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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 Some of the earlier pages of this topic are now out-of-date.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.

the control template

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Martin Wynne

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a test post copied from the old Templot Club


The basic working method of Templot is very simple, but is often a stumbling block for beginners.

1. adjust what you see on the screen to what you want. The thing you are adjusting is called the control template.

2. store a copy of it as a permanent record of your work.

3. go back to 1 and adjust it again to make a new piece of work.

control_over_bgnd.png


A "template" consists of 3 separate components:

1. a specification.

The track gauge, model scale, radius, angles, dimensions, option settings, the position and alignment. All the template design settings and locations that are entered, changed, and adjusted by the user. The current state of all these settings is collectively called the control template.

A record of all these settings is called a stored template. These records are held in the storage box, one for each template. The full collection of these records can be saved to a BOX file.


2. a build.

This is a big list of X,Y co-ordinate dimensions indicating the current position of every part of the template on the grid, in millimetres. So for example the top left corner of timber T14 might be listed as being at X=1073.29mm , Y=538.06mm. The grid extends from the grid origin at the bottom left of the screen to the ends of the Earth.

This build list is created by the generator engine, a free-running chunk of the Templot program which makes a new build list every time something in the control template specification changes.

The build list isn't normally available to the user because it would just be a screenful of numbers. It can however be seen if you export a DXF file. (Those are text-based files which can be opened and edited in any text editor such as Windows Notepad.)


3. a drawing.

This is what you see on the screen, or on the printed template. A graphical representation of railway track. For example a brown-coloured line from the top left corner of timber S9 to the bottom left corner, representing the edge of the timber. These lines a drawn on the screen or the printer paper using the information in the build list.



More about how all this came about, starting 40 years ago: https://85a.uk/templot/companion/origins_intent.php

Martin.
 
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