you can widen the curved lines to match bench work line. just click on the curved line and in the bottom line it read line width change it to 80 the lines are very close to each other. the only problem is the color is not the same
I am actually planning on doing each level of my layout as a separate trackplan, just to keep things simple. Jamie
I guess aside from the "stickyness" of table edge lines and the default thickness, there is no other difference between them and a regular line. And like you say, the thickness of lines can be changed so they would look all the same. And the lines should draw in the same color as the layer, which is orange for my benchwork layer. Thanks for the info I will modify the trackplan in the upcoming steps since my fascia is actually curved at the end of each aisle. Jamie
Part 9: Deleting Objects Thanks to the great advice posted above, I was able to create curved table edges. Although XTrkCad's table edge tool only creates straight lines, it is easy enough to use the "regular" line tools to draw table edges. In the previous step,I added beveled corners to the benchwork on the tarck plan. While the east wall does have beveled edges, the ends of the aisles at the west wall have curved corners. My layout is designed this way so that the front edge of the layout flows along with the horseshoe curves of the tracks at the end of the aisles. To open space for the curved table edges, first I had to get rid of the beveled corners. To delete an object, it must first be selected. To select an object, you use the select tool located in the middle of the toolbar (immediately to the right of the describe tool): After choosing the select tool, click the object you wish to select. When an object is selected, it will turn red. In the following picture I have selected one of the beveled corners that I want to delete: To de-select an object, just press the <ESC> key or choose the Edit > Deselect All menu item. When de-selected, an object returns to its original color. To delete a selected object, simply press the <DEL> key. Or you can use the <CTRL>+<D> keyboard combination or choose the Edit > Delete menu item. Here, you can see that I deleted the beveled corner line that was selected above: Finally, I use the select & delete technique to delete the remaining beveled corner lines at the end of the aisle in the southwest corner of the room: With the beveled corners gone at the end of this aisle, I can now create the curved table edge in the next step. Jamie
Part 10-A: Curved Table Edges After deleting the beveled corner lines, I still needed to adjust the existing table edges to make room for the curved table edge at the end of the aisle. My aisles are 30" wide, which means the curved end of the aisle will have a radius of 15". Since the shelf along the west wall is 11" deep, the X coordinate of the curve center will be 26" in from the west wall (11" for the shelf depth plus 15" for the curve radius). The Y coordinate for the curve center will also be 26" since the shelf along the south wall is also 11" deep. To make room for the curve, I had to adjust the end points of both table edge lines along the aisle to end 26" in from the west wall. I adjusted the first line by using the describe tool to change the line properties: I also used the same technique to adjust the other table edge line (not shown). Next, I selected the curve tool to draw the curved table edge at the end of the aisle, connecting the two table edge lines that were just modified. The curve tool is located on the right side of the toolbar at the top of the application window: Continued in next post.
Part 10-B: Curved Table Edges Take note that their are four options for drawing curved lines. These options can be selected from the small dropdown menu to the right of the curve tool icon in the toolbar. I am using the "Create a curved line from chord" option. Using this option is a two step process: (1) Click the mouse at one end point of the curve and drag the mouse to the other end of the curve, establishing the chord of the curve: (2) Click the mouse on one of the arrows along the chord line and drag to establish the curve radius: Notice in the above picture the little Curved Line Width edit window that is displayed when you select the curve tool. This allows you to specify the width (thickness) of the curved line before drawing it. When I drew my curves, the line width deafulted to a value of 4, which matched the line width of the existing table edge lines. This caused all of the lines on the benchwork layer--tables edges and curves--to have the same line width. Unlike the table edge tool, the curve tool does not draw sticky lines that automatically attach to the end points of nearby lines. Because of this, the curve I drew was pretty close to where it should be but was not precisely positioned. I used the describe tool to precisely position the curve: I then repeated this entire process to change the end of the other aisle so the benchwork at the ends of both aisles has curved edges: Jamie
Part 11: Redraw Command As you perform drawing operations on an XTrkCad track plan, you many notice some oddities such as gaps and missing bits and pieces of objects. This happens from time to time as you add new objects or make changes to existing objects. For eaxmple, you may have noticed this in the previous step when I drew the curved benchwork edges. To fix this, you can invoke the redraw command by choosing either the View > Redraw or View > Redraw All menu item. This causes XTrkCad to redraw the selected object or all objects on a track plan. I have only used the redraw all command, although this may get slow as the track plan gets more and more objects added to it. The following pictures show the effects of the redraw command: Before After Jamie
