05/21/09

Build a Basic Trainz Car in 3D Canvas (v. 7.1.2.0)
by Rick Hargraves  (aka, thegrindre)

Originally posted at http://www.geocities.com/thegrindre/

This tutorial will be a 'hands on' and 'follow my lead' type of tutorial.
I thought this would be the best way to teach something when you just don't know diddly squat about it.
So, it's going to be written for all of us 'Dummies' out there that are having troubles with this issue.
I'm running Trainz Railroad Simulator 2004. (aka; TRS'04)
Enough said about that. Let's give this a try...

The really key factors involved are the hierarchy, the axis points and center.
If you don't follow these three things exactly, it'll never work in Trainz.
What you'll get, if you don't, is a railroad car that doesn't sit on the rails properly and most likely will have that big red exclamation point above it.

So, open 3DC and drag a cube shape onto your scene. (I use a 100x100 foot working area with 1 foot dots as guides. This makes my center, X=50 Y=0 Z=50. You can set your scene up anyway you want too.)
Dropping your Primitive cube in the blank section of your Perspective view, (3D view), will automatically center it for you on the X and Z coordinate. I recommend doing it this way then, just right click on the cube and click on the last option for Properties. Here you can enter your X Y Z as necessary. Y must be zeroed, (Y=0).
NOTE: It has to be centered to your 3DC layout, (scene), with Y being at zero!
If your scene is a 25x25 working area then your center will be,
X=12.5, centered.
Y=0, centered.
Z=12.5, centered.
I can't stress this enough. It's a major key in getting your car on the tracks.

(Pic 1)

Pic 2 is the cube at dead center and it has been resized to the proper dimensions.
To resize the cube, right click on it, then left click, Scale, To Size.
This very simple flat car is, 7 feet wide, (X=7), 4 inches thick, (Y=.3333), and 20 feet long, (Z= 20).
NOTE: When you resize a primitive this way, 3DC will resizes it from it's dead center outward so, you will not need to fool with centering it again. It will still be dead center for you.
It should look like this when you're done;

(Pic 2)

Let's throw a little color on it and see if it'll work. That's right, this is all you need to get a car on the tracks... Well, it's the bare bones, anyway. Let me explain.
(Minimize 3DC for now, don't shut it down.)
You're going to need a Trainz folder, a config file and the files needed to get everything to work.
3DC will supply everything needed except the folder and the config file upon export.
So, make a New Folder on your desktop and name it appropriately like this:

kuid <kuid:371339:19999>
name "Flat Car Tutorial"
origin "USA"
bogey <kuid:371339:1088>
enginespec <kuid:-1:42004201>
engine 0
mass 4000
category-region-0 "US"
category-era-0 "2000s"
category-class "XSU"
trainz-build 2.4
obsolete-table {
}
mesh-table {
   default {
      mesh "Flat Car Tutorial.im"
      auto-create 1
      effects {
         0 {
            kind "attachment"
            att "a.couplera"
            default-mesh <kuid:371339:60018>
         }
         1 {
            kind "attachment"
            att "a.couplerb"
            default-mesh <kuid:371339:60019>
         }
      }
   }
}
asset-filename "Flat Car Tutorial"
username "Flat Car Tutorial"
description "Flat Car Tutorial for 3D Canvas Pro."
author "thegrindre/steamdrivre"
organisation "All Rick's Stuff"
contact-email "thegrindre@yahoo.com"
contact-website "http://www.geocities.com/thegrindre/"
license "This is the flat car tutorial and you my do as you wish with it."
kuid-table {
   0 <kuid2:63290:25011:2>
   1 <kuid2:63290:25012:2>
   2 <kuid:-1:42004201>
   3 <kuid:371339:1088>
   4 <kuid:371339:60018>
   5 <kuid:371339:60019>
}
kind "traincar"

Copy and paste this into Windows NotePad and change that red kuid number to yours.
You will eventually have to change those green tags to whatever you name the car although, not recommended at this time.
Now, save it as a config.txt file and drop it into your newly made Trainz folder.

