[WIP] NSWGR Rollingstock (longterm)

[Hammo]

Instead of polluting the 3D discussion topic I decided it would be better to make a new topic here to post occasional WIP images, etc, and any files that may one day be released. Whilst I've decided to call this "NSWGR" Rollingstock, it will actually be covering stock made throughout either of the NSWGR/PTC/SRA/FR/FC/PN eras.

I'll be trialling making these wagons from scratch with Autodesk Inventor. (The same company that makes Autocad, and this forums' favourite: 3ds max.)

About the only good reference I've got (without searching for books on the subject... but that may be done later) is the NSW Rollingstock Page. (and for information on the rolling stock codes... http://www.nswrollingstock.com/roacode.htm)

As usual, any criticism is greatly appreciated.

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Current Status:
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Coal Hoppers
NHFF hopper - WIP (model)

[Hammo]

Ok, the first item on the list is the NHFF (/NHJF/NHSH/NHFH) coal hopper. First introduced in 1982, these hoppers saw a lot of work in the Hunter and Illawarra coal districts.

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To start off with, a few tests, getting used to working with Inventor.
I've only rendered 36 frames in Inventor here (as opposed to the required 64 for lomo sprites - just testing a few things out first)... and that took 10 mins. This PC isn't exactly sluggish either. I can see now why Plastik has a high end PC dedicated to this sort of stuff

Opened up GIMP, load the generated sprites as layers, save as .gif and voila... animation!

Test render(36 frames) from Inventor, GIMP

NHFF animation.gif (85.73 KiB) Viewed 6191 times

Criticism welcome. As far as I can tell, I need to:
-do something about the lighting
-get the right number of frames/angular rotation
-add the air reservoir, etc under one end
-add the undercarriage
-colour+texture model
-change the model length/image sizes to suit lomo size...
-bogies...

Getting there though.

[C3805.]

Oh beautiful. Check out Auscision Models, they are releasing a NHFF coal hopper and they have pictures of all the variations of the logos.

[Hammo]

The logos are pretty easy to find, I knew already that they wore SRA, FreightRail, FreightCorp and Pacific National logos.

[montanna.27]

woo hooo cant wait to see more work been looking for good nsw gear for ages!

[Hammo]

Indeed. There's a few over at the fanpage (locos too)... but for the most part, the quality is fairly below par. And as such there's only a few vehicles from that set that I use. Since most of the freight traffic I've seen seen have been the 81/82 class hauled coal services running through Sutherland, it was only natural to start with coal hoppers.

Made a bit more progress both with Inventor, and the hopper. Next I think try and get the sizes right, colours and lomo pallet applied. Braking equipment still needs to be added. I've got the right number of sprites now, but still need to check up on the angles.

[Opan]

That looks superb. I'm really thinking I should invest in 3dsm.

[Hammo]

I'm not using 3dsm. If you're a student, you should however be able to get 3dsm or inventor (like I'm using) for free from http://students.autodesk.com/

[montanna.27]

if u need anymore pics or info on locos and that i can get my hands on the info .... my old mans a driver for pacific national aswell