SCARM track planning software - Hello from the author

I have a request if it has not already been mentioned, hopefully I can explain what I am looking for in this program...here goes.  what I am looking is the ability when your trying to line up two pieces of track that it will ghost or show when these pieces will line up.  an example of this is for instance say you have an oval that is using O36 curves at the top, then some straights and then O48 curves at the bottom it would be nice if this program will dash in when the two will align.  I use autocad at work and what I am trying to describe is like how their object tracking works.  hopfully this all makes sense.

The link kind of explains what I am looking for

http://www.ccadinc.com/autocad-tutorials-otrack.html

Ok, found the properties pasted the distance and offsets into word. That's cool.

But how many use that?  Heck, I just grabbed a book on railway engineering to learn the standards.

He could add that to the toolbox.

I think SCARM is pretty cool!!! . I really enjoy it; it's definately helped my track planning for my layout's addition.

That's how it's done. 1°=100' of movement in 1:1. From that you can find the radius and arc angle. Then you determine how many feet you need to move. Take fractionals of the distance and offset. That's scaled to whichever scale that you choose and the ending radius that you want to meet.

I tested a straight to 080 in GG and it was 5 increments.

Dist     Offset
0.00 0.00
4.32 0.02
8.64 0.12
12.95 0.42
17.27 0.99
21.59 1.93

So, it's nice that it's in a calculator. A 10° curve in 1:1 almost looks like a "horizontal easement" It's a compound  curve with similar flexure.

I placed track on the wrong layer.  How do i move it to the correct layer?

Thanks to all

Simple easements with flex-tracks are on the way - will appear in some of the next versions of SCARM.

@Salvagni: I am not sure that such feature may be applied for the tracks, but will think over this.

@Foxchaserr: Cut the wrong track, select the correct layer and paste.

Mixy

Had problems with using the wrong layer also.  Uncheck the other layers.  Highlight the section of track you want moved, and hit cut. Then go to the layer that you want it on and click paste.

I have to do that a lot.  I forget what layer I am working with and have to cut and paste it into the correct layer.

thanks, guys.  So simple. 

I'll have to post the layout. 

Here are listed the SCARM railroad blog posts for February.

Mixy

Anyone ever have this happen with SCARM?  I have just about completed my new layout design, yesterday.  I save the file as I have been doing each time I work on it, before closing out.

i opened the file this morning and it was fine.  Had to go out for a while and later on came back to the SCARM program, opened it and my layout file is gone!  Have no idea where it went.  I'm thinking a registry error?.  Any hints?

Did all the Scarm track files dissapear? Or just the last one you were working on. Did you open 'file'on the left of the top bar? The bottom half of the dropdown is the last files you were working on. Did it get a name change? I chane a working file name every day when I come back to work on it. Save as the new name. That way you still have the old file to correct if something goes wrong.

Hope this helps.

The file name is there and only the first 4 pieces of track that I put down are appearing.  The name is the same.  I always was saving it before closing.  Searched my HD with the filename and it doesnt come up anywhere. 

Select the layers Icon on the toolbar. Were you working in layers and deselected them?

Carl, I re-checked that.  Only had one layer active.  The default Layer 0.  

Patrick,

There is at least some small possibility that this is not a SCARM issue.  Newer iterations of Windows include a file "version" feature.  To see what I'm talking about, open Windows Explorer, highlight a file created by you within any program, and then right-click on it.  Down the list of menu options, you should see something about retrieving other versions.

I just did this with a jpg (picture) file to verify this information.  Of course, the menu you see upon the right-click will differ somewhat based on the file type you click upon, but the retrieving other versions command choice should be there for most file types.

I make this suggestion because you can find the file, but with only four pieces of track in it which sounds like an earlier "version" that might have been automatically saved (to the same name) some time before.  I'm pretty sure that Windows has a default feature that automatically saves data after a set amount of non-use time or upon going into sleep mode.  Maybe, if you check the Microsoft website, you will find a way to return to the latest version of your file, even if you don't know how it changed to an earlier version.

Please understand that I have a very limited knowledge of Windows and this is just an educated guess based on the facts you describe and what I do know about Windows.

Good luck,

Chuck

Thanks, Chuck.  I will do some digging at Microsoft.

Regards,

Patrick

Click the start button and type in the first couple of letters of the layout file name and what see results are returned. That will tell you if you have multiple files. I do my saves with a different v.# version number.

Hello Patrick,

Please, send me the file for checking to . If something went in SCARM, there is always a chance for the layout to be recovered, i.e. single corrupted track record in the beginning of the file may prevent loading of the other tracks.

Mixy

Just installed SCARM and started to play with it.

I have a question about track rotation....

I added a baseboard to represent the area I have available for the layout.

I placed a starting point but evidently didn't get it exactly parallel to the edge of my layout/baseboard.  How can I select that first piece of track (or tracks) and rotate it a few degrees so that it become parallel to the edge?

I apologize if this has been answered but, admittedly, I did not read all 10 pages of this post.  Also, I did find some instructions in the documentation but it didn't seem to make sense.

Thanks.

I would go to one track piece, and cut it. Create the same # piece at the correct angle from a new start point. Now select one piece on the rest of the track, right click, "select section" to highlight the whole track, hover right over now red track, right click, chose "move", attach whole track to the single straight piece, and the whole track will align to that one new piece

Our server updated the other day and I had a few hours with no net access to play

I you have trouble re-grouping any objects you want to grab & use yourself, let me know. I have most figures/objects on separate files.

