[2c] I am niether a planning pro or a computer genius. I’ll say that to begin with. I downlanded the Atlas Free Ware layout program in May, 2006 and I’ve spent two months learning how to best use the system. I say ‘to best use the planning program’ until Saturaday August 5, 2006. On the afternoon of the 5th this program displayed 7 error messages and locked up. It took 30 minutes to get out from under the repeated error messages so I could uninstall the program. Have other modelers encountered any similiar trouble with the Atlas program. If so please tell me what happened and how to avoid this again if I reinstall the program. I’m truly bemused!
I have no expereince with the Atlas software you mention, but I did try their Right Track design software a few years ago and found it to be very user hostile at the time. Atlas did not create the softwre, but bought the rights to it from a developer in Germany. It worked great if you intended to use Atlas Snap Track, but trying to design a large layout with flex track wasn’t very easy and the parts did not fit according to the design.
I guess the bottom line is that you can’t expect too much from a free program.
Bemused,
I’ve had the RTS program lock up once in a while but not to the extent that you have mentioned. It does have it’s quirks. I’ve just learned to work around them…
Tom
I use the Atlas RTS 7.0 all the time. It’s locked up on me once or twice, but nothing like what you described. It does take some getting used to, but you can do quite a lot with it once you get the hang of it. As for the flex track tool, it is kind of quirky. I connect the two ends, then pull up the shaping tool. I slide the sliders until the track is close to the shape I want, then hit the optimize button (if you hit it a few times it dials it in better). That usually does it. It’s still a little funky though, but not too bad. These were done with the Atlas program (and some microsoft paint to add some color);
Click to enlarge
I have used Atlas RTS and have no problems(I have had it before it was free). Like any of the CAD based track planning software, it has a rather steep learning curve. Also, the limitation of the Atlas track libraries(and not being able to create your own) can be a pain; but then it is FREE, right? My entire 25’ by 20’ layout is drawn using it…
Jim