Has anyone used the software out on the market to design their layouts? I’m in the planning stage right now and was woundering if this works. Is it as good as the manuf. say it is, or is it a waste of money? Will it save me time and money by not having to rip up sections of track later. Which one is the most user friendly, with the most use’s in regard to building structors later.
I use 3d-planit. It has an Ok interface, and not a real steep learning curve. The website for the software is www.trackplanning.com. There is a demo version if you want to try out the software before buying it. There are some good tutorial avalible for the software as well.
El Dorado software is a one man operation, and Randy is pretty good about answering email if you have problems.
–C. Alan
I’ve bought 3 different ones over the years, but I always seem to go back to my pencil. I don’t think that its the software’s fault, I just find drawing that way tedious. Beside, when I build, I don’t follow the plan with great precision anyway. I guess I’m more of a seat-of-the-pants engineer.
I’ve never had the problem of having to rip up track, but I have had to redesign or rethink small sections because something was wrong. Right now I’m working on a 10’ diameter helix. On Christmas day I built the benchwork as a large octagon. When I had finished it measured 10’ - 2". [oops] Because I didn’t start with a “sharp pencil” its no big deal to make the minor adjustment to accomodate the small error.
Maybe its just me, but I don’t like being tied too firmly to a plan, it makes it seem too much like work, and it isn’t supposed to.
I can tell you two NOT to use…first is the free Atlas software…too complicated for me and the other is RR Track by R&S Enterprises. The latter “gentleman” will take your money in a heartbeat, mail it when he feels like it and not respond to your email. I am still going around with this character.
the free Altas software is easy to use, and will give you a rough estimate of what you want. I use it to get a Look of what i want, then once it looks right on the screen, i then go back to the old pencil and replicate it to look right on the layout. Modifications and such will occur, but the atlas software does give me a better feel of what it’ll look like. much better than having 200 lines on the layout, eraser marks, and various hole from push pinning templete on.
Jay
I have been using the Atlas software for a while now and it is alright. It has several bugs in it and crashes but for now free, it’s decent. In it’s current state it is more like someones college programming project. With a little time, effort and refinement it will be a fine program to use. One of my main complaints far more than the crashes would be the small selection of available libraries it uses. All in all I like it .
RMax
I agree, I’ve tried 4 different programs. I do somtimes use 3rd planet to check the fit in tight spaces, however.
I’ve been using Atlas RTS since they posted the Freeware version, like it. Doing N scale. It shows me what fits into the limited space, and gave me a feel for how the sectional pieces fit. I’ve been able to try various things, save them, print them. Play with different designs in the same space or different spaces.
I like to design the plan first, then replace sections with turnouts. Found a few bugs, but save, exit, reload usually handles that, have run on 95, 98 and XP.
Works pretty good for a 10 x 11 ft or so room. Perhaps not suited for a huge layout unless done in sections, but around the room, most of a layout isn’t complicated. I intend to build most with flex track and radius at least 11" or more (maybe 22+ in HO).
Layout design can be a hobby in itselt, I’m glad I didn’t build my first designs, my build may be much simpler than my last best designs, wanting a more real look to parts.
I have used CADRAIL for at least 8 years or so. Track layout, DPM building design, home remodelling - if it needs drawing to plan it, I’ve used CADRAIL for it and I love it. I have heard from some that they think the learning curve is too rough but since I am an electrical engineer by profession, it seemed pretty easy to me. In my case, definitely NOT a waste of money. If it doesn’t fit when you draw it with CADRAIL, it won’t fit when you try to do it for real.
Same here, started with CADrail ver4 and never looked back. Use it every day for anything that needs to be drawn.
It takes about 20 to 24 hours to learn but if you use it often enough (I use it for commercial layout design), then it is a real time saver. I even use it to doodle, much quicker than using paper!
And it is super accurate!, I use millimeters as the smallest unit and have yet to find a glitch where things wouldn’t fit. Except if I goof.[;)][;)][:D][:D]
I haven’t really tried them, but the word of mouth seems to go along with the comments here about 3rd-PlanIt or CadRail being the best two. I’ve used Atlas’ EZ Track and found it adequate for small stuff and relatively easy to use (plus the price is right). I’ve designed my current layout in AutoCad because I had it. I definately like the precision available and haven’t had any of the track glitches I did with paper designs. I also like the ability fo create building footprints and drop them in and move them arround for clearances. Plus the ability to create layers and try out alternate ideas which I can turn on and off at the click of a button is nice.
The ability to switch from a small scale overview to a real size template with a button click is probably it’s best feature.
Just downloaded 3rd PlanIt and am VERY impressed–it is actually pretty simple to use, easier than the Atlas program! I’ll probably fiddle with it a bit more but I definitely want to get the full version at some point…
I have designed my last two layouts using Cadrail and highly recommend it for railroad design of any significant size. I had no problems. 3rd Planit is also very good. For a small layout like a 4x8 the Atlas free software would be more than adequate. - Nevin
The easiest layout design software for me is in my head.
I tried the Atlas one, didn’t like it so I haven’t bothered with any of the others.
As I said in another post, just because it looks good on paper, it doesn’t mean it’ll look good on your benchwork.
Gordon
Is CADRAIL for HO or N? I model HO.
3rdPlanIt seems to allow anything from narrow-scale G to Z scale design…I am pretty sure that CADRAIL can be adapted to any scale too.
CAD programs can be used in any scale. CADrail provides an assortment of track libraries.
It is up to the user to designate what basic units he/she wants to work in; that could be inches, feet, centimeters, meters; whatever!
I use millimeters as the basic unit. This means converting some of the stock CADrail libraries to fit.
The critical parts are the turnouts, crossings etc. the rest you can fill in with either flextrack or snap-track components.
For samples of what things look like in different scales have a look at http://www.easternmountainmodels.com/eng/html/layoutdesign.html
Did anyone have a hard time downloading the 3D Planit Demo?
I started out with CADRail and it’s the only one I’ve used. I had zero experience with model railroad design when I started and working gradually finally came up with a plan I liked that wasn’t too complicated. That said, I came to realize I could do just about anything I could think of with the program. What I liked best was being able to save different ideas and come back and tweak them until I was satisfied.
Mark
Not this one again! We need a FAQ section.