3D Track Editor - Manual

Free yourself from graphic editors and create tracks in a split second.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/508980/discussions/0/1733213724899660076/

ГАЙД НА РУССКОМ - https://hobbitinisengard.github.io/

Why you should use 3d editor?

Here's a video created by Razor of the 3.0 version:

And some videos created by InjectionBalding:

Pros:

• Everything happens before your eyes - you don't have to launch test drive just to check how the map looks
  
• Tile mixing and elevation - a hidden feature abandoned in pre-release Crashday
  
• Terrain height from -20 to 20 km with extremely high precision
  
• As flat as possible tunnels, bridges, etc. in just two clicks
  
• Fast and convenient creation of realistic terrain
  
• A set of predefined shape patterns for most occasions
  
• Easy to see where tiles can have their vertices changed
  
• A variety of helpful tools for advanced mapmaking

Cons:

• No guarantee the editor won't crash or work incorrectly at some point
  
• Performace can suffer in certain cases
  
• No support for dynamic objects as of the current version
  
• No map background / ambience
  
• No multi-tile placement

Importing mods

Since version 3.1, you can install custom tilesets from Steam workshop right in the editor.
Every mod in steam workshop has unique id.


Open Tileset manager; enter the ID of a tileset you want to download and press Enter.
Note: you must be subscribed to the mod, though not necessarily have it enabled.





Then, you can toggle your mods, remove them, or reload them in case they've been updated in the workshop.

Track creation and loading

Create new map

Use the sliders or the input fields to set track dimensions. Track cannot exceed boundaries set by Crashday developers.

Load existing map

Press "Load track" button and select track you want. Tracks are stored within ~Crashday/user folder. To quickly locate Crashday folder go to

Steam library -> RMB on Crashday -> properties ->  local files -> browse

And copy the path to clipboard.


During loading of existing track, you can choose preload options:
- mirror track
- resize track

You can quickly access recent tracks by clicking "Load recent".

Workflow

Editor has two main tabs - BUILD (for building tiles) and FORM (for forming terrain). You can switch between them with MMB or by clicking at the sorresponding labels.


FORM tab consists of 3 modes: manual forming, shape forming, and profiles - switch between them with F.

Each mode has different functionalities and shortcuts.

Build mode

The first time you launch the editor, the help menu should appear after loading a map. Before you start anything, read about camera movement and shortcuts used in BUILD mode. When you're done reading, press H once more to close the window.

Mixing

You can turn on mixing mode with [M]. In this mode tiles can overlap as on pictures below:


1x1 tile can't overlap another 1x1 tile - that's because any tile requires at least one free cell to be placed into (marked with red color).

Floating tiles

You can elevate tiles only in mixing mode.
Ctrl + scroll - sets individual height of tile. You can also set height with numpad or pick it with Ctrl + RMB. Height can only be a positive integer within the range of 0-255 because of TRK file design.

Manual forming

The most important thing to remember is the bar pointed by this red arrow. This is the status bar. Always pay extra attention to it - it is used all the time in FORM mode.

Below the status bar, the current working height is displayed. There are different ways to set current height:

• by scrolling mouse wheel; each scroll, optionally holding Shift or Alt, changes the height by 1, 10, or 0.1 meters
  
• by typing the value using keypad and entering it with [Num*]
  
• by picking it with Ctrl

Single mode

Ok. Now set the height to 10 meters. Press [LMB] and drag it over the terrain. Quite entertaining, isn't it? :) If you want higher precision, hold [Alt].

Now set height to 20,25 meters. Click [RMB] on the possibly flat ground. Wild white square appeared.
















Press [ESC]. Square disappeared. Now click [RMB] once more, move mouse somewhere else, and click [RMB] once again. Boom! You've just set multiple vertices all at once.

Areal mode

Note: the single and areal modes are no longer separated in the latest version. You can use the Tab key to set the radius to 1.

