2. The Interface- What does this button do?


At a glance, the Newton 2 interface may come across fairly straight forward or rather complicated. I will start off first with the view navigation. The method of 3d navigation is essentially the same as the No Limits Editor. You press ‘W’ to fly forward, ‘S’ to go backward, ‘A’ to go left, ‘D’ to go right, and pan the camera around by clicking the right mouse button.

With Newton 2, opening and saving files is done like most any other program. It is important to save often because the program has frozen up in the past. Saving
often also helps prevent the nightmare of having to restart in the event you accidentally hit a button that messes up the entire ride without any clue of how to fix it. I have found with Newton 2, that if you try to open a Newton 2 file (*.newt2) directly from your file browser, the Newton 2 program will open but the file will not have been opened. You will have to open Newton 2 first before opening a track up. As a general rule, if you don't know what a setting does, save your work before you touch it.




This next image shows most of the other features of the interface. If a feature is not shown in detail, it will be covered later on, unless it isn’t important. To open the picture at right to the full size, click on it.











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Individual features explained:
These numbers correspond to the numbers in the image above. (Figure 2)


1. Section Selectors- Simple as they look, click on one of them and their corresponding track will turn red in the track viewing window. The selectors also tell you how many seconds the segment/transition lasts and how many meters long a segment is. For straight geometry, the heartline length and track length are given. (They are different values based on the roll that is placed on the segment.) For curved geometry, the segment length and angle measure are given.

2. Active Section Selector- The section selector for the section that is being edited will be highlighted.

3. Self Explanatory Buttons- You can figure these out.

4. Initial Values- The arrow expands to this small panel. From this panel, you can specify the starting speed, the pitch, the roll, the vertical (normal) and lateral G forces, and the XYZ coordinates. Say for example that you want to only use Newton 2 on part of a rollercoaster. This would involve having Newton 2 build you a piece of track that doesn’t start as a level and flat piece of track. While the XYZ coordinates and the yaw are relative measurements, you would need to specify the initial speed, pitch, roll, and both G force measures in order to accurately build track with the forces and shape you want it to have. Typically, these values can be left alone, because you are building a ride from the station around to the station again. Many times I move the initial segment around to the corner of the map, and I raise the Y (height) value some, but it is up to you.

5. Global Values- This small panel has the heartline height. This is the perpendicular distance from the track center between the rails to the heartline. In inverted coaster’s the heartline height is negative. In sit down coasters it is positive. Some coasters have a greater heartline height than others. For the heartline height of any given track type, refer to the ‘Heartline Values’ table at the bottom of the conversions panel. (See #16) The second value you can change in the Global Values box is friction. I never change the friction value, because it calculates the effect of friction on speed with an accuracy close enough to the way that the No Limits Simulator calculates friction. Though, if there ever was someone who comes up with a detailed table of the different track types and the different train lengths with their corresponding friction values, I would be inclined to follow it. Generally though, don’t touch it. If you touch it after your track is underway, it will mess up the shaping of your track. The sample rate is the final option that you can change in the Global Values box. If you want to freeze Newton 2 up, change the sample rate to 100,000 Hz. If not, set it to 10,000 or 1,000 Hz...better yet, just don’t touch it.

6. Segment Type Tabs- There are four types of segments in Newton 2. With the Single-Zone Force segment, you can transition roll, vertical Gs, and/or lateral Gs over a period of time. All three transitions (roll, vertical Gs, and lateral Gs) start and stop at the same time, possibly causing unwanted pumping or awkwardness. With a Multi-Zone Force segment, it is possible to start and stop a roll transition completely independent of starting and stopping a vertical G or lateral G transition. Subsections are placed along a timeline. The length of each subsection (in seconds) can be changed by clicking on the sub section and dragging the time slider. Using Multi-Zone segments is tricky, but they can do a lot to improve your tracks. The third type of segment is Straight geometry. It is used for stations, lift hills, MCBRs, a Millennium Force-like strait (the one before the final overbanked hill), or anything along those lines. The last segment type is the curved geometry. Curved geometry segments aren’t just used for right and left turns, but for curving the track upwards and downwards. The formula for a lift hill is curving the track up, having a strait segment, then curving the track down, back to a level or downward slope. You should avoid using the curved geometry for the actual layout part of the ride as it will not be as smooth....unless you’re making a wild mouse or something, then knock yourself (and the riders) out. Important Note: When using Straight or Curved Geometry, you are not creating a track segment based off of speed and forces, but off of geometry. Make sure that the “Auto” bubble is selected for the “Exit Speed” option at the top right of the straight and curved geometry tabs. If manual is selected, Newton 2 basically assumes that you have put a brake run or a lift hill on the strait or curved segment and that the train’s speed upon exiting the segment is altered by something on the segment. If the segment exit speed is wrong, the rest of you force based track could be calculated wrongly, leading to extreme forces and a very bad. In contrast, if you are building a lift hill, launch track, or brake run, be sure to select “Manual” and enter the speed value that the train will be exiting the segment at. Make sure your value is in Meters per Second.

