"Playing" with AnyRail

[RhB_HJ]

Yep, kind of fun ...

And now the questions (as I find them), I'm using the WildWest_sc&hb layout as the sample.

Home Tab: with "Part Number" checked why are not all the turnouts (points) and/or rail sections in a design marked with the appropriate number?

Inclines (grades): why do apparently consistent grades change from 3% to 1.8% and then back to 3%? Does that mean that the values have to be assigned to each section of track?

BTW I really like that fact one can take an existing design and modify it - even in the Trial mode - as long as on doesn't try to add more elements.

I'll add whatever "puzzles" I find to this thread. Thanks for helping!


Cheers

HJ

[Jeff]

I'll answer your questions in order-

1- Which specific turnout isn't numbered? I admit that with all the slopes, heights, and percentages in view, part numbers are darned hard to see. On the other hand, checking/unchecking is easy to do. Try it out. All the turnouts I can see on the layout are numbered.

2- Grades can be a little strange and I don't entirely understand the logic on those, myself. On the other hand, it's easy to make a smooth grade: select one piece of track on one end of the slope, locate a piece on the other end of it and left-click it with Shift held down. That selects the entire sloped track. Then right click one end and choose "Smooth slope" in the menu. As long as the heights are set on both ends, you'll get an even grade.

And as for your last comment, feel free to register your copy You'll find that we're just as friendly to those who do. We're not just trying to rope you in with a kind attitude!

[RhB_HJ]

Hi Jeff,

Turnout part numbers: the first turnout of the green loop (connects to the reversing section). BTW in order to see all the info I change the ratio to make things bigger (in lieu of the zoom function that I haven't found yet ).
A bit to the left of that turnout is a short piece of curve that indicates 1.3% but the adjoining ones show 3% like the rest of that grade.

Looking at a slew of the other turnouts I have a feeling the part numbers don't show if they're part of a constant incline i.e. designate the start and end point of the grade and the part numbers in between won't show? Have to try that out.

I like the flex track feature, reminds me of the Bézier function in Corel Draw. Very nifty as long as you bring the flex in approximate position i.e. connect and then disconnect.

Much more to try out.

[David]

If you let AnyRail show grade percentages, it does not show the part numbers for the parts on a grade as those labels would probably overlap and become unreadable.

David.

[Jeff]

@David- Aha! Another item for a future release. Make 'Tags' (I like that better than labels when describing track piece info) slide over to keep it all readable. And maybe hyphenate track part numbers on small things like turnouts? Of course any track piece is easily identified by hovering the mouse pointer and looking at the status bar at the bottom of the program window.

@HJ- Yep, the flex track handling is cool. It's been under heavy discussion and improvements for quite some time. It's like a Bezier curve, but even better. You can connect it and, if it's connected to another piece of flex, you can still move the end points.

[RhB_HJ]

Thank you Gentlemen,

Well you probably know 16 years (and counting) working with any program has one look in all the familiar places, but not at the status bar at the bottom.  BTW that's good for snap track but it won't tell me the fixed radius of the flex track I designed.
Which reminds me how do you off-set (duplicate) a piece of curved flex, lets say 36mm to the inside or to the outside? How do you measure the distance between two parallel tracks? I tried a point to point line but can't seem to find the actual dimension of the generated line.

[Steve Raiford]

David

A month or so ago I commented about being able to control the parameters of the items associated to a piece of track such as section name and part number. Obviously grade and elevation should be included as well.

Once entered and displayed at default location, user should be able to reposition any of the labels relative to the part, change the test size, and change color.

This would eliminate the present situation that occurs now as sometimes this information becomes hidden by another object, becomes overwritten by some other informtion, is too small to read, or as described in your response, just isn't even displayed because the software knows up front that it won't be readable.

Steve Raiford

[Jeff]

H-J,

"BTW that's good for snap track but it won't tell me the fixed radius of the flex track I designed."

Actually, that's EXACTLY what can be done with AR. If you right-click a piece of flex track and choose either Straight or Curved flex track, you will find that you can specify the exact length of a piece of flex (for straight track) or the exact amount of curvature and radius length (for curved). Then you can hover your mouse over it and look at the status bar for as long as it exists.

[RhB_HJ]

Jeff,

What I meant is: once the specific curved track is placed I couldn't see what the radius is. I just repeated the routine and ..... then looked all over the screen. There it is in the status bar, complete with all the info desired.
That's what I get for purposely not reading the manual. 

@ David

What are the possibilities of having a pop-up with the same info as soon as one right clicks on an element in the drawing, in my book that's more intuitive.

[David]

You mean something like a 'Details' item om the popup menu?

David.

[Jeff]

Nope. He means that he wants to lay a free-hand curve using flex track and have AnyRail figure out what the curve's radius and curvature are. That, of course, isn't happening. Any hand-curved track, just like in real life, can have any number of widely-varying actual curves and radii within the confines of a single piece of track. Trying to document that is close to impossible even if other people have wished for it).

[David]

What AnyRail can do is calculate the minimum radius of a random flex curve.
Also, other details like left rail length/right rail length etc. could be shown.

David.

[RhB_HJ]

You mean something like a 'Details' item om the popup menu?

David.

Yes David, that would be handy. Just for the constant radius curves, for people who don't necessarily remember what dimensions they chose ( like me  ).
BTW I really like your program! Some of the features are really cleverly implemented. 

Nope. He means that he wants to lay a free-hand curve using flex track and have AnyRail figure out what the curve's radius and curvature are.

@ Jeff,

I realize that. The way the flex works it isn't necessary, even in Bézier mode, since any radius that is below the minimum will be shown in red. Apart from telling by the visual flow, that's all it takes.