Areal mode lets you easily create smooth hills with a given radius. You can use LMB or RMB the same way as in the single mode:


So these are the manual forming mode basics. By using just these settings you could create fun maps way faster than in lets say Paint.NЕТ. Now let's move to something more interesting...

Manual distortion and smoothing

Switch between the manual sub-modes with mouse or the 1, 2, 3 keys. All of them support both single and areal editing.

Average sub-mode lets you do two things: smoothen and distort terrain. If you want to create realistic tracks, these two tools together with the areal mode is what you need.

Smoothing

First, create an elevated platform in the Set sub-mode like this:

Switch to Average, increase the speed a little, and move the mouse around the terrain edges holding LMB. This is a good way to get smooth terrain with higher precision.

Distortion

When you want some terrain bumpiness, distortion will come in handy. You can use it anywhere on the map with RMB. Use the range slider to specify the desired roughness.

Manual amplification

The amplifier is generally used to turn mild slopes into mountains/canyons or vice versa. The key here is the current height value - it indicates what to take as the zero-point height (it doesn't have to be 0 meters). This picture should explain the principle better:



Create any kind of hill.


















Find its lowest point with Ctrl and amplify it with LMB. You should get something like this:






















The same works for pits, only you need to pick its highest point.




















Using RMB will give the opposite effect, i.e. decrease the amplitude.

Shape forming

Press F and take a look at the status bar:



Now we're in the shape mode. Click anywhere on the map.



Looks familiar? :) White squares are representing actual vertices in the game.
Note: since the 3.0 update, you can spawn the markings over a specified area holding Q. If needed, use the "X bounds" and "Y bounds" fields to alter the area dimensions.

Let's build something. Mark some vertices, as the status bar says, by holding [LMB]. The editor will work best with square markings. Let's mark vertices like this:



Select height using mousewheel(+[SHIFT/ALT]) to 25,5 and click "Set height" button. That was easy!

Now click one of the predefined shapes: (Don't use "F" or "R" at the moment)



Look at the status bar - if you're using an old editor version (consider updating), now you should select the bottom-left vertex. In 3.2 or later, selecting any vertex (except for the rightmost one) of the slope's start row will work.



But wait! What height do you want this ramp to be? Select another height.



Now click on the bottom row / bottom-left vertex. The result should look like this:



Ok. Press [RMB] to exit vertices selection, and press [LMB] anywhere else on the map. Now you can place shapes anywhere you want. Combine it with manual mode and instantenously you will be able to create maps like mine - "Eyre". Go to my workshop and download it. It's been made entirely in this very editor.

Don't forget to set current height to the needed value before applying shapes!
When you get used to the process, go to the next chapter.

Shapes on tiles

Any terrain operations (almost) will work on tiles as well.

Sensitive vertices

Because of the way tiles are implemented, some of them won't react on certain changes.
Look at the example:

Street tile will only react on changes of vertices on the picture. Changing any other height will be ignored. (Because it is ignored in the game). Tiles have different tolerance of vertices. Tile can be sensitive to any vertex change like asphalt tile, or may sniff at some vertices like the petrol station:

Flatten

On tiles like tunnel or bridge entry (and for extra others), when road is changing its height you can use Flatten function to make it flat in the matter of seconds. Flattening works perfectly fine on any height.
Place e.g tunnel entrance, and select all of it's vertices. Then select Flatten function and click on a bottom-left vertex (red arrow)
















Since the 3.2 version, you can flatten tiles in reverse holding Y.

Modifiers

Connect modifier

Let's say we have a ramp. But I want the sides of that ramp to be mild like this:


To achieve this effect, you need to enable the Connect modifier by clicking on the toggle button:


Now all I need to do is not to follow the damn train, but to mark vertices I need to change like so:

Now with the modifier enabled I choose the type of slope I desire and select the bottom vertex row (the red arrow above is pointing at the bottom-left vertex).

And voila :)


Remember to turn off modifier later.

Now let's move to "Keep Terrain".

