Attachment Maker Tutorial.pdf

Tools for Asset Repair by PEV Image by Alberte Zato

AttachmentMaker a new tool from PEV

A way to quickly and accurately add attachments to any asset.

Introduction.

should identify with this layout.

I think I have created a really simple tool that will make

adding attachments a snap. Users will need to be able to

read an engineering drawing, and be able to visualise a

3d object from the three basic views. Other than that

virtually no drafting skills are needed.

Some Trainz users wish to add attachment points to

existing assets for their own use or, with permission of the

original creator, make some additions to his asset for

sharing with others.

A well proven way to add attachments involves making a

another mesh in GMax/3dsMax or Blender with what ever

attachments are needed along with an invisible object to

allow the mesh to export out of the modelling program.

This method is a bit hit or miss because there is no way to

get the original model into the modelling program so that

the attachments can be positioned relative to the shape of

the parent object.

Using Attachment Maker.

Installation.

The program is available for free download from my

PEVSoft Download page.

Attachments are easily added to meshes directly, but

again no visual reference is provided to know where to

place the attachments. And of course Auran's policy of

not allowing users to mess with their meshes also needs

to be adhered to. Auran's TrainzMeshImporter is

specifically written to allow meshes from a variety of

sources to be safely imported into the game, and in this

case it provides the necessary conversion between the

attachment data and an IM mesh for Trainz.

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/~villaump/pevsoft.htm

Run the installer and the program will be loaded on to the

Program Files area of your C: drive, along with a desktop

icon and an entry in the PEVSoft folder of your All

Programs menu.

Auran's TrainzMeshImporter.exe is included in the setup

program. It may require a further download from MicroSoft

(See below)

GMax and other modelling programs provide neat multiple

views of an object in wire frame mode that allow

attachments to be positioned within a model. It seemed

logical that if we could directly make a multi view display

of a mesh we could add attachments quickly and

accurately.

Note that the beta and first release versions of this

program have some errors in the attachment rotation

mathematics that have now been resolved.

So I set to work to make a program that gives front, side,

and top views in wire frame mode, with all views

zoomable and moveable.

The resulting Attachment Maker program provides views

that are linked so that the relationship between them

always maintains third angle projection; meaning the

details are always aligned view to view. You will

understand the significance of this once you start to use

the program.

The views are the standard third angle projection, with the

plan (top) view being above the front view, and the side

view to the right. Those of you with drafting experience

Opening a File

The purpose of this program is to add attachments to an

existing asset. Say for example you want to add safety

valve and whistle attachments to a small steam loco for

visual steam outlets.

Firstly use Content manager to open the loco asset for

editing and find the main body mesh. Then launch

Attachment Maker and open the body mesh using the File

Open menu.

Left Click in any view and the attachment tripod will follow

the cursor when you drag it. Positioning as you can see

takes moments.

Note the loco body is in three views. Top left is plan (top)

view, lower left is front view, and lower right is the side

view.

Use the mouse wheel to zoom in or out. Note that all

views zoom at the same rate (on purpose) Zooming is

also possible by using the cursor Up/Down keys with the

shift key. The mouse cursor must be on the drawing for

the key zoom or pan.

Press on the mouse wheel and drag the mouse to move a

view to look closely at some portion. Note that the views

move together to maintain a view of a particular point in

the drawing.(again on purpose.. quick and simple is the

objective here) Panning can also be done by selecting a

view (with the mouse or touch pad) and pressing the

cursor keys with the Ctrl key.

Window size can be changed by dragging the edges of

the window.

In the case of our steam loco example, move the

attachment to the top of the whistle, and rotate as

necessary to have the Y axis of the tripod pointing in the

direction of steam flow. In this case rotating about the X

axis will make the Y axis of the attachment tripod point

upwards.

Adding an Attachment Point

To add an attachment point ensure you have an axis

origin visible in at least one view. The origin is where the

dark yellow axis lines cross.

Press the "Add Attach" button in the panel on the upper

right side of the window. A yellow attachment tripod will

appear at the origin, (in all views).

To rotate the attachment you can use the up/down

buttons next to the rotation axis box, or enter a number in

the box.

In the "Selected Attachment" panel with the "Add Attach"

button, there are edit boxes to change the attachment

name, its position, and its rotation.

To edit an attachment, you can select by Right Clicking on

the Selected Attachment panel. A list of attachments will

be presented and you can chose one by name.

When you press the "Add Attach" button the the new

attachment is always called "a.New". In our example,

change the name to "a.whistle" in the name box on the

Selected Attachment panel.

When you are happy that you have the attachment

correctly located and named, Right Click on the drawing

and the attachment will be locked, and deselected. It

changes colour from yellow to green when deselected as

in GMax.

