TrainPlayer/TrackLayer
3.1 for Windows
Beta 1, 14 Mar 08
Version 3.1 brings
a batch of great new content -- layouts and car collections -- and some major
new tools for managing it. For plan designers, there are handy new snap
tools for laying precise yards and turnouts. Plus plenty more -- see below
-- and the ongoing parade of bug fixes.
This version is a
free upgrade for 3.0 users. It is currently in beta testing.
Expected release date is early April.
New and Improved
Features
-
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.
-
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 3PI 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 ($24.95, less when bundled with another
product) which will be available on the shopping page at release time.
Premium Content page is
under development.
-
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.
Testing
If
you would like to participate in the beta test, send a request by e-mail to info
at trainplayer. Test instructions and download links are sent by e-mail.
Coming Before Release
-
Revised manual with dialog help pages
-
Full set of layouts and car collections ready for download
-
Fixes for what the testers find
