In this tutorial you will learn how to make a tree using alpha textures.
You don’t need nothing more than 3ds max and the alpha textures. You must create 2 planes textured with the alpha texture. Nothing more simpler, check out the video:
In this tutorial you will learn to make yourself an alpha texture. What is an alpha texture?
With this texture you can make trees, backgrounds, even glass for Trainz. This texture is useful when you want to make a complex 2d polygon. This texture helps you make that complex polygon, with a simple plane. The alpha texture contains actually 2 images: a base texture and a black & white one. With black the transparent part of the base texture and with white the solid part. Watch the next video to learn how to do it:
Tip: If you want to get rid of the annoying layer distribution of the alpha textures (intersection of alpha textures) you have to save the black & white texture with Paint as Monochrome BMP, and after you have to save it in TGA. Trainz and Max don’t recognize the Monochrome BMP for unknown reason.
If you are intending to make 3d models for Trainz, you should read this tutorial first. When working with textures you must know that not all textures might work in Trainz.
In Trainz, textures must have a specific size, otherwise they won’t show. Also it is recommended to save the textures in Targa *.tga format.
The size of the textures (width/height) must be 2 at power x pixels. This is the format for Trainz textures, and you have to respect it otherwise they won’t show up in Trainz.
The series of sizes is:
2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096… This is how high you should get, because some old video cards don’t support higher textures then 2048. Also, in TS 2009, the textures below 64pixels won’t show.
If you make alpha textures, you should save the alpha texture in *.bmp format.
You should keep this in mind when starting making models for Trainz. Once you will learn this you will see is not a big deal to make textures with this sizes.
In this tutorial you will learn how to make a simple model in 3ds max 8 and export it for Trainz. Also you will learn the basics for texturing and Unwrap UVW modifier. There are some simple steps:
In this tutorial I will show you how to import an image from Google Earth into Trainz. This is useful when trying to make real routes. If Google has good images why not use them. Watch the video and learn how to do it. Below you have the code for the config file.
