OPERATION
INSTRUCTIONS While
the following instructions are primarily for those of you who are new to TRAINZ SURVEYOR
the more advanced users will also find important information here
The following menu
locations and operation may vary slightly for different versions of TRAINZ
SUNKEN RIVER SPLINE |
- Start by experimenting on a flat base board
- You'll find the river splines on the
"spline objects" panel located under the region "SG_River"
- Pick points to create a random curving
river on top of your base board
- When you're ready to embed your river open
the "Track" panel
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- For the sunken river spline type a value of
9.5 into the "Spline height" text-entry box. (20 for the Canyon River)
- Now pick each of your spline points to drop
the spline so that the rim of the river spline is just above the ground level
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- For the Sunken River spline enter a value
of 10 into the "Height value" text-entry box (21 for the Canyon River)
- Set your radius dial button to a minimum.
- Trace the circle along the approximate
centre of your river to expose the river.
- Pick the "height down" button
(the top middle button on the panel) and push down the remaining exposed terrain.
- If you have pushed too much terrain down at
the edge of the spline enter a value of 0 into the "Height value" text-entry box
to lift any edge terrain back up that may have been pushed down
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- Experiment with creating hills to cover the
flat edges and merge them into the sloping river bank edges
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FLAT SIDE RIVER SPLINE The placement of the Flat-Side River spline is
straight forward and needs no explanation.
Try experimenting on a flat base board
with raising the terrain along the spline edge and then merging the terrain into and
through the rivers edge. Try extending some hills into the water to create small beaches |
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FLAT
SIDE MOUNTAIN RIVER SPLINE The placement of the Flat-side mountain river spline is also straight
forward and needs little explanation.
The red "invisible track" will
disappear in DRIVER but if you find it annoying then you can pull the spline points below
the surface to make it invisible
The purpose of the river having a missing
bottom is to allow the modeller to not only blend his terrain into the river but also to
blend his textures into and under the river to gain an even higher standard of realism |
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RIVER
EDGE SPLINES
Once the River-edge splines have
been placed as required select the appropriate "flat water" spline from the
"Spline objects" panel. You will find choices of narrow and wide
rivers in both transparent water and rapids.
You will find the "Flat Water"
splines in the objects panel under:
/SG_River / Water
NOTE
Splines are designed to join in one
direction. If you join the River-Edge splines together the wrong way the river edge may
flip and it cannot always be undone. If this problem occurs join another spline from the
correct direction. This will flip the river edge back the correct way and you can then
erase the unwanted splines. |
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RIVER RAPID ROCKS
You will find the "River Rapid
Rocks" on the "static objects" panel under:
/SG_River
These are designed to be dropped into your
river to give both sound and animation.
The stones can be raised
or lowered to suit individual requirements
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IMPORTANT TIPS
- When you first use enter Surveyor you may
experience some delay with the Basic, End and Start sections appearing on your screen once
placed. This delay is dependant on the speed of your hard-drive and the amount of content
that you are loading into memory. ONCE ALL CONTENT HAS BEEN PLACED INTO MEMORY THIS DELAY
WILL STOP.
- If you want to start (or end) your spline
close to the end of an "existing" spline, BUT DON'T WANT TO CONNECT TO THE
EXISTING SPLINE, hold the "Shift" key down to keep them separate.
- When picking spline points close to
existing splines (including track) hold the "shift" key down otherwise the
spline point you pick will not work.
- If you have difficulty working with the
"flat water spline" because you can't see the spline points then use the
"clear water - no bottom" spline and paint your river bed with texture.
- If too many rapids and waterfalls are
placed IN CLOSE PROXIMITY the water (smoke) effect will start to thin and eventually cut
off. This reduces the load on the graphics card. While a number of rocks can be placed
together experimentation will dictate the quantity for the best result - the quantity will
increase the further the rocks are from a waterfall.
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