does anyone use the program 3rd planIT i just got it but am having problems making the tracks anyone know how to or if you can download certain track plans from anywhere like pre made ones i made my plan the trunkline from the ho begginners guide to model railroading bu atlas its the level 1 book #9 so its kidna popular but i dont know if u can downlaod premade tracks
I have 3rd Planit and have used it for a couple of years. No, you can’t download plans and import them into 3rd Planit unless they were drawn with 3rd Planit.
Steve B.
I’m a come-backer to the hobby following a 15 yr hiatus. Tried several CAD programs and ordered 3rdPlanIt. I ordered the “disk” for hopes that it would be more reliable following program load.
I received Version #8, their latest two weeks ago. There are many bugs in the V8 program that I did not find with the trial V7 that I was using. The program crashes frequently or just locks up. I have a Layout (#85 from 101 Plans) that I worked on for 2 weeks, estimate over 30 hrs invested and now I can’t edit the terrain.
Overall I am not very pleased and hope that the ElDorado folks will follow up with a fix soon.
E-Mail me and I’ll try to help.
John
3rd Planit has great customer service. Contact them and they will do what is necessary to make you a satisfied customer.
Steve B.
Two things: X.0 versions of ANY software are usually to be avoided - gotta get the bugs out first. Especially since 8.0 is a huge change from 7.X.
Second, save early, save often,a nd save to different files. Before makign any major changes, I save my file to a new file name and edit that one. That way, if I mess somethign up, or the program crashes and ruins something, I can easily revert to the unchanged version even if the undo function can’t get it back.
–Randy
ElDorado put out a patch for v. 8 on their web site. I downloaded it yesterday and worked unimpeaded for 3-4 hours [:)]
I received v. 8.0.4. The patch available yesterday was 8.0.9
And if you end up e-mailing 3rd PlanIt, they like it when you use punctuation because it does make reading what you are writing them easier to discern. [:)]
Tom
Steve, you’re mistaken. You can import CadRail drawings into 3PI – there’s even a whole chapter in the manual about things you need to watch out for when doing this.
You can also import DXF drawings as long as they meet certain requirements. Most CAD programs will export DXF. Before v7, DXF was a $10 add-on (to cover the license to AutoCAD) but it’s now bundled with v8.
The most critical DXF condition is that the file be exported by your other program as DXF v11 or v12. That’s a much older version than is current in the up-to-date AutoCAD world, but it’s a standard that is supported by many third-party programs.
I hope this helps,
August
El Dorado Software put out version 8.00.047 on May 22, 2007. It fixes a LOT of the bugs that had been found by the users’ group.
HOWEVER, if you have any version of v8 prior to v8.00.020 and you want to upgrade (HIGHLY recommended), they changed their licensing system and you will need to write the publisher to get a new activation key. They no longer use a third-party verification system, it no longer ties your installation to a specific CPU, and you no longer have to pay $5 for an extra license to put it on your other computer.
I hope this helps,
August
Hi Tom,
I once made a sarcastic remark like that to an online poster and then found out that the reason there were no capitals or punctuation was because the writer was using a stick in their mouth to operate the keyboard. You just never know.
I hope this helps,
August