You may choose to add some clipart - in this case a train drivers cap and a "traditional" red scarf. Copyright free clipart is strongly recommended.

The clip art can be added as layers to the image which makes them easier to manipulate (resize and move).

kuid                                    <kuid: this is an auto-generated number >
kind                                    "drivercharacter"
face-texture                            "DriverLillian.texture"
username                                "Driver Lillian"
category-class                          "OHD"
trainz-build                            4.3

thumbnails
{
  Default
  {
    width                               240
    height                              180
    image                               "thumbnail.jpg"
  }
  01
  {
    width                               64
    height                              64
    image                               "driverlillian.texture"
  }
}
description                             "Icon for train driver Lillian"

For the above example:

• The  kuid  is unique to every asset so it is  not a good idea to choose your own . This will be automatically generated by the Content Manager program when a new asset is created
• The  kind  identifies the type of asset and the types of files that Trainz will expect to find in the asset. It also tells Trainz how to render and error check the asset. A list of asset kinds can be found at KIND Hierarchy
• The  face-texture  is the name of the assets texture file. This will be a simple text file and will have the name asset_name.texture where asset_name will be a name you have selected for this asset - e.g. "driverlillian". The actual texture file itself will be named asset_name.texture.txt (e.g. "driverlillian.texture.txt") but the filename ending ".txt" is not added to the name in the face-texture tag so it would appear as "driverlillian.texture"
• The  username  is your name for the asset and the name that other users will see. It is also the name that will appear in the Driver Setup Rule when the driver is being selected. It is a good idea to make it short and meaningful.
• The  category-class  identifies the intent of the asset and is important in classifying it for filtering and searching. For driver character assets, the category class is "OHD". A list of category classes can be found at Category-class
• The  trainz-build  identifies the minimum Trainz version needed for this asset. A list of asset trainz-build numbers and their corresponding Trainz versions can be found at "Trainz-build"_number
• The  thumbnails  container holds the preview images of the asset shown by the Content Manager program, the Web version of the DLS and, for some assets, the Surveyor main menu image(s) and in this case the asset texture itself. Information on thumbnails can be found at Thumbnails
  • The first thumbnail  Default  is the container ID or placeholder for the thumbnail used by CM and the Web based DLS. While its exact label (or number - eg. "Default", "00", "01", etc) is not important, it must be different from any other labels. Default and 0 are commonly used placeholder labels for the 240 x 180 thumbnail image
    • The image is the name of the thumbnail image. It does not have to be called thumbnail.jpg but it must be a JPG format image
    • The width of the image in pixels must be  240 
    • The height of the image in pixels must be  180 
  • The second thumbnail  01  is the placeholder label for the 64 x 64 icon image used by the Driver Character for this asset. Its exact label does not matter but it must be different from the first thumbnail image placeholder label
    • The image is the assets asset_name.texture.txt file (but without the ".txt" at the end)
    • The width of the image in pixels must be  64 
    • The height of the image in pixels must be  64 
• The  description  provides more details for users than the username

username                    "Driver Lillian"
username-c2                 "司机莉莲"
username-es                 "Conductor Liliana"
username-de                 "Fahrer Lilian"
username-fr                 "Chauffeur Lilianen"
username-nl                 "Chauffeur Lillian"
username-ru                 "Драйвер Лилиан"

• the Texture File is a standard text file
• the filename is composed of:-
  • a user selected asset_name followed by a period (.)
  • the word texture followed by a period (.)
  • the letters txt

primary=Lillian64.png
alpha=Lillian64.png
tile=st

There are 3 general "scenarios" for the structure of the Texture File in a Driver Character asset.

If the icon has a transparency (an alpha channel) and is saved in a format that supports the alpha channel

Then:-

primary=Lillian64.png
alpha=Lillian64.png
tile=st

If the icon needs to have transparency (an alpha channel) but an alpha channel is not available (e.g. it is saved in the jpg file format) or is not suitable

Then:-

primary=Lillian64.jpg
alpha=Lillian64_alpha.jpg
tile=st

If the icon image does not have a transparency and no alpha channel is needed

Then:-

primary=Lillian64.jpg
tile=st

Image file formats supported by Trainz that have an alpha channel are:-

• bmp
• png
• tga

Image file formats supported by Trainz that DO NOT have an alpha channel are:-

• jpg

• Texture File

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