Laying Switches on Curves

W

warpedboy2

Member
Hi,

I'm trying to add some switches to curves, but when I click on the existing track, the curves go out of alignment.

Is there a way to avoid this, please?

Thanks

Marcus
 
You have to make a short straight track - approximately 5 meters long - immediately after the switch, on the deviation.
 
When you do that, you lose your procedural track feature of being able to see the blades changing. So, I do that when there is no other way.
 
After nearly 20 years it is still pretty much impossible to do decent looking points on curves. The formation of the junction and avoiding dogleg appearance absolutely depends on having that straightened section before the "toe" of the switchblades. It's not as if we even have any fixed track curved points that would adapt to the track spline type in use. It is actually quite frustrating as there are many locations where complex trackwork at stations or yards etc. is progressively laid throughout a curve, making it next to impossible to achieve a true prototype appearance for such locations.

If you're listening N3V, we need some code changes to add this type of pointwork along with proper diamonds and slips of course.
 
Vern said:
along with proper diamonds and slips of course.
Click to expand...

A comment I always add when asked to fill in another N3V survey , sadly it seems to get thrown into the "later" pile , I mean its a railway sim , trains run on tracks yet I suppose getting the tracks to render correctly at slips and diamonds doesn't carry the same pizazz as some of the bolt on vanity projects that we've seen .
 
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Thinking about, all that's probably needed to make curved points work is the ability to hard define the radius of a spline curve (another oft requested feature). That way either side of the spline point for the diverging track will maintain a constant radius and you can also fix the radius of the diverging track.

Over to you (again) N3V!
 
I use a technique involving arranging the track work with fixed track sections, and when everything is properly aligned, replacing the fixed track sections with procedural track. I actually use it for all of my track laying, but have been very satisfied with the results I get on intricate track work, such as curved trun outs and double slips. I've even got some curved double slips in use, and all the curved parts are smoothly curved, and all the parts that are supposed to be straight are straight. Ever since Host-then-Post went away, I haven't known how to post a screen shot. If someone can tell me how I can do this, I'd be glad to post a picture of a sample curved turnout, and if you like the result, I would be glad to post a step-by-step series of screenies.
 
GoofusClam57 said:
I use a technique involving arranging the track work with fixed track sections, and when everything is properly aligned, replacing the fixed track sections with procedural track. I actually use it for all of my track laying, but have been very satisfied with the results I get on intricate track work, such as curved trun outs and double slips. I've even got some curved double slips in use, and all the curved parts are smoothly curved, and all the parts that are supposed to be straight are straight. Ever since Host-then-Post went away, I haven't known how to post a screen shot. If someone can tell me how I can do this, I'd be glad to post a picture of a sample curved turnout, and if you like the result, I would be glad to post a step-by-step series of screenies.
Click to expand...

You can upload a picture for free to www.imgur.com

Click on the share options and copy the text for forums and paste here.
 
Thanks for the imur instructions, John! I might have done it correctly. Here's what I ended up with:

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]
25yrX4X.jpg


I'm going to post it and then come back and view this thread to see if the picture appears.
[/FONT]
 
Cool - it worked! That's actually the last picture I intended to post, so let me try this one:

cmyly80.jpg


This should be a "ground level" view of the completed example curved turnout. The outside radius is 275m and the inside radius is 125m. Only curved track is used, there are no short straight sections to accommodate the points. The procedural point animation appears and operates as it should. To the right, you can see the pieces of the sectional fixed track I used during construction.
 
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And this is an overhead view of the same turnout, to show that the curvatures appear smooth and of a constant radius. The sectional tracks have been "staged" for my third screen shot, which I ended up posting first, by mistake. That first screen shot is the same a this one, except the sectional tracks have been moved back into place over the procedural track. This is to demonstrate that the curvatures not only appear smooth and of a constant radius, but actuall are so. If this is the kind of result the OP is seeking, please respond to this thread again, and I will try to post a series of screenies demonstrating the technique I've been using.

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]
zEPtqGw.jpg


[/FONT]
 
And, BTW, this is the curved double slip I mentioned originally. It actually does use a couple short sections of straigh fixed track to "lock things down", but the general technique is the same, and the result is what I was after:

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]
pllCNkq.jpg


[/FONT]
 
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