[Mixy]

OK Alan, try the following:

Place new start point, but hold the left mouse button to set the desired direction. Move the cursor away - the direction angle is shown in the status bar. When ready, release the mouse button. Now you can place new track here or use this point to rotate already existing track to the new direction.

To do the rotation of existing track first select it, then right click over it and select "Move" from the context menu. Move the mouse (the track will move with the cursor), so one of the track end arrows overlaps the new start point - when this occurs, the arrows will be colored in red and green. Click with left mouse button and the moved track will be placed rotated to the start point's direction.

Hope this will help you.

Regards,

Mixy

 

[Mike Buckner]

QUOTE (spurno @ 20 Apr 2011, 10:46) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>an idiots step by step giude to rotating track pieces.

Step 1. Idiot clicks on the red triangle in the tool bar
Step 2. Idiot clicks on the work surface, BUT DOES NOT LET GO OF THE LEFT MOUSE BUTTON.
Step 3. A circle and line appear, surrounding the red triangle.
Step 4. Still holding down the left mouse button. Idiot moves the mouse around in a large circle round the triangle.
As he does this, the black line moves round with him, and at the bottom left of the window it tells him the current angle in degrees.
Step 5. When Idiot is satisfied with the angle, he lets go of the left mouse button.
Step 6. If Idiot has let go too soon of the left mouse button, then start again and click on the red triangle in the tool bar
Step 7. To set the angle of a new track, simply click on the track piece from the keft-hand track list and it is placed on the layout at the angle of the red triangle
Step 8. To change the angle of an existing track, Idiot selects the track, and it changes colour to red.
Step 9. With the mouse pointer hovering over the selected track, RIGHT-click the mouse and a menu appears containing "Move".
If you can't see "Move", then the mouse pointer wasn't directly over the track. Move the mouse and right click again until you see "Move"
Step 10. Idiot Clicks on "Move"
Step 11. Idiot moves the track until one end joins up with the red triangle.
Step 12. Idiot clicks the left button, and the track now rotates to the desired angle.
Step 13. If necessary, Idiot moves the now-rotated track to another position, starting as per step 9.

Having mastered these skills, Idiot is promoted - to Competent Idiot

 

[spurno]

hi mixy

thanks for getting back to me so soon.i have done it now.i don't want to sound ungrateful for what is a good program but i still think a rotate button would be quicker and easier to use.like in a photo program.i hope you take this as a constructive criticism,it's just my opinion for what it's worth.

many thanks

alan

 

[Mike Buckner]

Alan, if you tell me the dimensions of your base board, and tell me whether you prefer to work in millimetres or feet and inches, I will create for you a plan with your baseboard precisely positioned. You can then copy this to a fresh file and work on it. Any time you want to start a new layout, you copy the original file Baseboard.scarm and start again.

 

[spurno]

QUOTE (Mike Buckner @ 20 Apr 2011, 11:06) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Step 1. Idiot clicks on the red triangle in the tool bar
Step 2. Idiot clicks on the work surface, BUT DOES NOT LET GO OF THE LEFT MOUSE BUTTON.
Step 3. A circle and line appear, surrounding the red triangle.
Step 4. Still holding down the left mouse button. Idiot moves the mouse around in a large circle round the triangle.
As he does this, the black line moves round with him, and at the bottom left of the window it tells him the current angle in degrees.
Step 5. When Idiot is satisfied with the angle, he lets go of the left mouse button.
Step 6. If Idiot has let go too soon of the left mouse button, then start again and click on the red triangle in the tool bar
Step 7. To set the angle of a new track, simply click on the track piece from the keft-hand track list and it is placed on the layout at the angle of the red triangle
Step 8. To change the angle of an existing track, Idiot selects the track, and it changes colour to red.
Step 9. With the mouse pointer hovering over the selected track, RIGHT-click the mouse and a menu appears containing "Move".
If you can't see "Move", then the mouse pointer wasn't directly over the track. Move the mouse and right click again until you see "Move"
Step 10. Idiot Clicks on "Move"
Step 11. Idiot moves the track until one end joins up with the red triangle.
Step 12. Idiot clicks the left button, and the track now rotates to the desired angle.
Step 13. If necessary, Idiot moves the now-rotated track to another position, starting as per step 9.

Having mastered these skills, Idiot is promoted - to Competent Idiotit must be so nice to be perfect.

 

[Mike Buckner]

Sorry, I got the tone wrong.

I unreservedly apologise.

 

[Mixy]

QUOTE (spurno @ 20 Apr 2011, 13:09) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>hi mixy

thanks for getting back to me so soon.i have done it now.i don't want to sound ungrateful for what is a good program but i still think a rotate button would be quicker and easier to use.like in a photo program.i hope you take this as a constructive criticism,it's just my opinion for what it's worth.

many thanks

alan

OK, I will think over this

Mixy

 

[spurno]

QUOTE (Mike Buckner @ 20 Apr 2011, 11:54) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Sorry, I got the tone wrong.

