[thegrindre]

Very nice, Jon. Keep us updated. :whistling:

[atsf37l]

Because of the variety of those marvelous trees I would assume you are using individual trees and not forests (MSTS 'forests' that is). How are your frame rates in those scenes? :whistling:

[jonk7]

G'day Herb

I have been using a variety of trees, I have used a number of singular trees and on top of that my trees have solid cylindrical trunks,
so each tree is around 160 -190 polys. But I have also created a group of trees which then fortunately drops the number of objects per tile.
I have also started using forests for backgrounds to thicken up the forests. I think the system is visually working well :-)
You can see more of my background forests in the pic below.

As for frame rates it's hard to tell as I haven't added a large amount of scenery yet so I will have to wait and see what happens once I fill up some of those tiles nice and full. :thumbup3:
But currently FPS are still in the high 40-50s.

So here is some more shots from around the sawmill and log pond (minus logs) and the finished log dump trestle, but no way to unload logs yet. haha

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g76/Jon_k7/trains/BCLC6.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g76/Jon_k7/trains/BCLC8.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g76/Jon_k7/trains/BCLC7.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g76/Jon_k7/trains/BCLC9.jpg

I'm hoping that this is portraying the pacific northwest credibly, obviously I'm not working to a prototype but I'm certainly having lots of fun with the creative side.

Cheers

Jon

[timmuir]

Very, very nice, Jon, it does capture the Northwest, although the last few shots around the landing "feels" more like Northern California to my eye, but that's just me. Logging railroads are fun to model and if it weren't for the juice in my blood, I'd probably be building a logging route, or making a copy of Steve Thompson's unfinished NP Moclips (Washington State) branch to develop the Rayonier logging operation and connections up there.

Love your ferns. Are those your work?

[SVRy_Steve]

Lookin Great! I especially like the ferns, which coat the hills up here, under the forest canopy.

Steve

[CRQ5508]

Jon, it looks amazing. There are a few things I would like to recommend to get an even better looking pine forest (if you don't mind my suggestions. :thumbup3:) First off would be underbrush/clutter. Shrubberies, bushes, infantile trees, large rocks/boulders, other small plants like ferns and assorted weeds. Having lived out "in the sticks" my entire life I can tell ya, there's no such thing as a clean forest floor. Secondly would be uneven terrain. Natural woods is anything but flat. Thirdly would be ground textures. Textures with a mix of exposed earth, dried pine-needles (especially when they turn reddish brown) and other dead fauna will really bring out the woodsy feel. Finally I'd like to recommend animal life. Scatter deer, moose, bears and wolves/coyotes throughout the route sparingly. I know you're still in the early stages of building your route (which looks fantastic at it's early stage, by the way ;) ) but I just wanted to point these out for when you get to the final stages of detailing your route. I could supply you with a handful of videos a good friend of mine sent to me while on a speeder car trip along an old Norfolk and Western branch. While set in the South East, pine forest across this continent are very similar in appearance save for some specific plant life. Let me know if you'd like the links to them.

Again, this is meant as constructive criticism to help you in your efforts of building your route. It really and truly does look beautiful at it's state and I plan on watching as you progress further. Take care. - Tom