Trainz/Tutorial for Blender/Tutorial to create a moving house:

The difference between a scenery object and a moving wagon are basically two things.

First we need to tell Trainz how long it is so it knows where to put the next wagon or loco, we also need to tell Trainz where the bogeys are so it can go round bends correctly. Trainz uses specially named attachment points for this. The front is marked by a.limfront the back by a.limback the first bogey is a.bog0 the second a.bog1.

The second is in the config.txt file.

The advantage of creating a moving house is you can use the existing house tutorials since much of the work is exactly the same. We can soon change the shape of the house to more closely resemble a wagon or loco at a later date.

The first step is to add a.limfront: <Space> add empty. Note the properties tab, if you can't see it press "N"

After creation.

Now change the name in the properties tab to a.limfront, the y location to -3 meters, the Z location to .89 meters.

<shift>D,<esc> clones a.limfront. In the properties tab change the clone's name to a.limback. Change the y location to 3 meters.

Clone again to create a.bog0, change the name, y=-2, z=0. Repeat for a.bog1, change the name, y=2, z=0.

This image shows the outliner. Select it on the left, if nothing is visible place the mouse in the window, <Crtl><up arrow> to make it full screen, then <Crtl><down arrow> to make it a window once more. Note the selected item is highlighted in the outliner. You can select items directly from the outliner and it has the advantage that the object will not be moved by a mouse movement.

Save the file and export it in the same way as you exported the original house. I use body.xml to export a body.im file.

Download KUID: 86627:1792 from the DLS, this is the cylinder wagon used in the cylinder texture tutorial. Clone it. Open for edit in explorer.

Copy the body.im file together with the texture file "terrace one.tga" and "terrace one.texture.txt" into the cloned folder. "terrace one.texture.txt" is a special file that is referenced in the body.im file and contains information about the texture file "terrace one.texture.txt" for Trainz.

Edit config.txt file in notepad and change the mesh to the new name.

mesh-table {

 default
 {
   mesh                                "body.im"
   auto-create                         1
 }

}

We need to change the name to something different so for the moment add a 2 on the end in both name lines.

Save the changes. Commit then go into Surveyor. Look for cylinder wagon 2 and place a couple behind a loco. Go into driver and drive off.

Congratulations you've created a wagon.

We can clean it up a bit. Delete the cylinder.im files and cylinder texture files. Make it a bit more wagon like by going back into Blender, first delete the roof. Now adjust the properties tab to make the house 5 meters long in the y, .1 meter in the Z dimension and 2.3 meters in the x dimension. We want to raise it above the track so set the Z location to 1 meter. Change the location of a.limfront and a.limback to define the wagon's length.

The simplest bogey to use is the one already in the config.txt file that uses a.bog2 so clone a.bog0, rename it a.bog2 and locate it at z=.5 meters.

We want sides on our wagon so <Shift>D, <esc>, change the name to side1 change the z dimension to 1 meter, change the x dimension to .1 meter and displace it to one side so location X=1.1 meters, we need to raise it so location Z=1.5 meters.

Repeat for the other side and two ends. You may need to adjust the size and location of the base, and sides.

Export your wagon.

By now we are getting closer to a real wagon. Basically all you have to do now is get a better texture file with wagon like textures and adjust things like author's name etc. in the config.txt file.