Features in 3.2

CAD Import

News for serious track planners!  If you design your plan using one of the top Windows track CAD programs, now you can automatically convert it to run in TrainPlayer.  Lay out your rail, click a few times, then add trains and run! Test-drive before you buy the track.

Here's how the new feature works.  You open one of the popular sectional track CAD systems listed below, and build a layout using precision pieces from just about any manufacturer.  Save or export this file, then open TrackLayer 3.2 and use the new Import command to read it.  TL spent all summer learning how to decipher this data and turn it into a network of runnable track.  The result is an operational layout, with the exported image as background.

The CAD programs supported in 3.2 are:

• Atlas Right Track, the very popular freeware from Atlas

• WinRail, the full-featured big brother of ART, from Blumert Software

• AnyRail, the elegant, attractive system from DRail Modelspoor Software

This work would not have been possible without excellent help from Gunnar Blumert (author of ART and WR) and David Hoogvorst (AnyRail).  It has been a pleasure working with these guys.

Here is an example, using an elegant plan developed in AnyRail.  A couple of clicks converts it to a ready-to-run layout, with background turned off so you can clearly see the generated tracks:

  

Click either image to see an enlarged view.

As a fine example of a layout conversion project, Doug Parrish used Atlas Right Track to create a working version of the Lionel layout you see running around Cary Grant's floor in the 1951 movie "People Will Talk."  To see a clip of the layout in action, click here.  To download a zip of the TrainPlayer layout, click here. 

Layout resize. Version 3.2 has new features for changing the size of your layout and scaling the track relative to the background.  Now it is easy to add space for staging tracks beyond the edges of the scenery, as shown -->

One new tool lets you resize the overall layout relative to the background scenery; another lets you resize the track relative to the layout.
  Diesel sounds. Train running sounds are no longer limited to steam chuffs.  3.2 offers a set of speed-dependent running sounds, some steam, some diesel.  Two sets are installed with the program; others are downloadable.  Or add your own.

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Features in 3.1

Premium content: Several great new collections of layouts were custom built for TrainPlayer by a talented group of railroad artists -- scenic renderings of some of our best plans, fully-tracked satellite photos of yards from all over the continent, a beautiful set of original plans developed in 3rd Plan-It by Peter Lloyd-Lee.  The package includes car collections -- detailed renderings of hundreds of cars and locomotives.  Access to the Premium collection requires a license.  For more info and screen shots, see the Premium Content page.

Choosers: A single style of dialog now takes the place of three previous ones, and adds many conveniences for selecting layouts, car collections, and sounds.  Files from all over your disk can be dragged in from Windows Explorer and organized in tree controls for easy navigation and browsing. Each chooser has a Web tab where you can browse and download files directly from the website.  A preview window shows thumbnails of layouts and car types, or plays sounds.

Snap: Version 3.1 becomes more useful for track plan design with the addition of several types of snap while drawing.  Snap to angle creates exact #4 or #6 (or your choice) turnouts; snap to parallel keeps yard tracks at uniform separation; snap to radius gives precise circles and curves.  Detailed on/off choices are available in the preferences.

Preferences: The Preferences dialog has been redesigned for enhanced friendliness, tossing some old clutter while adding new choices, reducing the number of tabs while organizing more sensibly.  Each tab has its own help page.

Track check: The Track Checker now gives you more information in a more useful form.  Output is given in a list box, and includes not just errors but data such as external links, associated files, and required car collections.  If you click on an error line, the layout zooms to that location and highlights the offending track automatically.  The Track Highlight dialog also has this new auto-zoom feature.

Track color: Now you can color individual track sections, or choose a color for new track so that you can draw a whole yard or mainline in the shade of your choice.  Some of the satellite layouts use different track colors to clarify complex multi-line yards.

Zoom: The Zoom menu now includes choices for quick zoom to percent sizes.  Or, to zoom to a specific area, choose "zoom on drag" and drag a rectangle around the area.

Export image: Generate a JPG (or your choice of graphic format) which shows track, grid, background and/or trains.  Output size and quality is adjustable.

Publish: New dialogs prepare layouts and car collections for publication -- gather the components, unify links and filenames, check for errors, copy to a destination folder.  We developed these tools for our own use, but they are handy for anyone who shares layouts and cars.

Help buttons: have been added to all dialogs, showing context-specific pages from the local help file.

Show/hide/delete trains: Now you can toggle display of trains, along with track, grid, background.  A new button in preferences allows you to delete all trains from the layout.

Rail display:  Now you can see two steel rails instead of just a single brown line.

How to Obtain 3.2

There is a single installer for all products.  It delivers the program, screen saver*, help files, and a small set of layouts and cars.  Other layouts and cars are on the web, easily accessed from the chooser dialogs in 3.2.

To get from where you are to 3.2, find your button and click:

If you are a licensed user of 3.0 or 3.1:
	The free upgrade brings you the new program and screen saver* plus access to web collections.  Your existing license remains in effect, and you continue to use your existing layouts and cars.
	Upgrade to 3.2 and obtain the Premium Layouts at the same time.  You get the upgrade package and a new license code permitting download of our entire collection, including 101 Track Plans.  You must be a licensed user.
If you bought an earlier version:
	If you are still running 2.x, move up to 3.2 and get a huge set of layouts in the bargain.  This is the only upgrade option for users of older versions.  You must be a licensed user.
If you have not purchased before:
	The free demo is for anyone -- current user/tried the demo before/never been here.  Try all features of TrainPlayer and TrackLayer 3.2 for 30 days.
	We have bundles of features and layouts for prices from $29 to $99.  Browse the product list and pick the one you like.

* The TrainPlayer Screen Saver now comes with all products except the demo version.  If you now have a standard version (TP or TL), you get the screen saver as a bonus with your upgrade.

If you encounter problems with the install or setup, see Version 3.1 Install Issues.