simonjackson1964

The one thing missing from those country roads is a junction. Or rather, the existing "Diversion" is from the old set of country roads. I can see that i's possible to construct them, but getting all the lengths and radii right is a thing in itself...

That's impressive! You should smooth it out a bit and see if you can't get it added to the catalogue? (I say smooth it out, because that ride looks awfully bumpy, even for a roller-coaster!)

I think you're thinking of the ski-lift? Which actually works just fine if it's in a straight line but I couldn't get the cables to stay where I put them! (As an aside I would love to see a working model that features the ski lift?) No, what we're talking about here is this: It's a single object. Linking a camera to it does nothing, because the cars moving along the track are an internal animation.

I tried putting one there, but the 'coaster comes as a single object, so there's nothing to attach the camera to, which is a shame!

@prinz Hi. I just had a look at your Mearklin 0700-22 layout. I'm impressed. But I couldn't help noticing that when the road vehicles disappear off the board, the drivers stay visible. I thought I'd offer my solution to this, which can also be used for cargoes on open wagons on any form of transport. Basically, you add a an object variable to the vehicle, call it "Driver". Put the object of the driver in that vehicle (Apologies I don't speak German, so my object is named in English) Hallo. Ich habe mir gerade Ihre Mearklin 0700-22-Anlage angesehen. Ich bin beeindruckt. Aber ich konnte nicht umhin zu bemerken, dass die Fahrer sichtbar bleiben, wenn die Straßenfahrzeuge von der Tafel verschwinden. Ich dachte, ich biete hier meine Lösung an, die auch für Ladungen auf offenen Waggons auf jedem Transportmittel verwendet werden kann. Grundsätzlich fügen Sie dem Fahrzeug eine Objektvariable hinzu, nennen Sie diese "Fahrer". Bringen Sie das Objekt des Fahrers in dieses Fahrzeug (Entschuldigung, ich spreche kein Deutsch, daher wird mein Objekt auf Englisch benannt) Then add a condition to the event that makes the vehicles visible and invisible: Fügen Sie dann dem Ereignis eine Bedingung hinzu, die die Fahrzeuge sichtbar und unsichtbar macht: If Variable ([Vehicle].Driver) exists, set ([Vehicle].Driver) visible/invisible. As I said, you can use it for loads on waggons, bus passengers, trailers... Otherwise a really enjoyable layout. The only other criticism I have is the lack of a camera on the front rollercoaster car! Wenn Variable ([Fahrzeug].Fahrer) vorhanden ist, setzen Sie ([Fahrzeug].Fahrer) sichtbar/unsichtbar. Wie gesagt, Sie können es für die Beladung von Waggons, Busreisenden, Anhängern ... Ansonsten ein wirklich angenehmes Layout. Der einzige andere Kritikpunkt, den ich habe, ist die fehlende Kamera am vorderen Achterbahnwagen!

In the initial screen of 3DTS, double click on "Online Catalogue", then copy the hex string from my post and paste it into the box with "Search Term/Content ID" in. Press return and it should bring up the thumbnail.

Here is a draft version of the above. 6D391538-0DBE-49A6-975B-F46FD89BE95A

Yep, that seems to work quite well... I'm pretty sure it would be possible to do fancy stuff like turn off the particle effect wake and make the bow waves invisible when the ship stops, and possibly even increase the size of them if the ship goes faster...

Not sure if this will work, but you could try using particle effects for the wake, and the bow wave use a couple of cones. I'll give it a try and see.

Yep, that's basically it. I have the same sort of thing where I switch between the cranes loading the trucks and unloading the trains...

I'm not sure if this will help, but I have lots of object variables on my cranes, that store things like, whether it is getting a container or placing a container, whether it is loading a vehicle or unloading a vehicle, the target container and the target pad/vehicle. There's a list that holds the wagons of the train that gets loaded by an iteration when the train arrives, and the wagons/trucks and the pads all have local variables that hold the containers they have on them... Mind you it's not working properly and I've not had the energy to look at it for the past few days. I'm pretty sure I know why it's not working, I'm just not sure how to fix it. For some reason the crane will occasionally pick up an empty pad and put it on the back of a truck!

I've got it working in both directions at one end, but not at the same time - or rather, I'm still figuring out how to make the change over from taking containers off the stacks and putting them on trucks, to a train arriving and the containers being taken off the wagons and put on the stacks, go smoothly. Getting the cranes to load the train at the other end is just a matter of changing the targets on the events that put them on the lorries - that and duplicating the events that handle the train arriving....

Thanks, but technically it wasn't my knowledge originally... I think it was Goetz who suggested using a user-defined event. I'd never done that before. Now I use them all over the place!

