I am starting to design an HO layout in a “U” shape approximately 9 x12 foot with rounded corners somewhat like the "Glass Rock & Eastern RR layout… I am trying to use the Atlas Right Track 10 software to draw the layout but find the instructions very confusing and often don’t answer my questions, like how to make round corners on the bench work outline. Any suggestions on using Right Track or other software or other methods to draw the layout are greatly appreciated.
Howdy, Captain. I haven’t played with version 10 yet (I’m still using version 8). But I’m wondering if you should just plow ahead and not worry about the benchwork. If 10 is like 8, you should be able to just get yourself a clean grid to work with. What I’ve done in the past is use the “draw polygon” capability (or whatever this particular program calls it) to create odd-size benchwork. I believe I opted to draw a five-sided shape to represent circular benchwork.
I’ll try to check out v10 in the next day or so. In the meantime, my advice is don’t let this hold you up. The important thing is how the track fits together, and Right Track does an adequate job of letting you figure out what will fit in a given space. You may not end up with the prettiest diagram in the world, but you should end up with a plan that actually works.
Good luck, and welcome to the forum!
I’ve reported a major glitch in version 10 to Atlas. If you lay some track, then try to go back and remove a piece/section, you can’t tag the remaining pieces/sections without tagging the remainder of the layout.
Example: in the picture above, say the yellow tracks are the mainline, and you want to remove the red piece. You disconnect or cut the red piece out. Now, you want to move the green section. When you tag the green section, it also tags the yellow (mainline). So, now you can move it, delete it, etc. without messing up the mainline. I had already installed version 10. I’ve now gone back to version 8 until Atlas fixes this major glitch.
NOTE: Apparently, it looks like Atlas has already fixed the disconnecting/tagging issue with Version 10.