I was wondering how many of the readers (users) of LSC use a computer drawing software package to help themselves in the hobby?
and if so the type of CAD software, ie Acad, corell draw…?
If a stock pile of drawings could be compiled for users shareing a common hobby there would be less time drawing & measuring and more time modeling.
it’s just a thought & I like your thoughts or sugestions.
Gene
Marvin said:
I was wondering how many of the readers (users) of LSC use a computer drawing software package to help themselves in the hobby? and if so the type of CAD software, ie Acad, corell draw...? If a stock pile of drawings could be compiled for users shareing a common hobby there would be less time drawing & measuring and more time modeling.it’s just a thought & I like your thoughts or sugestions.
Gene
I use CADrail for layout design and anything else that is 2-D. Corel DRAW and/or PhotoPaint are used for the graphic portion of the track plans.
I use an ANCIENT free version of TurboCAD…I think several folks here have gone on to purchase the current versions…I like it…one day I might have enough dough to get a registered copy!
That’s funny , hans , I could have sworn you lifted your layouts straight from Schweers and Wall .
Mike
Marvin said:
I was wondering how many of the readers (users) of LSC use a computer drawing software package to help themselves in the hobby? and if so the type of CAD software, ie Acad, corell draw...? If a stock pile of drawings could be compiled for users shareing a common hobby there would be less time drawing & measuring and more time modeling.it’s just a thought & I like your thoughts or sugestions.
Gene
What I “forgot” to mention … I do layout planning as part of the services Eastern Mountain Models Ltd. offers, the track plans are done in CADrail, the scenic features in COREL PhotoPaint.
Apart from plans for customers (they provide all the room/space dimensions, restrictions etc.), I also do plans for magazines, complete with the “method behind the madness” write-ups.
BTW your idea of a library is very good; if we get such a library here, I’ll be contributing!
Occasionally I also provide track libraries (various different mfgs components) to/for CADrail. Sharing is part of the hobby! 
HJ, is that what you used to do the boomarang layout in Gartenbahn Profi…?
I use TurboCAD. Its what we used for the EBT boxcar project, and Im currently doing hopper drawings with it.
I like the idea of a file library as part of a design forum. Have to look into setting it up. Very cool idea.
Warren Mumpower said:
HJ, is that what you used to do the boomarang layout in Gartenbahn Profi…?
Warren, Yes, there’s an additional one for a large RhB layout - “Die Kleine Rote” - in GARTENBAHNprofi 2/07. Many more are in the “pipe”. One of the small switching layouts
was in Big Train Operator magazine Lots of industries, lots of switching, plenty of thinking in order not to be in one’s own way. Perfect for a car cards system. Hint: Track 5 is the fiddle track from/to the Great Wide World.
I’m a bit curious about CAD programs. Never used one, so I’m not sure what kind of capabilities they have. I’ve done a lot of 3D modeling, and for 2D stuff I’ve used various drawing programs such as ClarisWorks, Freehand, etc. How do CAD programs differ from these other types of programs?
Ray Dunakin said:Ray,
I'm a bit curious about CAD programs. Never used one, so I'm not sure what kind of capabilities they have. I've done a lot of 3D modeling, and for 2D stuff I've used various drawing programs such as ClarisWorks, Freehand, etc. How do CAD programs differ from these other types of programs?
It all depends on the program, but generally speaking CAD is vector based and the graphic programs are generally raster based. But there are some which combine the two.
BTW Freehand is vector based.
Gene (& all),
I currently use AutoCAD 2005 Mechanical at work as well as Solidworks from time to time. I’ve been known to spend a break or lunch hour drawing things up for myself. Nothing I’d be willing to post as most is incompletel. More like Computer sketches so to speak than finished drawings. We’ll be upgrading both programs here shortly AutoCAd will go to 2007 and Solidworks to the latest version as well.
If there was a library I’d do may best to contribute though. Might be best in DXF format? Not sure what else supports that though? Never used TurboCAD or any other “freeware” CAD systems as I’ve been a basic user of AutoCAD for over 20 years now. WOW! Time flies!
Chas