Hi Hotwheels Actually, my solution was much simpler. Each cargo pad/container floor on the ground has a list of three Object elements, and an index (called "Stack Height"). When the crane references the Container floor, it checks the stack height. If the height is 0, then the container floor becomes the target. If the height is greater than zero then the object in the list referenced by the stack height becomes the target. Obviously, the stack height is then incremented and the object ID of the new container placed in the next object in the list. If the stack height is three, the next container floor is used instead. Each of the three cranes had ten container floors to choose from and the floor is chosen using a random number. I'm still working on the reverse procedure...

This is why I never got a job doing data entry... I just had to check the content of the container stack lists, because one of the cranes was getting suck. Also why I'm not ready to upload it yet, even as a work in progress. Sorry Hubert. I think I fixed it, but it was a palava. And I've only done the bit that unloads the trains. I still have to do the bit to load the lorries, and then both bits in reverse at the other end. @Goetz and @Herman Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll have a look at both layouts when I have mine to a point where I'm happy with it, unless I get totally stuck. On a separate but related note I discovered that when using a separate event to decouple the loco and start it's run-around, from the event that uses an iteration to load the cargo of the train into the crane's target list, it is unwise to decouple the loco as soon as it arrives...! I've currently got a 10s delay on the decouple, but hoping to decrease that. Strictly speaking a 1-second delay should be fine, that should be more than enough time for the other event to parse 12 times around the loop... Maybe give it 2 to be safe?

I meant referencing the object.... Putting the object reference (or ID) into the object item on the object that stores it. Actually I've managed to solve the problem, but it's fiddly, and I'm still trying to make it work all the time in the same way...

Hi Herman Thanks, I think that the solution I have in mind is probably the way I need to do this. It's just the thought of storing all those container IDs is killing me... My own fault for wanting the stacks to look realistic... So far I have "finished" one layout, that is, I got it working the way I wanted and published it... maybe I will eventually "finish" another. Cheers Simon PS: I just thought. If I delete all the containers at the "unload end", get the unload events working, and then manually load the trains at the other end I can build the stacks automatically! *Is sneaky*

Adding the following: The above solution might work when stacking the containers, but when it comes to taking them off the stack, it definitely won't, because I won't have a reference to the container underneath. The only solution I can see is to store the IDs of the containers against the container floor, and somehow get that information into the crane. It ought to be possible, but I'm going to have to seriously think about it. Any suggestions that will make it easier would be appreciated!

I am probably trying to be too clever, but there must be a way of doing this... What I want to happen: My freight train pulls into the depot, and the cranes get to work unloading the containers, stacking them neatly alongside the roadway where a stream of trucks arrive one after the other and as soon as the train is unloaded the containers are loaded onto the trucks, and off they go, to the other end of the layout where the reverse happens. What actually happens - The story so far: The trucks are just pootling backwards and forwards at the moment because I haven't got to them yet, I want to get the bit that unloads the train working first... So the train arrives in the depot, and the three cranes get to work. I couldn't find a decent container crane that would do the whole of a twelve wagon freight train, so I have three cranes that handle four wagons each. So far, cranes 2 and three successfully pick up the first container on their bit of the train. Crane 1 goes a bit further. after picking up the container it selects one of ten "container floors", and places the container there. But herein lies the problem: If the floor already has one or two containers on it, the crane is supposed to stack the containers. It does so when I operate it manually. But when the event is triggered by the arrival of the train, the crane neatly drops the container inside the one already there! I know why it is doing it, I'm just wondering if there is a better solution than the one I have in mind. ================== When the train arrives it loads the object references of four containers into a list on each crane. The crane so far only gets the first one but it should be easy enough to get the other three. There is a pre-loaded list of ten tables in Crane 1, each table holds the object ID of the crane floor, and the number of containers already on that floor. If the number is 3, the floor won't be selected. So when the crane has finished lifting a container it generates a random index to find which floor to put the container on. What I think I might have to do is add a third item to the table to hold the ID of the floor, and put the id of the topmost container or the floor if empty into the "target" field. Is there something I'm missing, or have I just got to bite the bullet and code that?

Yeah.... Everything else works. But that darn "Flexible Rope" is impossible. This is fine if your cable car runs horizontally in a straight line, and even causes few problems if the cables are angled, but run in a straight line between pylons - which kinda defeats the object? But the moment you click that green arrowhead to try and pull the cable into a curve, the darned thing twists. And I've not got the cable running at a funny angle, it's straight up and down the x-axis. Getting it to untwist is next to impossible I've found. (Actually this is similar to what happened with the catenary wires from V5 to V6, only where the catenary insisted on curving unrealistically along the track, the cable car cables insist on travelling in unrealistically straight lines I keep trying and I keep getting more and more frustrated. I'm assuming that the creator of these objects tested them? If so, how did he get them to do what he wanted? Because I can't!