Let's say I want to raise these tunnels by 1000 meters:

We will use "set height" with modifier enabled. Since my tunnels are laying on the 0 height I set height slider to 1000 meters and hit "set height" button. Wow, this is huge. But what's on top?


Yes, the tunnels "kept" their original terrain. If you'd like to lower these tunnels 10 meters, you'd have to set height-value to -10 and use set height with modifier.

Let's move to a different example:
I have a nice flat tunnel, but I would like it to be "jump shaped".
What do I need to do?
I select all tunnel vertices and set height in that manner, so the height value is a little bit higher than top vertex of that tunnel. Then, with modifier enabled I select jump shape and click on bottom-left vertex.
And this is the result:



Flat tunnel that acts like a jump. :)

Shape forming (additional)

The 3.0 update introduced two new shape-forming functions: amplifier and infinity.

Amplify

The Amplify function works analogically to the manual one, but the current height here acts as a static intensity coefficient. For example, if you want to neatly amplify this pyramid twofold, you set the height to 2 and select any vertrex at the ground (the zero point).

Here's the result:

You can even invert the terrain by specifying a negative coefficient:

Be careful: setting too high or too low coefficient can lead to undesired consequences.

Infinity

Sets selected vertices to Infinite height. Cars that enter such a black hole get stuck in it till the end of the session.
You cannot place tiles on the black holes or vice versa.

Changes since 3.0:

• You can select many tiles at once when holding LCtrl
  
• You can use shortcuts to select shape forming functions
  
• You can use the TR modifier to disrupt slope at the specified row

Changes since 3.1:

• Marking modes (switch on R): inversion, addition, exclusion (indicate how to treat marked and unmarked squares when you move through them with LMB)
  
• Marking patterns (switch on T): rectangular (default), triangular, inverse triangular, diagonal

Changes since 3.2:

• New "rounded" shape type - convenient for creating linear slopes smoothened at the top/bottom
  
• New "symmetric" modifier - for creating canal-like shapes
  
• New "diagonal" modifier - for slopes that change their height diagonally

Undoing changes

The last 30 operartions are remembered (separately) in BUILD and FORM modes. You can undo or redo them with Alt + Z and Alt + Y respectively.

Copy/paste vertices

Copying is accessible in shape mode. Mark vertices you want to copy, click button COPY or hit C, and set the pivot (the vertex around which to rotate the selection).

Copy mode can paste vertices relatively to existing terrain or set them to a fixed height. Use the keys on the status panel to rotate, mirror, invert, or remove the selection.
To paste previously remembered vertices click PASTE in shape mode or hit V.

Profiles

Purpose of profiles mode is to create rounded shapes like a hemisphere or winding roads.

How does it work? Well a picture is worth a thousand words so take a look:


Profiles are just rows of marked vertices. Five of them are visible on this picture. Take a look at red points. They act as a guide telling us how our profiles are aligned. If only one of these profiles had its red vertex on the other side, the whole operation would end up with a total mess.
I will create a hemisphere step by step to demonstrate how to use this tool.

In this mode height slider is turned off. Premise of profiles is to create series of points which then are going to be connected smoothly into a path. Before creating profiles you need to form terrain, like this:


I created a slope using shape mode and copied it over three times using rotation. These slopes will act as reference points for our profiles.

Then I switched to profiles mode with F and clicked LMB twice to mark first and last vertex of our first profile.


After that, the next profile is defined in the same way. You can also click LMB with Ctrl. This will add one point at the time to current profile.

Before you do it you need to know that every profile must consist of the same number of vertices. Otherwise editor will simply not accept this profile. Click LMB as many times as you need to.


I selected all profiles I need and remembered about red points. If you found error with any of your profiles hit backspace few times and correct them or hit Esc.

