are you gunna build that whole thing like on the photo? :D

Yeah! Why not?
Seriously, only the stuff that could conceivably be seen from the 'outside'......and it won't be pink! I mean, I won't be building the fire-tubes inside the boiler and stuff.

Right now there seems to be no point in building this unless I put as much detail in as possible. I'm pushing Bryce to its limits here. I think people expect that from me now. To many believe Bryce is just a landscaper. They don't respect Bryce as a modeller. Ok, so we don't have nurbs, but that's the challenge isn't it? To see what Bryce can do.

True true, but honestly, i think bryce can go very, very, very far! The parametric way of handling geometry seems to work in bryce's advantage. Where poly renderers mighr cripple at millions of polygons or tens of thousands of objects, bryce seems to barely show a hint of struggling. If anything the memory of the system is going to be the limit. I assume you save different parts of the train to different scene files to keep saving times low and to keep corrupted files to a minimum? I doubt many people have reached bryce's limits as far as complicated models go. I've been up around half a billion polygons and my system didnt show signs of weakness. I think if bryce doesnt buckle due to corrupted files, you can push this thing further then many people think is possible!

If you like detailed models you should check out cg-cars.com, there are some people there that build cars to insane detail! I saw a guy building some american hotrod car (i forgot which model..) and he literally built the entire chassis, the suspension, steering, engine, transmission, exhaust system, interiour, everything! Including parts inside the engine and such. I think it might be inspiring! At least i know i find it inspiring, and your project with this train reminds me of some of the work of a few insane people over at that site.

Rather than build stuff in the main scene - that's the one with the Loco - I create in a seperate .Br6 So right now what I'm working on is **Piston Block.br6
**
Then I select everything, group and dump it into the CREATE folder. I could MERGE files/ scenes but I don't like to do that. Then I'll load up the main file and drop in from the Create.

So when this thing is finished I'll attach it to the loco and do any tweeking, copy it, paste and flip X and attach the copy to the other side of the loco and Bob's your distant relation!

Thanks for the heads-up, Ray. I'll checkout that car place!

Piston Block.Br6 is about 35mb and takes about 8mins to render at top spec.

Out of the country? They let you out? 

nice looking parts too.

damn look at all the fancy rounded edges!

nice copper shader :D eh mat :P

I'm posting here more than a year later...  Sorry I did not realize this fabulous work was happening..    That undercariage has a lot of details,,,,,  all in Bryce... Wow...

You have my respect with this, I know just how long it takes to build parts like that.

And you have my respect and compliments also.  I will probably never know the work that is involved.  I'm not patient enough. 

With the detail and accuracy you have built in I would not be surprised if the darn thing starts smoking and chugs right off the screen when you finally assemble it.

*I would not be surprised if the darn thing starts smoking and chugs right off the screen when you finally assemble it.

*I'm working on that!

Thanks for the kind comments!  C&Cs always welcome.

are those used for the on-board toilet room?

Of course you are right, Ray! These pipes take high pressure steam from the main boiler to a flexible hose that is used to clean your butt when you've completed you ablutions!. :lol:

I was more thinking along the lines of spraying high-pressure steam into the bowl from under the ridge. The heat could kill all sorts of bacteria making it a perfect addition for the american market.

Quote - The centre driving wheel. Still a few tweeks to do............The spokes, the outer curves of the centre hub and the inner-curves of the rim are all metaballs. About 2500 objects, 650000 polys.
C&Cs welcome.

Ok "You're insane"
great work!

You are Martian.  No real human can go with out sleep, eat, drink to accomplish this.

Man have you taken your medicine??? This is totally insane... superb work!!!

One day when im old and retired and have lots of free time, im gunna challenge you to a boolean battle :-P

*One day when im old and retired and have lots of free time, im gunna challenge you to a boolean battle :-P

*When you're old and retired I'm gonna be 6' under.

Quote - *One day when im old and retired and have lots of free time, im gunna challenge you to a boolean battle :-P

*When you're old and retired I'm gonna be 6' under.

I thought martians have a 300 year lifespan?

*I thought martians have a 300 year lifespan?

*I only LIVE on Mars...............;-)

ah right... bummer :-/ I'll let u know when i have more time :P

thats a damn smooth result for metaballing there!

Looking good!

great! its really starting to come together more and more isnt it?

Wow, that's some amazing booleaning.  Can we see a wireframe?

All the blue bits are metaballs.

Cool, thanks!

WOW!

Click for the bigger pic.

Hopefully there'll be an article about this when it's done. It's already impressive considering how its being modeled.

Not really complete because of the limitations of the referance photos I was able to glean from the net. I'm also not entirely happy with the textures, but what the heck.

The next thing is to marry this up to the locomotive frame, then copy it over to the opposing side.
After that, it's down to creating the driving rods and linkages, then moving back down to the driver's cab. 

Funy thing, I look at the various parts I've created in the past and wonder just how the heck I did some of this stuff!

C&Cs welcome as always and I really appreciate the support you Guys & Gals have given me over the past 13 months or so. Thanks for keeping the faith!

lol thank you for keeping the faith! After having watched this project so long my greatest fear is to one day enter this forum and read "sorry guys 'n gals, i give up, there aint gunna be no train no more" please do show us the various intricate details of how this stuff gets linked to the frame :-)

That really is some marvelous detail Bryster!

As an ex locomotive man this is an amazing showcase of Bryce capabilities. Having not done anything much with metaballs a tutorial on the construction of the driver wheel would be fantastic. Go Bryster!!!!!.

Cheers 
GG

Hey everyone. I am new to the forums here, but I just spent some time catching up on this thread. Bryster, you are amazing, an inspiration, a rendering god among mortals. I shall watch this thread with baited breath and await the completion of the train. I will also hope that my husband does not see this thread as this kind of modelling will appeal to his artistc sensibilites, and I already have to fight him to use the computer. I will be keeping your family in my thoughts that you get your issues with the auto accident sorted.

Cheers!