[eric from trainsim]

There's a property missing on the object edit panel when you're working with the Signal object type.

StaticDetailLevel is a valid property for anything that's displayed via a shapefile, since the objects should be able to be filtered in/out at runtime for performance improvement independently of the interactive's function. I'd think that LevelCr would also have that since there's a corresponding shapefile to the interactive.

Fortunately, if you manually edit a signal object that's already defined in the W file, TSRE is preserving the declared value.

I can manage manually, but adding that to the edit panel it's something that should be considered longer term.

[Genma Saotome]

I do a fair amount of shape substitutions where the original item is defined in the Tsection file but the replacement item is a static shape that is dimensionally identical to the original but has a difference set of .ace files. This lets me have several different ballast types in one route.

For example, I will place a stock Scalerail shape and then in the text editor change the FileName() value to <path to the \shapes folder\subsituteshape.s

I do this now in a text editor but it would be really nice to do in TSRE.

Do you do anything like that Eric?

[eric from trainsim]

Absolutely. I've got several "Fakerail" shapes I've made in Sketchup for things that don't exist in the Scalerail catalog, but the geometry exists in the TSection. I've done it for road sections as well.

Like you, I'm updating the filename in Notepad2 with the relative path, but it would be nice to be able to select something from the route's Shapes directory as an override.

Having that ability would also help people who are using DBTracks or USTracks (where you lay the track using XTracks but replace the rendered shape filename).

[eric from trainsim]

One last thought for the day... if it were possible to modify the QDirection via the Object Edit pane, I'd almost never have to manually edit a W file.

Between these three items, what else do you do manually in a W file Dave?

[Genma Saotome]

The TSRE feature of copy position & rotation eliminated the most common thing I edited in the .w file, that is placing a berm under a track., I also used to do a lot of Uid() renumbering to help Train.exe manage its memory but that too is no longer necessary. So I'd say now it is what I wrote above -- replacing a tsection file name with a \shape directory file name w/o disabling the .tdb or .rdb.

Last month I realized I had made a mistake by crafting and using copies of Scalerail switches where I had changed the textures. So I wanted to pull them out -- almost 500. This required massive edits to both .w and .tdb... changing both Filename*( and SectionIdx. I would up doing the same with roads, retiring hundreds of tsection entries as I transitioned from many TSection shapes of identical dimensions to one shape with many \shape directory clones. I'm still working on that.

I often find myself needing to know how many instances of shape X have been placed -- there is a top limit of some unknown nature to what instancing can do.

A long time ago I added a sheet to the Object Rotator to make a long block of Uid() entries based on the sheet that calculate offsets by qdirection. For example, if I wanted a long run of a farm fence I'd use this new sheet to produce 20 properly spaced entries. Copy/paste into the world file. Then over in TSRE I'll make various edits to get the fence to conform to the run of the land, raising or lowering shapes, sometimes substituting a different fence shape that has a built in slope. Perhaps TSRE's snap function would allow me to do it directly in TSRE but I've always assumed that's on for roads and track.

There are times where I need a specific QDirection value. I'll use the Object Rotator to calculate it (it might a line between two placed objects or it might be a compass direction) and do a copy/paste back into the world file.


The last thing that comes to mind is converting a handful of Tsection defined shapes to completely static shapes. For example, I have a temporary definition for utility poles and wires. In areas w/ only slight grades I'll set down a pole, snap a set of wires to it and then change the pitch of the wires to follow the land. TYhen snap the next pole to the wires. When it is all done I don't need these to remain "track" shapes and so I'll find all of these (again, just one line per Uid(), cut them all into another window, sort, copy/paste into excel, delete the unwanted columns such as SectionIDX() and basically convert them all to static shapes. When the data is correct as fully static files I'll copy/paste them all back to the world file. I wouldn't expect that makes sense in TSRE... but it is something I have done and will do again.

[eric from trainsim]

Re: fences and power lines...... That's one of the original functions in WFH. Swapping out shape filenames is already possible, and it would be pretty simple to convert TrackObj's to Static based on the associated shapefile name.

