Tutorial 3: Make a Basic Locomotive from Scratch or Nearly...

Part 3

Let's make our own bogies!

Start-up 3DSMAX and load in your myloco.max file.

Let's delete the Dash 9 bogies and wheels. Hit the H key. In the Let's hide everything except for the Blue Print Box. In the Top viewport, click on the Blue print box to select it, then click on the Display tab and click on the Hide Unselected button.

Also, let's turn off the 3D Snap Toggle icon - below the perspective viewport...

Let's make a bogie. Click on the Create tab and click on the Box button. Click on Generate Mapping Coordinates also. In the top viewport, drag out a box to approximate the bogies in the blue print drawing(don't worry about being accurate for now).

After you release the mouse button, push the mouse forward some while you look in the front window. Drag out the depth of the box, but don't worry about the size - we'll fix it later as well.

Make this box see-through like before. Right-click on the box and choose Properties. Click on See-Through and hit OK.

Let's rename the box. In the Create panel, click on the text field and rename box to BOGIE1.

Let's try to align the box now. Make sure that the Move icon is selected. In the Left viewport, try a combination of moving the box and adjusting the box Length under Parameters in the Create panel. Do the same thing with the height.

In the Front viewport, try moving the box to the center of the locomotive's width. You can do this easier buy right-clicking on the Move icon to bring up the Move Transform Type-In dialog box. Under Absolute:World, in the text field to the right of X: type in 0.0 and hit ENTER on the keyboard. Adjust the Width value under Parameters in the Create panel to match the drawing.

Let's assign the shader to the bogie. Open the Material Editor. Make sure that the shader in the second row in the first slot is selected and click on the Assign Material to Selection icon. Go ahead and close the Material Editor.

Let's convert the box to an Editable Mesh so we can model the bogie alittle bit more. In the Create panel, in the list box under the Modifier List, right-click on the word box and select Convert to Editable Mesh.

Rotate the Perspective view so you can see the top of the box. In the Modify panel, click on the Polygon icon and make sure that Ignore Backfacing is ON.

Now, click on the top polygon of the box in the Perspective viewport to select it. In the Modify panel under Edit Geometry, click on the Extrude button and in the text field to the right, type in 0.17 and hit ENTER.

We want to scale this top section in length alittle bit to match the drawing so, select the Non-Uniform Scale icon at the top of the screen. (Remember, its available if you click and hold on the Scale icon - a drop down menu will appear - select the second icon down). Right-click on the Non-Uniform Scale icon to bring up the Scale Transform Type-In dialog box. Under Offset:World, in the text field to the right of Y: type in 80

In the Modify panel under Surface Properties, under Material, in the text field next to ID: type 1 and hit ENTER.

Let's also turn off see-through so we can see the texture on the bogie. Right-click on the bogie and choose Properties. Uncheck See-Through and hit OK.

Hmmm....that doesn't look to good. We need to add better texture mapping coordinates. Go to the Modifier List rollout.

Under UV Coordinate Modifiers, select UVW Map.

Since we are mapping the side view, in the Modifier Panel, under Alignment, choose X.

You should see the mapping gizmo in the Left viewport.

RIght now, the texture is rotated the 90 degrees the wrong way, so we need to rotate it back. In the Window below the Modifier List, find the UVW Mapping modifier and click on the plus sign to the left. Click on Gizmo.

Now we can manipulate the mapping.

Click on the Rotate Icon at the top, middle of the screen to the right of the Move icon.

In the Left viewport, move the mouse over the blue dot with the yellow Z. Click and drag the mouse up until the gizmo is 90m degrees vertical.

You can see the degrees by looking at the read-outs just under the Perspective viewport. Watch the Z: degree

Under Alignment, hit the Fit button.

Now, we need to edit those UV coordinates. Go to the Modifier List Rollout and under UV Coordinate Modifiers, select Unwrap UVW.

In the Modifier panel, hit the Edit button.

Hey! This time we don't get the texture in the background! Don't worry, here's how we fix this. Click on the roll-out in the upper right corner of the Edit UVW window. and select Pick Texture.

The Material/Map Browser window will pop-up. In the middle left of the window, under Browse From: click on Selected. A new list should show up in the lister box to the right. Double-click on the first item in the list. Now we should see the texture map!

Use the same techniques introduced in Tutorial#2 to align the UV coordinates to the texture map.

Once you have it aligned, let's collapse the stack, just right-click in the window below the Modifier List and select Collapse All.

A warning dialog will pop-up, just hit Yes.

Let's start making a wheel. First, hide the bogie - Click on the Display tab and hit the Hide Selected button.

Click on the Create tab and hit the Cylinder button. In the left viewport, click in the center of the first wheel in the Blueprint. Drag it out to approximately the size in the drawing. After, move the mouse up a little to give the cylinder depth. Don't worry about being accurate here - we'll fix it later.

In the Create Panel, change the name of the cylinder to WHEELS11.

Now, let's get the wheel accurate - In the Create panel, under Parameters, make Radius: 0.611 make Height: 0.157 make Height Segments: 1 make Sides: 14 Also, click on Generate Mapping Coords.

Let's also center the pivot on the wheel. Click on the Hierarchy tab (it's the tab to the right of the Modify tab) Under Move/Rotate/Scale, click on the Affect Pivot Only button. Under Alignment, click on the Center to Object button.

Click on the Affect Pivot Only button again to turn it off.

One last thing, let's position the wheel. Make sure that the Move icon is active. Right-click on the Move icon now to bring up the Move Transform Type-in dialog box. Under Absolute: World make X: -0.796 make Y: 6.645 make Z: 0.618

Go ahead and close the dialog box.

