Sorry, don’t have my RTS on this computer so I can look it over. I didn’t have much luck getting the track pieces to go where I wanted (computer geek, I’m not). So haven’t used it much.
I have seen posts using RTS so there must be a way to get it to copy. Seems to me, I even made a printout of something I did. Keep trying.
Free CAD programs do have their limitations, but I think from what I have seen and read on these forums, that you should be able to get better results than you have so far.
Maybe getting this back to the top will catch someones eye that has used it successfully.
I don’t know of any way to represent the tracks with a single line. I don’t think there is a way.
To draw rectangles, etc., use the “line” button (a slanted line on the button). It only draws straight lines. Click on the button, move the cursor where you want the line to start, click and hold the left mouse button, move the cursor to where you want the line to stop. If you SINGLE-click the left mouse button, the line will end at that point BUT when you move the cursor, a NEW line will continue when the old one stopped and all the lines will be considered like one line, even with corners in it. When your original line is as long as you want it, if you click the RIGHT mouse button, a dialog box will pop up. Click on cancel and the line you’ve drawn will be terminated using track connection-like dots. You can then draw another line that’s independent of the first line. Remember, though, the lines you draw will all have track connection dots at the ends of the line.
If you want to copy the whole layout, make sure all track is connected. If you want to copy a section of the layout, the section must be disconnected from the rest of the layout. Use the pointer key and select a section of track that’s within the section you want to copy. That section, or the whole layout if it’s all still connected, will be surrounded by boxes. Right click the mouse to bring up a dialog box and click on copy. You can now paste the copied information wherever you want, as long as the program you are pasting to accepts pasted information. Yes, you can paste a layout diagram into an Excel worksheet. It can also be pasted in Paint and probably other programs as well. Incidentally, many RTS users copy and paste their layout into Paint and do scenery and structures using the Paint features. It takes some time to do this, but
In the top left corner of your screen, look under the “View” tab and click on “Properties”. On the popup there is a “Desktop” tab that should be open. Where it says “Draw Track As” you can change how the track appears.
I think you already got a decent description on this one, but I do a lot of my scenery editing in Microsoft Paint. Read on for more…
Go to “File” in the top left corner and select “Save As”. Now, on the popup, click “My Documents” on the left side of the popup and double click “My Pictures”. Change the file type in the bottom drop down menu to “bitmap” and click “Save”. You now have a bitmap of the image in your “My Pictures” file. You can open that with Microsoft Paint and do anything you like with it. You can then simply save it as a bitmap, of you can “Save As” to your “My Pictures” file as a “jpg”. Either of those can then be uploaded to Photobucket or whatever web hosting site you like. You can then post it anywhere on the web.
If you want, you can also use this method to Email an “RTS” file to someone and they can use RTS to open it with, and then they can make changes to the file and Email back. I usually just save it to my desktop for a minute when I do this. After it’s sent, you can dispose of the file if you like.
just like Darrell, thx for your response. About the flextrack, i found out in the mean time, but not how to save the draft properly and not how to get a single line presentation. Philip you designed a nice layout, both the plan and the artwork. Colouring the inside of the roadbed really helps to get a nice picture. Darrell covered the other two points.
When someone has some more hints i’ll be gratefull.
You can copy/[ste within RTS, if yo right click, or use the keyboard commands.
Trick #2: For 90 degree turns, place a piece of straight going horizontal anfd line up the single line and one end on your gridlines. Then move over from that end of track x amount, and down the same amount. Line up another straight piece vertically on the grid. Now draw with the flextrack from the two points lined up on the grid, and you’ll get your curves. Note: Atlas has a flaw in how it measures radii. If you move over 3 and down three, you get a 36 inch radius. (Slope= Rise over run, Algebra & Geometry) But not according to Atlas.
If you want a double track curve, place a switch pointing to one side of the curve or the other. Join the same kind of switch to the end of the diverging route (The one pointing away) and use the blue spinner tool to line up the second switch’s diverging witht eh first. Then use shorty straight ieces to line up the end of the secpnd switch with the end of the first one connected to the curve. Now use the red seperator arrows to cut this template off from teh curve. Click on it, and do a copy paste. Now connect the second one to the other end of the curve, so the second track is on the proper side of the curve as the first. Draw flex curve between the two new routes, adjust with the sliders and optimize tool, and you have a parrellel curve. If you want another curve, just move the template over a track.
The answer to your first question I can’t find b/c I’m on a different computer than what I downloaded RTS to, but check the properties option in the drop-down view at the top of the window; should be close to the top left.
I don’t play around with the scenic features, I click file-save as, then change the file type from .ral to .bmp, then save and open the file in microsoft Paint. I use the MS Paint tools to draw on the plan. in fact, this is why I love the dual-line represetation for track, because after filling in a few missing bits in the lines, i can fill the tracks with the color I used for them, and it shows up better. Also, using the MS paint, you can fill in your own benchwork by working with the rectangle design in RTS and then filling in the areas where there won’t be benchwork with white.
RTS doesn’t have a copy option/ you can either right click, copy, and paste, or click save as and then change the file type to whichever file type will work for what you want.
RTS is a simpler CAD program than the competition, but a little playing around with it and saving it as a .bmp file, and you can create trackplans like this (I used RTS and MS Paint nly for this):