Revision as of 20:56, 8 January 2023

The information in this Wiki Page applies to Surveyor 2.0 (S20) as found in Trainz Plus.

This document is  under development 

Contents 1 The Tools Palette 1.1 The Brush Tool 1.1.1  Ground Height  1.1.2  Ground Texture  1.1.3  Scrapbook Data  1.1.4  Edit Effect Layers...  1.2 The Placement Tool 1.3 The Eyedropper Tool 1.3.1 Quick Steps 1.3.2 Narrowing the Search 1.4 The Free Move Tool 1.5 The Fine Adjustment Tool 1.6 The Marquee Tool 2 Trainz Wiki

In Summary:

The Tools Palette

Notes: Palettes If the Tools Palette is not shown on the screen, then:- 1. open the Window Menu from the menu icons at the top of the screen   visible palettes with have ticks next to their names 2. Left click on the item Tools Palette   this will add a tick and make the Tools Palette visible 3. make sure that the Tools Options Palette is also visible

The Brush Tool

Keyboard Shortcut:  W  The Brush Tool is used for painting the route. It can:- adjust the height of the terrain add ground textures add Effect Layers add Scrapbook scenes When selected, the Brush Tool will show two drop down menu lists.

The first drop down menu will set the Brush Target, the type of brush. The Targets are:-
Ground Height Ground Texture Scrapbook Data <List of Effect Layers> Edit Effect Layers		If you have any Effect Layers then they will appear as Targets in this drop down list. Select an Effect Layer to use the brush to paint with that effect.

 Ground Height 

This brush tool uses the Tools Options Palette. If this palette is not visible on the screen then refer to Notes: Palettes at the top of this document.

When the Ground Height Target is selected, the second drop down box will give a choice of several Ground Height tools. The choices are:-
Height Up Height Down Set Height Grade

The available brush tool options are shown in the Tools Options Palette with a  Gold  coloured icon next to their names. Those options that have their icon greyed out will be ignored, but they can still be edited.
Height Up/Height Down	Set Height	Grade	Radius  the brush radius (metres) - see Notes: below Range:  5m and above  Height  the brush height (metres) Range:  -3000m to 3000m  Sensitivity  the rate at which the height changes Range:  1% (very slowly) to 100% (very fast)  Grade  slope gradient - see Notes: below Range:  0% = flat ("Plateau" in Classic) to   ±100% = steep (but not vertical)  Angle  grade direction (compass degrees) Range:  0° (North) to ±359° a negative value reverses the grade

Notes: Unlike Surveyor Classic, there appears to be no upper limit to the brush  Radius . Brushes of hundreds of metres (even kilometres) in size are possible. However, if you are using the brush to set an entire baseboard, or many baseboards, to a specific height then the Marquee Tool may be a better choice. The  Grade  may cause some confusion. It is defined as height (vertical) over distance (horizontal) converted to a percentage figure. So a grade of 100% (the maximum allowed) would mean a slope formed by the height and distance both being the same value (e.g. a height increase of 50m over a distance of 50m). A vertical slope (a cliff) would have an infinite grade which is currently impossible in Surveyor.

 Ground Texture 

This brush tool uses the Tools Options Palette. If this palette is not visible on the screen then refer to Notes: Palettes at the top of this document.

When the Ground Texture Target is selected, the second drop down box will be disabled - there are no brush texture tool choices.

The available brush tool options are shown in the Tools Options Palette with a  Gold  coloured icon next to their names. Those options that have their icon greyed out will be ignored, but they can still be edited.

Radius  the brush radius (metres) - see Notes: below Range:  5m and above  Sensitivity  texture transparency Range:  1% = almost transparent to   100% = solid (opaque)  Rotation  initial rotation angle - see Notes: below Range:  0° to ±360° (larger angles can be entered)  Scale  the texture pattern scaling factor Range:  0.01% = smallest to 100% = full size

Notes: Unlike Surveyor Classic, there appears to be no upper limit to the brush  Radius . Brushes of hundreds of metres (even kilometres) in size are possible. If you are using the brush to paint an entire baseboard, or many baseboards, then the Marquee Tool will be quicker but it will not give the options of changing the scale and rotation. The  Rotation  controls the starting angle for the texture when painting and is often used to avoid pattern repetition. As in Surveyor Classic, holding down the  [  or  ]  keys while painting will continuously change the rotation angle. Warning: Changing the rotation angle during painting is not recommended for PBR Textures as this will significantly increase the memory useage (each rotation will load in another copy of the PBR texture).

 Scrapbook Data 

This brush tool uses both the Tools Options Palette and the Scrapbook Palette. If these palettes are not visible on the screen then refer to Notes: Palettes at the top of this document.

The Scrapbook Brush  When the Scrapbook Data Target is selected, the second drop down box will give a choice of two Scrapbook Data tools. The choices are:-
Scrapbook Brush Scrapbook Clone

The available brush tool options are shown in the Tools Options Palette with a  Gold  coloured icon next to their names. Those options that have their icon greyed out will be ignored, but they can still be edited.
Scrapbook Brush	Scrapbook Clone	Radius  the brush radius (metres) - see Notes: below Range:  5m and above  Rotation  initial rotation angle (degrees) - see Notes: below Range:  0° to ±360° (larger angles can be entered)  Scale  the scrapbook scaling factor Range:  0.01% = smallest to 100% = full size  Shape  brush shape Options:  Circle and Square will set the brush to the selected shape   Natural will set the brush to the same shape as the Marquee that created the scrapbook, which may be rectangular. The Radius setting will set the relative brush dimensions

Notes: Unlike Surveyor Classic, there appears to be no upper limit to the brush  Radius . Brushes of hundreds of metres (even kilometres) in size are possible. The  Rotation  controls the starting angle for pasting the scrapbook objects. In Surveyor Classic you could only rotate and paste in 90° increments. In S20 you can rotate and paste at any angle.

