Passenger Trains > 3D passenger car update

I've been working on and off for quite some time on my virtual 3D passenger car, and finally got some HD motion rendering done on what I have so far.
I don't have space for a model RR in my house, so I've used my skills in computer modeling to explore RR subjects that interest me.
This is a video is rendered from my 3-D model of GN observation car St. Nicholas Mountain, a 1950 product of American Car and Foundry for the Mid-Century version of Great Northern's premiere streamliner, The Empire Builder.
The 3-D model was executed using the program Strata 3D, from drawings and plans from AC&F (obtained fro the museum of Transportation in St. Louis), and visits to the actual St. Nicholas Mountain, which is currently undergoing restoration. (See www.stnicholasmountain.com for details)
The model is far from finished - I still need to do the interior finishings, but I'm already pressing the limits of my hardware - the model already consists of almost 42,000 3D objects comprised or over 1,191,000 polygons!

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Beautiful work!

Cheers,
Jack

Wow! Extremely impressive.

Some of us chase trains, others build models or even live steam. Some like riding Amtrak and other lines, some of us enjoy reading or watching movies about trains. Some of us enjoy counting rivets and others enjoy making 3D presentations. There are so many ways to enjoy a big hunk of iron running along some steel rails. You did a GREAT job. Looking forward to seeing some more of your work soon.

John

Now u need a 3D printer.

Great job. Thanks for those 22 hours!

Dave Johansen
Glen Ellyn, IL

Wow! Wonderful job on this!! Keep up the good work!

Very nice Jon. Guess you want a Mac Pro for Christmas???

Have you ever thought about making 3D models for one of the various 3D Rail Simulators out there? It can't be as detailed as this model, but you want to make a realistic looking model. I made all kinds of 3D models for Microsoft Train Simulator for a few years, and found it very enjoyable.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

If Santa wants to bring me a quad-core Power Mac for Christmas, I'm all for it.

To answer some of the other poster's questions....(other than my brother's)

I have not done any 3D modeling for virtual RR simulators - that would be another black hole for my time. Maybe after I retire in 20 years. I have used Trainz, but find it's handling of models perplexing at best.

A 3D printer would be great! I'll take one, Santa!

And the 22 hours was just to render one of the videos - building the model has taken much, much more time.

Very nice work. Would love to have you on staff!

Justin Cornell
Brooksville, FL
JointedRail Productions

Very nice. I can respect this a lot, I have designed 3 race cars in solid work (and built them).

Bruce Bryan
Greensburg, IN

Agreed. If you ever find the urge to put all of your time and effort into a black hole, give us a call!! Beautiful work!

Mike Cyr
Holiday, FL
Jointed Rail Productions

Great job! What type of computer did you use? and what program? If I wanted to do this how would I begin?

edsaalig Wrote:
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> Great job! What type of computer did you use?
> and what program? If I wanted to do this how
> would I begin?

I use Strata 3D to build the model - it's more of a 3D illustration program than a CAD program, so it's relatively affordable and somewhat easy to use. It also has great rendering capabilities, which are sometimes lacking in strictly CAD programs. It's about $395 (on sale)
http://store.strata.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=D3DCX70

For a computer, I have a trusty ol' iMac - nothing special - dual core 3ghz processor.

The model looks fantastic. Did you do any modelling of the interior?