7. This slider controls the length of the segment in seconds for single zone force and the length of the subsections of the multi zone force. For straight geometry, the slider changes the length of the heartline in meters. The slider does not exist for curved geometry; however, the radius slider can increase the scale of the turn.

8. Controls the transition of the roll of the track.

9. Controls the transition of the vertical Gs.

10. Controls the transition of the lateral Gs.

11. Selector for the type of transition. There are 8 different types of transitions:

Linear, Bernstein, Quintic, and Agnesi are in the "Basic" transition category, which is to say, the transition starts at the starting point and ends at the specified ending point.

• Linear. When used for a roll transition, the linear transition type is much like my car steering wheel example in the first edition of this tutorial. It would start and stop suddenly leaving a bit of pain. This type of transition is much more acceptable for use with either the vertical or lateral G transitions.
• Bernstein. It has less of a sharp start and end to the transition, however there are better things.
• Quintic. It is the default for all transitions. I prefer to use quintic for almost everything, though there are many many exceptions where other transition types are completely appropriate or necessary.
• Agnesi. The best way that I can describe this transition types is that it is like Maverick’s heartline roll back when it had one. The transition start out not changing very much, then towards the middle it picks up a lot and then the transition gradually slows down. What I mean when I compare the transition type to Maverick’s heartline roll is that this transition is very tight. If used in a rotational transition, 80% of the rotation would happen within the middle 20% of the overall transition.

Quartic, Sextic, and Sinusoidal are all know as "Bump" transitions. This means that they start at the starting point, transition to the specified value, and then transition back to the starting value.

• Quartic. The quartic transition starts the transition quickly, then gradually tapers off as it reaches the specified destination value, gradually goes back down towards the original starting value, then ends at the starting value quickly. A hypothetical roll transition could look like this: 0 degrees, 45, 55, 60, 62, 64, 65, 64, 62, 60, 55, 45, 0. It starts and ends quickly and returns back down to the starting value.
• Sextic. It smoothly goes from the start to the destination and back to the start. It is like a quintic transition up and a quintic transition back down.
• Sinusoidal. It has a fairly smooth transition up, plateaus for a tiny bit, then has a smooth transition down. A possible use could be a cutback, a stengel dive, or a non-inverting loop.

The 'Timewarping' transition is in its own category. It can be a basic, bump, plateau, or hybrid transition.

• Timewarping. It basically is a custom transition. It allows you to view the curves of the graph and create your own transition specifically for what you need. You can create a basic, bump, plateau or a hybrid transition. The hybrid option allows you to have an ending value that is different than your starting value. A rotation example in degrees of a hybrid transition could be: 0, 5, 10, 25, 40, 50, 55, 60, 55, 40, 15, 0, -10, -15, -20. You start at 0 degrees, go upwards to the specified 60 degrees, and then go back below the original staring value. In this case the graph would look someting like the third picture in the box at right. With the Timewarping transition type it is also possible to have the ending point be between the starting and specified point. A rotation example in degrees could be: 0, 5, 10, 25, 40, 50, 55, 60, 55, 50, 40, 35, 30, 25. In this case the graph would look something like the bottom image in the box at right.

It is also possible to increase the "tension" of the graphs to make the transition tighter like the Agnesi transition, or smoother like the quintic transition, or flat like the linear transition. You can also shift the center of the graph left or right so that the middle of the transition happens sooner or later.

12 and 13. Inactive segments are blue. If a segment is active, it is red.

14. The display options allow you to turn on and off, shadows, visual force fins, the extremely useful position coordinates at the top right corner of the screen, and anti-aliasing. You can also change what data the pink fins are displaying. Heartline keeps the fins a constant distance above the track. The exact amount depends on what the heartline height setting for your track is. The normal/lateral force option shows the fins as being taller when there are more Gs on a section of track than another. The fins will be below the track during negative Gs and nonexistent during zero G. The vertical radius option shows the fins as being longer when the radius of a vertical “pull up” is greater.