Now we are ready to texture map the wheel. We'll do the same thing that we did for the bogie. Let's convert the wheel to an Editable Mesh In the Create panel, in the list box under the Modifier List, right-click on the word Cylinder and select Convert to Editable Mesh. In the Modify panel, click on the Polygon icon and make sure Ignore Backfacing is off.

Make sure that the Select Object icon is active and in the Left viewport, drag-select a rubber-band box around the whole wheel. Open the Material Editor and click on the Assign Material to Selection icon. Go ahead and close the Material Editor.

In the Modify panel under Surface Properties, under Material, in the text field next to ID: type 1 and hit ENTER.

Go to the Modifier List rollout. Under UV Coordinate Modifiers, select UVW Map.

Since we are mapping the side view, in the Modifier Panel, under Alignment, choose Z.

Now, we need to edit those UV coordinates. Go to the Modifier List Rollout and under UV Coordinate Modifiers, select Unwrap UVW.

In the Modifier panel, hit the Edit button.

Hey! This time we don't get the texture in the background again! Click on the roll-out in the upper right corner of the Edit UVW window. and select Pick Texture.

The Material/Map Browser window will pop-up. In the middle left of the window, under Browse From: click on Selected. A new list should show up in the lister box to the right. Double-click on the first item in the list. Now we should see the texture map!

Use the same techniques introduced in Tutorial#2 to align the UV coordinates to the texture map.

Once you have it aligned, let's collapse the stack, just right-click in the window below the Modifier List and select Collapse All.

A warning dialog will pop-up, just hit Yes.

Let's start making copies of the wheel. Select the Move icon and, in the Left viewport, hold the SHIFT key down while you drag the wheel to the right and align it with the drawing. A Clone Options dialog box will show-up. Under Object, make sure that Copy is selected. In the name field, type WHEELS12. Click on OK.

Let's select both of our new wheels. Hold the CNTL key down on the keyboard and click on WHEELS11. both wheels should now be selected.

Make sure that the Move icon is active, and in the Front viewport, hold SHIFT and just click on the wheels. The Clone Options dialog will appear. Make sure that Copy is selected and click on OK. We need to move these new wheels - right-click on the Move icon to get the Move Transform Type-in box. Under Offset: Screen make X: 1.592

Select WHEELS11 in the Perspective viewport. In the Modify panel, under Edit Geometry, click on the Attach List button. Select WHEELS13 and hit Attach.

Select WHEELS12 in the Perspective viewport. In the Modify panel, under Edit Geometry, click on the Attach List button. Select WHEELS14 and hit Attach.

We need to do one more thing with these wheels. We need to reset the transformation matrices for each wheel. The transformation matrix contains offset information about how the object was moved and rotated. We want to get rid of this offset information.

Here's what happens if you don't get rid of this offset information.

To keep this from happening to you, do this: select WHEELS11 then Click on the Utilities tab (It's the tab on the farthest right - it looks like a hammer). Click on Reset Xform, then down below, click on the Reset Selected button. Click on the Modify tab and right-click in the window under Modfier List. Select Collapse All and hit Yes to the warning dialog box that follows. Do these same steps for WHEELS12.

We should now have two sets of wheels that are reset. Select Both sets of wheels using CNTL select.

Let's unhide our bogie - Click on the Display tab and hit the Unhide By Name button. The Unhide Objects dialog box will appear. Select BOGIE1 and click on Unhide.

Link the wheels to the bogie. Click on the Link icon and in the Perspective viewport, move the mouse over one of the wheels until the mouse pointer turns into the Link icon - click and drag over to the bogie.

Click on the Select Object icon to turn Link off.

Let's make a copy of this bogie for the rear. CNTL select the two wheels and the bogie in the Left viewport. Select the Move icon and hold SHIFT while you drag the bogie and wheels to the right and align it with the drawing. The Clone Options dialog will appear. For the name, type BOGIE2 and hit OK.

BOGIE2 already has the new wheels linked, but we need to rename them. Hit the H key to bring up the Select Object box. Select WHEELS13. In the upper right side of the screen, rename WHEELS13 to WHEELS21.

Hit the H key to bring up the Select Object box again. Select WHEEL14. In the upper right side of the screen, rename WHEELS14 to WHEELS22.

Now, only select the two bogies. Let's unhide everything now - click on the Display tab and click on Unhide All. Click on the Link icon and in the Perspective viewport, Move the mouse overone of the bogies until the mouse pointer turns into the Link icon. Click, then drag over to the loco body.

Click on the Select Object icon to turn Link off.

Go ahead and save your work.

Once again, before we export, select the BluePrint box only. Hit the DELETE key on the keyboard. Go ahead and export it as myloco2000.3ds and save it in the myloco directory.

Quit out of 3DSMAX. A dialog box will pop-up asking, "Do you want to save your changes - hit NO. (Remember, we saved the file before when we still had the blueprint cube...)

Go ahead and double-click on convertmyloco.bat, then run MSTS and take a look at the new bogies!!

Also, We'd like to repeat our special request - If you find these tutorials are useful and you end up making locomotives and posting them so others can use them, please direct people, in your post to www.trainartisan.com

This isn't really for credit so much as, if people look at your work and like it, they might want to try creating a locomotive too - show them where to get the info. We make these tutorials because we want to share - help us in sharing this knowledge with others!

Thanks, from the Trainartisan team.

On to More .ENG Editing and How to Package Your Loco for Downloading