Introduction

There is no doubt that learning how to create custom attractions for our park guests and for our own enjoyment will add a whole new dimension to our RCT3 gaming experience.

CTR Creator is a spectacular utility that takes this several steps further in that it enables community members to Import:

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in-game cars onto other tracks,

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cars created by community members onto other tracks so they work just like the in-game cars,

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car models we ourselves have created and then set them up so they use installed tracks,

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animated models as flat rides into the game, and

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new track styles into RCT3 so they work just like those that were developed with the game.

The sessions in this well-illustrated article will benefit both those who have no idea what's involved in the process in addition to those who already have knowledge of some of the steps required to create custom cars & tracks. The making of flat rides will be covered in another article and is not included in this series of sessions.

Making functional custom cars to place on tracks will seem a complex procedure at the start but successfully using this utility only requires that you've done it a few times after which you'll quickly find yourself in a place where you may complete most projects with ease, with the creation of your car models being the most difficult part of the process!

While it was created to be easy to use, an incredible amount of knowledge needs to be taken on board in order to fully use this utility as a result of which it is the most under-utilized tool in our community's toolkit. Because so much data needs to be collated while using CTR Creator, a process that requires referencing and re-referencing several documents and then creating and referencing a range of Windows directories, without organization and focus one can easily find himself spending more time looking for various files than actually using the utility. Our recommend point of departure for the arrangement of directories in which to place your work is:

A

A General folder inside which is CTR Creator and all the required reference documents that come with CTR Creators' Pack.

B

A separate Work folder for each project you'll start with CTR Creator and inside of that, depending on the project, one or more of the following folders:

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A WagenDaten_ folder inside which are further directories representing each of the custom cars you'll create for each track.

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A BahnDaten_ folder inside which will be the track or trackbed TXT file you're using for the project.

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A SchienenDaten_ folder dedicated to custom rails if you'll be creating new rail types.

While the BahnDaten_ folder will only contain a TXT file, both your WagenDaten_ folder and SchienenDaten_ folder will have in them various other files such as:

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any car or track models you've exported to ASE from your modeler,

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the texture(s) used in creating your ASE(s),

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the OVL's that result from Importing your car or track models,

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the project's icon THM file, if you're using a custom icon, and, of course,

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WagenDaten_ and/or SchienenDaten_ TXT files,

We believe these directory suggestions an excellent place to start until you become familiar with this utility. After creating a few cars or tracks it is probable that you'll find you'd prefer a different directory arrangement that suits your own particular workstyle.

   The CTR Creators' Reference Document

You will find five sets of data included in this sheet:

1

List Of All Track Sections (With AddOns),

2

Track Names And Their Associated Track Types,

3

Flat Rides List,

4

Contents Of Cars>CoasterCars Folder, and

5

Contents of Cars>TrackedRideCars Folder.

The primary purpose of this sheet is to provide a convenient way for gamers to copy and paste track section data, 1, into WagenDaten_ documents. 2 to 5 accompany this information simply because this is good information to have to hand.

We've presented this information in Microsoft Word DOC format rather than in PDF because using the Find function is much easier to do in a Microsoft Word document. Further, Microsoft Word searches more specifically for the information we need. In a PDF, if we attempt to use the find function to locate the text Track 2, the PDF search engine displays results that include all the tracks from Track20 to Track29 in addition to the Track2 that we're looking for. A Microsoft Word search for Track2 (with a space behind the 2) shows us only Track2 results. The PDF search engine ignores the trailing space which means we're left sifting our own search results. This will give a lege up to anyone writing a WagenDaten_.

For those not familiar with Word, double-left clicking with the mouse will select a single word while triple-left clicking will select the entire paragraph. Each track section list has been specifically placed into its own table cell for this reason. A triple-left click on any track section list inside a table cell will select everything in that cell even if the cell is across two pages. This will make it convenient to select and copy the information to paste over into your BahnDaten_.

