Egg on face

[Martin Wynne]

I said that I was fearful I had left some forgotten unfinished loose ends in 227.

And so it is.

I'm sorry, I have forgotten to disable my experimental 3D chairing stuff. It's unfinished and in no fit state to be used for anything. If you attempt to create a 3D DXF file you will see something like this:

Likewise the STL file (but without any colours).

Which looks fine in that view, but not in any other view because you will see that the rails are hovering 1.75" above the timbers.

If you switch the chairing on (real menu) to fill the gap, you will find yourself clicking through a long loop in the DXF export. You will need the Windows Task Manager to escape from it.

If you set a very short template with only a few timbers, and click through the loop enough times, you might eventually get DXF and STL files for something like this:

Notice that the chairs still have the support pyramids which I used for some 3D printing. If you wanted just the chairs could switch off the rails and timbers. But please note that the rail-section options are not yet working -- don't waste time 3D printing chairs and expect them to fit your rail.

None of this was intended to be in 227b, I forgot to switch it off. It's all been disabled since 223 while I develop it. Sorry about that. If you decide to play with all this, please don't report that you have found something not working. I know. You will also realise what a long way there is still to go, and how I shall ever find time to do it I don't know.

p.s. just noticed 2 chair screws missing in that view. Very odd. Just an indication of how much is still to do.

I am beginning to wonder if it is time to give up on Templot. I'm making too many silly mistakes, and getting out of them is a minefield -- see all the reported 227a woes.

Martin.

 

[Godders]

Martin,

You have no need to say sorry for anything. You have given us; the cake, the icing and the decorations.

I seem to spend most of my life embroiled in Templot.

You have given us the ability to design whole layouts and a way to detail every bit of track, that is more than enough and I will be forever grateful.

As for the, "Egg on Face", I blame all those boiled eggs.

Your faithful follower

Godders.

 

[Paul Boyd]

Hi Martin

I've been having a play with the new features, and we really are being spoilt with so many shiny new things in this release! I've been adding symbols to my narrow gauge layout file even though three of the four board templates have already been marked up with felt tip pen, but there's still the fourth! It'll also mean I have an electronic copy of the wire colours and numbers to go with the wiring schedule rather than have to fold out a full-size printout.

I used the find intersection function to find the correct mathematical intersection of two tracks at right angles in order to accurately place a wagon turntable, where one of the templates was a transition to straight. I (correctly) got an error message to say that it wasn't possible to create any kind of crossing at that angle, but nevertheless the peg and notch were moved to the intersection so I could read the position and use that reading to tweak the shape position. I've used the same function to accurately place the centre crossing in a 3-throw turnout, and as advised there was a bit of twiddling to make it fit, but having the crossing nose in the right place and at the correct angle was a huge head start.

I played with the parapet function, even though the relevant bit of track and the bridge itself have already been built (there's an odd quirk with the parapet on the TS of a turnout - you'll see it, I know exactly why it's happening but I'm not sure what a fix would be!)

The new library viewer looks really useful, particularly with the feature of placing a library template in the visible area instead of what might be miles away from where I'm working. That might lead me to making more use of libraries.

I haven't yet played with the background maps but having had a read through your notes, I have no doubt I will make more use of that at some point.

I've already mentioned the DXF arc import fix in this version which will be a big help.

So many features, and such a far cry from my first use of Templot around 1999/2000, never mind the very first release! So please don't give up on it

I forgot to mention the brilliant new print function which allows us to print pages in pretty much any order we like, and not have to keep stepping through to omit pages or shuffle the origin about - that'll be incredibly useful!

Cheers,
Paul