Cool layout, Adriatic

@cerbyg: See the following tutorial about tracks rotation: SCARM Video Tutorials – Part 5 – Rotate a Track or a Whole Layout

Mixy

I'll let you know if I think I have "tuned" graphics enough on an object to be a good part number representation.(I go back and "fiddle")

  Thank you. Its a real layout Mixey. Not real pretty yet, but real. Though only about 40% done at mine level. The cliff on the inside edge of the els loop, & the tunnel facing the house is done. I have to turn the layout now.

 Most is hand made, detailed, but with a folk-art look. The "right shapes", from an unrelated item, used to represent something they are not, is what I like over realism sometimes. Too god a match losses its charm

 Despite modeling airplanes, boats, military, wildlife dioramas, and cars down to hash marks on all the gauges (one set of numbers with a pin and machinists strength magnification was enough)..despite that, I still prefer to model trains with Elmers glue, pine cones, moss, tin cans, and "food sticks" pop-sicle, skewers, chopsticks, flat wood iced cream spoons. I also saved junk that most would have chucked out, fixed by what I find for cheap, or free as I go about my life. The diner is a 1930s MARX tinplate, and a soup can, Shed a 30s pull toy, White tank(unfinished) a plastic container, is for mechanics hand cleaner. Its base? A fat, low, sofa leg. Small piping is black cocktail/coffee stirs/straws. Large will be "normal" sized white straws filled with epoxy resin. Etc Etc.     

 I couldn't resist a spaghetti bowl layout, so I thought "might as well compound the issue by adding an El & packing it solid as I can". One day it may have N gauge for the mine, On30 for the El. But its HO mine track so far(=On30) 

 I have to make a SCARM tell-tale tonight. My original broke when I was a kid, but I still have the clamp on accessory base for the pole. I made one from a wood dowel, shish kabob skewers, and aluminum cotter pins.

 Here are older shots of real life below. 

Oh yea, Thank you! I knew about the toolbox, & though similar to what I do, I guess the toolbox would work out "exactly". I tend to be happy with eyeballing things most of the time. And I am guilty of learning as I go too. I avoid cntl & function commands because I keyboard one handed most often.

  Ive watched the tutorials, but seldom pick-up exacts past the general idea, till I go "hands on". Like driving someplace after only being a passenger often. Though I made the trip many times, I could get easily lost driving there myself, till I did it a few times.  

Exacting angles, and measurements are for "blueprints" though  

This may have been covered and I missed it in the thread, but is there an idiot's guide to scarm?  I'm pretty lost trying to design a layout.

You can start with SCARM Video Tutorials.

Mixy

 Starting your own thread devoted to asking for ideas &/or personalized SCARM help isn't unheard of.

  Start with letting everyone know how big it can be, track brand/type, and the type of operations you want to do, loops/ shunting/both/ both but one is more key, etc.

  Or if you only want program help, not input, start one with a question only about where in the program you need if you want.

 (Send me a email if you do, so I don't miss it)

Or you could search out a previous help thread.

Thank you Mixy.  I have looked at those in the past and at least one of the videos, Baseboards, didn't work.  apparently it is working again.

Adriatic,

I'm not sure exactly what I want yet.  I have many ideas floating around in my head and want to experiment with them in scarm.  Figuring out to set the baseboards was my first hurdle.  I will definitely hit you up for help if I need some.  Thanks! 

This might have been discussed before but can someone tell me how to do multiple level in scarm?  also I there awayto change the appearance of the bridges and tunnels

There is a video in the link that Mixy posted that explains ramps.  

Mixy

do you want the file that I made with scarm or a different file from the SCARM directory?

Patrick

Yes, the .scarm project file that you work over and that has only 4 tracks inside.

Mixy

Just checked the file and it is OK. No hidden tracks or broken records, full data consistence. Not sure what happened, but it should be outside SCARM.

Mixy

Thanks for checking the file.

Hey All,

Has anyone had problems with SCARM working with Windows 8?  A friend of mine has a Windows 8 machine and SCARM is not working properly.

No problems Windows 8.1 Update 1.

Feature request: please include documentation (user instructions) in SCARM without requiring internet connection.

I believe this has changed from previous versions. It's not so handy for those of us who are usually off-line. Documentation on the SCARM website cannot be copied as a single page.

SCARM already includes menu shortcuts for those who want to check for updates online.

Many Thanks Again to Mixy for all the progressive enhancements to SCARM !!!

I didn't realize that, & have to second the request.

 When I head north there is nothing! No phones, no internet, no cell phone reception, no TV broadcast in range, and "more than a "few" miles to the nearest small store. 

 There isn't even water, except ice cold spring fed lake water, pumped in to boil for washing up. I think it was the late 60's before electrical was put in for a blower addition to the old "stove type" fuel oil heater. But its there now, so I do have a plug

  In the past I used another program to keep me busy when it rains. I used the opportunity to learn it better too.  

Documentation was moved online because synchronization between different language versions became very difficult and slow process. Adding of more languages offline was not possible without errors of mixing old and new content. So I decided to move online and to have one general template for automatic translation of all topics depending of the selected language. That also allows updates in the help pages "on the fly" without need of making new version and installation package just to refresh the help system.

One workaround solution could be caching of the help topics once in the browser and then reading them offline. Or use of another program or browser extension for saving the whole site for offline browsing.

Mixy