Stets Ok, I did what you suggested and a default number of 50 appeared. What unit of measurement would that be?
Ok, I did what you suggested and a default number of 50 appeared. What unit of measurement would that be?
Depends on what you have set. Click on the "Tools" menu item. The only selection under that is "Options". In the box that opens up, select the "Behavior" tab. You have 4 choices: Metric (cm); Metric (mm), English (Fractional Inches), English (Decimal Inches). I believe the default is Metric (cm), so that's what you'd be looking at.
There are a lot of excellent possibilities to get the program to do exactly what you want it to do in that options box. I'd recommend you look at them all and decide which ones you want to change (but set the default units first, so if you set anything else there you set it in the right units.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
You can also right click to add a ruler. Right click on that to set its length, and draw your surface to the correct size for your layout area.
Right click on any blank spot in the layout area and you'll see a pop up box where you can select a line. Once you draw out the lines defininng the periphery of the layout area you can Close this space. The AnyRail Help file is pretty good; you can get all the details there.
Tony, is this line drawing under any of the tools menu in the program? Where would I find it in the program?
Cheers mate
Tony -- I think easements in AnyRail is a case of getting your brain around the fact that Angle really means "how far around the circle do you want your easment to go". But you're using flex track.... as long as the flex track radius isn't sharper than your curve (which the program alerts you to), it's hard to screw it up.
CTV, I love everything about the flextrack tools, but maybe I just haven't experimented enough with the easement capability. In comparison, in XtrkCAD you just enable or disable Easements, and then pick whether you want Sharp, Normal, or Broad and then just start connecting track. I found that to be super easy. But your explanation is clear; I'll keep trying it.
Harry -- AnyRail is a track planner which allows you to experiment with track configurations in a given space, develop a layout plan and a materials list. It is not intended as a 3D design tool. You can, however, set elevations and layers. If you gotta have 3D views, you gotta brave the world of CAD. Me, I can design 3 layouts in the time it would take me to learn a CAD program (yes, I have XtrakCAD and have tried the demo versions of a couple of others).
Tony -- Funny... I don't have any problem with the flex track tools. I think they're simple to use and very intuitive. Radius is the radius of the curve you're easing into, angle is how far around the circle you want the easment to go, keeping in mind that 30 degrees is a twelfth of the way around, and probably as far as you want to go. The beauty of the flex track tool is that you don't really need to determine the mathematical easement, just set your minimum radius the same as the curve you're easing into, position your straight and curved sections, and drag the flex track in and connect it, using the little plusses to make it smooth. You can then disconnect the flex, right click, "adjust llex" and set your angle (radius should be right) to a nice round number, and adjust the rest of your track. Sounds harder than it is. It took me longer to type those sentences than it would to insert and adjust the easement flex.
Harry, it does not.
Stets, yes you can create a line drawing that represents your layout size and then place the track on that space.
Does the program have a feature where I input the table dimensions I will be laying my track on?
Ie. I have a table already made up and want to know if the track I have hand sketched will fit on that table dimension I have. Eg 2.4metres x 1.8metres
Does Anyrail have 3D views?
- Harry
I agree that AnyRail is a dream to use for straight layout planning. No, it's not as many extra features as some of the other programs (benchwork, structures, etc), but the part about actually putting track together is very intuitive. And I love how flextrack is implemented. Way better than XtrkCAD. What I'm not as crazy about is the implementation for easements - too "math-y". XtrkCAD does this better. If this part was redesigned I'd say there'd be nothing wrong with AnyRail as a track layout tool.
StetsDoes this track plan accommodate Peco & Hornby HO gauge design?
WHICH track planner? We've been discussing a few. AnyRail has track libraries for 6 different G/I scale product lines, 7 for O gauge, 27 for HO / OO (including OO Hornby Standard and Peco Settrack Code 100, Streamline Code 100, 83, and 75; and Peco OO Code 80), 2 for TT, 12 for N, and 3 for Z. There are also signals, a Walthers turntable and roundhouse, and some rudimentary scenery. The drawing tool allows you to create virtually any building you desire as long as you can find (or guess at) the dimensions.
