New Member and slope creation (not).

[rojie]

Initially I was super impressed with this software; especially as you get to grips with it.

Unfortunately creating slopes is an absolute nightmare.

Having read the manual innumerable times, I still cannot find the create slope option; an absolute necessity for my design, a dual level configuration.

Furthermore, the screens I see are not the same as those in the manual. Quite unhelpful at times.
Does the manual need an update ?

Hopefully, I will soon be able to report I have resolved the problem.

How do I get to the Create Slope option ?

[BadBanana]

Is it that you are looking for Create Slope when the feature is actually name "Smooth Slope"?

What you do is this... 

Select a piece of track or a connection, and then set its height to the first level of your slope.  Select a piece of tack or a connection at the other end of the slope and set its height as needed.  Then select every piece of track in between the two heights (including those pieces if they are to be part of the slope.  You can generally do this by selecting one piece of track and then using shift-and-click to select a point further along will select pieces in between as well.  Sometimes you need to do this in sections moving along the track, but the idea is to have all of the track pieces that will form the slope selected together. 

You should then see a Smooth Slope icon under the Track tab in the toolbar. Note: The layer(s) with all of the selected track pieces must be unlocked, and no heights in the selected section should be locked in order for this to be available.   Clicking the icon will then create a smooth slope from the first piece to the last. 

In the current version of the English manual, Smooth Slope is on pages 31 and 32.       

[rlcross]

Rojie, "Smooth Slope" as BadBanana outlined is a good option. 

The one you asked about, "Create Slope", where you set the slope % is quite easy as well.   You just select a connection point at the bottom of your slope, right click, select "create Slope" from the mouse option menu.  In the resulting dialogue box you set the "initial height" "end height", "slope %", and "direction" (from your starting connection).  It will create a slope of your set amount for as long as it takes to get to your target height.

I usually use this Create Slope function when climbing at a set slope, for example, 1.5% on my mainline, or 3% on my narrow gauge section.  I use the smooth slope when I want to climb to a specific height at whatever is the average slope between two points.

Either way, both functions are super handy in creating a nice layout with lots of different elevations.

[BadBanana]

@rlcross - Thank you.

@rojie - page 31 in the English version of the manual.  TL;DR - right click on the end of a piece of track and select Create Slope. 

I haven't used this in three years with AnyRail.  I just prefer the Smooth Slope method, but I can see that both have their uses.

[David]

The first thing to understand is that track height is defined by its endpoints.
This implies that you can create a slope by changing the height of endpoints (and connections between endpoints).

So please click on an endpoint (or connection) to select it.
On the top menu, the tab ENDPOINT (or CONNECTION) appears automatically. On the left on this tab, you find 'Lock height', 'Set height...' and 'Create slope...'.
- Lock height is to fix the height for that point. Once locked, you cannot change its height anymore (until you unlock it).
- Set height is to set the height for this single point.
- Create slope can be used to create a linearly ascending or descending slope. Click it, enter the start height, end height, and slope percentage. AnyRail now creates a slope from the endpoint until the required height is reached, with the given slope percentage. Please note that if you use this function from a connection, you need to indicate the direction in which the slope needs to be constructed.


Another way is to use the 'Smooth slope' function. For this function, set the height of the two endpoints of your slope as indicated above. Now, select the stretch (click the part at one end to select it, SHIFT-click the part at the other end to select the whole stretch). On the TRACK tab that opens, click Smooth slope. AnyRail creates a linear slope along the stretch of track. Of course if both endpoints have the same height, the result will be a level stretch of track.