Modifiers

The modifiers have various effects, they can

• really modify the picture: to change colors, to fill areas, to place other pictures on the actual picture replacing a part of a picture, or to place other pictures behind or before the picture, to mirror the whole picture or parts of it
• write text on the picture
• add animations to the picture.
• extend the picture - place another pictures beside or above the original one
• resize the picture, determine the scale of the picture
• extend additional information about the picture - for example, about the authors

Animation means to quickly change the phase pictures of a small area in the vehicle picture. Everything can be animated you can imagine: pantographs, doors, windows, people, smoke etc. You can draw a child opening a window, leaning out, and at the end closing the window.

Animations are a basic concept inside (W)Traffic. There are several different ways to create an animation - to specify the phase pictures of the animation. Almost in every cases you have the possibility to create a detailed animation with several phase pictures, or to create a simple animation only with pictures of the two end states.

For all modifiers the coordinate system counts from the lower left corner of the picture and begins with the value 0.   The coordinates and size are integers and equal a pixel. The commands take the form:

[ <Condition> <CommandCode> : <Parameter> , <Parameter> ... ]

A possible condition can be the direction of travel:

The < symbol means left and the > sign means right.

If the movement is a simple run-through, then the direction is clear. In case of composed movements - for example, M=TURN; or M=BACK; only the very first movement of the vehicle counts. Once the vehicle picture is generated, simple modifiers with a direction-dependent condition cannot change its appearance any more. The only way to change a vehicle's appearance during a movement is to have animations on it, and start an animation action, when the change is required.

One can create other conditions by placing an exclamation mark !  behind a picture name:

[ <Criteria> ! <CommandCode>: <Parameter> ... ]

The criteria <Criteria> is met when the expanded vehicle macro contains an element in the form [! <Criteria> ].

Some criteria names are reserved in the Stock List.   At present, no functions use these names explicitly but some commands in the window of the Macro Editor/ Graphic Testpad refer to these names:

It is recommended that you not base your own criteria on these three same codes, as future versions of traffic may implement functions based upon them.

The criteria names are not necesserily such short, one character names, you can use longer descriptive names for your own criteria names.

If a vehicle is composed of phase pictures (position-dependent animation), modifiers can be placed after each individual phase or after the entire picture.   The effects of the modifiers after the first phase picture will be seen in all phases, if they affect an area not coverd by the phase images (Traffic copies the first phase image as initial state for all further phase images, so for example the unchanged upper part of a steam engine need not be contained in the phase pictures.)

• Modifiers after the first phase picture refer only to this base picture.  If the other phase pictures do not cover the entire surface of the base picture, the missing parts are copied from the base picture.  The modified parts of the picture are, however, only visible during the first phase.
• Modifiers after the other phase pictures apply to the phases that they follow.  They can not only change the part of the picture in question, but also the entire vehicle area including the parts copied from the base picture.
• Modifiers after the entire picture macro (after the +.<Integer> or +/<Integer> parameter or a single + sign)  apply to all of the phases and apply above and beyond any individual modifications which are applied to various phase pictures directly.

Please note, when modifiers [... ] are placed immediately after the last phase picture without a + sign in between, then they apply only to the last phase picture, and not to the entire picture.

Modifier names preceded by a # sign set a default value for a property, and, in general, apply to the entire train.   These values can be nullified by parameters set in the Movement commands in the Timetable file.   If there is more than one vehicle with such modifications, the last command takes precedence (in order of its processing, which is left to right, and not in the direction of the train's travel).   These types of modifiers are generally only used with locomotives and other motorized vehicles in the Stock List.  They determine the default behaviors for the vehicle:

[DA: ]  - Door Animation

[DID: ] - Door Inside Double

[DIR: ] - Door Inside Right

[DOD: ] - Door Outside Double

[DOL: ] - Door Outside Left

[DOR: ] - Door Outside Right

[E: ]   - Electric

[EC: ]

[ED: ]  - Electric Down

[EM: ]  - Electric Mirror

[EMC: ]

[EMX: ]

[ET: ]

[EU: ]  - Electric Up

[EX: ]  - Electric eXchange

[F: ]   - Flood fill

[FL: ]

[L: ]   - Label

[M: ]   - Mirror

[MP: ]  - Mirror Part

[MX: ]  - Mirror eXchange

[MX1: ]

[N: ]   - Neighbour

[NAME: ] - Name

[NC: ]  - Neighbor connection Clear

[NCL: ] - Neighbor connection Clear Left

[NCR: ] - Neighbor connection Clear Right

[NL: ]  - Neighbor Left

[NM: ]

[NR: ]  - Neighbor Right

[NT: ]  - Neighbour Type

[NTL: ]

[NTR: ]

[O: ]   - Overlay

[OB: ]  - Overlay Behind

[OT: ]  - Overlay Transparent

[P: ]   - Point

[PB: ]  - Point Behind

[PT: ]  - Point Transparent

[R: ]   - Reverse

[TL: ]  - Transparent neighbor Left

[TN: ]  - Transparent Neighbors

[TR: ]  - Transparent neighbor Right

[TT: ]  - Transparent neighbor Type