The Scrapbook Palette

Scrapbook Pasting Options   What Features to Paste      Ground Height  terrain height(s) used in the scrapbook     Texture  textures used in the scrapbook     Meshes  scenery assets (e.g. trees, buildings) used in the scrapbook     Splines  spline assets used in the scrapbook     Effect Layers  effect layers (TurfFX, Clutter) used in the scrapbook  How to Paste Each Feature     None  do not paste this feature     Add  add this feature to those already present     Overwrite  use this feature to replace those already present For the Ground Height feature:-     Absolute  use the ground heights in the scrapbook to replace the existing ground heights     Relative  modify the existing ground heights according to those used in the scrapbook (to ignore the scrapbook ground heights completely select the option None)

 Edit Effect Layers... 

When this Target is selected, the Edit Effect Layers options will appear. This is the same as selecting Edit Effect Layers ... from the Trainz Edit Menu.

If no Effect Layers are present then you can create a new one

If Effect Layers are present then select one to edit

More information on creating and editing Effect Layers can be found on the Trainz Wiki at:- TurfFX_Effect_Layer Clutter_Effect_Layer Water_Effect_Layer

The Placement Tool

Keyboard Shortcut:  E

The Placement Tool is used to add assets to the route.

This tool uses the Assets Palette. If this palette is not visible on the screen then refer to Notes: Palettes at the top of this document.

The first step is to identify and select the particular asset that you want to add to the route.

In the Asset Palette either:-

Left click on an asset selection icon all ground textures all non-spline scenery objects all spline scenery objects all track spline objects all track objects (signals, etc) all rolling stock all Effect Layer presets

OR

Left click the Content Drop-down Box Then select Track Objects

Shortcut  If you already have the same asset placed in your route then:- select the Eyedropper Tool in the Tools Palette (or press the  R  key) Left click on the existing asset object This will instantly select that particular asset in the filter list. Jump to Step below.

To narrow down the filter list type part of the asset name into the Search Text Box. For example if you have selected Track Objects and want to find "Trackmarks", then type "mark" (UPPER/lower case does not matter).

This will list all the Track Objects containing the text "mark" in the filter list. Select the item Track Mark. If you are not sure about an asset then double-click on the name to bring up its image and description.

The final step is to place the selected object into the route. Click the Placement Tool or press the  E  key Click on the spot where you want to place the object

The Placement Tool will remain on and active until another tool has been selected. So everytime you click another copy of the asset (or another asset if you change your selection) will be added to the route.

Notes: To delete an asset:- if the asset is not already selected (highlighted in green) then:- select either the:- Free Move Tool (or press  S ) or Fine Adjustment Tool (or press  D ) Left click on the asset to be deleted press the  Delete  key

The Eyedropper Tool

Keyboard Shortcut:  R

The Eyedropper Tool is used to identify objects that are in the route. The objects can be textures, effect layers, scenery, rolling stock, track. track equipment, and splines.

This tool uses the Assets Palette. If this palette is not visible on the screen then refer to Notes: Palettes at the top of this document.

Quick Steps

With the Eyedropper Tool selected, move the mouse pointer (which will now be an eyedropper symbol) onto any object in view.

The object will be identified by its asset name appearing in a ToolTip below the mouse pointer (image shown left). Leave the mouse pointer in place for a few seconds and additional information about the asset will be shown, its <kuid> code and Author (image shown below left). Left click on the asset to select it in the Filter List. The type of asset (e.g. Track Object) and its name (e.g. Stop (Signal)) will be automatically selected and shown in all the Asset Palette filters. The asset will also be selected and ready for use by the Placement Tool.

Narrowing the Search

Sometimes (or often) a scene will be too crowded with different scenery assets to be able to use the Eyedropper Tool to easily select a single object. In these cases additional options are available to help "remove the clutter".

At the top of the Assets Palette is a drop down box which controls how the Eyedropper Tool works with the filters that you set.

The drop down box will provide three options:-

Filter List Filter Selection Filter Visibility

These options work with the Asset Filters to help narrow the search for a specific asset or type of asset that is in the route.

For example. The following images show the progressive application of a Visibility Filter.

		No filter has been applied. All the assets are visible on the Surveyor screen. ALL assets can be selected by the Eyedropper Tool
		The Visibility Filter option has been applied and the filtered list has been set to display only Scenery Splines. All assets except Scenery Splines, Ground Textures and Effect Layers are now hidden. Only Scenery Splines can be selected by the Eyedropper Tool.
		An additional filter has been applied. The word "fence" has been added to the search text box. All Scenery Splines that do not have the text "fence" in their names have now been hidden. Only the remaining visible splines, those with the text "fence" in their names, can be selected by the Eyedropper Tool.

The Free Move Tool

Keyboard Shortcut:  S

The Free Move Tool is used to move objects in the route.

The Fine Adjustment Tool

Keyboard Shortcut:  D

The Fine Adjustment Tool is used to make fine adjustments (XYZ axis, rotation, tilt) to objects in the route.

The Marquee Tool

Keyboard Shortcut:  F

The Marquee Tool is used to select areas of the route.

Trainz Wiki

More Tutorials and Guides to Using Trainz How to Guides Driver Commands List Session Rules List (Alphabetical) with Parameters Session Rules List (Categories) With Parameters

This page was created by Trainz user pware in January 2023 and was last updated as shown below.