Templot Club Archive 2007-2020
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posted: 13 Dec 2007 11:29 from: Richard Morton
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Ok Martin I know you love a good challange  Well I know Martin knows that I'm a big Corel Draw user to the point of being on the Corel 7.0 Beta test team and an instructor at one time. So it seems when it comes to understanding Templot I've got one foot in the grave and the other is on a banana  .Now that aside I'm determined to make good use of this fine product, and Martin please take that as a testament to your fine work with Templot. Is there not a way to have templot trace a path like a centerline? I could say draft a centerline for some track work in Corel and export it as a DXF or DWG format. import it into Templot then through a centerline selection tool plot the path with nodes or some such? then Templot can build the required track work on that centerline. I think that could be a great tool or a learning assistant what you think? |
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posted: 13 Dec 2007 19:10 from: Alan Turner
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You are unfortunatly treating Templot as if it were a CAD programme. Templot isn't a CAD programme. This is one of the principal reason why some people have difficulty in learning Templot at first. The first task in using Templot is to forget everything you know about CAD programmes. Alan |
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posted: 13 Dec 2007 20:12 from: Andy B click the date to link to this post click member name to view archived images |
Trackwork is a combination of constant radius curves (some of infinite radius, i.e. straight), joined together by mathematically derived transitions. So to try to generate track data from an imported line would involve first of all having to either 'read' the line data to determine starts, ends, etc, then to interpret (make a best interpolation) of spline data against the possible mathematical transitions. So if you've created set of centrelines from an external source, by all means import just the curves (without transistions) into Templot as a background then create templates over the top. After that use let Templot create the 'infill' transitions. Having said that, I do have a suggestion that could speed up the initial placement of plain track over a background sketch. Current process is to mint a piece of track, either to the pad centre or to an existing peg/notch - length and position / orientation are then adjusted using F4, F7, F8 respectively, then F6 to set the radius. I find myself fiddling about with F4, F7 & F8 to get that initial alignment. It would be nice to be able to place a piece of plain track simply by picking 2 points for its start and end (i.e. setting the placement, length and rotation in 2 clicks), then dragging/keying the radius to suit. Or maybe there is already a more efficient way of initially creating plain track lengths that I am yet to discover? Andy |
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posted: 13 Dec 2007 20:42 from: Alan Turner
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Andy B wrote:
User F4 and F7 to place the ends of a length of plain track (F8 to rotate as necessary) and then use F10. Alan |
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posted: 14 Dec 2007 00:06 from: Martin Wynne
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Andy B wrote: I find myself fiddling about with F4, F7 & F8 to get that initial alignment.Hi Andy, As Alan explained, the F10 swell function does what you want: 1. Upgrade to at least version 078e. F10 is described in the docs at http://www.templot.com/martweb/pug_info_1.htm 2. Use F7 to put the peg end of the template on the background line. 3. Use F8 to rotate the template until the other end is on the background line. 4. Repeat if necessary. 5. Use F10 to swell the radius to match the curve. I made a quick Jing video for Stuart a few days ago, showing the above procedure: http://screencast.com/t/6I0UJgqVA2 regards, Martin. |
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posted: 14 Dec 2007 00:20 from: Martin Wynne
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p.s. Alan, Andy, Don't get the F10 shortcut too firmly memorised -- it's changing in a future Pug (provisionally to CTRL+F10 for swell), because F9 and F10 are needed for the irregular diamonds. Brian, this illustrates perfectly why I'm so reluctant to produce a printed manual -- in no time at all it would be out of date and as such it would be more hindrance than help. regards, Martin. |
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posted: 14 Dec 2007 07:47 from: Martin Wynne
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Richard Morton wrote: Is there not a way to have Templot trace a path like a centerline? I could say draft a centerline for some track work in Corel and export it as a DXF or DWG format. Import it into Templot then through a centerline selection tool plot the path with nodes or some such? Then Templot can build the required track work on that centerline. Hi Richard, If you want to do that sort of CAD-style geometrical design, Templot isn't the software to use. There are several CAD-style track planning programs which can do this, for example 3rd PlanIt from Randy Pfeiffer ( http://www.trackplanning.com ) which includes a DXF/DWG import, or XTrkCad (free) which doesn't.But Templot isn't one of them. Templot is not intended to be a CAD program nor any sort of drawing package. The important difference is that Templot does the drawing work, not you -- you can't draw a line on the screen and have it converted into track. Only Templot can draw track on the screen. That might seem strange coming from a CAD experience, but once you get into Templot you will find that you don't have any reason to do such a thing. It would be comparatively easy to implement a function which creates plain track templates from imported DXF data for simple straight lines and arcs. But there is not much reason to do that while DXF import (from other software) of Templot's turnouts, half-diamonds, transition curves and slews is impossible. Templot's only CAD-like functions are in the background shapes, which are primitive in the extreme but do include an import of simple DXF data (essentially just points, lines and arcs -- originally intended for vectorised raster images). There is a basic mechanism to get track templates aligned to the imported data. If you export point entities in the DXF, they will get imported as target marks in the background shapes. You can then do geometry > notch > notch on background shape to put the notch on a target mark. After which templates can be aligned to the notch, perhaps using geometry > shift/rotate > shift radial centre to notch. I'm not too clear why you want to originate your designs in a CAD program when you can do it directly in Templot. Bear in mind that Templot knows about railway track, and Corel doesn't. The only practical way to get from one to the other is to import a DXF file or a screenshot image as a background guide, and manually create Templot track templates over it. On the other hand, if you do prefer to work in Corel I think you may as well do the whole thing in Corel. regards, Martin. |
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posted: 14 Dec 2007 17:15 from: Brian Lewis
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Martin Wynne wrote: Brian, this illustrates perfectly why I'm so reluctant to produce a printed manual -- in no time at all it would be out of date and as such it would be more hindrance than help. Not so. I would offer the opinion that it does illustrate perfectly, that you should set keyboard commands in stone and not keep altering them. And........... whilst everyone else is subscribing to a wish list, mine is two-fold 1. I wish I could remove the word 'Today' permanently - as in do not tell me again, 'today'. 2. Having fingers that are not only arthritic, but 'shaky' I wish I could lock once and for all, cursor movements in 'Fine' mode. Now I will do a Grouch Marx two. 3. I wish I could nominate a default printer, so that I do not have to keep telling it what type, which one, whether it is calibrated, etc. I think the latter sums up one aspect of Temp-lot. It may be brilliant, but it is cluttered with unnecessary keystrokes that hinder speedy operation. (Reminds me of WordPerfect back in the early 80's). Regards Brian Lewis Carrs -- C+L Finescale. http://www.finescale.org.uk |
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