Carson Car Shops

Alright guys, I have been working on a couple of ideas for the new files once I have a renovate in place. Obviously, the initial 'art' file photo is no longer a good shot. I can handle the in-game shot for the 'thumbnails'.

Does anyone know the process to get that art icon and the folder contents for it ??

Thanks in advance
Ken

He he, that little 128x64 is a stinker. LOL Here's how I do it.

1. Go into the game. Place a section of straight track. Place the 'car' on it.
2. Now, use the up arrow key straight overhead so your track runs left to right as accurately as you can centering the whole scene and zoom in close with the Page Down key.
3. Use the down arrow key to get the camera at ground level.
4. Using the left mouse button, move away very far until you see a little tiny car on the track. (Keep your mouse pointer centered on the screen, top to bottom. Don't veer off center left or right.)
5. Snap a shot then edit accordingly with your graphics app. to make it 128x64 and anything else you may need to do with it.

Don't know what the other one is used for... I don't use it, myself.

Have fun,

The big one (512x512) is used in place of the 3d preview window, iirc. I don't use it, as the file ends up so big. I don't think it's used in versions later than 2004, either.

For the little icon, I have a special route that is a streight peice of track at the foot of a large cliff. The entire ground and cliff is painted black, which makes the background of the screenshot black. That way, it's easier for me to make the alpha channel.

Ian has a pretty good writeup of the process here:
http://www.ianztrainz.com.au/tutorial2.htm

Curtis

It doesn't have to be 512, by the way. I've used 256. There isn't too much of a reason to include that file. I usually do, but I could get away without it.

I make the icon the same way as Curtis, except I don't save the map. That means I have to remake it every time, but it doesn't take too long to do that.

Thanks, guys. I like the 'black route' idea. LOL

Well now, it looks like I did something a lot like Curtis does and it worked okay but it still needed some tweaking. I like the idea of the mountain in the background so it has a backdrop and fits well into it. I found the HOG texture 'Black' and tried that very idea. I'll also try to put in Rick's idea as well since it's a bit hard to get the camera right down to the nubbies just to get a good ground shot.

I always did wonder how you get that dark background for a crispy look.
Now I know.

Thanks a million.
Ken

Put the camera in 'fly' mode - that make it much easier to position. <alt> f-l-y in '04; <alt> u in later versions