Didn't know this existed

I have always used XtrkCAD, didn't know this existed. I will give it a try. I like XtrkCAD a lot but always willing to give something else a shot.

Thanks Chris! Any feedback

Thanks Chris!

Any feedback about SCARM is welcome

Mixy

SCARM Model Trains Blog Update for May

And here are listed the  SCARM railroad modeling blog posts for May.

Mixy

Tip for restoring a track plan after crash ot power loss

Here is explained How to Recover a Project File After Crash or Power Failure and to restore your SCARM track plan to the last autosave state. I hope you do not have to use that feature, but... just in case

And here are the  SCARM model railroading blog posts for June.

Mixy

Chris, you'll love it, I've

Chris, you'll love it, I've used it for years.  Russ

Some samples of mine

Here's a quickie set of modules.  Really fun to use product.  Russ

Of course you can do bigger stuff too!

Had trouble getting comfortable

I had trouble getting comfortable and went back to the familiar, using XtrakCAD, which let me express my planning thoughts more easily. That is no indictment of the software. I will come back to it, some of the visualization tools look very useful.

In XtrakCAD I can make a circles in the radius I want.. move them around to get fits. I then connect the circles together. My planning thinking is about moving circles around to fit the route. When planning for medium to small spaces the fitting of turn backs becomes a significant part of the process. My early sketches just look like a pile of circles but they look like a railroad to me ,

I also didn't see any way to automatically include spiral easements although I didn't try hard. XtrakCAD will do that although I have to fuss with it a little. It can really help to see the REAL space requirements.

In the end, the one you know is way easier to use then the one you don't and even more so when they seem to have very different philosophies about how you go about creating a drawing.

SCARM Model Trains Blog Update for July

Thank you for the feedback, Chris

If you want to give SCARM another try, you may find the Flex track modeling feature in SCARM Toolbox very useful as it will allow you to make circles with desired radii. However, there is not yet spiral easements tool implemented, but I will add such in some of the next versions of SCARM.

What I am doing now is a hard working in order to finish the simulation feature for SCARM, which will allow running of multiple trains in both 2D and 3D modes.

Hope that it will be ready till end of the summer or in the beginning of autumn.

Here are listed the SCARM Railroad Hobby Blog posts for July.

Don't miss the last QuickTip about how to perform Fast Selection of Sequential Tracks in 2D editing mode.

Mixy

Too Complicated for my limited CAD experience

I downloaded and tried it, but I am not computer savvy enough to use it, I couldn't draw in the baseboard, so nothing else would work out, the cursor was not in the right place when I clicked add baseboard, once the starting point for it was wrong, there was no way I could find to start over. Of course I will not be defeated, and will reload the program and start over from scratch, I am trying to draw modular plans so I need the base clearly defined to properly draw in the tracks, and etc. It will probably be a great tool once I better learn how to use it.

Running Trains

I saw the "Sneak Peek"; but did not see this listed in the features on the Home page ... can one run trains (i.e., operate) the layout in SCARM?

This is the main reason that I use XTRKCAD ... I can see how well the track plan supports operations by running trains (albeit in 2D mode).  I did not download SCARM as I did not see this feature listed, and it is the main requirement of a RR CAD program for me.

Tutorials and model trains simulation in SCARM

Hi all

@ Moe line: Try the Video tutorials about SCARM. Most of the operations are covered there. For defining of the baseboard, read the help topic How to create baseboard/workbench shape in SCARM and watch the advanced video tutorial about Working with Baseboard.

@ John Peterson: The SCARM trains simulator is not yet officially published and for now is available only for selected beta testers. But it is in the final stage of the testing and I hope that it will be released soon.

Mixy

No Mac version

Rats, No version for the Macintosh. Anyone have a recommendation for a Track Planning Software that run on the Mac?

--Bill B. 

Advice

Mac Software

For mac users check out http://www.railmodeller.com/home-railmodeller.html

They have a pro and express version. I recommend you download the express (free) version first to see if it is like it. It works pretty well, but with all of these applications you have to put a bit of time into it before you can really tell whether you like it or not. 

Cheers

John

SCARM for Mac

SCARM can also run on Mac platform with the help of Wine emulator. See more details here: Running SCARM on Apple Mac. Read also the comments below the article, where many Mac users are sharing their experience and advices about installing and running of SCARM on Mac.

It is also possible to be operated from tablet devices, like iPad or Android tablets, but for that, a Windows PC and Internet connection are required.

See more here: Using SCARM on iPad and Android Tablets.

Mixy