Status Update #6 (2 May 2016)

Awesome stuff Trainman.

On a sidenote, I really enjoy your extensive knowledge on Trains in general. I loved trains as a kid and I still do to this day but I don't have nearly as much knowledge about them as you do.

Thanks.

I need to get some screen grabs, but the tests I did turned out quite well. I used photos I took of models I own. I used two scales of models, both turned out just fine. Needless to say, my railroad layouts (Yes, plural, I have three here at home, plus one I built into an old briefcase, plus I run a model railroad club, with a train layout, at our local hobby shop) all have plenty of buildings, so if you need textures for buildings, be they foreground or background, I can make those the same way. Using photos of models for the texture seems to work well, is fairly quick (Certainly compared to drawing!) and very easy.

Over the years The Simpsons has gotten much more realistic with their trains. In Burns Baby Burns, the Amtrak coaches had curved sides, accurate for a train in the Northeast (Burns was returning from a Yale reunion) and in an episode where Bart goes to New York to see Mary Spuckler, at the end is a Santa Fe F unit in passenger colors. Granted the Santa Fe is no more (I worked for the BNSF, the product of the Santa Fe and Burlington Northern merging), but in years past, Santa Fe stuff DID end up out east, as a product of "Run through" agreements with other companies. And twice, in Lisa Goers Gaga, and in Lisa The Tree Hugger, what appears to be an E-1 in Santa Fe livery appears. This was a prewar diesel, all retired by the 1960s, and it was green instead of red, but some unmistakable characteristics were there, such as the santa fe "Cross" logo" split vertically, half the logo on the left of a window, the other half on the right. Someone in production is a railfan! None of these things together happen from people who know little about railroading.

Oh wow it's interesting to hear how accurate the trains are in the show.

Also I'm working on a new train car model based on the specifications you gave me. I got a little side tracked with it and wound up modelling a considerably better flatbed car model than I had before:


I figure I can use this as a base for regular old box cars and other types of train cars.

Since the moving car was my "Guinea Pig", I need to replace the artwork for every test I do. But here's a good example. I photographed the right side of an old model boxcar (Made in the 1950s), the flat finish on the wood body (Back when models were often made of wood) was great for photography. As you can see, the artwork repeats itself for a total of three times per side. Also is the artwork as it was before being added to the game. The smaller lettering shows up well.

Cool stuff Trainman. I think they would look great on a train car more suited for the texture work.

Speaking of which I modelled a box car based on the specifications you gave me.

Cool, then I'll get some artwork suitable for you shortly then. Probably in the next 24 hours or so. If I upload them as I did that sample (Which was 512px by 512px), would that work for you?

Yeah that'd work just fine.