Revision as of 03:07, 6 September 2020

The top left menu bar includes a Camera Menu providing 8 different camera view options in Trainz PLUS (4 in TS12 and TANE) for viewing the 3D world and, as well, a 2D Map View (s3ee Help:Surveyor MenuCamera). This How-to page covers setting up tracking cameras along your route specifically for Lineside View.

A "camera" is a map object set anywhere on the layout, that will activate (change your view of the scene to what the camera sees) when a train that has focus comes within 150-200 meters (490-660 feet) of the camera. Placing a Session in Camera Mode (Lineside in TRS2019) will activate any camera along a route as it is encountered, but will default to Chase Mode in the absence of a camera encounter. This behavior suggests several ways that cameras can be used to enhance Driver mode. A camera can be placed strategically to view loading/unloading/coupling operations, the driver accessing the camera from the menu at the time needed. Setting up a continuous sequence of cameras can provide a driver with the option of switching to Camera mode as an alternative perspective on his train in motion, whereas starting a Session in Camera mode will automatically trigger a camera's view as the train comes into view. Setting up a continuous sequence of cameras provides a means of choreographing a rail-fan's view of train operations.

Placing a Camera

A camera can be placed when editing either a Route or a Session. A camera placed in a Session will only activate in that Session; a camera placed on a Route will be present in all sessions attached to that route. Cameras are placed and managed from the Tools menu in an edit mode. Three tools are available: "Place camera 'A'", "Move camera 'M'", and "Delete camera 'D'". To place a camera, move your viewpoint to the approximate location where you wish to place it, click on Place camera, move your pointer to the exact location on the ground and click LMB. The camera view will appear, with the view area marked by four corner angle lines, and a flashing green light indicating the camera has been created and set in 3D space and you are in Move camera mode. Use the pointer and LMB to fix the spot for the camera. Adjusting the actual view to what is desired is accomplished with the arrow, PgUp, and PgDn keys on the numeric keyboard, allowing you to pan left or right (arrow or cursor keys), up or down (arrow or cursor keys), or forward (PgUp or zoom in key) or backward (PgDn or zoom out key). The camera location and mode are fixed by clicking on Place camera a second time. Use the PgDn or zoom out key to back off and see the camera. Not satisfied? Click the pointer on the camera body and click Delete camera to remove the camera, allowing you to start over in a more desirable position using your pointer. Or, click on Move camera to regain adjustment control, although this will change the camera's view. The Move camera tool can be used to adjust an existing camera. Find the camera, select "Move Camera", and LMB click on the camera body to bring up camera view. Now that camera can be adjusted as described and the adjustments saved by LMB on Place camera. Again, backing off to view the camera is a check on your not having created accidentally a second camera.

The camera itself has a distinctive icon (a camera body and a hood) and has two settings: Static and Tracking. In Static mode, the camera view is fixed, the camera has a red hood, and the camera is activated by a train entering the fixed view area at the set distance. In Tracking mode, the camera follows the train engine and is activated when the engine enters an area defined by a circle with a radius of 150 to 200 meters; the camera hood is green; and the camera turns off (the driver's view is passed to another camera or to Chase mode) once the train leaves the circle centered on the camera. Note that in Tracking mode, the pan of the camera will be determined by the train, so you need only adjust the angle (up/down arrows) and closeness to the track (PgUp/PgDn). It is best to get in the habit of selecting Static or Tracking mode before fixing the location of the camera.

Continuous Camera Sequencing

Placing cameras at particularly interesting points along a route will result in the view shifting from Chase to Camera mode as the train progresses and encounters the camera triggers (if in Camera mode). Chase mode views are set up and adjusted by the driver and Camera mode views—set up by the developer—may conflict with the user's preferred way of following his train. This fact suggests that if Camera mode is going to be used as the Session option, the experience should be a continuous one for at least some distance of travel if not the entire layout. Camera mode becomes a tool that can be developed to display a route/session in a manner at the control of the developer, particularly suitable to ride-along scenarios. Setting up a series of cameras that move the view from camera to camera as a train progresses along a track can be a fairly complex undertaking, requiring not only consideration of the best separation between cameras, but some appreciation of cinematic principles. Cameras must be chained together so that the view is handed off smoothly from one to the next camera in a long sequence; cameras set too close together will produce short bursts of views and a jerky experience. Camera views are the equivalent of a rail-fan's experience of your route and this may be an important consideration in where you place each camera relative to the ground.

Establishing smooth transitions can be done by hit or miss, by using the Ruler tool (separation should be around 1000 ft or 300 meters), or by employing the guide camera sphere <KUID2:70337:23049:1>, a tool object that, set directly on the ground beneath a camera, draws a transparent green sphere showing where the distance of 660 feet (200 meters) is located from that camera in all directions. Of course cameras need not be placed at the point where two adjacent hemispheres just touch or just overlap, but approaching this maximum spacing will establish a long stay on a camera in Tracking mode, whether hand-off is to a camera next along the direction of travel or to Chase mode. At any point where two cameras are separated by more than the maximum trigger distance, the view will jump from Camera mode to Chase mode then back to Camera mode. The sphere is not visible in Driver mode, although should be deleted after use, accomplished by locating the small purple rectangle at its center under the camera and using Delete object in the Objects menu.

Choreographic Considerations

For those Trainz aficionados particularly into developing realistic scenery, the Camera mode provides a bounded canvas for adding detail that will be noticed by the driver. In general, small objects are not necessarily seen by a driver in the more commonly used Cab or Chase modes. Camera mode is an opportunity to develop focused detail on your layout, including objects that themselves move (persons walking, persons with body movements). Because the train moves through a fixed view, static mode is particularly well-suited to setting up this sort of detail to emphasize activities ongoing beyond the train and track: small dioramas that enhance the enjoyment of both the route developer and route drivers. Starting a ride-along session (train under AI control) in Camera mode can be an excellent introduction to your route, especially coupled with triggered message pop-ups (See: How to Create a Message Popup Icon).

Problems

Camera use on a Trainz PLUS route is problem free, with one exception manifested as an inability to access a placed camera to either adjust or delete. The camera works as intended in a session, but cannot be moved, adjusted, or deleted. This problem is caused by placement of the camera too close to some other large object (such as a boulder). Moving the object away from the camera object will allow access to the camera again.

A small, but sudden shift in the view likely means you have accidentally set two cameras in very close proximity, an easy mistake to make when adjusting a camera by selecting the Place camera 'A" tool instead of the Move camera 'M" tool. Delete one of the cameras.

See Also:

• Help:Driver_MenuCamera