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Defining the room

Started by rschonfelder, November 03, 2017, 06:59:43 PM

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rschonfelder

I have a newbie question on Anyrail.  I recently bought my home for its' basement.  It has a suspended slab which means the basement extends under the double garage.  In addition, there is a lot of basement unfinished which I intend to use.  Because of this, it follows that the area is not a common rectangle.  My question lies within defining the work space.

Most You tube videos always seem to assume starting with a table or a rectangular room.  I just watched a brief intro on YT from BA Rail systems and, from his example, he showed how to block out a part and this seems to imply that I would extend a huge rectangle to cover all corners of the outer reaches of the home.  Then block off (with inserted no-go rectangles) the areas which are basically not part of the home's basement.  Effectively, this means making my starting rectangle to include land which was not excavated for the basement definition.  This might be option #1.

Option #2 seems to be more logical but I do not know how to do it.  This would have me extend and draw all walls with all of the inserted corners which would establish my "palet" upon which to design the layout.

Which option seems to be the best for my start?

My next question is simpler to ask.  Is there a library for inserting stairs as a top-down picture rather than creating one of these "not available" rectangles.  Also, I have a bathroom in the area and I thought it might be good to draw it as such instead of the rectangle.

Thanks for your comments in reply.

Rick

Mike from CT

#1
Rick,

you can draw a surface with as many corners as you or add a rectangle and then add and move points to create the shape. A simple example of starting with a rectangle.

(Steps match pictures, below)

1) Select "Insert" from the menu, set dimensions and then click "Add Rectangle".
2) Move cursor to plot area, click and rectangle will appear, centered on cursor.  (You can move it by clicking and holding any edge of shape as you move cursor)
3) To add a point, right click on edge of shape where you want to add point and select "Add point".
4) to move point (anch change shape), click on and hold point and move cursor to new location.

Add surface can be used to draw an irregular shape, dot to dot.  Click on "insert, select "add surface" and then place cursor wherever you want to start and click.  Now, as you move curser over plot area, clicking at each corner, you can draw the shape directly.  Double clicking as you place the last corner (dot) will finish the shape.  AR will close shape, drawing the last edge from where you double clicked to the first corner (dot) you placed.


Mike from CT

Rick,

You asked (by message) "Also, can you give me a hint as to how I can do multiple decks and how they connect to each other."

Multi-level layouts use AR's Layers, for sanity, if nothing else.  Technically a layer is a group of items (shapes, objects, tracks) that can be made visible or invisible as a group, as wanted.  THey can be used for any reason (and you can set the heights visible separately in the Show menu), but layers are the easiest way.

In the attached example, I defined the room shape in gray and two decks (in tan and gold, respectively).  By playing with the light bulbs next to the layers, I can turn levels on and off.  Note all three (the room and both decks) have the same outer walls, where they overlap.

mrsax2000

Attached is a copy of my track plan.  This is the back room of my garage with the dark grey area being a walled off room. 

The train room actually extends several more feet down the left to a door. I didn't think it necessary to draw that on the plan

It also has layers so you can see how that works. And how I goofed and placed scenery on the visible track level, which I'll need to cut & paste between layers.

You can use the mouse to move objects or click to highlight, then use the arrow keys to move a pixel at a time to fine tune. If you zoom in when you move things, you can get more precise.


rschonfelder

I was just going through your track plan for Marias Pass.  I am very familiar with the area.  I opened up the copy of your plan that you put up.  I was trying to go through the library to see if I can find some of the icons that you had.  I am wondering where you got those people from.  This is looking tome like this is the software that Model Railroader magazine uses for their graphic layout plans.

Thank for all of the responses.  I really need to fumble around and read up on this software.  Honestly, I am no idiot with regards to software use in business but I am finding this to be a slow start for me.

Rick

mrsax2000

I think MR uses something else.  I "borrowed" figures from another AnyRail user who was able to photoshop them from and existing plan. The laying and font for the text in the title and stats I also "borrowed". I like how he structured the plan from lumber, table top, visible track etc. It was a good approach.

mrsax2000

Another cool thing is if you click on File-Info, you can get a list of track pieces and quantities. If you highlight and copy paste into Excel, you can use the Data-Text to Columns options to break each item out so you can total things up. I created a spreadsheet with parts and prices to get an idea of what I'll need to save/spend for all the unitrack.

poppy2201

Quote from: mrsax2000 on November 06, 2017, 02:38:10 AM
Another cool thing is if you click on File-Info, you can get a list of track pieces and quantities. If you highlight and copy paste into Excel, you can use the Data-Text to Columns options to break each item out so you can total things up. I created a spreadsheet with parts and prices to get an idea of what I'll need to save/spend for all the unitrack.

Or you could download the .xls file from this post.  I use it quite frequently and modify it for my needs.

https://www.anyrail.com/forum_en/index.php/topic,1892.msg14741.html#msg14741

Regards,
Charles
Charles J.

mrsax2000

That's very similar to the spreadsheet I use.  I created a separate file to store part numbers, qty per pkg, and costs. A vlookup pulls in the info. Probably overcomplicated, but it works.