Click enter to create a path. If you selected profiles in the correct order you may see something like this:


Now you can apply path onto terrain with enter or remove it with Backspace/Esc. Hopefully you will end up with this:


Of course you can form the path to turn in any direction, we are not nascar fans are we? :)
Profiles work best on grass or tiles with no restrictions e.g checkpoint, asphalt or dirt curve.
Profiles should be as wide as possible. Created path may look impressive, but having it casted onto 1x1 tile with 25 vertices (or 4! :D) can make us a little disappointed.

Tips

If you try to resize a map involving blockmixing in the Crashday editor, you'll find all the mixed tiles removed from the map. That's because Crashday is not ultimately designed to support this feature. The solution is to use the pre-load resize option in 3D editor: this way everything stays in place.

Using mixing mode, you may come across another problem: when two tiles overlap and one is high above the other, the car will likely get auto-recovered when entering the surface of the lower tile. Although you can't fully avoid this in the current Crashday version, you can increase the minimum recovery height from default 50 to 211 meters (while the maximum tile height is 255). To do that, go to C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\Crashday, open game.dbs (create it if not present), and enter this line:
AutoRecovery.Height 211


Some tiles, like the crane or the windmill, stick out of their occupied cells. If you change terrain in a neighboring cell, the tile won't update automatically:

Although this is generally not a critical or frequent case, you can update the tile's appearance by pressing B while having the cursor on it. This can also help when a tile gets messed up in some other way, in which case you're highly encouraged to report such an incident.

By default, you won't be able to see some underground elements like the tunnel. You'll probably want to press U to turn on the underground mode (however, it only hides the grass fields):


This tutorial does not cover every possible option of the editor. Don't forget to check the help menu occasionally for further mastering.

Saving track

Hit [F5] or Save button in bottom RIGHT corner of the screen. Enter the name of your track and save it anywhere you want. You can save your track directly to the ~/Crashday/user folder.

All the settings of your track like author, comments and mode constraints can only be applied in game.

You can increase or decrease desired gravity of your track by using gravity dropdown.

When saving, this field has to be empty:


You can quicksave with Alt + S, but use it with caution - you could easily overwrite track that you didn't really want to save

Bugs/suggestions

Hit me up with any bugs or ideas you'll find by dm or post a comment down below. Lately my time I can spend on steam has decreased so consider contacting me on github via email.

Happy mapping!

[Centroid]

Thanks for the reply!

1. I totally forgot that you could change size in game (It has been 2 years since I last played CD haha)

2. Hmm that sucks, but that's fine, not a huge problem

Have a nice day!

[viatrufka]

Centroid
1. Only in game
2. Currently no. Remeber though you can move terrain by copy pasting it

[Centroid]

Great editor! This will come in mighty handy with a project that I’m planing to do! I do have 2 very important questions about it though:

1. Is it possible to resize a map after a size has been set?
2. Is it possible to move all (or select specific) tiles at once?

These functions might come in handy in case you mess something up. It would be hell if you realise midway that you did one small mistake and you had to redo everything from scratch just to correct it.

[viatrufka]

Javier, id's have to be placed one under another in txt and you need to have these tilesets downloaded (subscribed to)

[JavierCasco]

I can't load workshop tilesets to the editor, no matter how I arrange the .txt, the "tileset manager" option is disabled

[\4Ki\3mo\1Me\7tos]

Did have the custom tileset mod limit?

[\4ZO\5DI\1AC]

Hello i have problems to draw a Highmap from me smoother can some one help me out?

[\2D\4awi\2d]

Great editor and very good tutorial. I totally love it! :)

[DromEd]

Hazewindog/Mica told me about this tool few monthes ago. Your tool looks interesting and has potential. The fact that would can achieve several impossible tricks with the classic heightmap method wakes up my curiosity. I should give a serious try at the occasion

[viatrufka]

When you first run the editor it asks you for crashday folder path. Its because editor unpacks original as well as modded tiles from the game. In 2.2.2 and previous versions all tiles were packed into the editor. This is also the reason why 2.2.2 was 90MB and 2.3 is only 30MB.