"How did they do it?"

The purpose of this blog is to provide a resource detailing behind the scenes of the creation of the RailWorks route - TestTrak.

In line with similiar fun events taking place throughout November 2009 questioning what could be produced in RailWorks in extremely short time frames, the idea of trying to build a route was raised. This blog provides a time line of how production unfolded, as well as giving insights into tips and tricks used by the official RailWorks development team.

Starting at 9:00am on Friday 11th December 2009, this blog covers progress upto just beyond 21:00pm, 12 hours later. Select a post on the right, indicated by its time, and see how TestTraK for RailWorks was built.

And thats all there is to it

Once the detailing stage is reached its down to personal preference. Make another pass of the route, repeating the details shown in the previous post. Try and ensure to get a consistent look along the route (no areas of emptiness next to others filled with detail) and when thats done, the route is finished.

I hope you have enjoyed watching over the past 12 hours, and discovered at least one new thing you didnt know before.

2115 Trackside scenes

To break up the repeating, overwhelming vegetation that makes up this route, I have used some artistic license to add additional scenery that might appear.

A lineside hut along with some random clutter found under by clicking the 'Bench' icon.

Finished off with a few dabs of Sand03 terrain texture underneath.

2100 Background scenes

I almost forgot. With bulk placement there are some clever tricks to save time. Below is a simply way to create back scenes. Accepted that it doesnt work when view from a helicopter, but from most cameras who would tell the difference.

First add the bulk building groups in a scattered fashion.

Then on top, add a large tree group, again in a scattered fashion. Where the buildings are, reduce the height of the trees so the roof tops peak over the top.

When viewed from the track, you'd think there was a nearby village.

2030 Trackside vegetation

2000 Line side detail started

1930 Start adding bulk vegetation

Not a single individual asset has been used. BULK assets only.

1830 Terrain painting continued

1800 Begin Terrain painting

I start with a small 20m brush and use a contrasting colour to the base terrain (usually Dark Grass). Using the roads as a guide for spacial awareness, mark out field boundaries, the railway lines, paths and urban areas.

It doesnt matter if this isnt the colour for the final fields, as they can be painted over with the fianl choice. When happy with the lay of the land, you can start filling in all the patches with the right colours.

1730 Marking out road network

1700 Adding supports for OHE Wires

1630 Tidying up Electrification

1615 Tidying up Speed Limits

1600 Tidying up Line Type

1545 Looking at track properties

With track laying complete, its time to look at the Properties within it. having used various types of line type to get different curvatures, I need to go back and tidy them all up.

1515 Finalising cuttings & embankments

Once all the track is laid, I go back over the route and re-add the DEM terrain. I then use the Snap to Track tool in the Terrain Painting tools to create more realistic cuttings & embankments that follow the track more closely.

1500 Continuing easement curves

1445 Easement curves

1430 Loops taking shape

1415 Starting the main loop

For the main loop of the route, I am going to turn on Easement Curves. These allow you to blend very accurately from a straight to a curve and then back again when you want to go straight. This is much more realistic and creates a prototypical formation.

1400 The yard is almost complete

1345 Connecting corners

1330 Making a start on the smaller loop

1300 Tweaking junctions

1230 Main yard begins to take shape

1200 Start creating junctions

Depending on how sharp the junctions need to be, I have flicked between Passenger and Yard line type to get the right curvature. This will be obvious later when we look to tidy up the track properties.

1145 Basic yard layout before refinement

1130 Laying siding entry track

I have chosen not to create a custom one but instead use the -All Track Track Rule- for this route, as it provides a large selection of track types and a good variation of minimum curvatures between each line type.

Remember: Only ever use ONE Track Rule in a route.

1100 Start track laying

We want a flat surface to work on. Use the Level tool from the painting section to establish a flat surface on the terrain, then begin laying track.

1030 Automatic Backup Facility

Before we go any further, its important to make sure our progress is safe. For this we have the 'Automatic Backup Facility' which comes built into RailWorks.

1010 Add DEM Terrain

Next we want to add DEM terrain to all tiles within a reasonable distance so we can see the lay of the land.

Not much different than before!

1005 Turn on Markers

First job is to turn on the track markers so we can see where everything needs to go.

1000 Start the route

With the markers and route blueprints created, we can now get into RailWorks and begin building.

Our empty route.

0945 Converting the track markers

With the most important markers complete, its time to get them into RailWorks. Createa route Markers folder in your Source/Provider/Product setup and then using the Blueprint Editor, create a GPS Marker Blueprint.

Below illustrates to use of the excellent tool suite created by Mike Simpson. This tool has one key function - The ability to convert Google Earth generated KML markers into CSV files. These CSV files can then be used by RailWorks.

In order to assist in production we have chosen to colour the RailWorks lines the same as those generated in Google Earth. Note that only the very bottom field of the GPS Marker blueprint is used to reference the lines.