Jump back into 3DC and export your work into this Trainz folder, too.OK, here's how.
1. Right click on the yellow folder. It should read, Group
2. Then click, Select Hierarchy
3. Now, go to File, Export, Trainworks, Trainz Railroad Simulator (.im). Like this:

When that window opens, put your car's name in the blank space, click the second option, then the NEXT button. (For now, I would maintain the name I'm using for this tutorial and keep it as, Flat Car Tutorial. You can always change everything latter.)
Another window will open. Under, Output File, click the Change button and search for your newly made folder then click OPEN. Now, click OK. Your done!
(Minimize 3DC again for now, don't close it down, just get it out of your way.)
Copy this whole Trainz folder you just put together into your Trainz directory.
IE: C:\Program Files\Auran\TRS2004\World\Custom\trains

(Pic 3)

I've drilled into you the importance of center. I've shown you how to adjust an object while maintaining its axis point at dead center. Now comes the importance of the hierarchy and attachment points for Trainz because we gotta put wheels on this thing, now.

The little yellow Group folders and brown Cube boxes can have any name you want them to have. There are exceptions when it comes to bogeys, though.
There must be a main folder at the top of the hierarchy to attach attachment points to. I call this folder, MAIN. All additional added parts MUST go into this folder to be associated with the main part. In this case, it is our body or flat bed we made here.
Let's name it. Click on the word Group and type, MAIN. Now, click on the word Cube and type, body.
Let's add two more parts for a little confusion. They will be the bolsters for the trucks we're going to add in a little bit. Let's call them bolster1 and bolster2.
Drag two Primitive cubes onto your scene and name them. Not the Group folder but the Cube boxes like this;

Let's resize them, add some color and move them, too.
Right click on the bolster1's brown box down there at lower left then click Scale, To Size. Enter X=2, Y=.3333, Z=.3333. We now have a bolster that's 4 inches square by 2 feet long. Right click again then Properties and move it on the Z axis 6 feet forwards.
(My scene would call for Z=56)
Repeat this for bolster2 but move it 6 feet backwards. (My scene would call for Z=44)
Now, drag and drop the brown box of bolster2 into the yellow Group folder of bolster1.
This will group multiple parts for moving them equally. We want to move them up to our main body on the 'Y' axis so, lock out 'X' and 'Z' and unlock 'Y' at the top of the interface.
You can right click on the yellow Group folder then click Properties and enter the exact 'Y' hight or zoom in and eyeball them into place while dragging them upwards manually.
(Should be, Y=1.9169)
We now have three parts and want to attach the trucks/bogeys but our bolster Group is outside of the MAIN folder so it won't work. Let's drag the bolster Group into the MAIN folder, attach our trucks and see what happens.
The Trainz CCG says to attach our attachment points to the top of an object so, let's do that.
Click on the main body and not the bolsters as you might think. The bolsters could cause you nightmares even though they are now directly associated with the main body.
This is another possible issue that may cause your car to fail in Trainz.
It's the hierarchy we want to maintain simply and clearly.
So, we're going to have to attach the bogeys to the main body then adjust the attachment points accordingly. They will have to be zeroed just like the body was and set to the proper distance both front and back.
Go to, Tools, Use Plugin, Trainworks, Trainz Railroad Simulator Attachment Points.

So, right click the brown Pointer boxes accordingly then Properties then enter X=0, Y=0, and Z will be a positive 6 for the front truck while a negative -6 for the rear truck.
More hierarchy stuff. We got to rename these new Group folders and they've got to be right. The front a.attach has to be renamed to, a.bog0 and the rear has to be renamed to, a.bog1.
This should do it so let's go see. Export your work as described above and I'll meet you back here when you're done looking around.

Hey, look at me! I'm pulling 4 of them...

If you'd like to download this tutorial in Acrobat format, click HERE (1MB)!
 

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