Chapter Six MODELING - Part 2 Building your Ride ~ Flat Ride Modeling ~ Flat Ride Animation ~ ~ Tracked Ride & Coaster Modeling ~ How a Coaster works ~ ~ Tracked Ride & Coaster Animation ~ Raise your hands! ~ << Back to Chapter 5  ~  On to Chapter 7 >>

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The 3D stage is set. You’ve got a Peep model that you’re happy with. So far, so good. Now we get to the interesting part...modeling your actual ride. I want to stress again, I will NOT be teaching you how to do 3D modeling. I’ll simply be giving you the basics on making your ride model work with RCT2...and passing along a few tips and tricks that I’ve found to make life easier. There are two basic types of animated rides in RCT2; Flat Rides and Tracked Rides, which I think of as "Vehicle Rides." There is some overlap in these two groups. The Dodgems for instance is built as a Flat Ride, but it’s underlying mechanics are that of a Tracked Ride. Neither type of ride is "easier" to customize than the other...both have their unique advantages and drawbacks, as you’ll soon discover. Flat Ride Modeling In one form or another, Flat Rides generally spin, swing, bounce or some combination of those. These movements are repetitive and accomplished by looping a short series of animation frames over and over. Throughout this exercise, I’ll be using my "Tilted Whirler" as an example. Here’s a close-up view of the completed model. Let’s break down how this model was built. I began with the light blue sphere you see peeking up through the center. Because the ride basically just spins, I placed that sphere EXACTLY where the center of the ride will be. It’s grouped together with all of the cars so that when I rotate that sphere, the cars will all rotate with it. You don’t see that sphere in the final ride images, because it’s set to be completely invisible when rendered. It’s there simply to control other parts easily. Next we have that undulating base -- painted with pink and white stripes. Remember that the pink will eventually be a "paintable" area in the game. The gray "track" area was simply a duplicate of the striped base object, shrunk slightly, raised slightly and painted a solid gray. The striped sphere in the center is...well, a striped sphere. It doesn’t move at all and is simply there for decoration. The green stripes will become another paintable area when used in the game. The cars themselves were the most difficult modeling job. I won’t go into all the details here, but suffice to say that they took some time to get just right. The pinks and greens will all be paintable eventually. The cars rotate around the center of the ride, but they ALSO spin independently. The discs beneath the cars are used for that purpose. They are what is actually grouped with the blue Control Sphere. Each car is then grouped with the disc on which it sits. Here’s the Hierarchy for the movement: Control Sphere - Rotates all the discs around the center point Gray Disc - Is moved around the center by the Control Sphere but is also spun independently to control the individual swinging movement for each car Cars - Attached to the disc and controlled by it’s movement Riders - Copies of the Peep Model we made earlier. Attached to the cars...so they don’t fall out Now, since the Tilted Whirler will use the Twist/Snow Cups as a Base Ride, we need to consider it’s animation requirements. The listing in the Ride Table says: Twist (twist1.dat) Riders Visible?: Capacity 18 Tracked: No - 3 x 3 footprint Hardcoded Pieces: None Total Frames: 240 (Ride: 24 /Riders: 216) NOTES: 24 Frames rotate ride 120-degrees. Riders require ALL 216 FRAMES to reach their original starting point. Okay, the first consideration is that it needs a capacity of 18. So... (18 Riders) / (2...because they ride in pairs) = 9 cars needed It was a bit of a squeeze to get all 9 cars onto that little track and leave enough space for them to swing around, but I managed it...and only had to cheat a little. Next consideration, a 3 x 3 footprint. That’s what I’d planned from the beginning, so that’s done...HOWEVER... We now need to make sure the thing will render at the right size in the game. To test this, we’ll need that RCT2 screenshot again. Remember those nine blocks? They’re precisely the same size as the footprint of our ride! (Sneaky, huh? Like he’d planned it all along or something...) Select one of your view cameras, the ones you used to make your Peep Model the right size, and render the image over the screenshot. Would the ride fit easily on top of those blocks? If not, resize the model and try again. NOTE: DON’T DO IT BY ZOOMING THE CAMERA! That would change the size of the Riders, too! You’ll need to change the scale of ONLY the objects that make up the ride itself! The Riders MUST remain the same size as the originals in the game, but your ride can shrink or grow a bit. Once you have adjusted the model to the size you need it, you may have to rearrange the Riders a little...moving them closer together on the seat, adjusting their knees, putting their little hands on the grab-bar, etc. All just details, but ALL important. Flat Ride Animation The next important bit of information we’ll need to examine is the number of animation frames. Remember WAAAY back in the Tools section, I mentioned that your 3D program should be able to output as an animated .gif? That comes into play here. We’ll keep things easy by adjusting the frame rate that our animated .gif uses to MATCH the requirements of the ride. According to the Ride Table entry, this ride has a 24-frame animation sequence...so, we’ll set the 3D program to output as a .gif animation at 24fps (frames per second). Now, we finally do some animating! According to the "Notes:" in the Ride Table entry, the Riders use 216 frames -- nine FULL loops of the animation -- to return to their original starting point. How in the world do we do that?! Warning! MATHEMATICS AHEAD! View your ride from directly overhead and imagine that the cars are numbered.

