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Curve Flex to Consistent Radius

Posted: 02 Aug 2017, 06:32
by Dean
Please help. Can flex track be curved to a consistent radius, without a transition (i.e., "easement") to straight track at both ends?

I've tried with both the curve edit points, and the radius/arc inputs in the elements window. I can't get either to curve a piece of flex to, say, an 18 inch radius throughout the length of the piece of flex (for example, to make the evenly curved middle portion of a large curve). Joining two pieces of curved flex track introduces adjacent easements at the joint, and takes the overall shape "out of round."

Is there a preference or setting I'm missing? Or a workaround?

Thanks for any help. Best wishes,

Dean

Re: Curve Flex to Consistent Radius

Posted: 07 Aug 2017, 07:07
by RailModeller Support
Hello Dean,

the 'Bend to Curved' function currently uses only two control points for the bezier shape representing the flex track. This results in less than optimal shapes in particular for larger arc angles. We've got an open to-do list item to fix this in an upcoming release!

Thanks,
Jan

Re: Curve Flex to Consistent Radius

Posted: 08 Jun 2020, 14:46
by Shanghai-Diver
Hello,

have you been able to enable this? Have been trying to create 5th and 6th radius curves with flex track and having no luck at all. Still seem to only have the two points to play with which doesn't get to where I would ideally like it.

Many thanks!

Re: Curve Flex to Consistent Radius

Posted: 08 Jun 2020, 15:33
by RailModeller Support
Hello Shanghai-Diver,

The way curved flex tracks are shaped has been improved in 6.2, though this is an internal change and doesn't impact the functionality that's always been available to users.
Shanghai-Diver wrote: 08 Jun 2020, 14:46 Have been trying to create 5th and 6th radius curves with flex track and having no luck at all
Sounds like quite a different issue -
can you elaborate?

Cheers,
Jan

Re: Curve Flex to Consistent Radius

Posted: 09 Jun 2020, 00:07
by Shanghai-Diver
Hi Jan,

absolutely. Hornby / PECO make curves than go from Radius 1 to 4, This is a good Illustration of Hornby Geometry Here you see the various options for Radius 1 - 4 (single, double and one other 'special' piece R643 at radius 2.

What I, and I think the original poster want to do (and many others, when I hunt forums for different platforms and building layouts) is to create the next wider radius curves. For Hornby, Radius 4 = 572mm. For each subsequent radius you need to add 68mm

R5 = 640mm
R6 = 708mm
increasing on out by 68mm for each track centre, R7, R8 if you so wished.

Basically we are trying to make a "perfect" wide radius curve that matches the set track using flex track. Easy in real life, REALLY difficult here as using your tool you always end up with an error.

So whilst this looks good, it isn't: Full Circle

As illustrated here (see bottom): Close Up of all, R5 and R6 not been able to bend to create perfect connections

I DON'T want to create a circle, but this illustrates the point where I have tried to shorten and create track lengths. What I actually need to do is create two wider arcs that match the Hornby R8262 track but at 68mm wider / 0.22ft and then 132mm / 0.44ft through a 90 degree corner.

I would have thought this would be a fairly standard thing for the software to do. Basically the software version of Tracksetta

Many Thanks - let me know if still not clear!

Re: Curve Flex to Consistent Radius

Posted: 09 Jun 2020, 08:45
by RailModeller Support
Hello again,

thanks for the details - so have you tried to bend the flex track to a curve using the the 'Bend to Curved' function and enter a radius of e.g. R5 = 640mm or R6 = 708mm?

Still not quite sure where the specific problem is in terms of working with RailModeller Pro - I'm assuming you've located the the "Bend to straight" / "Bend to curved" functions from the Flex Track Properties in the side bar when any piece of flex track is selected in the layout?
(More details are also in the Editing Flex Tracks section in the manual)

Cheers,
Jan

Re: Curve Flex to Consistent Radius

Posted: 09 Jun 2020, 12:09
by Shanghai-Diver
Yes, I ave been using those and had not had success. It is how I had ended up using the mouse to manually bend.

I had done the reading (I thought) but may have missed something so let me go back. Apologies if this is the case. It would explain why the "bend to curve" action appeared so limited in what it did but have ended up going round in circles (and not in terms of the track type).

Will revert if successful or not.

Thank you.