqoise: 0.209, 0.537, 0.475

Trams

London United Tramways red: 0.000,0.715,0.388
London United Tramways white: 0.000,0.000,0.841
London Transport red: 0.000,0.916,0.602
London Transport cream: 0.136,0.350,0.825
Blackpool green: 0.345,0.551,0.424
Blackpool cream: 0.182,0.338,0.893
Blackpool modern purple (dark): 0.890,0.900,0.242
Blackpool modern purple (light): 0.890,0.450,0.500
Blackpool old red: 0.000,0.850,0.470
Blackpool old white: 0.136,0.182,0.737
Blackpool original yellow: 0.111,0.765,0.594
Blackpool original green: 0.388,0.402,0.210
Nottingham Super Tram green: 0.374,0.509,0.253
Nottingham Super Tram  grey: 0.000,0.000,0.644
Croydon Tram Link white: 0.000,0.000,0.790
Croydon Tram Link green: 0.236,0.850,0.747
Croydon Tram Link blue: 0.664,0.700,0.700
Croydon Tram Link red: 0.012,0.926,0.691
LCC dark red: 0.990,0.750,0.280
LCC cream: 0.136,0.350,0.825
Manchester Metrolink white: 0.000,0.000,0.841
Manchester Metrolink dark grey: 0.000,0.000,0.145
Manchester Metrolink green: 0.443,0.893,0.742
Sheffield Corpn. light blue: 0.663,0.559,0.402
Sheffield Corpn. dark blue: 0.663,0.300,0.150
Sheffield Corpn. off white: 0.136,0.182,0.737
Sheffield Super Tram blue: 0.687,1.000,0.744
Sheffield Super Tram orange: 0.075,1.000,1.000
Sheffield Super Tram red: 0.000,0.964,0.744
Glasgow: See under road vehicles
Birmingham: See under road vehicles

[kierongreen]

I would add this to one of the existing stickied threads rather than start a new one personally.

[jamespetts]

Ahh, which one do you suggest?

[kierongreen]

http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=2401.0

[jamespetts]

If it's to go in that thread, it would have to be in the first post, or else it will get lost. Does The Hood have any views on whether it is suitable to go there (since it is his thread/post)?

[kierongreen]

There should really be one stickied locked thread with all blender information  I think. Colours are just as important as other setings but there's already toomany stickied threads in my opinion.

[jamespetts]

I hope that I am correct in taking the view that it would be inappropriate for me to do the reorganising myself, and to let you or The Hood make such changes as he/you think necessary.

[The Hood]

Happy to put it in that thread. I'm at at the minute and can't make the changes easily film my phone so if either of you can do it that would be fine by me.

[jamespetts]

I have merged the topics, and added a reference above to the list of colours further down the post. Is this satisfactory?

[The Hood]

Thanks

[jamespetts]

I wonder whether we should update this to include:

(1) automatic rendering from Blender using the scripts;
(2) the new transparent workflow; and
(3) the now standardised scales?

The new version of these instructions thus amended should be much easier for new contributors to work with.

[jimbolimbo9]

I wonder whether we should update this to include:

(1) automatic rendering from Blender using the scripts;
(2) the new transparent workflow; and
(3) the now standardised scales?

The new version of these instructions thus amended should be much easier for new contributors to work with.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

[jamespetts]

I have now added the colours for the tram liveries. Does anyone else have any views on the additions/modifications that I suggest above?

[jamespetts]

For reference, I reproduce here (with some modifications) a post that I made in response to another topic a few months ago, which contains details of the new, transparent workflow.

The best way to get started in creating graphics for the pakset is to download some of the existing .blend files from one of the two repositories (here and here) and modify it (e.g. to create a very similar but slightly different vehicle, or a different livery for the same vehicle; the different liveries are only used in Simutrans-Extended, however).

For exporting the graphics from Blender, you will need to use this Blender script (there are multiple tutorials on how to install a Blender script: it is very simple).

To use the new, easier workflow (using alpha transparency rather than a specially coloured background), make sure that "output" under render options is set to RGBA rather than RGB (so that Blender automatically adds the transparent background so that you don't have to do it separately); most of the older .blend files have "output" set to RGB, which will produce black backgrounds.

For road vehicles, you need to set the "Rendering views for Simutrans" Blender plugin to "Render 8 views normal alignment". For any other type of vehicles, including trams, rail vehicles, water vehicles and aircraft, you will need to set "Rendering views for Simutrans" to "Render 8 views vehicle alignment". For buildings, signs, signals, stations and stops, you will need to set it to "Render 4 views normal alignment". You can ignore the "make masks" button on that plugin: it is designed for a different pakset's workflow (and is in any event obsolete now that Simutrans supports alpha transparency; see here for a discussion of the alpha transparency feature).

For multi-tile buildings, however, the special program needed to break up the graphics into the multiple tiles does not currently work with alpha transparency. Unfortunately, this means either using the old, pre-transparency workflow (and a version of Blender earlier than 2.65), or splitting the graphics into tiles manually, which is a little complex.