Say you start at Car 1 and use your 24 frames to make it move to Car 2’s position -- 40-degrees (1/9th of a circle). If you allowed that animation to loop nine times, at the END of that last loop, the car would finally appear to end up back where it started. Although that’s PRECISELY what we want, it wouldn’t move very fast...far too slow for the ride we have in mind.

Say you make Car 1 move TWO spaces (80-degrees) to Car 3’s position. That would move TWICE as fast as the first version. At the END of each animation the car would be in the following positions: 3, 5, 7, 9, 2, 4, 6, 8, 1. It WORKS! Nine loops would bring it back to it’s original position. But again, it’s still a bit slow for this particular ride.

Okay, let’s try moving three spaces...Car 1 moving 120-degrees to Car 4’s spot. The end positions would be: 4, 8, 1, 4, 8, 1, 4, 8, 1. Hmm...it works, but not entirely. In order for THIS particular ride to work properly, the ending points of the animation MUST include all 9 positions, due to the way Rider images are handled. Well, the speed would be about right, but due to technical restraints it won’t work after all.

Try moving four spaces - 160-degrees (4/9ths of a circle). Where does that put us at the end of each animation sequence? The speed looks about right, too...a hair too fast, perhaps, but you can’t have everything. FLEXIBLE, remember? Gadzooks! I’m thinking we have a winner, here!

Okay, so how does that translate into our animation? Well, the ride would need to rotate 4/9ths of a rotation in a single animation sequence. Using the current position as a starting point, we simply rotate the center sphere 160-degrees (4/9ths of a circle)...allowing the 3D program to animate it automatically to the end of the sequence. Because the track is not level on this ride, the discs may need to be adjusted in order to keep them on the track. Simply moving them vertically until they appear to be sliding on top of the gray track does the trick. Now we’re ready for a test render of the animation. Looking at the rendered sequence, we follow ONE car around the track...if it takes 9 rotations to return to the exact point where it started, then we’re one step closer to our ride! YAY! YAY! Break out the Champagne! Um, not so fast, Sparky. We haven’t made the cars spin around on their discs, yet. That’s gonna take some doing, first. You see, at the end of each loop, the Car 1 is actually replaced by Car 5. At the end of the next loop, Car 5 is replaced by Car 9, then Car 4, 8, 3, 7, 2, 6 and finally Car 1 again. To make THIS happen, we need to do it by hand. We begin by animating Car 1, rotating the disc beneath it so it turns realistically as it travels around the track. REMEMBER THE POSITION YOU LEAVE IT IN AT THE END OF THE ANIMATION! You’ll need to MATCH it in a minute. Going back to Frame 1, Car 5 is now sitting exactly where Car 1 was a second ago. We need to rotate Car 5’s control disc to match it. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but the closer, the better. Now animate Car 5’s spin as it travels through the animation...up and down the rolling track, noting it’s position in the final frame. Two down, seven more to go. Returning to frame one, Car 9 has now replaced Car 5. We repeat the animation process with each car in turn, 9, 4, 3, 7, 2 and 6...matching the final position of Car 6 to the STARTING position of Car 1. Note: This is the same method used to animate the spinning cars on my "SkyDiver" ride. Exactly the same thing, but done vertically around an axis instead of on the discs. Granted, all of this IS NOT NECESSARY if your cars don’t spin. For instance, a Merry-Go-Round type of ride wouldn’t need this extra animation since the seats on it don’t spin...just rotate around the center of the ride. But if you wanted them to go up and down, the process would be very similar. Render your one second, 24-frame animated .gif and save it as "MyRIDE.gif." Take a look at it in action. Do the cars spin convincingly? Do they move the way you want them to? Perhaps you’ll just want to look at it for a while...a lot of work went in to that 1-second movie! And more is to come before it ever sees the world of RCT. Take a break, have a cookie (maybe a nap) and we’ll continue...but SAVE YOUR FILE FIRST! Tracked Ride & Coaster Modeling Okay. If you’re NOT looking to do a Flat Ride, then you can ignore much of what I’ve said so far in this chapter. Much, but not ALL. Modeling a tracked ride or coaster gives you a lot more freedom...and takes far less ACTUAL modeling. However the animation portion can easily make up for that in difficulty. However even if you’re NOT doing a coaster, ALL the Vehicle Based rides follow the same basic format as a rollercoaster and have the same basic modeling requirements. For this exercise