I have figured out how to lay out a track plan with Photo Shop. I just created my first 11" radius 180 degree turn. I now have several pieces of track drawn that I can paste in and move around as needed. I made the drawings of the track pieces actual size first so they can be printed on paper, and then reduced them for scale drawings like this.
That’s kinda like DIY CAD! OK!![swg][(-D][Y]
Dave
I did something similar in MicroSoft Paint.
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I made all my pieces and just cut/paste/rotate them for simple track planning.
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-Kevin
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The challenge with this, or any general drawing program, is that it’s easy to very slightly misalign the components as you work with more complex arrangements. These slight kinks, gaps, and mismatches “build up” over the plan and can make it impossible to build the layout as drawn. This is exacerbated when using sectional track.
Good luck with your project.
Byron
Why do a half-assed job of reinventing the wheel when there are perfectly good wheels like SCARM and XtrackCAD available for free?
Thanks. I didn’t know that there is free software available.
The freeware version of SCARM has a limited feature set. A big issue is that you can only place 100 objects. I assume every piece of track is an object. It can add up quickly.
XTrackCAD gives you the full version for free but it is not as nice graphically.
As far as “reinventing the wheel” it is convenient to be able to select your track pieces rather than having to draw them.
As far as inaccuracy (or half-assedness), there are ways to avoid it. My scale drawing is at 160 dpi, so every ten pixels is 1/16" inch. Knowing that, plus using the grid that photo shop supplies, and dragging in guides when necessary, allows me to make sure that my track sections are landing in the right places. I can move things 1/10th of 1/16th of an inch. So, it’s very accurate. It’s also easy to make sure I’m rotating my pieces the correct number of degrees.
I’ll have to d/l both of those programs and see if one or the other appears to be better for me. They are certainly worth a try.
I checked. XtrackCAD does include support for Nato n Unitrack.
Yes and SCARM does too. I’m designing the same layout with both just to see if one ends up being better than the other.