  CTR Creators' Pack

The downloads in this Pack, available at the end of this article, include:

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CTR Creator v0.85,

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CTR Creator v0.95,

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CTR Creator v1.00,

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The CTR Creator's Reference Document (DOC),

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A likeness of an adult male RCT3 guest cloned into Three Seating Positions (SKP). This includes the Restraint Shape Suggestion Model,

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FTA.net's version of the basic car model complete with effect bones (SKP),

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A copy of the BeispielWagen basic car model, as originally released,

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Track Section Listings For 8 Europa Park Add-On Tracks,

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Kiotho's Blank XML Templates,

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OldSpice's Train Doors XML,

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The Logos and Icons Pack made up of OVL's and PNG's,

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the SketchUp OBJ Exporter PlugIn RBZ,

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SwissCheese77's & JG59's Flat Stations,

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FTA.net's CSO Station Templates For SwissCheese77's & JG59's Flat Stations Set SKP,

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FTA.net's RCT3 Color Swatch Paint Box (PNG's),

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Top Wheel, Side-Friction Wheel, and Up-Stop Car Wheel Arrangements (SKP) with wheel texture,

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Courtesy Copy & Paste BahnDaten_ (TXT)

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SketchUp Rail & Station Mock-Ups, and

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Axis Example Markers: Main, Across, and Skyward axes models in 3DS, ASE, DAE, FBX, MTL, OBJ, PLY, STL, and X3D formats.

The CTR Creator information presented throughout these sessions is based on

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CTR Creator v1.00 (unless another version is specified),

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the Importer v18b2 (Build 521: svn 130), and

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RCT3 including it's add-ons/expansions:

(•RCT3 Deluxe/Deluxe Diamond, •RCT3 Platinum, and

•RCT3 Vanilla/Soaked!/Wild!)

CTR Creator does not read or process Daten files across its various versions. This means CTR Creator v1.0 will only read from and write to Daten_ files that originated with the CTR Creator v1.0 download. Other versions of CTR Creator have the same restrictions with their own versions of Daten_ files.

CTR Creator does not need to be installed.

   Model Creation

  The Importer v18

The Importer was specifically updated to Version18 so that custom cars could be imported into RCT3. Prior knowledge of the Importing process is highly recommended before attempting to create custom cars. In fact, if you're already used to Importing you'll find it exceedingly easy to tailor your existing knowledge of Importing in order to create the OVL's for your custom cars in addition to creating the menu Icon for your track.

  SketchUp

All of our staff use SketchUp. The extent of our interest in Blender is to import files in various formats so they may be exported to Collada's DAE format for subsequent importing into SketchUp.

So that you may see what a great application this 3D application is we've assembled up a SketchUp article which includes links to downloads for various versions of SketchUp Make that are useful to our community, and for the two known RCT3 PlugIn Packs. You'll find our SketchUp page here.

On it you'll also find a summarized history of this application along with tips and hints on installing PlugIns that includes suggestions to troubleshoot some of the challenges that may be experienced both before and after installation.

Should you have never before used SketchUp we've also created a Fast-Track Mini-Tutorial that will get you started. That tutorial video is here.

  Animations: Blender vs SketchUp

Are you under the impression that animating custom content is only possible with Blender? Have you been concerned about comments you've read throughout the forums that some in our community have difficulty in accurately exporting models from Blender for use with RCT3? Are you yourself put off by Blender's steep learning curve after which you'd also need to learn if you should bake constraints or keyframes, decide which items need prefixes so they won't export, or fretting over how to set up the MODXML exporter along with the other required Python PlugIns? For CTR’s you don't need to worry about Blender any more because without relying on it or the use of the MODXML Python PlugIn, the Importer can be conveniently used alongside CTR Creator to easily Import track and car models created in SketchUp.