15. Undo, Redo

16. This is one of the best features of Newton 2. It contains almost every calculator you’ll need and then some. Starting at the top of the Conversions Panel, you will find a foot to meter and meter to foot converter. In the box below, there is a mph, kph, and meters/second converter. Enter a value into any of the 3 boxes and the other two will be filled with an equivalent conversion. You may not need the next calculator as much, but there are advanced uses for it. In the next box, you are given a degree to radian converter. Entering a value here also tells you the Sine, Cosine, and Tangent of the angle. While these may not be of much use to you now, you can make an I305 style drop into a flat turn if you know the Cosine of the banking angle of that turn. I will cover that much later down the line. The last calculator in the conversions panel is the station length estimator. It tells you about how long your station needs to be in order to fit your train in it. The only thing that I think is missing is a launch track length estimator. It takes the launching G force and the target speed and tells you how long your launch track needs to be. This calculator can be found in the Coaster Calculator by Gravimetric Studios. The final box of the conversion panel is just a list of constants. They tell you what the heartline height is for the coaster type you are building. Note that inverted coasters have a negative heartline height because the heartline is below that track rather than above it. Also note that the B&M Standup track type has the greatest heartline height of any track because of the fact that the riders are standing up. It is important that you enter the correct heartline height into the global values panel before you start building your coaster. If you wait till after you start building your coaster, you can’t change the value without having your track messing up, taking dives into the ground, and all kinds of other unexpected things.

17. Normally you won’t need to touch the preference panel, as most of the options set in it allow a generous enough amount of allowed change for each transition. By default, for example, you can set the roll value anywhere between -360 degrees and 360 degrees. So the maximum allowed change is ±360 degrees. You can change the maximum allowed change by adjusting the slider in the preferences panel that corresponds to the roll range. You can change the range of any other value by adjusting these sliders.

18. In the calculus graph view, you can see the graph of the transitions of each value: roll, vertical Gs, lateral Gs. The easiest graph to understand is the “Transition” graph. It will show the plain and simple change of a value over time. If you haven’t taken calculus or physics, you may be able to understand the next two graphs, but they are tricky. The next graph is the “First Derivative” graph. It essentially shows the rate of change of the value. The third graph is the “Second Derivative” graph. It shows the rate at which the rate of change of the value changes. Some things are just better shown as a picture, and this is one of them.

19. There are also 3 orthographic views to Newton 2: top, front, and side. Orthographic projections show no depth and no perspective. To enter the orthographic viewing modes, simply click on one of the 3 cube buttons towards the bottom right of the window. While in an orthographic viewing mode, an unlabeled slider will appear between the 3 buttons and the “Save Element” button. This slider controls zoom. To navigate in any of the 3 orthographic views, simply click and drag on the viewing window in the direction you want to go. In order to return to the regular 3d perspective view, just click on the button for the currently selected orthographic view.

20. This little box changes the orientation between Euler and Quaternion. I will go much more in depth about the difference between the two. Simply put, if you want to go upside down or straight up, you will probably find that Quaternion will give you much better results.

21. The data displayed in the top right corner and bottom left corner can be very useful. When you are finishing up a track and want to bring the track back to the station, you can use the X,Y,Z coordinates to match up the end of the track with the back of the station. Usually I go about this by matching the Y values first (height) while I match the pitch (typically 0), matching the X and yaw values, then matching the Z values by running straight track into the back of the station. You will find the speed information useful when you are building a brake run. It will tell you how fast the coaster is going, which you can convert to MPH and estimate mentally how long you want the brake run to be. An example of the way the values are displayed is: Speed (15, 32.6) m/s. This means that the speed at the beginning of the segment is 15 m/s and the speed at the end of the segment is 32.6 m/s. The same format is used for the X,Y,Z coordinates, the pitch and the yaw angles, the roll angle, the vertical G value, and the lateral G value.

22. When the track is all finished up — or you just want to test a section of the track during the build, you can click on the “Save Element” button. I usually will do the following in the Save Element panel:
Check “Track Smoothing” and set to 7, set “Taper at Endpoints” to 5, keep “Segment Length” at 2 meters, don’t change anything on the save range, uncheck continuous roll, enter a path to save the file in and a file name, then click save element. It is really up to you what options you choose.

That is all for the interface section of this tutorial. For any questions, comments, concerns, or corrections, the comment box is 239 pixels below the period at the end of this sentence.