Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help

I've been working on a warehouse type building and I'm just about done with it but I'm having a little difficulty with one minor detail.
I'm trying to get a sign on it but can't get it right.
Here's a shot of what I don't want:The lettering is obviously lacking in professionalism and clarity (it's supposed to say "Amalgamated Bonded Warehouse") and I don't want any background. I want the wall to be the background.
What I did to this sign was create a panel in TSM; 142'x10'x.1' (Yes, that is one tenth). I deleted all unseen polys-all but the face. I textured that with something I threw together in "Paint"
I have PSP-7, but don't really know how to use it yet. I'm thinking I have to create a transparency, but I'm lost on that aspect of the program.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.Here's a couple more shots of the building:The building is approximately 600 feet (182 meters) long and about 365 feet (111 meters) wide and it's 50 foot (15 meters) tall at the lowest roof elevation.
It tallies up to about 746 polys. It comes with 18 .ace files. All .ace files add up to about 404kb.
Here's a shot of the .ace file list and the .s and .sd files:Anyway, if anybody has any ideas or tips, I sure would appreciate it.
HawkIt's the "Orange Blossom Special" bringing my baby home.

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RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., rpicardi1, Feb-13-03, 07:37 PM, (1) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., lfriddle, Feb-13-03, 07:41 PM, (2) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Hawk, Feb-13-03, 07:50 PM, (3) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Mark_Blum, Feb-13-03, 08:11 PM, (4) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Coonskin, Feb-13-03, 08:25 PM, (5) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., dmikulec, Feb-13-03, 08:58 PM, (6) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Mark_Blum, Feb-14-03, 00:41 AM, (9) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., dmikulec, Feb-13-03, 09:01 PM, (7) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., lfriddle, Feb-13-03, 09:48 PM, (8) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Hawk, Feb-14-03, 05:03 AM, (10) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Hawk, Feb-15-03, 01:41 PM, (11) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Mark_Blum, Feb-15-03, 03:22 PM, (12) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Tree Frog, Feb-15-03, 03:42 PM, (13) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., calr, Feb-15-03, 03:50 PM, (14) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Hawk, Feb-15-03, 06:07 PM, (15) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., calr, Feb-15-03, 07:28 PM, (17) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Tree Frog, Feb-15-03, 06:57 PM, (16) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Hawk, Feb-16-03, 11:36 AM, (20) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., tark1054, Feb-16-03, 10:37 AM, (18) RE: Ran into a brick wall. Need a little help., Hawk, Feb-16-03, 11:31 AM, (19)

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Instead of a box and then delete the unused polys, I make a one poly part using the Extrude tool. I did that on the No Trespassing sign for the twin track swing span.You could also do the lettering as four panels on one texture, then custom apply it to a four part extrusion. That would allow you to have a high quality sign with low texture overhead.SRV Ron

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Sorry I can't answer your question. For objects I use in my route I would perfer that the signs be un-readable. That effect is in several objects in the downloads. The reason is that a route builder tends to reuse the same object several times. Haveing a readable sign just makes that fact stand out a little more. You drive along and by about the 3rd time you pass one you begin to wonder if that company was so large that it had a branch in all those cities. So I wonder if you would consider making signs that way, or leaving them off altogether.
Larry

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Good point Larry.
You might have just saved me a lot of agravation, and-possibly deprived me of a learning experiance. LOL!
Thanks for your input.
HawkIt's the "Orange Blossom Special" bringing my baby home.

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Aha!But with a little work, you can change the name, I think. I took a cement plant and figured out how to put a Purina (as in dog chow) logo on it and now it distributes feed to farmers. I hope to retexture a blue mill and make it grey, and then I can have two!Also, I recall a post long ago where someone made signs you could letter and place in front of default signs, so you could change the names.

So, builders - if you include a sign and instructions about how to reskin it (for those of us who are still fumbling around) - your Ohio buildings (for example) might turn up in Georgia with peachy sounding names! And perhaps you could put a digital photo of your wife onto a route builder's billboard, for Valentines Day.Enocell has lettered lots of his great buildings to customize, and has several without this customization also. If he see's this I'm sure he's got an answer to assist.Good luck Hawk - keep'em coming.Mark
A Southern Railway Fan
The NE GA/SC Route

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LAST EDITED ON Feb-13-03 AT 08:25 PM (EDT)

Hawk:Looking mighty nice. Would be just the ticket for an urban/industrial park setting.Be sure to place this same post over in the "Design" forum... there's some pretty sharp cookies over there too. BTW, I'm confident enocell will see it there.Andre

