Moosedrool’s Roller Coaster thread

Moosedrool

Moosedrool

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Sup, if you haven’t noticed by now I’m a big roller coaster enthusiast. Used to be on this site with a different username where I posted a couple of pics but can’t really remember my username, PW or e-mail I registered on. I’ve also been dormant for quite a while on internet forums so I decided to get a fresh start this year.

Here’s the deal, there are no games dedicated to realistic coaster simulation on the shelves and probably won’t be ever. Yeah you get RCT, and all those but it doesn’t really give you the freedom of building something unique or realistic. The way these rides perform is not about just adding prefabricated track segments to one another. There is no standard loop element, corkscrew, flat spin, helix, overbank or just straight piece of track. In actual fact it’s all engineered from scratch each and every time using complicated engineering techniques. Therefore building just the track layout for one of these rides is an engineering nightmare.

Today CAD related software makes it much easier but still requires engineering expertise. US and European theme parks relies on the designs in order to make money, they won’t invest in something that has the potential to be a failure. Whether it is to extreme, relaxed or mechanically complex, a theme park still remains a business and makes decisions to improve on customer rates.

So what about simulating a virtual roller coaster? There is one piece of software I’ve had since school days but only in 2006 decided to expand on using complex mathematical calculations in order to make this work. Formula’s such as FVD (Forced vector design) and using mathematical functions really opened up the world in describing what the leading companies do when designing their coasters.

Last time I’ve built anything with this was in 2009 so I decided to test again. And keep people on Enthusiast forum sites and this site updated.

Some of the stuff I’ve built:
2006
El Blanco, Tremors (B&M Inverted)
MICElBlancodj-dj-121110125710013.png

2006
Tower of terror GRC (Custom Built)
Towerofterror.png


2008
Sonic the Hedgehog (Intamin Rocket)
SonicTheHedgehog.png

2008
Krugar Safari (Intamin Rocket) Never finished the theming.
KrugerSafaridj-dj-121109184806000.jpg


2009
Echo Canyon (Gravity group Hybrid Wood) Loads of supporting still to do)
Echoinprogress-091108192357000.jpg


2012
New Xcar (Maurer Söhne) Horror coaster in progress.

Xcar construction-121110183222000.jpg
Xcar construction-121110183250001.jpg
Xcar construction-121110183302002.jpg
 
So I’m doing only this for the weekend. No partying etc… :D
I’ve finished the track work in record time especially for me, it’s not my best but I’m trying to keep the idea simple. Here’s the layout so far:

Xcar construction-121111133758001.jpg

Xcar construction-121111133647000.jpg

I chose Xcar from the company Maurer Söhne mainly for the hang time features. The seats itself has a lap bar type safety restraint that completely encloses the riders. However it provides a crazy open air feeling while still doing insane inversions unlike the “over the shoulder restraints” OTSR

The inverted launch is the main element here, the car tumbles over a controlled outside curve 210 deg at a rapid pace only giving out -1.3 G’s. The launch itself takes place with 1.7G force while the earth would still be exerting -0.9G. Terrible feeling but has been done before:

Screaming Squirrel
mysterious_23_536.jpg


The rest of the ride is actually quite tame given the standard set of elements but the pacing is meant to give a major sensation all the way till the end.

The track is also tunnel safe. Basically we test collisions by placing the entire coaster track inside a specific tunnel which allows you to see if there will be any sections the rider might lose an arm or head. Failing the tunnel test means 100% unsafe design.

Image3.jpg

Busy terraforming, supporting and will be exporting to max for the 3D objects. The ride will be practically indoors apart from the twisted layout after the launch which will have multiple underground sections etc… This explains why I’ve built the station at such a high elevation and have the train drop directly into a layout.

Here’s an example of a Gerstlauer horror coaster in Thorpe Park England that I based the idea for this ride on.
http://rcdb.com/4162.htm?p=0
This ride includes a big indoor section where riders experience a vertical drop and flat spin before the actual ride even starts. Also have a scary 100 deg drop, uncontrolled!

FYI I didn't mention the primary application the sim runs on. Nolimits Roller coaster simulation. We use multiple apps in order to build the track layouts, scenery, terrain etc... but it all gets loaded into the sim at the end.
 
