12-03-2009, 01:44 PM
steinjr Wrote:MountainMan Wrote:It does indeed, but would you spend years learning to play a musical instrument merely to enjoy listening to a symphony?
I have mastered enough difficult skills in my lifetime. My hobby is meant to be relaxation and enjoyment, not frustration caused by my realization that I am "XtrakCad challenged." :?
Well, the fact that you found XtakCad very hard to learn does not mean that most people will be unable to learn to use it, or that most people will need to spend years to learn to use it at a sufficient level to do what you claim to be doing in that other program you use - doing a rough "will it fit" sketch.
For that you only need to learn how to go to the file menu, choose the parameter file for Atlas sectional track (or whatever kind of track you are using) and deselect other parameter files, and then click where on the layout you want the various pieces of sectional track.
Or to use three buttons on the tool menu - as in "circle track tool" - enter desired radius and click where you want it, "straight line tool" - click and drag where you want the track, "parallel track tool" to put a second line next to the first. That will allow you to see if curves will fit and how close together you can fit tracks.
Not exactly brain surgery. But by all means - if it doesn't work for you and you have an alternate way that works for you, then do it the other way.
Smile,
Stein
Ah, yes...the old art of damning someone with faint praise...
I tried all those little "tricks" to "simplify" that you mentioned, but with poor results. I can, after all, read the directions. Now, if I cut open a body in front of you, how many things can you properly identify in the shortest possible time while the patient is bleeding out in front of you? Can you do it and fix it before the patient dies or suffers irreversible brain damage - roughly four minutes? Why not? I find it quite simple to do, even when being shot at. You can easily read a book on medicine and one on surgery and that should tell you all you need to know, shouldn't it?
Or, if you prefer, can you build a cantilevered 1100 square foot wrap-around deck on a fifty-five degree slope, by yourself using only hand tools? I did that after reading a book on building decks.
Do not mistake a particular lack of ability in a certain very limited area such as XtrakCad for a shortage of either skill or intelligence. We do what we do best...all of us.
Smiling...
Mountain Man