we’ll be using my "Dream Woodie" as an example. It’s the first custom coaster train I ever created...and pretty basic as rollercoasters go. I may even give some insights about how the riders were animated. First of course, you’ll need your Peep model arranged however you want him to ride...sitting down, standing up, upside down hanging by his ankles...whatever. But, just like the Flat Ride section, we’ll begin with a Control Sphere. The sphere will be rotated by the 3D program to animate the various views of the vehicle. The center of this Control Sphere is located at the EXACT CENTER of the BOTTOM of the vehicle...right where it would meet the surface of the track. If the vehicle has wheels, the sphere’s center would be level with the bottom edge of the wheels. If you were doing a suspended vehicle of some sort -- one that hangs below the track -- it would go right at the point where the vehicle hooks to the track. If you happen to be doing a ride based on the Bobsleds, Dinghy Slide, etc., treat it like a vehicle that hangs from the track. Although the vehicle isn’t actually attached to an overhead track, the swinging motion is the same and accomplished in the same way. For many coasters, a second Control Sphere is required. This one goes in exactly the same place, but is used for a different reason. It will control the banking angle of the vehicle. Any time that the vehicle is required to swing wide on turns, take banked curves or corkscrews, etc., you’ll need a second Control Sphere. The Linking Hierarchy looks like this: Main Control Sphere (MCS) - Controls rotation. Turning this will rotate the entire model. Secondary Control Sphere (SCS) - Linked to the Main Control Sphere. Controls banking angle. Changing angle on this will tilt the vehicle up, down or sideways independently of the position of the Main Control Sphere. Vehicle - Your model. Grouped with the SECONDARY Control Sphere. Riders - Your Model(s). Grouped with the vehicle...strapped in and hangin’ on, I suppose. Modeling the vehicle isn’t all that hard. They’re so tiny that very little detail is necessary. I sometimes get pretty elaborate with them, though...like the ride vehicles I did for the Disneyland "Space Mountain" Coaster. The important thing on these is size. Ride vehicles, especially coaster trains, are set a particular distance apart. That’s hardcoded. You’ll need to take that into consideration when building a train of any type...coaster or transport. Make the vehicles much larger/longer than the originals and you’re in for trouble with them overlapping down the road...er...track. But if the vehicle you’re building is NOT part of a train, like a water ride, go-kart or wild mouse...it’s not that much of a consideration. You STILL have limits on size (don’t go crazy on them), but they’re a little bit more forgiving. You also need to make sure that your vehicle will fit on the track, later. Remember what we did back in the Flat Ride modeling portion of this chapter? The Rendering-Over-A-Screenshot Trick? That works for vehicle based rides, too. Open RCT2 and build the coaster/ride that you’re using as a Base Ride. Then take a screenshot of the track - and maybe a few cars when it’s in operation. Use that screenshot image as a background and follow the instructions given in the Flat Ride section of this chapter...making sure that your vehicle fits on it’s proposed track design and isn’t much bigger than the ride’s original vehicle. Can’t we make our OWN track styles in RCT2 to go with our new custom coaster? Nope. Track images are all completely hardcoded. Did you SEE any in the .dat file when you opened it? NO? Well, I guess they can NOT be edited, then. Sorry, Mate. You’re stuck. How a Coaster works Okay, you’ve got your vehicle model created and your Peep model is anxiously sitting inside this death trap you’ve made. Now what? We animate. LOTS! As in the Flat Ride modeling portion of the chapter, we’ll be outputting the artwork as an animated .gif. Believe me, it saves a LOT of time. I wouldn’t go back to the OLD way for a MILLION bucks...well, make me that offer and we’ll see. Since the "Dream Woodie" will be using the RCT2 Wooden Coaster Trains as it’s Base Ride, let’s see what the Ride Table entry has to say about it: Wooden Coaster Trains (ptct1.dat) Riders Visible?: 4 Riders per car Tracked: Yes Hardcoded Pieces: Track & Station Total Frames: 2,160 (Ride: 720 /Riders: 1,440) NOTES: None Four Riders per car...got it. Looks like the Track & Station are hardcoded, but it’s not like we really needed to change them anyway. 