One of the reasons the MODXML PlugIn was created was for those who wanted to import custom cars into RCT3 who had no prior knowledge of Importing CSO's. It’s also useful for converting fully operating animations that have already been set up in Blender and exporting them directly into the Importer with the resulting OVL's ready for CTR Creator. Notwithstanding this, DarkHorizon and Krypt have shared with the community exactly how to animate by directly editing XML's, so Blender and the MODXML exporter are redundant to today's CTR Creator Artist.

Later on in this article, our topic headed Car Animations will give you DarkHorizon's and Krypt's leg up on animating.

   Car Placement

The most reliable place to start our car design is with the car's base placed on Z=0 plane, or on the 'ground' in SketchUp. It should be centred along both the green and the red axis with the front and back of the car along the red axis/main axis. If we consider this car model as already placed in the middle of a default sandbox, the front of the car will face south along the Main axis or the -X axis, towards the park entrance as if positioned to leave the park. The rear of the car, also lined up along the Main axis will reverse north towards the back of the park, or towards the +X axis. In view of that the car's left and right sides will be facing along the across axis towards the park's east & west.

Effect Bones

With regular CSO's, particle effects serve as their own set points for a visual effect, while car models require Effect Bones and separately created set points. This will ensure

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cars are positioned and therefore operating correctly on their tracks,

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the park guests know where to sit in the cars, and

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we may obtain a view through the POV cameras while the car is operating along the track in the game.

Apart from that, single Effect Bones are placed in our modeler and processed through the Importer much in the same way as Particle Effects for CSO's.

The basic version of our SketchUp model file shown in the previous screenshot is available as a download, the link to which is at the end of this article. The proportions, measurements, and Effect Bone placements are ready for you to simply paint on your texture and to practice getting it Imported. A simple texture is already imported and is ready for use there in the SketchUp Materials dialog. You may also want to use the colors we've presented in The RCT3 Color Swatch Paint Box. Simply download and place into your SU Materials folder which is a folder you'll find alongside your SketchUp Models folder.

Technically, it is possible to get by with only these Bone Effects as a bare minimum to get a car Imported into the game.

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camerafront

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camerarear

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carfront

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carrear

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peep01

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wheelfl

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wheelfr

We suggest you kick up your CTR output from the start. We make these recommendations:

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camerafront

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camerarear

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nosecamera

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carfront

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carrear

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peep01

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wheelfl

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wheelfr

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wheelrl

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wheelrr

In the aforementioned example basic car SKP that came with the download pack, all ten of the Effect Bones are exactly where they should be in relation to the size and shape of the car model.

This Summary Table outlines the purpose of each Effect Bone. More comprehensive descriptions will follow in this session.

The SketchUp RCT3 Effect Bones PlugIn comes with a right click context menu for Effect Bones that makes it convenient to give our bones appropriate names. All the Effect Bones listed above come with this PlugIn including peep bone names from Peep01 to Peep10. Using the peep Effect Bone PlugIn names is a good way to remember that it should be Peep01 (with a 0) and not Peep1. All you need to do is right click on the bone where you may select the required name from the drop-down list.

While only one sort of PeepSeatingPosition may be used for each car, all guests in a car do not need to be seated facing in the same direction. So that each guest is sat facing in a direction appropriate to the angle of the seat they're in, each peep may be rotated in the Importer with a RotZ adjustment in accordance with the particular angle in which you've rotated their seat in your modeler.

carfront and carrear

While moving our cars around their tracks the car's actual 3D-geometry is not taken into account by the game engine so these ten effect bones define

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where the front and where the back of each single car is in relation to other single cars on the same track while they are at rest in the station,

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the distance between each car in a train made up of several cars, whether the cars are at rest in the station or are in travel around the track, and

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the distance between each train on the track while the trains are at rest in the station.

It's a good idea to start out with each of these effects at some 25cm distance from either end of your car model. This distance can be later increased or decreased to your liking. Whatever distance you prefer these Effect Bones to be from your car, we prefer carfront to be risen so it is about halfway up the front face of our car model while carrear is also to be raised so that it's roughly halfway up the rear face of our car.

Drag the above toggle to a

convenient place on your screen.