Track Planner is a freeware .NET 1.1 application used to draw model railway track plans. It is not open-source, but the application itself is in the public domain (there is no license fee but 'incentives' are always welcome). It is currently at varying stages of development. An initial Version 0.0 is available for download.
The Class structure of the application is evolving, as revisions are made for new functionality.
General requirements for the application iclude:
- The Track Planner application has Zoom funtionality where the range is 0.0001% to 100% of actual size in steps of 0.0001. There is no foreseeable reason to go beyond 100%. Printing takes place at the zoom level currently in use. A future consideration might be to increase the zoom level for printing, to utilise the higher resolution of a printer.
- The Track Planner application has support for transitions from straight to curve and changes of radius within curves.
- The Track Planner application has support for gradients and elevations. The render colour 'greys' as the elevation of the track changes. The larger the deviation above or below the current base level, the lighter the render colour. There are 8 changes in colour. The current base elevation and the above/below colours can be altered
- The Save files are XML based. As such they can be altered with a text editor, but if the Track Plan cannot be rendered, an exception is thrown.
- The Track Planner application does not take into consideration scale, electrical or physical considerations or constraints.