^Nah this is just for hobby purposes. There's not really a big demand for qualified mechanical Engineers that only creates thrill rides or roller coasters and it's already looking bad for some of the Ferrari's and Lamborghini's in the roller coaster world.

B&M (Bolliger & Mabillard) and Intamin are practically the leaders staying above in the steel coaster race, only about 14 designers each. Giovanola (Builders of the Anaconda GRC) Defunct and the designers merged with B&M and Intamin. Arrow (First multi inversion roller coaster designers) Liquidated with S&S. Vekoma (Cobra/Diamond devil run @ Ratanga junction) still operating but haven't seen much going on for them since they build the Mad house attractions.

The prominent engineering companies for the last couple of years I would say has to be the ones that focuses on smaller rides as well such as Gerstlauer and Maurer Söhne. The wooden guys such as Gravity Group and GCI (Great Coasters Incorporate) also built a whole lot during these times which is funny cause the maintenance on those are much much more.

It's a really small industry.
 
Sorry for this bump but I've been slacking off on design lately.

Decided to finish some old projects to not include too much scenery and stuff just so that they're done and out of the way.

Echo canyon and Krugar Safari needs to be done before the end of the week as the supporting and fine tuning as practically already finished.

Resident Evil However needs to be another 3D project due to the design an underground idea of the coaster overall. I changed the coaster style to Gerstlauer Amusement Rides GmbH. For a couple of technical reasons regarding the realism of actually having an inverted launch. Not to mention the e-stop control will leave riders suspended upside down thus I'll need to build a proper catwalk for the safety of the riders.

Here's some updates:

Basically the white area shows ground level.
ResidentEvilWhite03_zps9a18fd3f.jpg

Supporting done:
ResidentEvilWhite02_zpsc43c1b10.jpg

Flat Spin through the Dog Cages:
The dogs models are finished but not the cages yet.
ResidentEvilWhite04_zpsef235086.jpg

New Car/Train Model:
ResidentEvilWhite01_zps11b744fd.jpg
 
You have a gift, give me moooar :D. You forgot to add the 1080p cameras to record the reactions that runs @ 200fps +- ;-)

Thanks for sharing this with us :)

Can that software do videos with some music to give us an idea of the tension building for the rider? My imagination ain't the best :p
 
Moar is coming. :D I have a whole bunch of unfinished coaster projects and decided to dedicate more time on them so there will be a bunch of videos in the following year I guess. Created a new youtube page the other day with all sorts of randomness and uploaded an old project.

Video, yes the sim indeed does but also exports with 0 compression so the files gets difficult to work with in a video editor because of the size. Not to mention the motion gets filtered with frames so the moment you put it in an editor it becomes blurry-ish. But yeah the Idea is video I guess.

Here's an example I uploaded last night:

[video=youtube;K3hqnZ6bGhk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3hqnZ6bGhk[/video]

The video unfortunately doesn't do the sim much justice in 1080p.

Oh yeah, we're all eagerly awaiting Nolimits 2 which is gonna have much more detail including a proper light engine.
 
Moar Rollie Coasters: :)

[video=youtube;RHaUBYjfz9A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHaUBYjfz9A[/video]

Finished this one last night.
 
this thread reminded me of this
[video=youtube;rI1TE8AuY5U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI1TE8AuY5U[/video]

and now i want to play again
 
There is a show on travel channel called "Insane Coaster Wars" you should watch it.
 
jingaling said:
If the end product is anything like Myst III roller coaster ride it's going to be amazing. Almost fell off my chair.
Click to expand...

Nah... more realistic but I love the sound effects on that Myst III scene. The puzzle also looks a lot like those motion simulator thingys.

Anywho the longest part for me is still making the custom scenery. I'm not an expert at max or maya but I trie my best.

Progress so far: :)

ResidentEvil02_zps08f15614.jpg
 
Moosedrool, how is your roller coaster project progressing?
 
Moosedrool said:
Moar Rollie Coasters: :)

[video=youtube;RHaUBYjfz9A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHaUBYjfz9A[/video]

Finished this one last night.
Click to expand...

That was an insane rendering. It felt like I was on it. I love the negative G then low across the water. :-) :-)
 
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