[Jovet]

This looks great! Fantastic job! The terrain textures have definitely been the weakest spot on this otherwise amazing route. I sure salute your undertaking!

I surely some updated/better textures for some of my signals and other objects you're welcome to throw on there too, if you're interested.

[ED_4]

paulytechnic, on 15 January 2016 - 06:56 AM, said:

Just a couple of quick shots of the farmland outside of Camarillo...

Farm.jpg

Where those two huge trees part of the original (the two big ones toward the back of the scenery)? If not, they sure look very real. If I didn't see the other items in the surrounding area, I would have thought that was a real life photograph. :jawdrop2:


:sign_rockon: Keep up the great work.

[paulytechnic]

ED_4, on 25 January 2016 - 06:49 PM, said:

Where those two huge trees part of the original (the two big ones toward the back of the scenery)? If not, they sure look very real. If I didn't see the other items in the surrounding area, I would have thought that was a real life photograph. :jawdrop2:

Edwin,

Those large trees are David Rowe's Australian Gum trees, which were actually included in the original route, but I desaturated the texture colors and darkened the foliage a bit. I'm glad I almost fooled you into thinking it was a real photo! http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/derisive.gif

[paulytechnic]

jovet, on 25 January 2016 - 01:38 PM, said:

This looks great! Fantastic job! The terrain textures have definitely been the weakest spot on this otherwise amazing route. I sure salute your undertaking!

I surely some updated/better textures for some of my signals and other objects you're welcome to throw on there too, if you're interested.

Thanks, Joseph! http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/happy.gif

Actually, I think your textures still look great, so there may not be much that really needs updating. My only thought would be to maybe update the lenses themselves on the crossing signals?

For my own private copy, I did "borrow" the crossing lens textures from one of Patrick Lopez's (rrxingrick) signals, just to experiment with how it would look (see photo below). I'm pleased with the results, although I wasn't planning to release this texture (especially since the mash-up of two different authors' work might complicate the original copyright wishes, and I don't know what Patrick's stance is with reusing his textures). Besides, I'm no signal expert, so I have no clue if it's even the correct lens type! http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/unknw.gif

Of course, with your permission, and if someone happens to have good on/off lens photos of the proper signal type, I can certainly update the textures.

[Jovet]

paulytechnic, on 28 January 2016 - 07:20 AM, said:

Actually, I think your textures still look great, so there may not be much that really needs updating.

Well, you say that, but, try this out and see if you notice any difference.

paulytechnic, on 28 January 2016 - 07:20 AM, said:

My only thought would be to maybe update the lenses themselves on the crossing signals?
For my own private copy, I did "borrow" the crossing lens textures from one of Patrick Lopez's (rrxingrick) signals, just to experiment with how it would look (see photo below). I'm pleased with the results, although I wasn't planning to release this texture (especially since the mash-up of two different authors' work might complicate the original copyright wishes, and I don't know what Patrick's stance is with reusing his textures). Besides, I'm no signal expert, so I have no clue if it's even the correct lens type!
Of course, with your permission, and if someone happens to have good on/off lens photos of the proper signal type, I can certainly update the textures.

You're not the only one who has incorporated his texture images into my textures. A secondary update of the La Salle, Rockford & Central route was released and included just such a crossing signal texture. I do create my textures with the idea that others would edit them to their taste (especially weathering). I don't know rrxingrick's policy either, but I choose to not worry about seeking permission for distributing such "borrowed" textures by simply not using them. I have created my own "enhanced" texture you may try out and use if you wish. Just keep in mind that these textures are only compatible with my second-generation crossing signal shapes (such as those special drop-in replacements on the Surfliner 2) and not with my original crossing signals as released years ago.

You also don't need to worry too much about matching textures to design. I didn't! I don't have the time or patience to count all the rivets on every specific manufacturer and style of railroad crossing signal equipment in existence. So, for the most part, I've tried to keep my crossing signals fairly generic, and whatever works on them works. Mixing-up LED and incandescent textures could be a faux pas, but as I never really made many flashing light shapes designed for incandescent textures, it's a bit moot now.

[paulytechnic]

jovet, on 28 January 2016 - 09:38 PM, said:

Well, you say that, but, try this out and see if you notice any difference.

