Help-rendering and creating vehicles

[autocadman]

Hi

I am very good at using autocad and program called POV-Ray. I want to know if anyone else has used these programs to creat vehicles or if they know if they are usable.
Thanks

[marcf]

basically, any program that you can make a 3d model, and get a screenshot of each angle used in the game (136 for a normal vehicle, 1 part) will do

i'm sure there is a list somewhere of the angle/elevation used for each screenshot

[Plastikman]

Nice. I have a small fleet of CP, CN and BR chuggin accross my loco world.. The more the better! as far as what 3d programs you can use, I have no clue. sorry I would love to find out what you need. as far as i know you really only need one that you can set up a screen shot macro from for the 136 pictures.

[Immow]

lo,

i'm a student (Indusrial Engeneer) and the programs we use for modeling are: Rhino and SolidWorks.

I can do almost anything with SolidWorks so if you need help with the program or want something made... should take me 30 min or so to design a train

And i'm good with AC too but never got into 3d stuff cause it just sux

[autocadman]

ok cool

i am new to making graphics so

once i have the 136 pictures what do i do.

does anyone know of a manual or something to creating graphics.

[marcf]

there is some information about creating vehicles here,
locotool for converting .DAT files to .XML and .PNG's for editing, and compiling edited/new trains

i'd say it would be best to muck around with locotool for a bit, changing specs in the .XML (edit with notepad or something)

i can't find a download link for vehicle creator, so PM me or something and i'll send it to you
it can do the .XML file if you have the sprites ready, (im not sure how big they can be, mine are 160x160 including transparent space around the loco, PNG files with the locomotion palette applied. simple )

i'll be back later when i think of more things

[Villem]

254x254 is the biggest size you can get, afaik.

[marcf]

my DD40 is 132 pixels wide on its horizotal view, and it has clipping becuase its too long, so anything bigger than that isnt going to look good.

[autocadman]

i have played with locotool before.

I want to know where to get

the lococmotin pallette

how to make sprites

[marcf]

i searched for the locomotion palette for a few days, didnt find one that worked, so i made my own using this and irfanview.
the train has to be in the middle of the sprite, or perhaps 1-2 pixels above the middle. all the sprites have to be converted to .PNG with the palette applied, numbered 000-135.png (136 files)

to get the sprites, you have to take a screenshot of the model you want from each angle needed, theres a list somewhere, isometric view would be better, to avoid distortion

if you have MS train sim, you can see what i mean in loco vehicle creator, it has a utility to open MSTS models, and take a screenshot from each angle, and save each one as 000-135.bmp (still needs converting)

clear as mud?