So one thing I haven't seen mentioned, but think is a pretty big improvement, involves the new Class 314 and its livery creating. It was to my surprise that the blank version features a lot of already applied details. The "can't line" I think was already on SEHS releases, but all the warning signs, class description and even sander cap instructions make creating liveries a lot easier. There also keep their resolution compared to when you shrink sign decals. This is definitely something I would like to see a lot more of in the future as there often take a serious chunk of your layers and look nowhere near as good as the default ones. Imagine US diesel locos with all the safety signs on various hood compartments, passenger cars with emergency exit marking or Br 101 with complete frame details (length, revision date, etc.) For some creations, it would probably be better for this system to be a turn on/off, so you can choose if these elements are premade on the blank train or not (when making a non-UK 314, the orange line can for example become a problem). If there was only one way to go about this though, put them on, more of this, please!!! The liveries made on such a train are instantly a step better than without it.
I was really looking forward to repainting this unit but I've given up with the livery editor as it doesn't work properly. You try and apply shapes to the front of the unit and re-size them accordingly only to find that the shape you've just applied to the front has also covered random bits of the roof and side of the unit! Hopeless!
Not hopeless- you just need to adjust your projection settings. LD's tools and menus are not especially intuitive, but once you're used to them you can do quite a lot - not 'hopeless' at all. (The one challenge with the 314 lies in the fact that the sides taper upwards, whereas the editor is based on a fixed set of 90-90-90 axes).
Yeah, that's true. Although projection settings can get rid of some of these problems, I still don't get how painting a cab grab iron creates a stripe on the passenger door and the roof. The geometry for liveries has some problems. Something is definitely broken about 314 in this regard. I have painted a bunch of trains (ICE3 having some crazy angles to deal with on the nose) and have never seen this problem. The shape of 314 could create some problems in applying layers, but what it does, is completely crazy.
The main issue for me was trying to paint the 314 into SPTE Orange and Black where the yellow wraps round to the side of the units. I'm not sure if anyone else has managed to do it successfully, I gave up before I put my fist through the laptop and painted the unit in both varients of Carmine and Cream instead!
