SCARM track planning software - Hello from the author

Mixy,

 

After using Scarm for a while now, I see one minor flaw, at least in the O scale area. A lot of track plans I help work on and view on the forum require custom cut pieces. If I am designing a track plan using Lionel tubular track, in order to create a custom cut section, I have to go to the AtlasO 3r and select the 40" flex track piece to fill the gap.

 

Could a new piece of track be created for other manufacturer's track that has the properties of the AtlasO 3r 40" Flex, maybe called Custom Cut?

 

I think this would be a convenient feature. I've been doing the exact same thing as Stewart; I change track libraries to get AtlasO 3r 40" Flex to create Custom Cut pieces of tubular track. I made some related comments back on page 2:

 

Mixy, one feature I would like to see added to SCARM is the flex-track tool directly accessible from each track library ... I use the SCARM flex-tracks tool to build individual pieces of less-common varieties of sectional track that are not in the track libraries ...

 

I also use the flex-tracks tool to specify custom-cut pieces of sectional track for other types of track ... if people know how to use the flex-tracks tool they can create whatever they want with the specs. After creating one custom piece it is easy to make duplicates with copy and paste.

 

Meanwhile, I just change track libraries to get a piece of flex track, then cut and paste if I need more after changing to a track library without flex-track. I like Stewart's idea for a "Custom Cut" option in track libraries that don't include flex-track. It would be convenient if the tool-box feature automatically opens with it.

 

Many Thanks again to Mixy for making available this great free software with the 3-D features!

 

OK

 

It seems that track cutouts are important in O-scale, so I will consider adding of a dedicated feature for cutting sectional tracks in SCARM track plan and such function may appear in some of the next versions of the program.

 

Track libraries are created to represent the real products, manufactured by the track producers. So adding of helper flex tracks in libraries where the producers does not provide such may lead to confusion in some users.

 

Changing of the libraries just to place another flex on the plan may be annoying. To avoid this, just place one dummy flex-track on the drawing plot and copy and paste it each time when a cutout is needed, as Ace do. If you do not want dummy tracks on the plan, you can just copy and paste some ready flex cutout and then reshape it. To reshape flex-track, select it, right click over it and then select “Reshape” from the context menu. Reshaping also works with Toolbox flex-track modeling tool.

 

Mixy

MTH RealTrax

 

I would be interested in working on the addition of RealTrax to your libraries.

 

I use RealTrax.

Good news for MTH fans

 

Pro Hobby sent me the first dimensions for RealTrax track pieces and now I am able to start creating the MTH RealTrax library for SCARM. I hope that the preliminary library version will be ready and publish for downloading and testing very soon

 

Mixy

The preliminary RealTrax library for SCARM is ready

 

Read more about it here - MTH RealTrax Library For SCARM.

 

In the post is descried how to download and add the new library to the SCARM installation on your PC. Please, test the library and comment here or in the blog how it is performing with the real "RealTrax" tracks

 

Mixy

Just tried the program to get the geometry right for an S curve I'm doing on our club layout.  I'm too old to do it the old fashioned way with chord lengths, cosecants or whatever I might have used.  The gray matter isn't what it used to be.  The program works great.  It didn't take too long to get the hang of it and Ace's posts on how to make "fitters" was excellent.  Yes it is somewhat of an inconvenience to switch from O tubular to Atlas 3 rail but I consider that a small inconvenience for such a great program.

Thanks Mixy for the great work!

 

Don

I just re-kindled my childhood love affair with o-gauge trains a few weeks ago.  I found SCARM two weeks ago and instantly fell in love.  I'm a Mechanical Engineer with lots of CAD experience, so the "cockpit" of SCARM was very comfortable to me.

 

I like the suggestion made on another SCARM thread to be able to use "shift" to select all tracks between two points.  That would be helpful in layouts where I have a bunch of smaller sections.

 

Also, I would love it if there were some building libraries. I know that adds complexity, so for starters, could we just have a collection available to download?  My dad has already started modelling some of the popular Lionel pieces (Gateman and Station).  Could there be a section on the blog for folks to submit those files?

Mixy,

I just stumbled across this thread (and thus SCARM).  Your work looks amazing, congrats and thanks. I am a not-very-happy user of RRtrack, so I am looking forward to giving SCARM a try.   Two things:

 

1) Please add my vote to the "would love a Mac version" list.

 

2) Would you consider adding support for us Super-O users?  Both of us would appreciate it.   (Actually, the Yahoo Super-O group has almost 700 users). I would be glad to work with you to specify and verify the dimensions.   Here are the basics:

 

Diameter:  36" on centers

Curve radius: 30 degrees (12 sections/circle)

Straight length: 9"

 

There are other bits and pieces (half-straight, half-curve, lockon and uncoupling sections, etc) that I would have to measure, but it is easy enough.  Let me know if you are interested. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again.  You seem to be attracting a vibrant user community, which is exciting.