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Mark wrote:
"I took a cement plant and figured out how to put a Purina (as in dog chow) logo on it and now it distributes feed to farmers."I'd REALLY like to see that. Ralston Purina mills where quite common in rural Ohio. Dave Mikulec (dmikulec@bellsouth.net)
Ohio Southeastern System - a freelanced route
http://www.rdimages.com/OSE/

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Hi Dave:I don't want to load up Hawks post with my Purina pictures, so I posted a few in the screenshot forum. Here's a link!http://www.train-sim.com/dcforum/DCForumID15/638.htmlMark
A Southern Railway Fan
The NE GA/SC Route

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Hawk,You may want to consider making the sign a separate object that could be applied at the route builders discretion. Would simplify the model a bit and open up some new options for re-skinning the sign for different needs.Justa thought.
Very nice work too BTW.Dave Mikulec (dmikulec@bellsouth.net)
Ohio Southeastern System - a freelanced route
http://www.rdimages.com/OSE/

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Mark,
It's true you can repaint, but that still gives you only one object. You would have to have separate shape files of the same object to have multiple names on it. I like the idea of having the sign as a seperate object that you can choose to attach or not to the building. That is pleasing to everybody, doesn't take too much extra work, and is easy to customize.
Hawk,
I don't think that your current sign is very bad. Have you tried different fonts for the text? I think you should be able to find one that makes it more readable. Please don't abandon the sign portion of the project on my account. If for any other reason than the learning experience. By the way, I like the building.
Larry

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Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas.
I think I'll go with the idea of the sign being a seperate object, once I figure out how to make it to my satisfaction.
Hawk It's the "Orange Blossom Special" bringing my baby home.

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Welp-After playing around with the controls for a few days, I finally came up with this.Looks a little better.
The sign is a seperate object, however-I pasted the texture on a 1 poly, flat surface. No sides-no top-no bottom. Only the face. I tried to place it in RE but gave up 'cause you can only see one side. It can be added with TSM though.
I want to thank everyone for their input. I especially want to thank Ron Picardi for his valued assitance.
HawkIt's the "Orange Blossom Special" bringing my baby home.

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The sign looks GOOD.Mark
A Southern Railway Fan

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Ed,Great improvement in the sign. Glad to see your spell checker is working again. That warehouse will hold lots of mangos and coconuts in SV4.Thanks!Bill Burnett

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Hey Bill, I like that forward thinking! SV3 isn't out of the door yet, and already thinking about SV4. You da man, dude! I am worried, however, the you're going to run out of islands!Cal Rasmussen
Beaverton, OR
cal.rasmussen@verizon.netColumbia Gorge Route (Phase 1 track completed, road construction resumed.)

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If he runs out of ocean, I guess he'll have to tackle the hills and dales of Snafu Pass. (Just kidding Bill) I know-"Bad Joke" He! He!
Anyway, I've played around a little with the buttons and sliders, and-Well! came up with this:A slight improvment, but I'm learning,slowely, but surely.
Hawk It's the "Orange Blossom Special" bringing my baby home.

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Looks great, upload it. You have my stamp of approval...as if you really need it, LOL!Cal Rasmussen
Beaverton, OR
cal.rasmussen@verizon.netColumbia Gorge Route (Phase 1 track completed, road construction resumed.)

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Cal and Hawk,SV3 is out the door (at least the beta). You guys should get your CD in a few days.Have lots of ideas for SV4 and beyond, just need some time. Will build it unless people are tired of SV. Looking forward to Columbia Gorge Route and an updated Snafu Pass. Bill Burnett

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Man, I can't wait.
Bill-I would have met you somewhere, just to get it quicker. Guess now I'll have to wait on the snail-mail.
There hasn't been a lot of work done on Snafu Pass lately. I've been kinda busy learning TSM and PSP.
Cal-Do you think the Columbia Gorge route will be ready this year?
LOL!
HawkIt's the "Orange Blossom Special" bringing my baby home.

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If you have photoshop there is in the tools section a type face that looks like a T. Just click on this adn place the cursor where you want to place the sign, then a dropdown box will appear and you can select the typeface and the size, letter spacing and all, then just type it in. If you want it to be more detailed than the building then use a larger texture poly and place it on the building separately.

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I don't have photoshop. I'm using Paint Shop Pro.
As it stands, I'm kind of happy with the sign, for now.
Thanks for the tip though.
HawkIt's the "Orange Blossom Special" bringing my baby home.

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