I want to create a line that looks like a set of railroad tracks - two rails and ties - or a single track with ties half as long as the 2 rail tracks would be.
I want to be able to use it the same as the lines that are installed with CDR 12 - scalable, editable points, curving, extend the length by pulling an end point, set point size , etc.
Basically anything I can do to and with an installed line, I want to do with my custom one.
Is this possible?
Carroll
Carroll Cameron said:I'm not very proficient in CDR X3 as far as using the spray etc. thingys. I got it to help me build my many Railway maps for historical and current Railways in my province along with adding specific rivers and highways. I'm also using it to prepare a background map for a website I'm building to display photos of trains at the area where the photos were taken. Also to pre-plan my landscaping - screen build my retaining walls with angles I have to cut some of the blocks at to go around a corner etc. and flower beds and others.
Knowing your end goal makes a HUGE difference on how to answer a question! It would probably be easier to:
I can make a quick video demo to show the steps, but it will be tonight before I can get to it...or unless someone else beats me to it.
Most maps use just a single line with perpendicular lines to indicate the railroads, right? That would be much easier! Just do steps 1 - 3 above, keeping a single line. If you use the Blend tool as mentioned above, you can change the lines/curves as needed and the ties will stay attached to the path.
Patti
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Here's a quick video showing how to use the Blend tool as laid out in my previous post. I've already drawn my path and the vertical lines for the rail ties. It may or may not work for you, but it gives you another option to try.
Hi Patti
Thank you for the help. That short video did the trick. I created my first single track. However, as it always is with me, it never seems to work 100%. When I brought the 2 end ties perpendicular to the line the left end affected half of the ties and the right one did nothing. The only way I could get the right half of the line's ties perpendicular was to rotate the right end tie parallel with the line. Then if that wasn't enough, 3/4 of the ties ended up having about a 5 deg. bend in them starting about half way between the line to the ties end..
I tried it twice and each time something different happened with the ties. The second time, maybe half of them separated from the line after getting the end ties perpen. and the right one did what it was supposed to this time. Anyway I'll keep at it till I get it right. I would like to get the 2 rail track made too as I wanted to use it on my model railroad clubs website and one of my own sites. I know Peter gave me the 2 rail one but, I'm lost in how to work with that one, right now anyway.
I guess practice will get me the result I desire with one rail. I did find out that when I change the point size only the line changes and not the ties so I have to figure out what will be the best size when I draw the first tie.
It might help to practice placing the blend on a straight horizontal line and practice to see what happens when you manipulate the ends in different ways. Blends are sensitive to changes in their end objects...curve direction, where the center of rotation is located, the direction you rotate, etc. They are also affected by the curve you choose as the path. You can get some very cool effects when you change these intentionally!
If your vertical lines are very short it's very easy to grab the center of rotation or the skew arrow by mistake and cause the blend to look detached from the path or other weird results. Zooming in when you need to rotate the ends will help. And when you rotate the end lines to make them perpendicular to the path, make sure you rotate them in same direction -- clockwise or counterclockwise.
Hopefully you are still around and still get notifications from this site. It was 5 years ago I asked how I could create railway tracks that I could use in some graphics and on a couple of websites using CD12.
A lot has happened since then and I'm just getting back at it again. I'm 72 and why I got W10 OS is beyond me, except, it did look really shiny. I also have a CD graphics suite 2017 trial version. This time I would like to create the railway tracks with the standard 2 rails and ties, but, cant figure it out, let alone, figure out the single line using CD 2017.
So, I'm wondering if you could help me with this, please?
Sincerely