I have a Mac and I have been using RailModeller. I don't remember how much it was, but I don't think it was much more than about $30 or $40. http://www.railmodeller.com/ I am always happy to pay a bit for a program developed by an enthusiast with similar passions to my own who is constantly updating his/her software. Adam
Wow! I think I'll try it! I've always used an expensive professional 2-D CAD/illustration program to draw my layouts. That's because I knew it well, and needed it for my consulting practice, so it was a tax write-off as well. Now I'm employed, I can't justify upgrading to 3-D. I hardly need templates for sectional track, and have built my own libraries for trees, rocks, rivers, buildings, etc. And I don't do sophisticated illustrations in my new job. I'll have to look at what I can import into it--usually nothing, but sometimes I'm surprised. Thanks for the link!
A further look at the site seems to show that it is very oriented to sectional track. I've queried them about flextrack and will see how they respond. I think I'm probably beyond the boundaries of what most vendors think of when it comes to track planning.
Railmodeller has extensive track libraries. I use the Atlas HO code 83 and 100 libraries and each has flex track 36" long to select from. It also has a "connect with flex track" function to join two pieces of already laid track. I highly recommend this product, it's far advanced from Empire Builder. You can try it for free by visiting Railmodeller.com
Pete, They have bits of sectional track, but they also have a flextrack function that I think works very well. Basically, I lay out my switches where I think I am going to want them (since I am still using off-the-shelf switches) and then I connect them with the flextrack function, which will plot a reasonable section of flextrack between them. It comes built in with safeguards to keep you from making a pretzel out of it (unless you really want to do that). I have been impressed with the function. NOW... I know I could probably do my track plans on AutoCAD, too, but after spending a large number of hours each week working on AutoCAD I like the simplicity of RailModeller. There may be another one out there that fits your needs better. When I was looking, this was the best fit for me. Adam
Adam, I haven't yet received a reply to my questions of them. So I'll ask you: can you calculate a path length? It seems you should be able to, if it's 3-D. I'd really like to re-draw my layout in 3-D. I've also asked them about importing data from a CAD program. Again, no response. It seems to me that they could not have created their own geometry engine, so they must be using an engine from a vendor, which implies they must be using a file format that I could import. And save myself a lot of trouble. But they don't answer.
I'm pretty happy with RailModeller. It's not perfect but it's definitely worth the $40 I paid for it. I find it much easier to use than XTrack CAD on Windows. Best!
I believe the development and support is all being done by the same guy in Germany. I would give him a couple of days. I am currently 650+ miles from my registered copy because of travel for work. I will take a look when I get back. If you don't hear anything by Saturday late evening (PDT) you might PM me just to remind me. Thanks, Adam
Pete; I didn't find any import options. But I did find that it will export to .png, .tiff, .jpeg, .psd, and .pict. And I'd been using screen captures to post layout images. LOL Best!
The 3D functions are not yet implemented. The import of data is limited to Mac-MoVe, which is an inventory data base program for model collections. To calculate a length, you click on or otherwise select (i.e. by color) track components and the information function adds up the lengths for you. There is also an info pull down menu which continuously displays component info.
Oooo! Without 3D it's fairly primitive, albeit easy-to-use and inexpensive. As a long-time veteran of CAD software, implementing 3D can be a very large stumbling block. I'm not criticizing this program in any means. I'm just past it in terms of sophistication. If it can't import standard CAD data formats, I can't use it, as my layout exists in standard data; if it can't export into anything but imaging formats (TIFF, JPG, etc.), then it won't help me. For others starting from scratch, it looks useful. For me--well--it looks like an expensive upgrade to Canvas 10 or 11.
Before you do that, I would highly recommend you download the demo and try it out. At least, you'll make your own decision instead of relying on the answers you get of this forum, at most, you'll waste some time. Your call.
I second TakeFive's suggestion. The demo version has everything, I think, except for print and save functions. I agree, though, that if it can't import your CAD files it's probably not right for you. I was starting from scratch when I started so importation was not an issue.
OK, downloaded it. Played with it. Once it tried to re-install Adobe Pro Acrobat 7.0 for me, I got nervous: why would it want to re-install PDF Filemaker when I upgraded to the latest version last Friday? I cancelled that, but it still asked me for my administrator's password! I could just see it trying to write an earlier version of that component over my latest version. Sorry, that ain't going to happen! I immediately trashed it--I will not allow an untested application to fiddle with a very tested, proven, production software such as Acrobat (not the reader, but the full package). I don't know what's going on here. I did get to the flextrack package; it seems to be based on three or four bezier points, but I didn't figure out how to manipulate them. I saw there were very extensive libraries of track, and that they clicked together easily. I didn't see how to extend the document size beyond 8 x 8 feet--I'm sure it's there, I just couldn't find it. So this is a non-review, aborted when the application asked for system privileges to "upgrade" Adobe Acrobat Pro. I'm really scratching my head about that.
Tha manual is a PDF document, so if you clicked that from the Help pulldown, that's where the Adobe request comes from. Installed plugins?? That's all I can guess.
I use Adobe Acrobat every day. This program asked me to re-install two plug-ins that were already installed and very recently updated. When I cancelled its request, it still asked for my administrator's password. Why would it do that? I'm absolutely certain there's nothing nefarious going on. It may just be a bug in the program--the programmer never expected someone to say "no"? Without an explanation of what it is trying to do, I'm not going to let it mess with stuff in Acrobat such as PDF Filemaker, which I use frequently. I've asked the vendor some pretty basic questions, and have yet to receive a reply.
While lacking the bells and whistles of some other apps (3D etc) I've made good use of Empire Express over the years...there is a demo available. Empire Express: Model Railroad Design for Mac OS | Haddon Software
Every piece of software that I install asks for my administrator's password. I guess Apple doesn't want friends installing software for you while you're not looking. Actually not a bad thing in an office environment. Best!
Of course it asked my password to install the basic application. But, once it was up and running, it asked my password to overwrite Adobe Plug-ins that were already there, and probably more modern than those in its package. Much different request, I think. I supplied my password to install the application; I am never going to supply my password when one application of unknown quality over a few users asks to overwrite another application of proven quality over millions of users.
