How to Make Good Scenery
Trainz aficionados are a diverse group with varied interests in one or more aspects of this game of tremendous complexity. Developing the scenery that surrounds the tracks is one such aspect, but one that only a seemingly limited few have mastered. This How-To page will introduce those interested in improving the look of their route to techniques they can learn and apply. Although scenery objects (assets) are important and will be discussed, the focus here is on the landscape itself: the use of the Topology and Paint tools in Surveyor Mode. Although applicable to any version of Trainz, the text is based on the tools and renderings available in TRS2019.
For every route builder, the first consideration is achieving a scenery consistent with the landscape they are mimicking. Choice of objects, particularly vegetation, is perhaps primary, but topology—creating hills, mountains, gullies, etc.—is of equal importance and should be the starting point for a new route or expansion of an existing route. Another rule requiring consideration is the "decrease detail with distance" rule. The computer will attempt to render everything you have added within a scene, a scene that is constantly moving with the train. Great detail may be called for close to the track, but not at distances away from the track; details should decrease with distance on the premise that no one is really going to notice them, no matter how much fun they might be to create.
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Layout
As a general rule, Trainz users that develop routes tend to follow one of two layouts: the Linear model or the Area model. Placement of map squares end to end allows the Linear model to develop long track runs with minimal effort. An excellent example is "Belarusian woodland" by Oleg Khim. Creating a large map of many squares (Area model) takes more effort but can better render distant scenery. An excellent example of this style is "Sebino Lake, Italy (1980s)" by jango. The two layouts styles are sometimes combined with Area layouts used for places of cities, dense industries, and complex train yards, connected by long runs of Linear layouts. An example approaching this style is "Coal Country" by Scratchy. Note that layout choice is independent of prototypical vs. imaginary route design.
With the Linear model, the edge of the map is always a short distance away from the track, dictating specific scenery choices to obscure this fact from the view of the train. The Area model is especially suitable to creating very mountainous country, such as depicted in "TRS19 Canadian Rocky Mountains - Viktor Lake to Ross Peak & Glacier" by RoysTrainz. Mountains that rise high above the track elevation require space to gain that elevation without displaying unreal slopes. The Area model can also be used to compress a lot of track in a small baseboard by separating track areas with tall features (hills or backdrops) following techniques used by model railroad builders.
Hills and Mountains
Enhancing topography changes a flat baseboard into one with hills and valleys, opening up opportunities for road and railroad cuts, viaducts and bridges, and, of course, tunnels. Varied topography establishes glimpses of the wider world as a train moves down the track. Topography on a Route is developed using the Topology tool in Surveyor mode (correct term would be "topography"). The top row in this tool menu has settings for Height up 'U', Height down 'D' and Adjust height 'A'. These settings determine what the topography tool will do when applied to the surface of the map board and a selection must be made before the tool will work. However, before applying, set the radius and sensitivity of the tool with the Cursor radius '+/-' and Sensitivity '[/]' dials respectively. The next row has additional settings, the most useful of which is on the right: the Plateau 'P' setting. The Get height 'G' setting appears to do nothing in Trainz2019. The Use height 'H' setting sets the topography tool to draw the ground at the height setting entered in the box to the left.
Coloring (Painting)
Coloring the landscape is accomplished with the Surveyor Paint tool. This tool opens a display of all the of the "paints" or tiles residing locally on your computer. Each combines colors and textures (in 2D) providing hundreds of possible choices for painting the ground. This tool is a paint brush with the ability, after selecting a tile, of enlarging the tile image (Texture scale 'Ctrl [/]') and changing the tile orientation Texture direction '[/]'). The diameter of the brush tool is set by the Radius '-/+' dial. A Get texture 'G' tool turns on a pointer that, when clicked on a painted location on the map, loads the tile in the brush. The loaded tile is shown in the square directly above the "Radius" dial. If you locate a tile by typing a word/name in the box above the tile display columns, the square displaying the loaded tile does not work if you then select a tile using the selection tool, even though the selected tile is likely loaded into the brush. We say "likely" because a painted area can become a combination of several different tiles, with certain tiles dominating the selection tool to the exclusion of what is displayed.
Water Features
Of all the various landforms one can create, water features hold the greatest potential for enhancing scenery along a Route. And water is superbly rendered using the Surveyor Topology - Get height tools. Three tools are provided: Add water 'W', Adjust height 'E', and Remove water 'Q'. An input box for setting water surface height is provided. The Add water tool paints a surface in the same manner as coloring, described above. However, the water surface has a number of interesting properties, the most significant being it is transparent and reflective. Improvements in rendering of these properties with each successive Trainz version has certainly been a major contribution to making a realistic CGI.
Painting water establishes a level surface at the setting in the water surface height box. Expanding this surface always maintains the same height as long as you begin painting from the existing surface (no need to adjust the setting). The Adjust height 'E' tool adjust the entire connected surface all at once, but does not change any other water surfaces on the map not connected to the one being adjusted. Thus, you can create a series of lakes at different elevations so long as the painted surfaces of each are not connected. Determine this independence by selecting Wireframe View in the Display Menu (or pressing F9). This displays the baseboard in white and the water surface(s) in grey, removing all the painted surfaces. Use the Remove water 'Q' tool to disconnect close-by water surfaces that you wish to set to different heights. Working upstream of a long river, you can progressively raise the surface of segments at points with rapids, waterfalls, or dams. Just be sure the water surface is broken at these points. An oddity built into the Adjust height tool is that if you hold down the Shift-Key while raising or lowering the water surface, the surface becomes bendy, going up or down within a limited area, no longer representing a level surface. If you bend it too much, it snaps back to a level surface at some new height.
Because the water surface is transparent, the color of the water feature and/or the nature of the bottom can be established by coloring the underlaying board surface. Over a baseboard without coloring, water has a bluish-green cast. Creating muddy water, or an algae-colored pond, is a matter of selecting an underlying color producing the desired result. The intensity of these underlying paints is controlled not by the distance between the water surface and the baseboard (water depth), but by distance from the shore. At around 40 m from the shore, the bottom fades away (no matter how colored) and the water color darkens. This property is one of the great improvements made between TRS2012 and TRS2019 versions. Essentially, realistic deep water is built in and need not be rendered by painting the bottom with progressively darker color or physically lowering the surface (which never worked anyway). Thus, the offshore bottom need no be made any deeper than the nearshore shoaling. Ocean depths are not rendered by topology or coloring; you can bother to color or not color deep water bottom. See "ocean" below to learn how to change the color of deep water on your route.
Ocean and large lakes
Sea coasts and large lakes are extensive water features extending out to some horizon from the shoreline.
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