Gmax Locomotive Interior Tutorial

Chapter 2. Console and lever mount

NOTE; Due to the complexity of an interior, items will not be highly detailed and some items will not be created.

Using the methods in this tutorial chamfer the edges of the box and then move the ChamferBox1 to the following location

Rotate the ChamferBox1 to -40 degrees on the "Z" axis. Right click on the ChamferBox1 and convert it to an "Editable Mesh". Switch to "Top View" and making sure that you have the "Ignore Backfacing" checkbox unselected, select the top set of vertices of the ChamferBox1 as shown in figure 2. Move the vertices to X = -0.139, Y = 0.243, Z = 0.12. Now with the same vertices selected rotate them 20 degrees on the "Z" axis. Now select the center right vertices and move them to X = -0.203 Y = -0.3 Z = 0.12.

Now that we have the mesh in the correct location and in the correct shape we can add the textures to the console. In Trainz the interiors do not cast shadows so we have to add the impression of shadows to the texture. Getting the shadows and lighting just right is the most time consuming aspect of creating an interior for Trainz. For this tutorial I will not be going into advanced lighting and shading effects such as bump mapping or specular highlights (these will be covered in their own tutorial in the future) but a similar result can be achieved using textures. The problem with casting shadows using the textures is you have to decide which direction you want the shadows to be cast. Most people including myself use the front windows as the light source. This is fine but is not ideal as the locomotive is not always facing into the sun so when you are driving away from the sun the light source will still appear to originate from the front window. I apply gradients to different faces depending on the direction of the light in relation to the surface.For the console the light emanates from in front but also above so the textures need to be applied to reflect this lighting. In figure 7 you will notice the different shading between the rear panel and the front panel. Although it is hard to see in the image there is also a gradient applied to both of these surfaces. As the light emanates from in front and above the console the darkest surface is the front most face.

A similar technique can be applied to the walls of the cab. Some creators apply shadows of the interior objects and window shapes to the various walls and while this looks fine it is not entirely realistic because as detailed above the light does not in reality always emanate from the one source or direction.

Now that we have the console created and textured we need to add a mount for the lever. Create the following cylinder

Locate the cylinder in the following location

Once you have the cylinder created and in location we need to add a "Slice" modifier to the stack and cut the cylinder to the right of the center. From the modifier list, select the "Slice" modifier and an orange wireframe should appear in the scene. Expand the "Slice" modifier and select "Slice Plane" the wireframe should now be yellow. This is the cut plane anything on either side of the plane will be cut or sliced off from the remainder of the object however it will still be one object. To achieve the desired result we need to rotate the slice plane 90 degrees in the "Y" co-ordinates. One thing to remember when rotating a slice plane and that is the rotation co-ordinates always reset to zero after each rotation. So if you rotate the plane 90 degrees you cannot undo the rotation by typing 0 into the co-ordinates.

Once you have rotated the plane, in the "Slice Parameters" section of the "Slice" modifier select "Remove Top" and half of the cylinder should disappear. Now we need to move the slice plane to the right. Type -1.6 into the "X" co-ordinates to move the plane into the desired location. Once you have move the slice plane, convert the mesh to "Editable Mesh" to remove the "Slice" modifier from the stack. If you do not convert it to "Editable Mesh" you will have problems at a later stage when trying to move vertexes, edges or polygons.

Figure 13 Slice parameters

Figure 14 Slice plane rotated and mesh top removed

Figure 15 End result

Now we need to mirror the cylinder segment to create the top mount. Select the Cylinder01 and then select "Mirror Selected Objects" from the toolbar. Mirror the LeverMount 0.039m in the "Z" axis. Make sure you have "Copy" selected.

Once you have the second segment created select the first segment and attach the second object to it. Then move it to the following location.

Once you have moved the LeverMount to the above co-ordinates we need to align the object to the console. To do this we need to use the "Align" tool. Select the LeverMount and then click on the "Align" button on the main toolbar. After selecting the "Align" tool the cursor should change to resemble the image on the "Align" tools button. Move the cursor over the Console and the cursor should change again. Left mouse click and the "Align Selection" dialog box should appear. Select the "X Axis" in the "Align Orientation [Local]:" settings and click on "OK". The LeverMount should now be in alignment with the face of the Console as shown in figure 19.

Figure 17 Align tool icon

Figure 18 Align settings

Figure 19 End result

Now that we have the LeverMount correctly aligned with the console we can add the textures to the LeverMount. For simplicity I have used the same texture as the console, however this is not suitable in situations where there are labels etc applied to the LeverMount. Open the "Material Editor" and apply the Console.tga texture to the LeverMount. and then add an "Unwrap UVW" modifier to the stack. Map the textures to something similar to figure 20. Remember to keep in mind the direction of lighting for the texturing.

Figure 20 Mapping location

Chapter 3

>

Trainz and Trainz Railroad Simulator are trademarks of Auran

Best viewed at 1024 x 768 or higher

Pages best viewed with Cooper and Cooper Black font installed.