3rd PlanIt tutorial?

[TinyTurner]

There are such beautiful designs out there.
I bought it thinking I could figure it it out. Nope.
It there a tutorial somewhere that holds your hand and shows you what to do?

Incidentally, Anyrail has been updated to include the Fastracks range, which was one of the reasons to buy 3rdplanit.
It would be helpful to have a representation of the bench work.

[Bill H]

Out of idle curiosity did you search for it?

[TinyTurner]

I did, could not find anything specific here.

Was hoping for someone with 'special knowledge' to come along and reference something with a video talk through.

The YT channel has the room outline and that's about it.
I found the PDF.

I need a lot of repetition with words and pictures.  Narration is better 

[wazzou]

Incidentally, Anyrail has been updated to include the Fastracks range...

I think that's been the case for a few years.
It was when I purchased the license probably more than 3-4 years ago.

[reinhardtjh]

Just a heads up if you have an interest in 3rdplanit - Check out the IO group at https://groups.io/g/3rdplanit  The message archive should be open to anyone.

[Bill H]

I did, could not find anything specific here.

I asked if you had researched your questions in order to figure out how much effort you were willing to put into learning the program. A lot of your questions could have already generally been answered on the company's website, and their supporters site. All you had to do was research with a simple Google query, not just here. To be honest, CAD software is not a particularly easy type of program to learn and is not something for somebody who needs a lot of hand holding or spoon feeding.

3rd Planit is a great program if you are willing to spend >significant< time to learn and experiment with it. There is no quick fix to get it to do exactly what you think it should do, without spending time starting at zero and learning it. It has a high learning curve. EasyCad and some of the simpler programs might be better for you, or even paper and pencil. A good friend of mine, whose layouts have been in several magazines, to this day, finds CAD software too difficult and especially time consuming to learn and thus designs all of his layouts with paper and pencil. Just like MR's David Popp and others have done. I have seen a number of MR layouts designed on paper and pencil. Try it before you get too frustrated with CAD.

[wmcbride]

I had/have CAD experience as an engineer and I found 3rdPlanit difficult and with a steep learning curve as mentioned.

I was irked when I had to pay for an upgrade (several years ago) and let it all go.

[TinyTurner]

I guess I have two years to learn about it
I am used to figuring out to get what I need to work in most things.   

My main program is Anyrail which has been vastly improved since I first bought it. I didn't know it had been upgraded to the standard it is now when I went for 3rdplanit.
I use it in conjunction with a cut list optimiser to work around the physical dimension of wood and foam.
It has most things but no benchwork for multi level.  By now I sort of know how to use it for sketching to see what will fit before committing.  I had the habit of messing around far to long only to change the design.   
It is amazing what will fit on paper until it's scaled properly   
Getting the feel for what will work, setting minimum radius ect.

I admire the paper drawings in the old magazines, but I am not a draughtsman. I have to pity my old school teacher sometimes 

[Bill H]

I think you have made the right decision, sticking with Anyrail. Another plus, is you can export a JMRI dispatcher panel from Anyrail. Saves a lot of time if you go JMRI.

[John]

There is also another alternative that is FREE -- Xtrkcad ..



https://sourceforge.net/p/xtrkcad-fork/wiki/Home/

XTrackCAD is a CAD program for designing model railroad layouts.


Using it, you can
* Design layouts in any scale and gauge,
* Use the predefined libraries for many popular brands of turnouts to help you get started easily,
* Add your own favorite components,
* Manipulate track much like you would with actual flex-track to modify, extend and join tracks and turnouts,
* Test your design by running trains, including picking them up and moving them with the mouse.
* At any point you can print the design in a scale of your choice. When printed in 1:1 scale the printout can be used as a template for laying the track to build your dream layout.
* Learning XTrackCAD is made easy with the extensive on-line help and demonstrations.

XTrackCAD is available for free on Mac, Windows and Linux.