Once you have the graphics (8 .png files per vehicle or way or 4 .png files for other objects, one for each alignment as will be produced automatically from the Simutrans render plugin), you need to create the .dat file. The .dat file is a text file used to specify the vehicle's data, such as its name, introduction date, capacity, power, graphics and so on. Again, the easiest thing to do is to adapt an existing .dat file. Note that there are some parameters in .dat files that are only relevant to Simutrans-Extended. With the exception of multi-tile buildings and objects needing special colours (e.g. the player colour), no post-processing is any longer necessary for the graphics exported from Blender.

Once you have the .dat and .png files, you will need to compile these into .pak files using a program called makoebj. There is a separate makeobj for Simutrans-Extended and for the normal version of Simutrans (Simutrans-Standard). .pak files compiled for Simutrans-Extended cannot be used with Simutrans-Standard, and .pak files for Simutrans-Standard will lack the data necessary for the Simutrans-Extended specific features. You can download versions of makeobj for both Standard and Experimental from links on these forums.

For road vehicles, you will need to specify offsets in the .dat files. Do this just by copying the following code, and replacing the name of the graphics in this instance ("daimler-wagonette") with the name of the graphics in question:

Code: [Select]

EmptyImage[E]=./images/daimler-wagonette_E.0.0,-33,14
EmptyImage[SE]=./images/daimler-wagonette_SE.0.0,-13,0
EmptyImage[S]=./images/daimler-wagonette_S.0.0,0,0
EmptyImage[SW]=./images/daimler-wagonette_SW.0.0,-8,10
EmptyImage[W]=./images/daimler-wagonette_W.0.0,4,5
EmptyImage[NW]=./images/daimler-wagonette_NW.0.0,12,10
EmptyImage[N]=./images/daimler-wagonette_N.0.0,0,33
EmptyImage[NE]=./images/daimler-wagonette_NE.0.0,0,24

Make sure to put the graphics in the /images subfolder of the main road vehicles folder ("/bus"). For Simutrans-Extended, if you want to specify liveries, a slight change in the format is required, as in this example:

Code: [Select]

l
liverytype[0]=General-early
liverytype[1]=General

EmptyImage[E][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early_E.0.0,-33,14
EmptyImage[SE][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early_SE.0.0,-13,0
EmptyImage[S][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early_S.0.0,0,0
EmptyImage[SW][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early_SW.0.0,-8,10
EmptyImage[W][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early_W.0.0,4,5
EmptyImage[NW][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early_NW.0.0,12,10
EmptyImage[N][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early_N.0.0,0,33
EmptyImage[NE][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early_NE.0.0,0,24

FreightImage[E][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early-loaded_E.0.0,-33,14
FreightImage[SE][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early-loaded_SE.0.0,-13,0
FreightImage[S][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early-loaded_S.0.0,4,0
FreightImage[SW][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early-loaded_SW.0.0,-8,10
FreightImage[W][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early-loaded_W.0.0,4,5
FreightImage[NW][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early-loaded_NW.0.0,12,10
FreightImage[N][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early-loaded_N.0.0,0,33
FreightImage[NE][0]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-general-early-loaded_NE.0.0,0,24

EmptyImage[E][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double_E.0.0,-33,14
EmptyImage[SE][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double_SE.0.0,-13,0
EmptyImage[S][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double_S.0.0,0,0
EmptyImage[SW][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double_SW.0.0,-8,10
EmptyImage[W][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double_W.0.0,4,5
EmptyImage[NW][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double_NW.0.0,12,10
EmptyImage[N][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double_N.0.0,0,33
EmptyImage[NE][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double_NE.0.0,0,24

FreightImage[E][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-loaded_E.0.0,-33,14
FreightImage[SE][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-loaded_SE.0.0,-13,0
FreightImage[S][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-loaded_S.0.0,4,0
FreightImage[SW][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-loaded_SW.0.0,-8,10
FreightImage[W][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-loaded_W.0.0,4,5
FreightImage[NW][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-loaded_NW.0.0,12,10
FreightImage[N][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-loaded_N.0.0,0,33
FreightImage[NE][1]=./images/lgoc-x-type-double-loaded_NE.0.0,0,24

See the bottom of the Pak128.Britain-Ex simuconf.tab for a list of the current liveries and livery schemes: you can add to this if necessary. This also gives an example of the loaded and empty graphics which are useful to have for old open top 'buses where it is possible to see whether there are people on board or not. This system is also useful for lorries that are not entirely enclosed so that it is possible to see the load, if there is one.

Just to be clear, the "EmptyImage" and "FreightImage" system (empty and full graphics) can be used both in Experimental and Standard, whereas the liveries (the zero and one, etc. in square brackets after FreightImage or EmptyImage can be used only in Experimental.

Because the pakset is open source (under the Artistic Licence 1.0), you may only modify and distribute existing objects and .blend files (and your objects can only be included in a release of the pakset) if and in so far as the new objects/graphics/.blend files that you produce are also made available under the Artistic Licence 1.0.