Updating SectionIdx would need a little more work. I've intentionally stayed out of having WFH update the TDB/RDB because that can be fatal if you mess up. But I might have to dip my toe in that pool eventually.

[Goku]

eolesen, on 19 January 2021 - 10:41 PM, said:

One last thought for the day... if it were possible to modify the QDirection via the Object Edit pane, I'd almost never have to manually edit a W file.

But you can. Use "paste rotation" button.
Use copy rotation and paste it to a notepad to see required data format, it is very simple, just four quaternion vaules:
0 0 0 1

Genma Saotome, on 19 January 2021 - 09:17 PM, said:

I do a fair amount of shape substitutions where the original item is defined in the Tsection file but the replacement item is a static shape that is dimensionally identical to the original but has a difference set of .ace files. This lets me have several different ballast types in one route.

You can do it too in TSRE. You can edit filename value in object properties. And see the result in realtime.

---

Quote

The last thing that comes to mind is converting a handful of Tsection defined shapes to completely static shapes. For example, I have a temporary definition for utility poles and wires. In areas w/ only slight grades I'll set down a pole, snap a set of wires to it and then change the pitch of the wires to follow the land. TYhen snap the next pole to the wires.

Do you know that Static objects can also be snappable, even in MSRE? TSRE supports this too.

Quote

A long time ago I added a sheet to the Object Rotator to make a long block of Uid() entries based on the sheet that calculate offsets by qdirection. For example, if I wanted a long run of a farm fence I'd use this new sheet to produce 20 properly spaced entries. Copy/paste into the world file. Then over in TSRE I'll make various edits to get the fence to conform to the run of the land, raising or lowering shapes, sometimes substituting a different fence shape that has a built in slope. Perhaps TSRE's snap function would allow me to do it directly in TSRE but I've always assumed that's on for roads and track.

You can do this in TSRE in many ways much easier and faster.

[eric from trainsim]

Goku, on 20 January 2021 - 01:52 AM, said:

But you can. Use "paste rotation" button.
Use copy rotation and paste it to a notepad to see required data format, it is very simple, just four quaternion vaules:
0 0 0 1

Interesting. That's easy enough -- Tangent already outputs the four values in a textbox for copying. I'll try that later.


And yes, Dave, you can do a relative path name in the Edit for a trackpiece. I just did ..\..\ROUTES\CNW-Harvard\Shapes\1T-RockBerm-Grey-001m.s and turned a 1M piece of track into a pile of rocks with a TDB line...

[Genma Saotome]

eolesen, on 20 January 2021 - 12:58 PM, said:

Interesting. That's easy enough -- Tangent already outputs the four values in a textbox for copying. I'll try that later.


And yes, Dave, you can do a relative path name in the Edit for a trackpiece. I just did ..\..\ROUTES\CNW-Harvard\Shapes\1T-RockBerm-Grey-001m.s and turned a 1M piece of track into a pile of rocks with a TDB line...

Thanks for the tip. I'll be using that for sure.

[roeter]

One function which I would like very much is a "copy rot" but without the elevation. When placing objects next to the track, like signs, gantries etc., these objects do not 'bend over' on tracks which have an elevation value. They do align horizontaly, but stand up straight. So it would be very nice to have a function to copy horizontal rotation but not the elevation value.

One function I could well do without, and be very glad to get rid of, is the "reset rot" button for track pieces. Like Dave, I use the "copy pos+rot" button very often to place all kind of stuff - berms, bridges, platforms etc. But a slight slip of the finger can cause activation of "Reset rot" instead of "copy pos+rot", for that button is just next to it. When a track piece is selected and this button is accidently activated, the track rotation will be reset, regardless of a "yellow line" or not. Worse, there is no 'undo' for this action - ^Z does not reset the trackpiece after this action. So you have to remove the track, work out the elevation and reinstate the track, with all related selection and scrolling to get it selected as item to place - pure waste of time.

Regards,
Rob Roeterdink