Single Turn

So I build my coasters all by hand because I'm not able to get Newton. A comment I get a lot is making my turns continuous so that it is all one turn and not a jerky turn followed by another jerky turn. Does anyone have any advice on how I can shape my turns to be one smooth continuous turn?

Practice. I know it's clich?????????d, but it's true. You won't get any better at hand building unless you practice. A lot.

[yoshifreak]

You could try using a 3ds circle to double check the radius on your turns, but otherwise boneplaya is right.

I've actually tried that myself, and it's never worked for me. And I can't figure out why, haha.

I'm with boneplaya on this one. Just out of curiosity, why can't you get Newton?

[Coasterkidmwm]

Failbook Pro?

EDIT: Big fan of the circle method myself. Works best if you have equally spaced verticies with around equal length handles. Build leadins and leadouts last.

^ What he said except with Mac instead of fail. I know it's probably smarter to use programs like Newton, and I probably would if I had them, but I also feel like it's cheating a little bit.

Why not run Windows in Virtual Box? Fairly simple solution to your unfortunate circumstances.

Find a 3D object somewhere that's a perfect circle from the top view and use it whenever you want to make a well-shaped flat turn. Just try and make the track follow the edge of the object!

^^ I have no idea what that is or how to do it.

In a different track file put a node on (-x,origin) and (x,origin) and a node on (origin, x), x being the desired size of your helix. NL has square lattice grids to help you do this. then, just ctrl-g the uppermost node and save the element. Easy way to do this. Just resize the element whenever you need a twist.

Virtual Box?

Assuming he means Virtual Machine, it's really not hard: go buy and install either VMWare Fusion or Parallels, buy a copy of Windows (XP, Vista, 7, doesn't much matter - but probably not Vista, since it's a resource hog), and install it following your VM software's instructions. You could also use Boot Camp if you'd like. That's not hard to do, either. But either way you'll need a copy of Windows. The advantage of having a VM over Boot Camp is easier sharing between OSes, but Boot Camp runs Windows natively so it's a hell of a lot faster.

Richie5126, I have to totally disagree with you.
All elements should be built according to the coaster at the moment. Pre-built elements can only lead to disastrous, pumpy rides.

I would place a few vertices, try ctrl+g every once in a while, and ride the coaster often. It will take time, but it's the only way to handbuild a smooth turn.

^The system works well with any helix, as long as you know the point of origin and how large the helix is planned to be. I just did the element thing since that's the way I usually make my hairpin turns.

No it doesn't. Reusing any element more complicated than a sloped straight section or flat turn will always end in disaster. They might be small disasters, but they will never, ever produce a decent ride. Just a heads up.

How do I word this? It doesn't need to be a reused element. Basically the process I described can be used on the track directly as well. Doesn't need to be an element, although Dyl seemed to ask for a hairpin (that's the way I interpreted it.)

Ok, I misread it. But my statement is still true. Don't ever reuse elements. But yes, if you want a hairpin turn, it's not hard to make, if you only want it to be 180 degrees. It's when you want realistic turns that you run into problems.

[Coasterkidmwm]

Originally posted by boneplaya

No it doesn't. Reusing any element more complicated than a sloped straight section or flat turn will always end in disaster.

If you're not a crippled newton user you can do it pretty easily while nobody is able to tell.

I mean I've been doing that for YEARS and nobody has noticed.

I meant for turns in general. MIne are never a single, continuous motion. Check out my rides and you'll see what I mean. It's like one turn followed by another one when it should all feel like one complete turn.

I would say use big segments to get the shape of the turn, then use the split function to split them into fairly small segments. Then select the whole turn, and use the editor's built-in smooth function. If there's a node that looks like it's making a jerk/bump in the turn, delete that node, smooth just that segment of track, then split it again, then smooth that node. I personally use this process of "split, smooth, delete 1 node, smooth, split, smooth" on lots of parts, not just turns. See if that helps; just my two cents!

Edit: I know it sounds confusing; if you'd like a short video tutorial, I'd be willing to make one. In general, I would suggest smaller segments. They work better for the smoother tool. Make the layout with large segments and then split them up late for smoothing refinement.

Originally posted by Coasterkidmwm

Originally posted by boneplaya

No it doesn't. Reusing any element more complicated than a sloped straight section or flat turn will always end in disaster.

If you're not a crippled newton user you can do it pretty easily while nobody is able to tell.

I mean I've been doing that for YEARS and nobody has noticed.

Well, certainly not without some tweaking when you insert it?

tiepilot35, I don't know what the smooth function is. I didn't even know there was one.

Ctrl+G

It's iffy in my opinion, but it works wonders.

Okay so I tried Ctrl+G on the coaster I'm currently working on. Mind=BLOWN! How have I never known about this? This smoothing feature has literally improved the smoothness of my entire coaster by a thousand fold. Thanks.

[Coasterkidmwm]

Originally posted by boneplaya

Originally posted by Coasterkidmwm

Originally posted by boneplaya

No it doesn't. Reusing any element more complicated than a sloped straight section or flat turn will always end in disaster.

If you're not a crippled newton user you can do it pretty easily while nobody is able to tell.

I mean I've been doing that for YEARS and nobody has noticed.

Well what the hell do you expect?

Are you newton people really that useless?
Well, certainly not without some tweaking when you insert it?