Korrektur: Wie oben beschrieben, "driftet" das Auto nach oben oder unten, wenn sich der Winkel des Kabels ändert, da sich der Winkel von Kamera 1 ändert und Kamera 2 Kamera 1 verfolgt, wobei sich der Verfolgungspunkt irgendwo im Körper der Kamera befindet und nicht das Objektiv, in dem sich das Widget befindet. Ich habe versucht, die Kameras umzukehren, wobei Kamera 2 auf die Klemmen und Kamera 1 auf Kamera 2 fokussiert war, wodurch die Drift behoben wurde, aber als sie auf das horizontale Kabel traf, explodierte sie irgendwie! Ich habe versucht, eine Lösung zu finden ... Das einzige, was ich sehen kann, ist, ein zweites Auto in einem Winkel von 90 ° zum ersten zu haben, unsichtbar zu machen und die Sichtbarkeit beider Autos beim Betreten / Verlassen der horizontalen Spur umzuschalten . Welches ist, was ich ursprünglich erfunden hatte. Natürlich funktioniert es beim Setup "Ein Auto in jede Richtung" einwandfrei, da dadurch die Autos nicht um das Lenkrad geschleudert werden.

Correction: As described above, as the angle of the cable changes, so the car "drifts" up or down, because Camera 1's angle is changing, and camera 2 is tracking camera 1, the tracking point being somewhere in the body of the camera rather than the lens where the widget is. I tried reversing the cameras, having Camera 2 focussed on the clamps and camera 1 focused on camera 2. that fixed the drift but when it hit the horizontal cable it sort-of exploded! I have tried to think of a solution... The only thing I can see that will work is having a second car at 90° to the first one, set invisible, and toggle the visibility of both cars when entering/leaving the horizontal track. Which is what I had originally come up with. Of course on the "One car in each direction" set up, it works fine, because that doesn't send the cars around the wheel.

Seems I owe you an apology! Once I read through what you told Dad3353 a second time, while actually doing it on the layout, I realised exactly what you were saying and how it works. So, sorry, and thanks! Now I just need to get the cable to behave itself and do what I tell it instead of what it thinks I should be telling it! I just tried a little experiment. Camera 1: aligned with the cable, focussed on the "drive" cable clamps, linked to and tracking the cable clamps. Camera 2: aligned at right-angle to the cable, focused on, linked to and tracking Camera 1. Car/seat: attached to the clamps via the attachment pint, linked to camera 2. This has the very satisfying effect of keeping the car from flying out horizontally when it hits a length of horizontal cable! Maybe I can get this thing to work after all, without spending another three evenings on it! Cheers Simon ================================================ Scheint, ich schulde dir eine Entschuldigung! Nachdem ich ein zweites Mal gelesen hatte, was Sie Dad3353 gesagt hatten, während ich es tatsächlich im Layout tat, wurde mir genau klar, was Sie sagten und wie es funktioniert. Also, sorry und danke! Jetzt muss ich nur noch das Kabel dazu bringen, sich selbst zu verhalten und das zu tun, was ich sage, anstatt das zu tun, was ich denke, dass ich es sagen sollte! Ich habe gerade ein kleines Experiment versucht. Kamera 1: Ausgerichtet auf das Kabel, fokussiert auf die "Laufwerks" -Kabelklemmen, verbunden mit den Kabelklemmen und deren Verfolgung. Kamera 2: rechtwinklig zum Kabel ausgerichtet, fokussiert auf Kamera 1, mit dieser verbunden und verfolgt. Auto / Sitz: Wird über das mit Kamera 2 verbundene Befestigungspint an den Klemmen befestigt. Dies hat den sehr befriedigenden Effekt, dass das Auto nicht horizontal herausfliegt, wenn es auf ein horizontales Kabel trifft! Vielleicht kann ich das Ding doch zum Laufen bringen, ohne noch drei Abende damit zu verbringen! Prost Simon

Really? That's interesting, I didn't realise you could do that. I'll have a go. Doesn't solve all the other problems though, like how to make that so-called "flexible rope" go where I want it to go! Oh, don't get me wrong, I enjoy a challenge as much as the next guy. But having faced and solved several different challenges and spent three entire evenings fiddling about trying to get it to behave, only to have each solved problem bring up another brand new one, I finally ran out of patience and reverted back to a previous save. Instead I spent Saturday afternoon/evening finishing the cascade waterfall that is descending from on high to the plane below, putting a monastery on a different mountain, and running the river that is fed by the falls out to the front of the baseboard. Managed to find a bridge that let me run the river under the five railway tracks there! And I had the foresite to put "ground level" 100mm up so I could drop the river underneath! Then put a rowing boat going up and down the river, managed to position the virtual track so their was no water in the boat at any time, but the boar wasn't hovering above the water (at least not noticeably). So, yes, I'm happy to solve problems I've caused (like putting a Y junction into a virtual track but forgetting to add the switch settings), but problems that are caused by the model itself are someone else's to solve...!

The problem with that is that it restricts the operator to only viewing the chairlift from one camera. I think my preferred option is not to include the chairlift after all. It's too much like hard work for something that is supposed to be fun.