Trackplan tool
Version 10.0

(c)1998-2004 Rick Johnson/Graffix

http://rj-graffix.com

Requires Adobe Illustrator version 10.0 or higher and Power Macintosh.

Trackplan tool is a plugin tool for Adobe Illustrator to aid in drawing model railroad trackplans. It's designed for the single-line type of trackplan, as used in publications, as opposed to the rail-and-ties style used by many dedicated track planning programs.

The plugin has two parts. It adds a five-part tool and a control palette. The tools are:

- Turnout tool
- Crossover tool
- Curve tool
- Stub tool
- Straight line tool

The palette allows you to set the turnout number, curve radius (in inches), whether to add easements to the curves (using John Allen's formula) scale of drawing and the track centers (in inches--e.g., 2 for HO). Changing the turnout number will, of course, also change the crossovers since they're actually made from two turnouts. The first time you use the plugin, you'll need to select "Show trackplan palette" from the Windows menu.

With any of the tools selected, the cursor will change to indicate when you're over a point or a segment. In addition, many of the tools react to other keys being pressed as you drag the mouse.

The turnout tool creates turnouts of the size specified in the palette. To use it, click and drag. While dragging you can press the shift key to constrain the track to the current constrain angle as set in the preferences. If you begin dragging from another path segment or endpoint, the turnout will be drawn tangent to that path. As you drag the mouse, the turnout will switch between a right and left version to follow the direction of your cursor. The turnouts are not sized to match any manufacturer's snap track, but rather so that they fit together to form yard ladders with the correct track spacing. You can also press the following keys *as you drag* for additional behavior:

- Option/Alt: toggles between right- and left-hand turnouts
- Command/Control: draws only the curved portion of the turnout (useful for the last track in a yard ladder)
- 4: selects a No. 4 turnout
- 5: selects a No. 5 turnout
- 6: selects a No. 6 turnout
- 8: selects a No. 8 turnout
- +: increases the scale of the drawing by 1/16"/foot
- -: decreases the scale of the drawing by 1/16"/foot

The crossover palette draws a crossover of the size indicated by the turnout setting. It's suggested you begin drawing on one of two parallel segments. The crossover will be constrained tangent to the path you drag from. As you drag, you can press the following modifer keys:

- Option/Alt: toggles between right and left hand crossovers
- 4: selects a No. 4 crossover
- 5: selects a No. 5 crossover
- 6: selects a No. 6 crossover
- 8: selects a No. 8 crossover
- +: increases the scale of the drawing by 1/16" per foot
- -: decreases the scale of the drawing by 1/16" per foot

The curve tool creates a curve of the radius indicated on the palette. Like the turnout tool, you can draw from an existing line and it will automatically be constrained tangent to it, or you can hold the shift key. You can also press the following modifier keys as you drag:

- Option: toggles between right and left hand curves
- E: toggles whether the curve starts with an easement
- Cursor Up: increases radius of curve by 1"
- Cursor Down: decreases radius of curve by 1"
- +: increases the scale of the drawing by 1/16" per foot
- -: decreases the scale of the drawing by 1/16" per foot

The stub tool adds a small tick mark at the end of a yard track.

The straight line tool is used to quickly draw, what else, straight lines. Press the mouse button to begin drawing, drag, then release the mouse button to end the line. Unlike the pen tool, lines are not always connected to each other. If you've checked "Auto-connect" on the palette, when you begin drawing from another path, the straight line tool will constrain the angle tangent to the line it continues from, and automatically connect it. This is great for adding yard tracks after you've added turnouts to build the yard ladder. If "Auto-connect" is not checked, the straight line tool can act as a hash mark tool for indicating terrain. You can also press one keyboard modifier as you draw with this tool:

- Option/Alt: temporarily toggles between connected, tangent lines and unconnected freeform lines, giving you the opposite of the "Auto-connect" setting on the palette

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Registering

Feel free to use this plugin for an evaluation period of 100 uses. If you find the plugin useful, please register your software. To do this, you'll need to provide:

- Your name
- Your address
- Your email address, if you have one
- The name, version and platform of the software you're registering
- The user name or business name as it appears in the plugin's Registration dialog box

You can pay the $15 registration fee ($45 site license) in either of two ways.

1) Send U.S. funds or Japanese Money order to:

Rick Johnson/Graffix
2216 Allen Lane
Waukesha, WI  53186-1651  USA

2) Register online with your charge card at <http://rj-graffix.com/>. Click the "Register Software" link to go to Kagi's secure order form (be sure to include your user name or business name in the 'Note to vendor" field).

I'll send you a code to register the software, by email if possible.

You can find more help registering your software at <http://rj-graffix.com/software/help>.

Be sure to check the Graffix Web site for updates and other new products. Your comments and suggestions are welcome. (c)1998-2004 Rick Johnson/Graffix. All rights reserved.

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What the heck is Graffix? Some huge corporation? Nope. It's just me, an illustrator. You see, I'm not only the programmer and Webmaster, but I spend most of my time actually using the tools I create.

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Legalese:

Rick Johnson/Graffix assumes no responsibility nor liability for any damages or consequences arising from the use or misuse of this software. Heck, if the wealthiest person in the world and the largest software company on earth can't guarantee smooth sailing under any unforeseen conditions, how can a meager illustrator do that?