Templot Club forums powered for Martin Wynne by XenForo :

TEMPLOT 3D PLUG TRACK - To get up to speed with this experimental project click here.   To watch an introductory video click here.   See the User Guide at Bexhill West.

  • The Plug Track functions are experimental and still being developed. Some of the earlier pages of this topic are now out-of-date.

    For an updated overview of this project see this topic.   For some practical modelling aspects of using Plug Track see Building 3D Track.

    The assumption is that you have your own machines on which to experiment, or helpful friends with machines. Please do not send Templot files to commercial laser cutting or 3D printing firms while this project is still experimental, because the results are unpredictable and possibly wasteful.

    Some pages of this and other topics include contributions from members who are creating and posting their own CAD designs for 3D printing and laser-cutting. Do not confuse them with Templot's own exported CAD files. All files derived from Templot are © Martin Wynne.
  • The Plug Track functions are experimental and still being developed.

    For an updated overview of this project see this topic.   For some practical modelling aspects of using Plug Track see Building 3D Track.

    The assumption is that you have your own machines on which to experiment, or helpful friends with machines. Please do not send Templot files to commercial laser cutting or 3D printing firms while this project is still experimental, because the results are unpredictable and possibly wasteful.

    Some pages of this and other topics include contributions from members who are creating and posting their own CAD designs for 3D printing and laser-cutting. Do not confuse them with Templot's own exported CAD files. All files derived from Templot are © Martin Wynne.

shapes problem

Quick reply >
Location
Holmes Chapel, Cheshire
Info
Builder of Finescale Signals in 2mm scale to 7mm scale, Trackwork, Turnouts and Layouts.
I created some shapes from jpgs, saved them. closed Templot then reopened Templot with same workspace but without shapes. created another shape from another jpg. Tried to add previous shapes. Templot froze and would not respond had to close Templot via Windows. Windows 7 64bit
 
_______________
message ref: 1215
Templot froze and would not respond
Hi Stephen,

Thanks for the report.

How long did you wait before deciding Templot had crashed?

I have noticed that Nils's XML engine can be very slow to load when it contains several large bitmaps. That's one reason why I didn't use it for the MECBOX interchange format.

My guess is that if you had waited long enough, maybe several minutes while you make a coffee, Templot would have come back eventually. What was the size (in pixels, the file size is irrelevant) of these JPG images? And how many?

I will look to add a progress bar for the BGS3 loads, so that it is clear that Templot is still working.

There are also options in Nils's code to change the compression algorithm. I haven't investigated that very much, maybe I should.

The previous BGS + SK81 separate files format was very fast and reliable, but it caused much confusion. I changed to XML for BGS3 to include the picture shapes in a single file, but it is definitely much slower.

cheers,

Martin.
 
_______________
message ref: 1216
The unsaved jpg is 3508 x 2479, the two in the saved file are both 5850 x 3000 each.
Got round it by loading the saved shapes first and then added the third.
 
_______________
message ref: 1217
Hi Stephen,

I have added a progress bar for loading a BGS3 shapes file:

wait_load_shapes.png


It's a bit jumpy, because there is nowhere in Nils's code I can interrupt the reading of the file to create a smooth progress indicator for every possible file content. But at least you get an indication that Templot has not crashed.

In the next program update 227a (if I ever get it finished). :(

This doesn't change the fact that the loading is extremely slow. There is no obvious cure for that, it's the nature of the XML format used. It might be possible to find a different XML engine, or write one, but it's not a simple thing because this XML engine is also used for the SK9 sketchboard files. It will have to stay as it is for now.

cheers,

Martin.
 
_______________
message ref: 1219
Back
Top