REALiTY SCaLED TrainGIFs


HOW TO: Part 2

Controlling Direction:
By now you're probably bored with trains just going one way across the screen. This is because the default direction of the marquee tag is to the left. If you use the "DIRECTION" command in the marquee tag like this:
<MARQUEE DIRECTION="RIGHT">
Watch what happens:

That looks ok, but it could look better couldn't it, you don't always want trains to back up across your screen. One thing to remember.
IF you want trains to move to the right, your locomotive has to be the right side of the image, and it has to go at the end of your image tags. If your train moves to the left, then it has to go at the beginning.

There, doesn't that look better? Yeah I think so too. Sometimes backing up trains in a scene comes in handy, but most times you want the trains going in the forward direction.


Speed Control:
Not satisfied with just changing the directions? How about the speed? Is there anyway to control that? YES, there is. You can use the "SCROLLDELAY" command and the "SCROLLAMOUNT" command in the tag followed by the word TRUESPEED. In the SCROLLDELAY command the higher the value the slower the train. Usually with the SCROLLAMOUNT command it can be set at 1. So now with this knowledge, typing this:
<MARQUEE DIRECTION="RIGHT" SCROLLDELAY="35" TRUESPEED>

Above is with a SCROLLDELAY value of 35...Below is with a SCROLLDELAY value of 15

Pretty cool, huh? Special tricks to simulate real railroad operation: the longer the train, put it a little slower than a smaller train to make it seem like it's pulling a heavier load. Add a couple of locomotives in different directions in front of the train and maybe add a couple in the middle of a long train to simulate a long prototype train.
You've learned to put trains on the screen and move them, and control the speed, direction, and consist. Next step is putting these trains in a "layer". Click on the Part 3 link to take you to the next step of the train gif process.

Back to Menu
Part 3