Road vehicles are in the process of being rescaled for Simutrans-Extended (they have not been rescaled for Simutrans-Standard). At the date of writing (April 2017), all of the 'buses, private cars, horse drawn vehicles, horses, and steam lorries have been re-scaled, as have some light vans. Most goods vehicles remain unrescaled. Bear in mind, therefore, that any of the older .blend files for road vehicles (with a modification date of earlier than about December 2016) will be in the wrong scale. These will already be set up for rendering with the new system and be in the correct scale. The rail vehicles should mostly be to the correct scale, except for earlier (pre-1960s) wagons, many of which are too large (I have not got around to re-scaling those yet). The trams, aircraft and boats should all now be to the correct scale.

In order to calibrate the scale accurately, you can import this 15 meter ruler into Blender. In Pak128.Britain, we use a slightly odd scaling system, in that the width and height are 1.25 times the scale of the length. Also, any vehicle over 15 meters in length uses a special logarithmic scaling system, as a linear scaling system would result in large ships and aircraft being too big to fit in the largest allowed size of graphics. However, rail and road vehicles are never this long, so this need be considered only if you are producing ships.

Aircraft have been produced to a different scale (see here), in which 128 pixels (i.e., one tile) represents 46 meters. This is a linear scale, not a logarithmic scale, as with ships. See here for a downloadable scale guide ruler for aircraft in Collada format, which can easily be imported into Blender.

Some aircraft and ships require special graphics, larger than 128x128 pixels to fit them within the scale.  The two standard sizes other than 128x128px are 192x192px and 254x254px (the latter being the maximum that Simutrans can support). To produce such vehicles, change the resolution under "dimensions" in the render panel on Blender to the relevant figures, and then scale the vehicle down by 128 divided by the new figure. For example, when using a 192x192px size, scale the vehicle by 192/128 (or 3:2), i.e. 0.67. These vehicles then need offsets applied in much the same way as road vehicles, above. The offsets are given in the example below:

Code: [Select]

liverytype[0]=BOAC-speedbird
liverytype[1]=BA-Union-flag

EmptyImage[E][0]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-boac_E.0.0,-64,-56
EmptyImage[SE][0]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-boac_SE.0.0,-32,-32
EmptyImage[S][0]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-boac_S.0.0,-110,0
EmptyImage[SW][0]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-boac_SW.0.0,-32,-32
EmptyImage[W][0]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-boac_W.0.0,0,-24
EmptyImage[NW][0]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-boac_NW.0.0,-32,-32
EmptyImage[N][0]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-boac_N.0.0,-110,0
EmptyImage[NE][0]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-boac_NE.0.0,0,-32

EmptyImage[E][1]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-ba_E.0.0,-64,-56
EmptyImage[SE][1]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-ba_SE.0.0,-32,-32
EmptyImage[S][1]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-ba_S.0.0,-110,0
EmptyImage[SW][1]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-ba_SW.0.0,-32,-32
EmptyImage[W][1]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-ba_W.0.0,0,-24
EmptyImage[NW][1]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-ba_NW.0.0,-32,-32
EmptyImage[N][1]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-ba_N.0.0,-110,0
EmptyImage[NE][1]=../images/vickers-super-vc10-ba_NE.0.0,0,-32

For reference, the logarithmic system (discussed fully in this thread) is as follows: for vehicles or other objects of over 15m in length, the objects are scaled to be proportional to square root of length in so far as it exceeds 15 meters. For example, for a 50m ship, one would take the square root of 15 (3.87) and the square root of 50 (7.07), and divide the latter by the former to get 1.83, and multiply the length ruler on the y axis by 1.83. One would then duplicate the length ruler and re-scale it as a width ruler. Suppose, for example, that this 50m long ship was 4m wide: one would take the re-scaled ruler, rotate it by 90 degrees, and scale it by 0.08 (4 / 50) on the x axis.

One would then use freeform scaling to get the ship's bow and stern just touching the red vertical bars on the length ruler, and use x axis constrained scaling to get the ship's sides touching the vertical bars on the width ruler.

For a reference source for Simutrans-Extended .dat file options, see the following links:

How to make Simutrans-Extended compatible paksets (.dat reference addendum)

Dat file reference for: Buildings and Stops

Dat file reference for: Factories and Goods

Dat file reference for: Signals and Signalboxes

Dat file reference for: Vehicles and Ways

[Y5mpF3]

Maybe that should be a new topic?
I'm graphically completely untalented. But because James Hood has done an excellent job, just unfortunately not enough, I has tried to get something with Blender. But the Blends can not be opened. It comes the message that the file version would be incompatible.

[kierongreen]

Maybe that should be a new topic?
I'm graphically completely untalented. But because James Hood has done an excellent job, just unfortunately not enough, I has tried to get something with Blender. But the Blends can not be opened. It comes the message that the file version would be incompatible.

It may be that the blender version you are using is too old? Check that it is updated - there might be a small possibility that newer version on blender don’t open old blends I suppose too...

[Y5mpF3]

It was the latest version. I has tried version 2.78 now. The problem is the same: "File format is not supported..."

[kierongreen]

Not at home at moment, can maybe try after the weekend but last time I tried using blender on my system it was refusing to open at all...