Handbuilding

I just wanted to know who prefers handbuilding?

And what tools do people usually use when making a non handbuilt ride?

[Coasterkidmwm]

I, in general handbuild. I use HSAK for any turns greater than or equal to 360 degrees and use it for vertical loops. When I do use the wizard I end up adjusting the heights by hand to give the desired shape anyways.

If you want to handbuild you'll have the advantage of giving your rides a unique feel to them but you'll have a hell of a ton more BT errors unless you really crack at it (for years). Also keep in mind the AHG magnifies any error you have times 10.

If you toolbuild you'll generally make rides that all feel the same since people have a habit of using only 1 wizard and then linking a bunch of them together. So you end up with monotonous ride. Basically it's really hard to use tools and make something feel different or mimic a company's style exactly or it may make it a ton easier depending on the goal at the time. The problem with tools is I see lots of tracks with a hill that exits into a turn at the bottom (Like Goliath at SFOG's second hill) and I see the hill is nice and straight until there is a ridiculously huge heartline at the bottom. The ride will have zero lats which is nice. But the rotational G's would do to hell and most people would see it's entirely possible to do the same element with a large prebank and have a much slower rotation. If done right it can even be done with no heartline whatsoever (see Revolution's hills at SFMM). SFOG's Goliath uses the prebanking and if you look the heartline there is rather small and the track barely "kicks out" to the side. Lots of tooled rides will have a massive kick out and quick transition. It's possible to do the prebank and everything with tools, I just feel it is often overlooked. Lots of little things like that add up.

Overall it's really a case by case scenario. I personally prefer handbuilding because I feel it gives me more freedom and I suck at math, whereas many others like to use the tools. Do what you want I guess is what I'm trying to say.

Yeah I also prefer handbuilding, mainly because when I see all those Formula's I almost vomit and don't understand wtf it's all about..

I always make a ride as smooth as possible en then run it trough AHG..

[Oscar]

Hand building, since it's a game and I don't like to think numbers and crap when playing with a game.

The only track node that I ever move by hand is the first one, to set the start position and direction. The rest is all built by tools.

The primary tool that I use is Elementary. Within Elementary I use the FVD formulas to create the bulk of my track and I use HSAK to create the simple turns between the brake runs and stations. I also use HSAK to create the lift hill (with the aid of the Purgatorium) and straight drops.

I also use the AHG to check exit slopes, radii etc. And of course to heartline my track.

Can't forget the trusty Microsoft calculator too. [:P]

[Coasterkidmwm]

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Here is an example of what I'm talking about. This hill could be banked better so that it doesn't have a violent entrance into that turn and it didn't look so damned awkward. Yes the laterals are zero and the G's are in check, but that's a hell of a quick rotation and it could probably be done much more comfortably and slower.

[hyyyper]

Hand builder because i don't want to invest my little time in something like those formula's. I'm am good at math so i probably won't have much trouble with them, but for now, i'll just stick to handbuilding.

haha, one of the reasons I prefer building using tools is because it's much much quicker for me to get a track to the quality I look for. Shaping/reshaping/depumping/reshaping is a pain for me, doable but I prefer focusing on other aspects of a ride. FVD generally saves a lot of time too since you can make a huge chunk of the ride in one element, which I find to be easier since you can see it all in one place when you're editing.

right now i handbuild, with a little mix of EL, and HSAK for things like helixes and loops, but i would like to learning how to use fvd's and formulas. so i could do them both ways. either way, it makes a coaster.

handbuilding... ive gotten to the point where i can make the track work and look how i imagined/want it to. plus, since i build mostly woodies or rides that dont use perfect banking, i have no reason to use tools.. nor do i want to cause it's harder to shape the rides like the manufacturer does with tools...

i feel with handbuilding i can manipulate every and any little aspect of the track instantly without dealing with formulas and such.

the only tool I ever use is the AHG... but only to get the heartline... and still, i paint the entire track black so all i get is the track i inputted but only heartlined.

Ahah it's obvious that my rides are completely handbuilt,'cause I'm simply not able to use all those formulas.
Or better,I use the classic track smoother and AHG.
Both are "dangerous" but I think I improved my tech skills so the result is ok.
I know that tools are really useful,I tried to play with them,but I went to analysis[sillyme]

I'll go out on a limb here and declare that while I can build stuff with the various tools, I am absolutly horrible at hand building.

Ive gone through all the different techniques (excpet pure HSak rides) and can say each way works well. You have more control over what you want to create with handbuilding, but have to deal with annoying smoothing problems, and with tools you can get a nice crisp track, but not to the complete easy control that handbuilding gives you.

I use Elementary predominantly, and it is only recently that i have begun to understand what formula is best at producing what i want in a track. My most recent tracks are a mix of many types of formula.

Transylvania was the 1st time i revisited handbuilding in a long time. The second half of that track is hand-built, i would only handbuild woodies.

I handbuild almost everything! I tryed with HSAK, but the results were horrifying (remember L'Amour?)... I also tryed to experiment with FVDs, but the only things I got was the 0G-roll, the double 0G-roll, some huge immelman.ish thingy and a big pile of NL track...
Otherwise, I use AHG a lot, and of course the autosmoother.
Oh, and I also use the basic elementary formulas for loops, corks, cobra-rolls, etc.
I also think, that I improved my building skills quite a bit through the last year, and I've reached the level, where I can make almost anything I imagine, and that includes smoothnes!

I used to be able to handbuild and make a ride the way I wanted...not anymore. Haven't done it for months now :/

^If I would learn how to use FVDs I probably wouldn't handbuilt anymore either...

i would like to ry out some tools, can peeps please send links and help with them?

^^ So learn!

learn what? I don't even know the links to the tools yet! let alone be able to use them, i could learn myself if i had the tools.

i like handbuilding better. WHY???

because i suck at HSAK and FVD [;)] [:p]

all handbuilding for me
i would use tools but i dont have the patience to learn

^^ means the poster above you.. [;)]

Originally posted by Adrenaguy

learn what? I don't even know the links to the tools yet! let alone be able to use them, i could learn myself if i had the tools.

I can't make anything with my hands I generally use Swiss Army Knife and can finally use FVDs..

[hyyyper]

^a girl, back off guys, i saw her first