"GP> Big Rich Soprano wrote: "GP> >> Did you have a look at XTrkCad? I like it on Win and Linux. "GP> >
"GP> >
"GP> > Agreed... It's a little touchy at first but once you master it look "GP> > out... "GP> "GP> Great software. However, if by "terrain" you also mean landscaping - then "GP> this is not what you want. For me, that is fine. There is other software "GP> around - maybe someone can provide further information - which allows you to "GP> draw semi-realistic colored landscapes - grass, trees, tunnels etc. Within "GP> XtrkCad, these can only be created as simple line art elements.
I generally don't bother with designing the 'terrain/landscaping'. I don't really have any way to tranfer 'terrain/landscaping' from the CAD to the reality. Transfering the track plan is straightforward -- just print selected pages at 1:1 and tack or paste them down to the work surface (eg foam or plywood or whatever), and use a pounce wheel or such to transfer. Or even just put down the sub-roadbed or track right onto the printouts.
I add the terrain later, generally not designed in a detailed way, just 'organically' created as I go along. I suspect this is probably somewhat more realistic. Yes, XTrkCad can be used to define outlines of terrain elements (eg edges of mountains or riverbeds or tunnels or spot trees, etc. Dealing with a semi-realistic three-D view is distracting to me. It is also computationally costly, which would be frustrating on my (relatively) slow 500MHz K6 (no, I don't really want a quad 3Hz dual-core Opterion system with 8gig of RAM). I have better things to spend my time and money on than buying a *new* computer every 6 months and hassling with installing Linux on it.
"GP> "GP> Regards, "GP> "GP> Werner George Pflaum "GP> "GP> "GP>
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