Route layers - what am I doing wrong?

[sniper297]

Got a need to add a bunch of splines across tracks and other splines, decided to try copy and past - except when you copy and paste something it replaces what was already there, so if you paste a catenary support wired across a platform spline, track, and overhead wire, you lose all the previous splines. Well, dummy, that's what layers are for! Okay, so made a new route layer, placed and aligned the spline, copy and paste - platform spline, track, and overhead wire gone. Okay, so I locked the route layer, double checked I was in the new temp layer, tried again, platform spline, track, and overhead wire all gone.

What am I missing? Got the route layer locked, working in a different layer, I thought that was supposed to prevent anything in the other layer from getting moved or deleted?

 

[pware]

I stand to be corrected here but I don't think you can use "copy and paste" to move objects between layers - unlike many graphics programs. The objects you copied obviously came from a layer and that layer attribute (name/ID) is copied but not altered when it is pasted to somewhere else. The normal method of moving objects between layers is to alter their layer name in the properties ("?") tool.

This may be something that could be looked at in a future update but until your post it was not something that I had ever considered as being an issue.

Peter Ware

 

[sniper297]

That's the problem, I created a new route and named the layer "temp". Simple one baseboard route, place spline and save. Switch to Chicago Metro, merge route, merge the "temp" route in. Chicago Metro "Route-Layer" is locked, switch to temp layer, copy and paste spline. Paste it over a spline that already exists in the "Route-Layer" layer and that spline is deleted. Working strictly in the new temp layer for both copying and pasting, original route layer is locked, yet it's deleting the spline in the route layer.

 

[pware]

OK, I just did some testing and can confirm that some of what you are saying is correct. A paste will delete all objects (trees, buildings, etc) and replace them with the object in the copied area - from memory this has always been the case. However, it did not delete or replace the splines (the Paste Objects and Paste Track buttons were ON) but laid the copied splines over the top of the existing ones.

As for the layers, all the pasted objects were pasted into the current layer (the one that was active when the paste operation was made) and this was not the same layer that they were originally copied from.

Peter Ware

 

[Dermmy]

...it did not delete or replace the splines (the Paste Objects and Paste Track buttons were ON) but laid the copied splines over the top of the existing ones...

Wandering off-topic from the layers thing, but pasting splines is a bit hit-and-miss, it depends on where the spline vertexes are relative to the copy box. It will only paste splines where both ends of a 'segment' are within the box, if only one vertex is inside the box it won't paste the spline. Not certain, but I imagine the same would apply to pasting over an existing spline, if only one 'end' is in the paste box it probably won't 'delete' the existing spline...

Andy

 

[sniper297]

Probably won't = always does in Australian?

Funny how English can have such different meanings. :hehe: One vertex in the area is what deletes it, if it's a long spline you can paste between vertices without deleting it as long as neither vertex falls in the paste area. If either end vertex is in the paste area the whole thing goes every time even if it's a mile long.

Here's what I'm getting;

Platform Highley might be confusing, keep in mind the end caps are pretty long, you can see where the vertex is just left of "name" about 10 meters from the physical end of the platform. All these splines are in the route layer.

Lock route layer and hide the key, make new layer, add spline in different layer. Still working in different layer, select and copy the pole and wire spline.

Still in the different layer, by all that's holy all these splines, being in the locked route layer, should be impossible to delete by any means. Now you see them;

Now you don't. Note the far platform is still there because the vertex (being about the top of that ramp) is outside the paste area. The near platform had the vertex at this end inside the paste area, one section of track and two sections of wire spline that had their vertices in the paste area are also gone.

 

[pware]

Interesting demonstration. You are right, both vertices (vertii??) of all the splines I pasted were within the copy/paste box. Contrary to Dermmy's speculation (if I am reading him correctly) the splines being pasted over had their vertices well outside the paste box but did not disappear.

 

[Dermmy]

Yep - the last sentence relating to pasting was a guess based on what happens when copying - wrong