Well, well...NOW I see the difference! Nice improvement! http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/thumbup3.gif

jovet, on 28 January 2016 - 09:38 PM, said:

I have created my own "enhanced" texture you may try out and use if you wish. Just keep in mind that these textures are only compatible with my second-generation crossing signal shapes (such as those special drop-in replacements on the Surfliner 2) and not with my original crossing signals as released years ago.

I really like your enhanced crossing texture! The larger crossing texture definitely looks better, and I especially like how the text looks much cleaner on the signs. I think I'd rather use that one over my pieced-together version, so many thanks for sharing!

jovet, on 28 January 2016 - 09:38 PM, said:

You also don't need to worry too much about matching textures to design. I didn't! I don't have the time or patience to count all the rivets on every specific manufacturer and style of railroad crossing signal equipment in existence.

Quite right, and I really need to keep reminding myself of that! It's a constant struggle in my mind between "counting rivets" and just worrying about the overall feel of things, and ultimately other [more obvious] things are often worth spending my time on instead. Besides, as detailed as some objects are, there's only so much one can see when driving the train by it at several miles per hour!

[Jovet]

paulytechnic, on 29 January 2016 - 06:39 PM, said:

Well, well...NOW I see the difference! Nice improvement!
I really like your enhanced crossing texture! The larger crossing texture definitely looks better, and I especially like how the text looks much cleaner on the signs. I think I'd rather use that one over my pieced-together version, so many thanks for sharing!

Glad you like. ;) I agree, the larger texture makes things a lot better looking. Was a bit trickier to enlarge that thing than I imagined, but that's life. My even newer textures are a bit more sensibly designed, I hope.

paulytechnic, on 29 January 2016 - 06:39 PM, said:

Quite right, and I really need to keep reminding myself of that! It's a constant struggle in my mind between "counting rivets" and just worrying about the overall feel of things, and ultimately other [more obvious] things are often worth spending my time on instead. Besides, as detailed as some objects are, there's only so much one can see when driving the train by it at several miles per hour!

Yes, and I believe it's the trains themselves that should get the most rivets. Followed by the track assorted structures. I'm not opposed to counting rivets, of course, it's just that I know there are dozens of manufacturers and styles of crossing signal equipment (for instance) and I'm much more content to make 500 shapes versus 5000. If someone else wants to make better, more-rivet-ty models, then power to them. I also didn't want my crossing signals to be super detailed to the point of needing 34000 polygons a piece, like rrxingrick's. Open Rails can tolerate that but back with MSTS that would be pretty costly on performance for an area with many signals.

[SP 0-6-0]

Surfliner was and still is one of my favorite routes. But, The neighborhoods still need some work. especially in V1.2. One of my gripes is roads just randomly laid and incomplete in the neighborhoods. Like alot of folks I am pretty strick on details and a known rivet counter.

Pauly Technic, Maybe the snappers set would be of some use in redoing some of the neightborhoods? Snapper Discussion

Snappers download link Snappers

Robert

[paulytechnic]

Robert,

The "snappers" set is a very interesting concept, and I can see how that would come in handy with the dense urban areas. I actually haven't heard of them until now, although admittedly, I've not been keeping close tabs with the trainsim.com forum lately. Thanks for bringing them to my attention!
http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/sign_thank_you.gif

However, at the moment, I have no immediate plans to rework the neighborhoods; not because they couldn't use some updating, but I've chosen to concentrate mainly on retexturing objects and terrtex (which itself is a huge enough undertaking for me at the moment!) What few objects I have been replacing have been limited to drop-in replacements and tweaking existing shapes with SFM, and my work with RE is mainly to reposition what's already there.

My fear is that reworking all of the neighborhoods in addition to the repainting all 300+ miles of terrain with Mosaic would make me bite off more than I can chew right now, as it's already a challenge to maintain a good balance with our virtual railroading hobby and home life.

That said, if I ever do a second round of updates after this one (concentrating more on placing new objects in RE), I'll definitely consider using the snapper objects. I am pretty impressed by the screenshots others have posted of their sprawling urban locations! http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/thumbup3.gif

[hiball3985]

Taking on the job of doing mosiac on this huge route must be a full time job, I applaud your efforts. I know Jeff did his very best to make the route as realistic as possible but you can't cover everything or you would never finish. I provided the photos for the stations at Glendale, Burbank, Van Nuys, Chatsworth, and the old SP depot at Santa Susana that Jeff made the custom buildings for not to mention all the others he did. I'm sure he will more the appreciate your on going improvements to the terrtex. I know I will.