Can anyone recommend track planning software? I’ve tried the free one from Atlas and find it to be quite tedious to use. Anyone use anything they like? Worth the money?
Thanks,
Jack
Bump [:D]
I used the other free one XtraCAD and found it to be very good. I switched to 3rd PlanIt because I wanted to create the whole layout, with structures, roads, landscape in 3D and see my trains run through it. I’ve found 3rd Planit to have quirks. Not as bad as the Atlas program. 3rd Planit is the most powerful of the three, but I have had the hardest time learning it of the three.
I have 3rd Planit and did my layout plan with paper and pencil since I have not taken the time to learn the software. Every one I’ve talked with that used a CAD (Computer Aided Design) system of any flavor said it took a while to learn. In my case, it’s been 3 years and I still have to learn it.
Ditto with 3rd PlanIT.
I have been using it since November of last year and have great success with desigining layouts. Great tool because it uses many of the available tracks to scale dimensions, you build layers for each portion of the layout, such as landscape, buildings, terrain, main track, hidden track, staging track, tunnel track, backdrop, benchwork, electrical, and room. It will also allow you to save the track plan as an image file and will also allow you to print the plan in a 1:1 ratio for real size templates.
Here are some images of one layout I designed lower and upper levels:
Hope this helps.
Ryan
I’m a CadRail user for about 10 years and 3 versions. I didn’t find it particularly hard to learn when I started, but I’ve used things like AutoSketch and the easier CAD programs before. Their website is www.sandiasoftware.com if you want to take a look.
[#ditto]
I didn’t find 3dPlanit difficult to learn, but you must first practice with the very good tutorial. I have been using it since the benchwork days (11/2 years ago) and have found it easy to make changes as I go along. It is very good at determining riser heights for grades and placement of track for desired radii. Like any software; you enter the correct figures and it will give you the correct results.
REX
Thanks everyone for the information. I’ll check the websites. And thanks P. Carrell for the bump.
-Jack
If you’re very technically oriented (like an engineer or draftsman), CadRail might be the best software for you. It’s highly accurate and designed along the lines of the professional CAD systems like Dassault CATIA and Computervision CADDS.
If you’re more comfortable designing via 3D graphics (artistically inclined, that is), 3rd Planit is probably the way to go.
Either of these two packages will do what you want very well, if you take the time to learn whichever one you choose. But choose based on how you like to work - that’s the most important thing to know up front.
The last time I looked at it (about two years ago), 3D Railroad Concept and Design, which purports to be layout design software, was really unsuitable for anything but creating rather crude pictures. I know nothing about the freebie stuff.
Thanks Brunton. Good analysis. I think I’m a little more techinically minded than artistic (I’d much rather lay track and do wiring than sprinkle ground foam, build a mountain or weather something – so thats a clue), so I need to download the Sandia demo. (Already have downloaded 3rd Planit demo) – sounds like my choice will come down to those two.
-Jack
Didn’t want ya to get lost in the shuffle. Sometimes if this forum starts moving too quickly things get pushed back on the 2nd or 3rd page and never get seen, or answered.
No problem. [8D]
YOu can use a 1-2 deal. 3rd planet exports a DXF (drawing exchange format) that can de used with programs like AutoCADD, TurboCAD and Microstation to name a few. The learning curve for any good cad program is steep. BUT the rewards of sitting for hours staring at a screen and going blind is PRICELESS! I have been cadding for almost as long as CAD has been around. The best advice is learn to draw 12"=12" and then let the computer scale it down. That way your, in my case, big butt is the actual size to fit in a aisle (30" min remember).
Have fun, this is a HOBBY!