Modeling Trains - learning Sketchup

[LA_RR_Architect]

Sure, no worries.

Here's a view with hidden geometry.

I think the modeling is pretty straight forward, but I certainly would be interested in feedback.

One challenge I really fought with and didn't totally solve was the fillet between the sand and steam domes and the top of the boiler. I calculated the intersection of the boiler and domes and used an offset from the intersection line to create a saddle shaped circular follow me tube, pushed it into place and manually deleted the less useful polygons.

A lot of effort for a less than totally compelling result.

One word about my modeling. I'm one of those old guys, in more ways than one, who would never use a power tool where a manual one will work. As a result, I've never used any of the Ruby extensions and seldom use warehouse components.

Anyhow, that's how I got here...

Jim

[LA_RR_Architect]

...here's a sub assembly from the tender as well. Perhaps it will also shed some light.

From the Model statistics panel I see that the entire model has:

5 edges
178 components

And when nested components are shown:

2641 component instances
389,900 +/- edges
167,000 +/- faces

Jim

[hellnbak]

Sounds like we have something in common - I too am one of those "old guys", and I use very few plugins/extensions. Do you really not use any of the extensions ?

One suggestion - I noticed that there are some reversed faces in your model. I don't render, but others have pointed out that reversed faces can adversely affect a render (plus it's generally considered good modeling practice to not have any of those pretty blue faces showing )

Really looking forward to seeing more of your outstanding work

[Bryan K]

Excellent modeling!

The renders looks a little dark on my monitor, however.

[majid]

@tadema said:

Welcome to the forum Jim. Great modeling

John

+1 , texturing is too clean and needs more attention IMO, it is too flat and clean.

[pilou]

Very cool result!

@unknownuser said:

I've never used any of the Ruby extensions

Maybe with them you should made 2 trains in the same time!
It's good or bad, the same pleasure, i don't know!

[LA_RR_Architect]

Hello everyone,

Thanks for looking and your helpful, provocative observations.

Hellnbak, you’re correct, I have run into the occasional problem with back facing polygons and have been attempting to ferret them out of my models. The 060 was one of my first and has been reworked several times, but still a few backward faces… so it goes.

Bryan, Thanks and there’s probably no reason to start adjusting your monitor. These images are a tad dark. This occurs for two reasons. 3dMax and I are still pretty much on mutually suspicious terms and don’t entirely get along and also, I do like the effect of late evening or early morning light. I like the added redness, the way the low shadows fall on the model and to be honest, the reduced light which hides a fairly wild lack of detail on my models. At present, I’m working down to about 1 inch detail, I’m afraid that if I push things to the next level the size of my models will go up by an order of magnitude.

Majid, You’re are mostly right about the level of texture. In my defense, I again site my lack of intimate familiarity with Max but also claim that the goal of the images is not to create a hyper realistic image but rather to evoke the feeling of large scale railroading as seen in the photos made in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s when large steam powered monsters roamed the earth. It is one reason I try not to get too close to my subjects.

One question that someone may be able to answer. If I model SU surfaces with textures, I can edit or change the texture in Max however if I use a solid color in SU all I can do with the imported file is change the color, I can’t apply a texture to it. Any idea what gives?

In any case, get ready for another dark image… really dark. This scene features a pair of locomotives at a cross track. The crossing is guarded by a signal tower (yellow building in the foreground) in order to minimize the chance of the obvious accident. The crossing and tower are generally historic. The scene is illuminated by the two locomotive’s headlamps and a handful of 60W bulbs.

Thanks again everyone

Jim

[LA_RR_Architect]

Just added a new box car to my small and slowly growing collection of railroad equipment. It features an improved truck and more complete brake equipment.

Pictures below.

Jim

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[Bryan K]

Those look great! Are you working from engineering drawings?

[LA_RR_Architect]

Hi Bryan,

Yes, I work from engineering drawings and photographs as I can find them. Most are partial sets of drawings either abstracted or redrawn for model builders. I look for drawings where there's enought dimensional and detail information go create a reasonable copy.

Jim

[Bryan K]

Thanks for the info Jim. Engineering drawings of any kind are always a big help.

Looking good!

[LA_RR_Architect]

Hello again,

In answer to the question that probably no one has asked: What do you do with a boxcar?

I couple it into a train, in this case a string of mostly empties behind my switch engine.

And the switch train? Roll it into a scene and press the render button.

Yes, I know still kind of dark, but thanks for looking.

Jim

[pbacot]

Very nice--cool and fun picturs. Yes I find your renders are dark and I wish to see the details better.

[LA_RR_Architect]

OK, setting asside my penchant for dramatic (moody) lighting, here's another view of my scene from another direction with the sun set to a bit closer to noon.

My renderings are typically at 3849x2400 resolution (twice my screen) so they have been reduced a bit to get them through the site's 1000 pixel limit. Below are two images cropped to aprox. 1000x1000 which may give you a bit better idea of the detail I see on my screen.

I rather enjoy the little bit of the scene I see reflected in the caboose's marker lights.

Once again, thanks for looking.

Jim

[LA_RR_Architect]

My current rail road themed project is Kelso Depo.

Kelso Depo was built by the Union Pacific in 1924 and pretty much sits in the middle of the Mojave desert, over 20 miles from the nearest highway and 35 miles from the closest town. The building still exists and is now operated by the National Park Service.

The model is now about 75% complete and is geo-located.

More to come soon. Jim

[deaneau]

@LA_RR_Architect

do you design for any railroad simulator ,too?

for trainz i have a sketchup plugin.

im sad about, that sketchup cant export animations (not movies) i mean real animations.

here a simple export from Lightup4sketchup to trainz.

lights and shadows will bake in the texture.

for this i dont need 3dmax.

[LA_RR_Architect]

Hello,

Interesting images... looks like light and shadows are well handled.

But, no, so far, my models are static renders only.

The models are a bit large and for me fairly complicated mechanically, I'd love to see them move but I'm not sure how to describe the motions.

Also I've had a bit of a challenge getting 3dMax to render any animations - I think it doesn't like my computer. I can do large static renders but as soon as I attempt even a simple an animation, it crashes.

Jim

[deaneau]

than look at Eneroth Railroad System (ERS). ok the locos in this plugin is lowpoly..this is needed. otherwise your framerate will drop.

you could try highpoly..however the movement of your cars annd locos could be very slow.

when you design own tracks, ERS can help you to setup your cars and locos on this track.

your renderings look like LumenRT or Lumion

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=323%26amp;t=57831

http://sketchucation.com/pluginstore?listtype=1%26amp;author=0%26amp;category=0%26amp;search=eneroth%26amp;submit=%3F

https://plus.google.com/110985781685543511443/videos

and here all videos via google

https://www.google.de/search?q=eneroth+railroad+system%26amp;newwindow=1%26amp;espv=2%26amp;source=lnms%26amp;tbm=vid%26amp;sa=X%26amp;ei=f05GVZjiOczlaqvqgfgK%26amp;ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ%26amp;biw=1212%26amp;bih=672

[LA_RR_Architect]

I think for the moment, it's time to suspend SU modeling and begin assembling parts in 3DMax.

Here's where things stand this evening.

The station has a partial interior; floors, partitions and doors so I hope to be able to apply some useful interior lighting.

Cheers, Jim

[pbacot]

This is great. They certainly built a good size depot for the middle of nowhere. Is is possible to go in or look inside the building today?

Railroads really put a lot into building up the fantasy of the west, along with many depots that were fine buildings in their own right.

Great job on the tile roof. Did you have any plugins or methods that helped in that, or just brute force?