Thank you, guys

 

I am writing your suggestions in my To-Do list. Some of them may appear soon, but others will need more time to be added in SCARM.

 

About buildings – there are several projects in SCARM blog where various buildings and structures can be seen and used, but in O-scale there are only two for now: http://www.scarm.info/blog/tag/o/. Perhaps, I should consider adding of re-scale feature for user-created objects with the figures.

 

No problem for adding Super-O tracks, but I need a detailed description and dimensions of each track piece in order to be able to create correct library for these in SCARM.

 

Last but not least – MTH O RealTrax library was updated with adding of 45-degree crossing.

 

Mixy

Looks like I'll have to give SCARM another try even though I plan on using ScaleTrax. I think RealTrax and ScaleTrax O-54 produce the same design, though ScaleTrax has #4 and #6 turnouts and RealTrax has O-42 sections.

I have been experimenting with SCARM for about a month, and it is a fabulous program.  I have been using the Atlas track, because that is what I am going to.  I now have realtrax, but it doesn't have the curves I want to use.

It seems to me that the straight section of the O54 turnouts in SCARM is fixed at 10", while the actual length of the straight in the turnout by Atlas is 14.5".  Maybe this has already been addressed and I missed it.  Anyway, the program has been fun to work with and I've learned at lot.

I suggest that you go to the beginning of this thread and click on the URL for the SCARM download.

 

Bob,

It appears that you have to manually add the extra straight piece that is included with the track. May be a 4.5" straight. This is similar to the FasTrack where you have to manually add the 1/4 curve to the diverging route.

 

 

 

DoubleDaz,
It will take input from us to measure the ScaleTrax pieces and provide that data to the author. That's how the RealTrax library was added. MTH will not provide him with that information.

Just contact him and he will provide the worksheet for the measurements that are required.

Yeah, I know, but I don't have any ScaleTrax yet, so I'm no help. Even after I buy some, it will only be select O-54 pieces. I currently use RR-Track, so I don't really need SCARM, I'd just like to compare.

Yes.  Thanks.  I figured that out after my post.

Dave & Mixy;

I'm moving so everything is packed right now.

When I get some time I'll try to remember to send in the ScaleTrax data.

The only switches I have so far Are O-72's (left & right) but I have O-72 curves, 10" and 30" straights and 30" Flex. It's a start and I'll be getting some of the other pieces over time.

My LHS does not stock it, So I order a full box of whatever I want through him. A box of the short straight parts is going to be excessive. I was planning on getting O-80 curves but I may just use flex there.

Today, John DiMaggio contacted me and showed his New Site With Various SCARM Objects in O-gauge. You will found many useful items there, that can be freely downloaded and used in your own SCARM projects. Read more about it in the blog and go there - www.scarmhirailers.com.

 

Mixy

Most of the credit goes to my dad, Joe DiMaggio. He's not on this forum (yet), so I'll pat him on the back for all of y'all.  If you'd like to contribute to the library, let me know.  There are several ways to contact us on the page.

Mixy, what about the ability to assign sections of track or objects to layers and then toggle visibility of the layers?  Could come in handy for large layouts with multiple heights.

John,

If you or your father can take anything from my SCARM tutorials to use on your website, feel free to lift them. If you need any information from me, shoot me an email and let me know. All I ask is for credit where due.

On the topic of the website, it looks great!

i wish the register feature was working, it could be a lot of fun to participate

We're working on that.  For now, you can e-mail us using the links.  I'm going to write up some guidelines for submissions (to make my life easier for uploading while it is still manual).  Generally speaking, you can see the sort of information we're looking for (Mfg, Model, author)  Pictures need to be 800x600 max. I'd like to limit it to three images per item/layout.

Registration and Uploading of Accessories is now LIVE!  

 

Dad spent the week working on the code and I spent the weekend adding it to the page.

 

Right now there is still some manual intervention, so it could take a day or two for your submission to be live on the site.  We wanted to get the registration and upload in Beta testing ASAP.

 

This is a planned feature and will appear in some of the next versions of SCARM

 

Great to see that uploading of the accessories is working and the site is moving forward

 

Mixy

Here are the SCARM Blog posts for October: www.scarm.info/blog/2013/10.

 

And the last article in the blog from today is actually a link to the SCARM tutorials here on the forum, written by ChessieFan72 which are a great reading for every SCARM user, not only O-gaugers. Thank you, Stewart

 

Mixy

I have downloaded MTH-O-RT to my PC.  How do I import this file to the SCARM  directory?   Using Ver. 0.9.x beta.  Is this the latest version?

To use the new MTH library, download the ZIP file from the blog (you already have it, www.scarm.info/blog/general/mth-realtrax-library-for-scarm for the others), then unzip it and copy the .lib file into Lib folder of SCARM where all other track libraries are located.
 
Depending of Windows version, default installation folder for SCARM may be "C:\Program Files\SCARM" or "C:\Program Files (x86)\SCARM". The Lib folder is there.
 