Like Prego -- It's in there. The only notable omission is S guage.
You can download a free version which allows you to play around for a bit... but you're limited to 50 pieces, even ones you've deleted. You can see all the libraries, though.
And, because I just noticed that the question was from Stets from Down Under -- it has both metric and English measurements (in fact, it's a Dutch product, so the default is metric).
Guys,
Been skimming over this topic. Does this track plan accommodate Peco & Hornby HO gauge design?
If not, can someone suggest a track plan design program for this. Happy to pay if the product is right and the price is right too.
Stets
Some years ago, I bought a track planner called WinRail, which was about a third of the price of WinTrack. As my business is a victim of the global financial crisis, I do not have any extra cash to be spend on model railroading. So I just plan layouts which will most likely never be build -but it is still fun. Some sort of new arm chairing in the cyber age!
Loco Hey, send me the $50 and I'll do it !!! Guess I might have to at least give it a look see eh?
Hey, send me the $50 and I'll do it !!!
Guess I might have to at least give it a look see eh?
No offense, but if I had an extra $50 lying around, I would already have spent it on trains!
loathar CTValleyRR Loco Been using Xtrkcad for a while. Check this thread out, it will get ya started and don't forget to use the tutorial. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=106277 Which is why I like Anyrail! Tutorial? Mmmwwwwaaaaahaaahaaahaah! Tutorial? It ain't got no tutorial. IT DON'T NEED NO STINKING TUTORIAL!!
CTValleyRR Loco Been using Xtrkcad for a while. Check this thread out, it will get ya started and don't forget to use the tutorial. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=106277 Which is why I like Anyrail! Tutorial? Mmmwwwwaaaaahaaahaaahaah!
Loco Been using Xtrkcad for a while. Check this thread out, it will get ya started and don't forget to use the tutorial. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=106277
Been using Xtrkcad for a while. Check this thread out, it will get ya started and don't forget to use the tutorial. http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=106277
Which is why I like Anyrail! Tutorial? Mmmwwwwaaaaahaaahaaahaah!
Tutorial? It ain't got no tutorial. IT DON'T NEED NO STINKING TUTORIAL!!
Exactly, it's like riding a bike. Just hop on and start pedalling! Learning curve is nearly zero.
I tried XtrakCAD, but I don't have the patience. I'd rather spend my time designing layouts (that I'll never build).
Let's fix that URL - forum software is mangling it for some reason:
Smile,Stein
I can't for the life of me figure out Xtrkcad I can't seem to figure how to get track connected into a layout.
Xtrackcad is about the best for the price its free. You can also design your custom building there too. I have several of my scratch built building in there for building placement for it too. My newest layout was done on it.
4x8 are fun too!!! RussellRail
NTrainGarageThanks for the links to Xtrkcad and Atlas! Even though they are free, CTValleyRR was right, AnyRail is the best. I can't afford the $55 price tag, so I've resorted to making several different 50 track layouts, printing them out, and taping them together
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
CTValleyRR,
That sounds like a possibility, I never thought of that. I will try to download the demo and try a test.
By the way I lived in CT most of my life, have been in NC for 9 years. I enjoy reading your posts and responses to others questions. How is the Essex Steam train doing?
Thanks for a geat idea.
George
Anyrail does not appear to support S scale. There are no track libraries for it.
Is it possible that this is because Anyrail is a Dutch product, and S scale is generally limited to the US?
There's no easy conversion, but I'd imagine you could adjust the settings to conform (instead of setting the grid to 12" or 24", set it to 8.5" or something like that). Would that work?
George-Good point on the S scale. Never looked for that in the library. You might try to contact them. Them may have it as a download.
I have read several posts that talk about the easy to use anyrail software. The name Anyrail seems to be a misnomer, or did I miss something in the advertising. I am modeling is S gauge and did not see that as an option for this software. Any one try using this for a S layout design?
Thank you,