720 Ride Images needed of the vehicle. Okay. But what pictures exactly? Glad you asked! Let’s rip the ptct1.dat file apart with Buggy’s RideMaker program and have a look at it’s guts. The preview picture (pic000) is standard, as are those two single-pixel images (pic001&002) that every RCT2 ride has. Analyzing the Ride images we have... pic003-034 A 32-frame clockwise rotation sequence (ALL Vehicle-Based Rides go clockwise, by the way) -----If your Base Ride does NOT do hills, the images probably stop here----- pic035-038 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 11.25 degrees pic039-042 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount pic043-074 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 22.5 degrees pic075-106 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount -----If your Base Ride does only GENTLE hills, the images probably stop here----- pic107-114 An 8-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 45 degrees pic115-122 An 8-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN 45 degrees pic123-154 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 67.5 degrees pic155-186 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount pic187-190 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 78.75 degrees pic191-194 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount pic195-226 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 90 degrees pic227-258 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount pic259-262 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 105 degrees pic263-266 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount pic267-270 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 120 degrees pic271-274 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount pic275-278 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 135 degrees pic279-282 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount pic283-286 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 150 degrees pic287-290 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount pic291-294 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 165 degrees pic295-298 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount pic299-302 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 180 degrees (completely upside down) pic303-306 *A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 11.25 degrees pic307-310 *A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount pic311-314 *A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 22.5 degrees pic315-318 *A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount pic319-322 *A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 45degrees pic323-326 *A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN the same amount -----If your Base Ride does NOT do banked turns, the images probably stop here----- pic327-334 An 8-frame rotation with the car NOT tipped, but tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 22.5 degrees pic335-342 An 8-frame rotation with the car NOT tipped, but tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 22.5 degrees pic343-374 A 32-frame rotation with the car NOT tipped, but tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 45 degrees pic375-406 A 32-frame rotation with the car NOT tipped, but tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 45 degrees pic407-438 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 22.5 degrees pic439-470 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 22.5 degrees pic471-502 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 22.5 degrees pic503-534 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 22.5 degrees pic535-538 *A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 22.5 degrees pic539-542 *A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 22.5 degrees pic543-546 *A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 22.5 degrees pic547-550 *A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 22.5 degrees pic551-554 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 22.5 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 22.5 degrees pic555-558 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 22.5 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 22.5 degrees pic559-562 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN 22.5 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 22.5 degrees pic563-566 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN 22.5 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 22.5 degrees pic567-598 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 45 degrees pic599-630 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 45 degrees pic631-662 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 45 degrees pic663-694 A 32-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 45 degrees pic695-698 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 45 degrees pic699-702 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped UP 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 