I unreservedly apologise.
perhaps it was me.no problem.

cheers

alan

 

[Mike Buckner]

 

[55 going on 5]

Hello Mixy,
Is it possible to add text boxes as footprints for building to see where they best fit ??
regards
Stephen Redfern

 

[Mixy]

Hello Stephen,

Yes, I am working over this, but not sure when it will be ready - hope soon

Regards,

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

The new version 0.8.6 of SCARM is ready

The most important new feature is automatic 3D terrain generation. It will allow realistic 3D representation of the layouts, which have defined heights, bridges and/or tunnels. For example, here is a simple layout with shape of the digit '8' with two stations and with predefined heights of the tracks:

If the tracks in the lifted middle section are set as bridge, the layout will look as follows:

If the tracks in the other (lowered) middle section are set as tunnel, the layout will look as follows:

To look through terrain, you can switch to "Wireframe" mode, using View > Terrain > Wireframe from menu bar in 3D viewing mode. To make terrain invisible, use View > Terrain > Invisible.

Quality vs. Speed of terrain generation is controlled from Tools > Settings > 3D View. It is recommended to keep Automatic setting, which is default - the program will automatically adjust quality/speed of terrain calculations according to your layout. Large layouts with complex track development will require more time for rendering of the terrain. You can turn off terrain generation if you prefer old, flat baseboard view or if terrain calculations are too slow for you.

Terrain engine will help for better visualization of multileveled layouts and is cornerstone in SCARM development, because all future 3D objects with assigned heights depend on the terrain shape. I will create terrain modeling interface so you will be able to create your own mountains and valleys in SCARM.

Hope that you will enjoy the new features - more will come soon

Download the new version from www.scarm.info/index_en.html

Mixy

 

[ToothFairy]

SCARM just keeps getting better and better. Well done, Mixy!

- Michael

 

[Mixy]

Thank you, Michael

I am posting just to "report" my progress over SCARM. See some preliminiray snaphots from the development and testing stage of the next version in this topic. Hope all you will like them.

Greetings,

Mixy

 

[Normy]

Hi Mixy,

Firstly, Many congratulations on creating SCARM, I've just started playing with it and am very impressed.

There's something I'd like to suggest if that's ok.

Regarding creating the baseboard. I'd like the ability to just put in the dimensions and have it automatically create the baseboard for me. My layout is going to be 15ft (180 inches) x 3ft (36 inches) and I'd like to be able to input those measurements and have it create the baseboard for me without having to draw it line by line. The current method could be left in the program to allow users to create different shapes other than squares or rectangles.

Also I'm having problems with altering height of the track. I'm using a netbook so only have the touch pad without the wheel on the mouse, I've tried altering the slope of the track by using the arrow keys but it doesn't seem to work. Please can you suggest anything that might help?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks

 

[Brian Considine]

Last night I made yet another unsuccessful attempt to use WinRail & after a couple of hours gave up.

I downloaded SCARM & within 10 minutes had produced a good start, which is not bad for a computer luddite like me.

Full marks to Mixy for the programme & many thanks.

 

[Mixy]

Hello dear friends

Long time passed from the last update, but I believe that it was worth the wait. The new version of SCARM is almost ready. Now I am performing the final tests and making documentation updates. I hope that new version will be released in the beginning of the next month with many new additions and features and without significant bugs

@Normy: Yes, you are right about baseboard creation. There will be a dedicated tool in the new version for entering baseboard coordinates and measurements from dialog. About slopes - use '<' and '>' keys (signs for Greater and Smaller) and you will be able to alter track heights.

@Brian: Thank you for using SCARM and hope that it will be easy and useful to you.

Mixy

 

[jukebox]

Mixy - looking forward to your update.

I've been using SCARM for a few months now, and find it very intuitive to use, and the 3D terrain modelling especially helpful in picturing how "crowded" a plan will or won't be once tracks are hidden under scenery.

Your hard work is much appreciated.

 

[Mixy]

Thank you, jukebox

And here is it - the new version 0.9.0 of SCARM - http://www.scarm.info/index_en.html.

Now with 2D/3D shapes and objects for representing of buildings, platforms, roads, signals and many other railway and layout related items and accessories. The enthusiasts will be able even to create the interior of the room where their layouts will be standing and to show how they will look to the wives in the 3D Viewer

The user can easily create many things with the figures in SCARM, but there are also some items that will be unable to be shaped. This is due to the simple work in one plane in the 2D editor and I have to work more in order to solve this. However, there will be predefined figures and objects like signals, trees, lamps, catenary and so on and new version already contains some of them.

There is a sample SCARM layout: Sample1_HO.zip. Download it, unzip and open in SCARM to see in details some of the new features in 2D editor and 3D Viewer.

Before start working with the new version, please check the new items in the FAQ section of the documentation. I will also post here some tips and tricks for using of new features in the following days.

And now, see some pics, taken from the example layout (click to enlarge):



Remember, that SCARM is still in beta stage of development and sometimes may not work as expected. Always create archives of your layouts and save changes in the files with incremental names (just in case) i.e. "layout_1.scarm", "layout_2.scarm", and so on. Please report any bugs or error messages with explanation how, when and where in the program they occurs. I will try to fix them as soon as possible.

Hope all of you will like the new version of SCARM

Mixy

 

[Anthony566]

Hi Mixy, I have installed the current version 0.9.0 today but i get the following error :-

Access violation for the .exe when i go to start the program.

Im useing windows 7

Let me know if you need any more info.