Now run SCARM and search for MTH item in libraries list – the new library “MTH-O-RT” is there. Select it and test the tracks in it with some known MTH track plans and layouts.

 

The latest version of SCARM is 0.9.22 beta - you can check yours by use of "Help" > "About" menu command.

 

Mixy

MTH-O has been added to the library successfully. I am using 0.9.22 beta.

 

 

Also I could not find RailKing #40-1068 "WYE" track in the library

Yep, the turnout was missing, but I just added it to the lib. Download the ZIP file again and copy the updated MTH lib into SCARM.

 

Mixy

Here is something interesting and really useful for SCARM beginners - a series of video tutorials, created and narrated by Ruud Boer. The first video is available here:

SCARM Video Tutorials – Part 1 – Create a Model Railway Layout

The second and each next clip are available from the links in the bottom of each blog post.

Hope that you will like the videos

Mixy

Tutorial specifically for the MTH RealTrax O scale system

 

I am preparing a "how to" tutorial using SCARM for designing layouts using the MTH RealTrax O scale system.  This will be in PDF format (not video) and offer time saving hints when designing with SCARM. The tutorial can also be printed from the PDFs.

 

Samples of this tutorial will appear on the OGR Forum soon. Layout designs that combine complex track arrangements will be shown.

 

Tutorial layout design examples #1-01 and #1-02 have been posted on the OGR Forum.

 

After a short delay, the new SCARM v. 0.9.23 is now ready and published. Download it from www.scarm.info

It comes with several new features, many updated libraries, some bugfixes and improved functionality. The most important new features are Background image, the Ballast roadbed in 2D and Track Heights numeric input.

See about the new features and more about this update in the SCARM Blog post SCARM v. 0.9.23 Released.

I hope that you will like the new version of SCARM and also hope that next one will come soon

Mixy

Looking forward to using the new release, Mixy!

 

We've had a few people register on SCARMHiRailers.com, but no new submissions yet :-(

Here is the list with blog posts for November: www.scarm.info/blog/2013/11.

 

Don’t miss the SCARM video tutorial series for beginners, even if you’re already an experienced SCARM user

 

Mixy

I saw the SCARM thread earlier but at the time it did not have the MTH RealTrax library available so I didn't follow it too closely.  But now I see that there is a preliminary RealTrax library available.  I have built a Lionel FasTrack layout with SCARM and compared it to the one I built in xtrkcad and they were equal.  I am running SCARM on Linux under WINE and so far it is working well.  I would like to compare a RealTrax layout to ones I have built in xtrkcad and RR-Track Lite but the SCARM library is currently missing the left and right 031 switches (remote) that I used in that layout.  Will those pieces of track eventually be added to the library and is the official location of the library still

http://www.scarm.info/blog/gen...x-library-for-scarm/

 

Thanks for a great program.

 

Steve

Steve C,

 

To my knowledge, there has been no change to the status of RealTrax pieces in that library file.  The SCARM developer, Mixy, has no access to the real track, so he needs specific dimensions from the real track piece (from some owner) to put into the program.  I just noted that someone named Jeff apparently gave him some dimensions for the O31 and O42 switches in a blog response, but I don't know if that contains all he needs for successful data input. 

 

Further, before this library is permanently added to SCARM distribution updates, Mixy would like some assurance that the pieces produced by the program can be duplicated in a successful layout build.  Again, this requires some track owner to construct a SCARM plan and then build it to let Mixy know how successful you are in converting the plan to reality.  He is trying to be a "good" software developer and make sure his stuff works before releasing it into the wild.

 

Chuck

Steve C,

If you have tracks missing from the library, you would be a big help to the MTH Real trax community by emailing Milen (aka Mixy). He will provide you with the measurements he needs to add the track pieces.

SCARM Blog Article

Here is the current MTH link http://www.scarm.info/blog/wp-...2013/10/MTH-O-RT.zip

The physical track that I have is comprised of the straight sections and 031 and 042 curves and 0312 switches.  There is an xtrkcad library available at http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/gr.../XTrkCad/files/Barry

 

I originally thought that the dimensions in that file were suspect but as it turns out, they are not.  I thought that curves were measured at the center of the track but that is not the case.  Each manufacturer is a bit different.

 

Below is the list of pieces (from xtrkcad) that I have but I would be willing to supply physical dimensions.

 

Count | Description
------+---------------------------------------------
    3 | MTH Realtrax 40-1001 10" Straight
   10 | MTH Realtrax 40-1002 O-31 Full
    2 | MTH Realtrax 40-1004 O-31 LH Switch
    1 | MTH Realtrax 40-1005 O-31 RH
    1 | MTH Realtrax 40-1008 10" Oper. Sect. (Beta)
    2 | MTH Realtrax 40-1016 5" Straight
    4 | MTH Realtrax 40-1017 4.25" Straight
    1 | MTH Realtrax 40-1024 Lighted Bumper (Beta)
    3 | MTH Realtrax 40-1042 O-42 Full
------+---------------------------------------------

 

Steve