45 degrees pic703-706 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s LEFT 45 degrees pic707-710 A 4-frame rotation with the car tipped DOWN 11.25 degrees...AND tilted to the Rider’s RIGHT 45 degrees pic711-714 A 4-frame rotation of the car FLAT. First frame of an animated loading sequence...door closing, lap bar moving into place, etc...if you want to make one. pic715-718 A 4-frame rotation of the car FLAT. Second frame of an animated loading sequence...door closing, lap bar moving into place, etc...if you want to make one pic719-722 A 4-frame rotation of the car FLAT. Third frame of an animated loading sequence...door closing, lap bar moving into place, etc...if you want to make one. (*Aside from the fact that these pics are angled at 0, 90, 180 & 270-degrees to the camera, IF and HOW these differ from the ones we did earlier, I don’t know.) Here is an animated .gif of the ENTIRE sequence.  Each frame is labeled with the car's inclination. Open it in a Bitmap Editor and scroll to individual frames to use it as a reference.  The frame number should be indicated in your Editor.  To get the "pic***.bmp" name for that frame, simply add 2 to the frame number.  (The Ride images start at 003, remember?) NOTE: Be aware that while all Vehicle Rides follow the same BASIC format, they will each have their own slight differences. Additional or alternate images may be necessary if the track includes corkscrews, helixes, reverses, swings the cars on turns or has other special features. Some images may not be needed at all. Use this list ONLY AS A GUIDE to understanding your Base Ride’s images. Tracked Ride & Coaster Animation Well, now that we know what we need, might as well figure out how to MAKE it. It seems that the rotations are all in multiples of four. Setting the 3D program to output an animated .gif with 8 frames per second should work pretty smoothly. The first sequence is a simple 32-frame rotation. These rotations ALL (well, MOST Rides) start with the car pointing NorthEast. Choose the camera and use the Main Control Sphere to rotate your model into that position. Four seconds later, the model should be in exactly this same position, but at the 1, 2 & 3-second marks, it will have turned 90, 180 and 270-degrees. Make those adjustments now and render your model as an animated .gif. What have we created? A four second animated .gif that contains 32-frames of the vehicle turned 11.25 degrees from one picture to the other...the EXACT series of pictures we need to make the first sequence! How COOL is that?! For many Vehicle Based rides that run on water or flat track only, this may be ALL you need. But for this coaster, it’s just a drop in the bucket. You may want to save your file at this point. It gets wild and woolly from here on in. Rather than making a separate animated .gif for each sequence, we’re going to make one BIG one that contains the WHOLE SET of images needed for the ride. This will require some tinkering with your animation timeline, but in the end, the convenience will be worth it. In making the preceding 4-second animation, you probably put the final keyframe on the 4-second mark. We’re going to move it backward just a hair to 3.99 seconds. Why? Won’t that mess up our animation? Not really. One-hundredth of a second is not really enough to affect the position. Since we’re only using 8 frames per second, the last image (frame 32) is snapped at 3.875 seconds anyway. The minuscule change won’t be noticeable. The NEXT image of the larger .gif (frame 33) will be snapped at 4.000 seconds exactly...and we need THAT picture to be of the vehicle in a completely different position. Returning to your timeline, the next sequence we need is a 4 frame rotation of the vehicle with it’s nose tipped UPWARD 11.25 degrees. How do we do THAT? That’s what the Secondary Control Sphere (SCS) is for. Putting keyframes for each Control Sphere on your timeline at 4.000, use the SCS to tip the nose of your vehicle upward. Since this sphere moves independently of the MAIN Control Sphere (MCS), it will keep it in that position regardless of which way the MCS is pointing. Since this is only a FOUR frame rotation, go to the four-and-a-half second mark and make another keyframe for both the MCS and SCS. You’ll need FOUR, actually...another set being at 4.49 seconds since that is the end of this particular sequence. Adjust the MCS so that it makes a full rotation during that half second...and the sequence is complete! If you were to render an animated .gif to this point, you would see 36 frames...the original 32 we saw earlier, PLUS the next four frames showing the vehicle rotating a second time, but with it’s nose tipped upward slightly. HOORAY! Another baby step toward glory! Diving back in, the next sequence is identical to