Jamie if you click on the map it will also clean all gaps up also Thank you for starting this thread it has been very helpful. Greg
Thanks for the info, Greg. I have been closing the map when I work with XTrkCad because it messes up the screen images when I do them. So I usually only open the map on the rare occasion when I need to move around (usually I stay zommed all the way out since I have a big monitor). I will have to cover the map in an upcoming post. Jamie
This is a lifesaver!!! Wonderfully executed, I find this is more of a help than the XTrkCad website!:tb-biggrin: Just starting to mess around with this program and was ready to give up and I found this thread:thumbs_up:
Great stuff, Jamie. I've been using XTrkCad for a few months, and have designed my layout. But I have learned some new techniques from your thread. Keep going! - Jeff
Part 12: Circle Tool I have a helix located at the end of the peninsula that is used to get trains from the lower level (the one being drawn on this track plan) to the upper level and the staging level on top of the layout. This helix will be built on a circular base 18" in diameter located one foot from the end of the peninsula. The helix base is not attached to the peninsula, but both structures will be attached to the floor before track laying begins. The roadbed will bridge the gap between the peninsula and the helix and this gap will be hidden by fascia that will cover the peninsula and helix. For more information on the helix base including pictures of what I need to draw on the track plan, click here to view an article describing my helix construction in my bog. The top surface of the helix base benchwork is a ring of 3/4" plywood with an outside radius of 18" and an inside radius of 12". This surface will be represented by two circles on the XTrkCad track plan. To draw a circle, you need to use the circle tool which can be found on the right part of the application toolbar: When you select this tool, you get a few options for drawing circles. I chose the "Draw a circle line from center" option. Using this option, you click the mouse where you want the center of the circle to be located and drag outward. When the circle has the desired radius, release the mouse button and the circle will be drawn: I then use the describe tool to precisely place the circle. This circle is the outer ring of the helix base and the following dimensions reflect this: Clicking the Done button will apply the changes. Here is the updated track plan with both circles representing the ring that is the top surface of the helix base: Jamie
Jamie, is this meant to represent a spiral helix or a stacked? I'm wondering if XTrkCAD can do a fully realized spiral helix - that is, actually usable when test running trains. Need one of these for my own railroad.
Since the helix base looks a bit odd sitting out there all by itself on the track plan, I thought I would post a picture of the actual layout to put things into perspective. This view is looking from the east wall towards the helix base with the peninsula immediately behind it. The opening for the gate across the doorway on the south wall of the lower level can also be seen at the far left: Jamie
They do have a helix tool that I have seen in a demo but have not used myself (yet) so I am not sure if it will do a spiral helix. The demo was of a stacked helix. I will work on this for an upcoming post. Although my helix is stacked, I'll try to find out if it will do a spiral one as well. Jamie
Jamie, I did look at it and it seemed only to handle stacked style. I was hoping you had found something I hadn't. :mbiggrin: Edit: I think I figured it out! I started by drawing concentric Track circles. I drew 4 of them to represent the number of helix turns I needed; each one was the approximate radius needed for the spiral to work (I used http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=85383&highlight=spiral+helix Dave's awesome utility to calculate the spiral). I then drew a line bisecting the circles. The line is just a guide to know where to make the next step. Arrange the line so that it bisects pretty much where you'd want the helix to start at the lowest point (like where the mouth of the entrance tunnel would be). Now, across only one side of the circles do a Split along the points at which each circle crosses the line. It's clearer when you look at the pic. Once you have one side of the circles Split you take each split point and separate the curves away from each other (using the Modify command) so that you now have a gap of about 15 degrees or so within each circle. You'll have to experiment with this based on the diameters of your circles. Make sure you have Short or Normal Easements set. Again, the one that works best is based on the size of the circles. You want to use the biggest easement that will allow the points to join (described below). Now look at what you have and eyeball around the set of broken circles. You can see how they'd join up in a spiral, yes? What you do now is use the Join command to join the desired spiral connect points from the outer loop inward. You should wind up with something like this. Edit #2: I also added pics that show the bisection and the first Join. I haven't done it yet, but the next step would be to set Elevation points along the spiral. It should work.
I agree- that does look like it should work. Their stacked helix is probably just a shortcut for doing the same type of thing you are doing. Will be cool to see how this works. I haven't even thought about running trains on the track plan yet. Jamie
Ah but that shortcut has no way of providing a spiral helix.:tb-biggrin: I seem to be having a problem with the Elevation panel. I even tried it on a test piece of striaght track. Whenever I bring the panel up it's all grayed out. Edit: Ah, gotta use the Profile command first.