Click on an attachment and press the "Accept" button to

select. "Cancel" turns off the selection window.

Remember that the selected attachment is yellow on the

drawing.

Repeat the process above to add more attachments. (The

safety valve attachments in our example)

You can also change selection with the up/down buttons

next to the name box. (Please note at this stage in

program development I don't have attachment selection

by mouse click working)

Select the "attach_mesh.im" and the attachments will be

reloaded and displayed on the drawing.

Additions, deletions, and edits are easily done once the

appropriate attachments are selected.

A selected attachment can be deleted by pressing the

"Delete" button.

Making the Attachment Mesh

Putting the Attachment Mesh into Trainz

When you have placed your new attachments the results

are saved in the form of a mesh named "attach_mesh.im".

The name can be changed, if you so desire, in the Save

file dialogue.

To make the attachments work in Trainz an attachments

mesh reference must be added to the mesh table in the

config.txt file for the asset. The following example adds

attachments to a single mesh object.(mesh table only

shown here)

To save the mesh click on the "Save Att Mesh" item in the

"File" menu.

mesh-table {

default {

mesh "steam_loco.im"

auto-create1

}

attachments {

mesh "attach_mesh.im"

auto-create1

}

Because the two meshes share the same origin, (the

second having been built around the first) no other data is

needed.

The above assumes that "steam_loco.im" and the

"attach_mesh.im" file are in the same folder as the

config.txt file. (the asset root folder). The program help

shows an example where the meshes are in a sub-folder

of the asset. See the Content Creators' Guide for your

Trainz version for advice on asset folder layout.

The attachments should now behave as if they are part of

the default mesh.

Your new attachment data is converted to a mesh by

TrainzMeshImporter. The mesh has a single plane

surface 20mm square invisible from above, but visible

from below.(just to test its validity) The mesh requires no

textures.

Please be aware that the program overwrites any existing

"attach_mesh.im" file when saving the data.

If you have added passenger, load, or smoke attachments

and so on further additions will be needed to the config.txt

file. Again, refer to your Content Creator's Guide.

Editing an Attachment Mesh

TrainzMeshImporter

If you are unhappy with your attachment mesh or wish to

add more attachments, you can edit the mesh by first

loading the parent mesh using the "File" "Open" menu as

above. Then click on the "Open Att Mesh" item in the

"File" menu.

As part of the attachment mesh generation process,

Attachment Maker creates a file in XML format which is

then converted to an IM by Auran's TrainzMeshImporter

program. Auran's policy of having their own software

make all game content is thus maintained.

The Attachment Maker program will not operate if the

TrainzMeshImporter.exe is not in the Attachment Maker

application folder. A notice to this effect is displayed for a

few seconds before the program closes.

TrainzMeshImporter is included in the Attachment Maker

installation package and is latest version as of 17 April

2010.

TrainzMeshImporter requires some Microsoft C++ 2005

SP1 runtime files, and if these are not present the TMI will

not run, or may freeze. The Attachment Maker will fail to

produce an output mesh in this instance.

attach_mesh.im and there is an attachment rotation where

the Y axis rotation is + or - 90deg. The mathematics to

convert a rotation matrix to axis angles has a divide by

zero occurrence under these conditions. The program will

zero the X axis angle and make the Y axis 90deg,

hopefully leaving any Z axis rotation as it stands.

The files can be downloaded as a package from

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?

familyid=200B2FD9-AE1A-4A14-984D-

389C36F85647&displaylang=en

To test that TrainzMeshImporter is working open a DOS

window in the Attachment Maker application folder.

The problem is called "Gimball Lock" because the same

mathematics is used in gyro guidance systems and gyros

are mounted on gimballs. (the rings with bearings that

allow x,y,z rotation of one object relative to another.)

To open a DOS window, create a file named

"DOSWin.bat" in the Attachment Maker application folder.

The file should contain the following two lines:-

It's best to avoid Y=90deg or Y=-90deg. However it will

still work, the conversion from angles to matrix works fine.

It's the reloading of such data back into this program that

will give the message. Fortunately rotation around the Y

axis is rare in Trainz because the Y axis is used as a

direction pointer, so rotations about the X and Z axes are

used to have the Y axis pointing in the desired direction.

See the CCGTC for advice on orienting smoke

attachments as an example of this.

@echo off

cmd.exe /k

When you run this batch macro a DOS window will be

opened. Type "trainzmeshimporter.exe" in the window.

The TMI will display its help page if all is working

correctly.

FootNotes:

2. The Attachment Maker program, can handle 256

attachments in one mesh. This is the same limit as the

Trainz game itself imposes.

1. In the program help there is a reference to an error

message "Gimball Lock. Cannot resolve angles."

This message will only occur if reloading an

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