I am not sure if this is the right area to ask this question, but what software do you use to do your layout illustrations in your magazine, and your download plans. Is it commercially available or is it a in house software? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Might be better to send your question directly to those who work for the magazine rather than to this forum for readers.
Hi and a big [#welcome] to you !
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I assume that the folks at Kalmbach are using a professional graphics tool for their layout renditions, but not a track planning tool. That´s why it is so difficult to re-create MR layout plans.
You don´t need an expensive tool to draw nice looking plans. I do my track plans in WinRail aka RTS from Atlas. With a bit of enhancement using MSPaint, the result suits me fine.
Just a few examples:
… and a recent one I did for a fiend of mine:
MR generally uses Adobe Illustrator, a professional drawing program. This is not a CAD program, so it may not be as useful to those who want to build the plans they draw as would be a dedicated model railroad CAD package. The track plans sure are purdy, though.
Illustrator also has a formidable and, dare I say for most people, insurmountable learning curve.
You probably could use it as a layout design software package. But you could say that of any software that gives you a blank sheet, a snap-grid, and the ability to control shapes accurately. Doing so would make you a crazy person, though.
And I thought that I was the only one who had fiends.
It’s just a ploy to throw SWMBO off the scent of his new layout plan[;)]
You really must know her quite well! [(-D]
MR has a staff of very skilled illustrators and artists and I notice a decidedly different look to the layouts credited to different illustrators. So perhaps there is no one program or system in use, but the common theme is that all of them are professionals with the skills and the resources at their disposal to do a first class job.
Dave Nelson
I am right now making plans for my next layout, as I am considering a change in scale. N scale is becoming too small for my aging eyes and trembling hands, so I need to step up (back) to HO scale. The layout is basically a timesaver switching puzzle, with a fiddle yard added to enhance operation. It´ll be set somewhere in rural northern Germany in the 1960´s, just before the closure of many a branch line.
Again, the track plan was drawn using WinRail (RTS).
Its almost certainly one program. Otherwise, its hard to swap work between illustrators. Its even difficult to do so on different versions of the same software. One of the like 47 different hats I wear at work is doing layout in InDesign. They had to track down a legacy copy of 5.5 for me, because that’s what everyone else on the team uses. 6 is backwards compatible with 5.5, but you just want to make absolutely sure.
I’d bet pretty heavy money its Illustrator. Its the de facto standard in the business. CorelDRAW is really common too. But…it seems pretty likely that authors submit their Word docs and tiffs, the photos are edited in Photoshop, illustrations done in Illustrator, everything compiled in InDesign, and the PDF goes off to the printer or uploaded.
You may note that four of those phases uses Adobe products. Which are conveniently sold together (and one of the reasons that Adobe rules the roost at graphic design software).
SIR MADOG: Thank you for your reply, and may I say your track plans are of excellent quality. I will give Win Rail (RTS) a try.
You can download RTS for free from the Atlas web page. RTS is exactly the same software as WinRail, but it is limited to Atlas track. I am using WinRail 8.0 and, after 8 years, I feel comfortable with it. There is a learning curve, and a lot of the functions are not self-explanatory. Don´t hesitate to ask me, should you run into a problem.
Just to be clear - as I understand it, Ulrich (Sir Maddog) doesn’t get the colorful buildings, landscapes, streets etc from Winrail - just the track plan.
Then he exports the track plan from Winrail to an image file, and add colors etc using a drawing program (Microsoft Paint - which you find on any computer running Microsoft Windows).
I assume that he cannot re-import the image into Winrail after he has added the graphic elements, so I think that if he changes his track plan in Winrail, he will have to re-export the image, and then add all the graphic elements again in MS Paint.
You can essentially do the same with any track planning program that will allow you to export images (or where you take a screen shot to create an image file), if you are willing to spend the time to do the graphic treatment.
But doing graphic treatment like this tends to be something people do on a finished plan, not something they do during planning.
Or what say ye, Sir Maddog?
Smile,
Stein
Stein,
all the buildings, roads, etc. are drawn using the graphics functions of WinRail/RTS, even the trees. I use MSPaint only to add some texture to the drawing.WinRail lets you draw and color any shape or line.
Just to give an example:
This is what I did in WinRail:
… followed by a little action with the MSPaint rattle can:
The above picture was completely done in WinRail.
I find it quite handy to do nearly all of my “graphics” work in one software, as I can immediately see, whether everything fits the way I want it to. Quite often, people do not allow sufficient room for structures and scenery by focusing on the track plan.
You, sir, are the lord and master of winrail and I salute you. How did you achieve that cross section in winrail as well as those smooth curves in the river and well laid out street? Or are those features in winrail that are left out of the RTS version?
Great work.
Nope, RTS has all the features - only the library is limited to Atlas track.
I have to admit it takes more than just a little time to get acquainted with all the graphics features in WinRail - and a lot of practice, too. Drafting up track plans has become a hobby within the hobby for me, as my funds for real MRRing are very much limited.
That cross section, btw, consists of about 1,000 different shapes on 4 different levels, but before you think I am completely nuts - most of the job is just C&P [swg]
The loco was also drawn with WinRail, composed of different circles, rectangels and lines.