the last one, EXCEPT that the car’s nose is tipped DOWNWARD 11.25-degrees. Putting your keyframes at 4.99 and 5.00 seconds, adjust the MCS and SCS to their proper positions...and that sequence is done! The next sequence we need is a 32-frame rotation, so it will take FOUR seconds on our timeline. It’s done in precisely the same way as the last two, except that it’s longer and the vehicle is tipped up or down at a 45-degree angle. All the same keyframe rules apply. If the ride you’re creating is only capable of GENTLE hills, then this may be the end of your animating nightmare. This 104-frame, 13-second animated .gif might be all you need! But otherwise, we need to keep going. Actually, YOU will keep going. I’ll be resting while YOU do the work. It’s all the same process from here on out. Just follow the previous instructions and make the adjustments listed for each sequence earlier in this chapter. Just remember that a 4-frame rotation lasts HALF a second, an EIGHT-frame rotation takes a FULL second and a 32-frame rotation takes FOUR seconds. I’ll meet up with you again at frame 301 when things get funky again. ---------FRAME 301---------- Okay, made it this far, eh? You’re more persistent than I thought. GOOD FOR YOU! At frame 301, the views change slightly. We’ve got a series of 4-frame rotations -- which you KNOW how to do -- but the rotation angle is different. Instead of pointing NorthEast at the beginning, the next few start out pointing directly EAST...at a 90-degree angle from the camera. That’s the only real adjustment you need to make for them. By starting the rotation there, you’ll get four images that are pointing East, South (directly at the camera), West and North (directly AWAY from the camera). We did make images exactly like these in the some previous rotations...as part of an 8 or 32-frame rotation, but for some reason the game wants to look for these particular ones here. You COULD just copy those images, rename them and plug them into the sequence here later, but it’ll be a lot easier if you just animate the rotation and put them in here now. It’s not like it’s THAT difficult, right? Another quick nap for me. I’ll see you at frame 325... ---------FRAME 325--------- Something funky happening here again. The images you’re about to do next are for when the vehicle takes BANKED turns. Your ride may not require these, but most coasters in RCT2 will. It’s quite simple, actually. We’ve been using the Secondary Control Sphere to tilt the car up and down...now we’ll use it to tilt the thing SIDEWAYS as well. No big deal. Pretty much the same as you’ve been doing, but with that extra little surprise. BY THE WAY, make sure you tilt it the proper direction! The vehicles always tilt to the RIDER’S LEFT first, then to the RIDER’S RIGHT. Reverse the two and it’ll look REALLY strange on turns. Well, that’s it. I’ll leave you to your work. There’s nothing else unusual coming up that you haven’t handled already. I’ll see you at the end of frame 708. ---------FRAME 708--------- Here we have what looks like a simple four-frame rotation of the car pointing NE, SE, SW & NW. Know WHY it looks like that? Because it is! And the same sequence is there three times. What’s that there for? That’s used for an animated loading sequence. Although you don’t usually have mechanically moving lap bars or doors closing on a wooden coaster, THIS is where the animation would go if you did. The first rotation would be of the doors completely open, then closed a little, then almost completely closed...but since I’m not using them on my Dream Woodie coaster, they’re simply all the same image. The game STILL animates them, but you don’t notice it because the images are identical. You make your three rotations and I’ll see you in a few minutes at the end of Frame 720. ---------Frame 720--------- HEY! I wasn’t sure you’d make it. BRAVO! In the next chapter, I’m going to show you a REALLY COOL time-saving trick, but since you’ve finished this part, probably the most difficult of the tutorial, take a little break. Have a snack. Do something nice to celebrate this HUGE accomplishment. Actually, you may just want to take a nap. (You’ll need it.) Raise your hands! OH! I did say that I’d give you a little insight into my animated Riders, didn’t I? Well, that’s really all I did...animate them. On the Dream Woodie, I went through all the trouble of making certain Riders raise their arms on hills & drops...and even lean with the centrifugal forces when going around banked curves. Since I know which images will be used on hills, drops, banked turns, etc., I just moved their little bodies for every frame. It took a LONG time and is barely noticeable in the game...but I know it’s there, and I’m proud of it. <grin>

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