Just posted this to the Autocross section, but it was suggested I repost here...

I finally have a cut of the bezier-curve based Autocross layout designer I mentioned on this forum a while ago. In it's initial form, you can use it to draw course outlines with bezier curves and then have the program place course objects along the curves at defined intervals.

Here's a screen-cap of the UI:

http://www.lyric.com/downloads/tracklab.jpg

The program is available for download here. Unzip into a suitable folder and read the ReadMe.txt file. (Please pardon the large download, it's written in Python and the zip includes the Python runtime & libraries.)

Questions, comments & suggestions most welcome.

Enjoy!!

John.

Very, very cool.

Can you provide a (smaller download) link for people who already have Python?

> Can you provide a (smaller download) link for people who already have Python?

Yes, I will at some point. It uses a number of 3rd-party libraries like wxPython & Numeric you'd have to install as well. It's about 14MB now, which is not too onerous, but it would be about 60KB without the Py runtime.

Would i suggest a little thng. how about cut, copy, paste functon. it will be very usefil.

btw a great app!!

Looks useful, will give it a try if I remember once I get home.

Quote from vrooom :

Would i suggest a little thng. how about cut, copy, paste functon. it will be very usefil.

Yes, to be complete it should have full cut/copy/paste & multiple selections and so on, but I thought it was at least useful in this initial form. You can sort of get the effect of copy & paste by using the Duplicate toolbar button. The other most useful feature feature would be duplicate & offset, so you could draw one side of a course and have it generate the other side. I'll do another rev with all this at some point.

Cheers,
John.

do u have to have lfs to use the program cause my computer is 300k away form me atm

Quote from MAD3.0LT :

do u have to have lfs to use the program cause my computer is 300k away form me atm

No, you can use it standalone to make designs which you export as .LYT layout files. Later, you can transfer them to your LFS installation.

Absolutely brilliant

WOW! Like the sound of this, downloading and gonna test it out now.. Will report anything in this thread

COOL! D\ling now. You should get a screenie of the track from a birds eye view, so we can see the textures.

this is an AWESOME program!!
it does need alot of new features and work though that i'm sure you're already working on!
But for now this will come in very hand for alot of people!

Thanks for the encouraging words, all. It is certainly the case that a lot more could be added to the program, but I wanted to get it out in the simplest form that I thought would be actually useful, both to sort of run it up the flagpole and also not to overwork it.

I'm very interested in all suggestions for improvements and will try to get something out that has just the right set of features (and no more ).

coOL tool man...
really very nice!

Quote from wabz :

Very, very cool.

Can you provide a (smaller download) link for people who already have Python?

[sarcasm] yeah! 14.3mb is waaaaaaaaaay to big [sarcasm/]

Quote from anbiddulph :

[sarcasm] yeah! 14.3mb is waaaaaaaaaay to big [sarcasm/]

on dialup, yes

This app is excellent, it should improve the quality of AutoX tracks, and make them much more fun.

Kudos to you

I am hoping that in the next step you possibly work on some creative shapes for the program.

Doughnuts
L-Corners
Slaloms
Different degree rounded corners
Different degree sharp corners

And all of them would have editable width so you could have a pretty accurately measured course. And the slalom could have an editable spacing, etc... And possibly a way to 'snap' each shape to another node so you build a really good flowing course.


Maybe even more preset arrangements like chicanes, S-turns, box hairpins, etc. They could have a default size each time they are layed down (enough size for any car to fit through properly), but it would help I think.

If you really wanted to go crazy, I suggest that you make some sort of preset import feature. This would allow users to create some presets and import a partial layout "group of objects" to their custom layout. You can sort of do that with this, but it would be nice if we had control over shapes with grouping and then we could all share some creative preset objects!

I also think it would be nice if both of the autocross environments on the screen could be landscape rather than vertical. It would provide a much bigger workspace area on the screen.

It is something I've always dreamed of, and I think this could make it a really fun program for everyone... so finally Auto-X gets some attention!

It could be better with those improvements as Tweakie outlined above, but as of now, its an excellent base too, and quite good, it would be nice to have a way to see where the pits are and stuff, becuase I found myself laying a Figure 8, and had the pits on the wrong end and such.

keyboard controls

i suggest
"A" for the arrow tool
"P" for the bezier tool
hold down "space" to get the hand tool for moving around
ctrl+space+left mouse click to zoom in
ctrl+alt+space+left mouse click to zoom out

(in case you are wondering, these are the keyboard shortcuts from photoshop...except the arrow tool. that's from flash)

also, getting all the object from the built-in editor selectable, such as chalk lines, start/finish and checkpoint.

great program, and keep up the great work. i can't wait to see this program evolve

hi, i'm using the program, but its not easy for me...
i made a layout, but when i load it in lfs, no objects are showing...

can u show a screenshot of a layout u made with ur prog?

Quote from kiss me :

hi, i'm using the program, but its not easy for me...
i made a layout, but when i load it in lfs, no objects are showing...
can u show a screenshot of a layout u made with ur prog?

Here's one: http://www.lyric.com/porscheme ... 6ax5/AX5-track-in-LFS.jpg

What track are you designing for? How many curves? What kind of course object(s) and what spacing? What is the object count in the status area of the designer? When you load it into LFS, what is the object count in the lower right corner?

How do you get two rows of cones? I can only make a string of cones.

Quote from glyphon :

keyboard controls

i suggest
"A" for the arrow tool
"P" for the bezier tool
hold down "space" to get the hand tool for moving around
ctrl+space+left mouse click to zoom in
ctrl+alt+space+left mouse click to zoom out

(in case you are wondering, these are the keyboard shortcuts from photoshop...except the arrow tool. that's from flash)

also, getting all the object from the built-in editor selectable, such as chalk lines, start/finish and checkpoint.

great program, and keep up the great work. i can't wait to see this program evolve

I agree with you, except for the zoom in/out, maybe CTRL++ and CTRL+- would be better, or possibly have definable hotkeys?

Quote from wheel4hummer :

How do you get two rows of cones? I can only make a string of cones.

Duplicate and shift how ever far you want for width