The Model Railway Layout Design Software SCARM

[Mixy]

Hello

I want to introduce my layout design program, called SCARM (from Simple Computer Aided Railway Modeller), which you can download from www.scarm.info and use for planning of your new railway layouts. It has lightweight and intuitive user interface, build-in 3D viewer and many other cool functions and features. I am actively developing SCARM from more than 3 years and will accept any ideas or suggestions about new features and improvements.

Here are 3 screenshots from the 2D editor and 3D viewer - click over them to enlarge:



I hope that you will like SCARM and that it will be useful to all of you

Mixy

 

[Tommy91125]

I think SCARM is really good I'm using it for my new model railway.

 

[RogerB]

I've just had a bit of a play with it and I like it, nice and intuitive.

I designed a basic oval with a reversing loop, three things would be useful.

1) Orthogonal locks when moving items.

2) To be able to select 2 endpoints and display the gap between them. This would be more accurate than the tape measure. Alternatively snap the tape measure to endpoints. Perhaps an algorithm to calculate what standard track lengths would be required to fill the gap?

3) Guide lines (with optional orthogonal lock). To align track whose endpoints are a large distance apart. Most useful at low zoom levels. A guideline would snap on the rail endpoints, be different colour to the track and display its length. Where a track runs at an angle to the XY axes it should be possible to project the guideline along that angle.

 

[Mixy]

Thank you, guys

@RogerB: Good ideas. I will consider them for the next versions of SCARM. However, the guidelines can be represented even now from any Start point and angle by using of temporary straight track pieces. May be I should explain that in more details in the blog.

And as I mentioned the blog, here is it: www.scarm.info/blog. In the blog I am posting all about SCARM that is not mentioned in the documentation like tips & tricks, tutorials & examples, some advanced techniques, video demos, design ideas and more.

A good starting point for beginners are SCARM Video Tutorial Series. Hope all you will like them, even experienced SCARM users

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

One more cool resource in SCARM web site is the section with layouts and track plans, where you will find many projects and designs together with presentations of already build real layouts, all which are created in SCARM. See it here:

SCARM Train Layouts and Track Plans

You may search the projects by scale, size, trackage and other criteria. All or almost all designs are coming together with their .scarm project files for download. You can also send me your own SCARM designs and I may upload them into the database.

Here is the featured layout for February: Warren's Layout in HO scale

Hope all this will be interesting to you

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

And here is it, the new SCARM v. 0.9.24, coming with the long-awaited feature for true roads with grades and various surface markings! See more details about the new version here:

SCARM v. 0.9.24 Released

Hope you will like it

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

3 tutorials about using of the new road feature in SCARM 0.9.24 were published in the blog. See them here:

The roads in SCARM - All tutorials

The articles are showing how to work with the basic road section and how to assemble the crossings, IS adapters and IS approaches in order to get various intersections and combinations, like the one below:

The images are showing right driving surface markings, but left driving is supported as well.

More about the roadways in SCARM will come soon

Mixy

 

[Emyr]

I misunderstood the title of this thread in the "New Posts" search...

Does anyone know of publically-available software for designing real-life alignments? One that allows you to set the restrictions for a given segment (e.g given freight plus 100mph non-tilt EMUs, there would be a maximum cant and minimum radius) and that would report the scale of earthwork or bridgebuilding required for that alignment?

 

[Mixy]

May be others will be able to help you with such software...

And for SCARM I want to present another two interesting articles from the blog. They are:

How To Make a Roundhouse in SCARM - if you want to represent a realistic roundhouse in the track plan and 3D viewer.
How To Speed-Up SCARM - if you are editing a large layout and SCARM is working slowly.

Hope these will be of help when designing the layouts and track plans

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

The new SCARM v. 0.9.25 is ready and comes with two new figures and many new and updated track libraries. Read more about it here:

SCARM Layout Planning Software 0.9.25 Released

The new figures are horizontal and vertical cylinders and will allow drawing of objects and rolling stock, like the small engine showed below:

Hope you will like the new version

Mixy

 

[Llanigraham]

Sorry, but I get this:

Harmful web site blocked

http://www.scarm.info/blog/general/scarm-v-0-9-25-released

This web site has been reported as harmful.
We recommend that you do not visit this web site.

 

[gazthomas]

Sorry, but I get this:

Harmful web site blocked

http://www.scarm.info/blog/general/scarm-v-0-9-25-released

This web site has been reported as harmful.
We recommend that you do not visit this web site.

Must be your ISP. Did you try and access from work? If so problem accidentally blacklisted.

 

[Mixy]

Hello Llanigraham,

Please, tell me which service or antivirus shows that message?

According to VirusTotal and 58 scanners, the SCARM site and the blog article are clean, See results there:

VirusTotal - http://www.scarm.info (scan results)

VirusTotal - http://www.scarm.info/blog/general/s...-9-25-released (scan results)

Mixy

 

[Llanigraham]

No, at home.
Looks like you have a bit of code somewhere that shows a potential problem

 

[MetroDriver]

Just checked the site myself using various scans, and main reported error is that the version of Wordpress used is outdated and vulnerable....

Also no firewall protection to stop malicious activity being inserted into the site by hackers....

That may explain why an ISP has flagged the site as harmful!

 

[Mixy]

I re-checked everything again and it is clean. It could be some AdSense banner that is leading to a suspicious site outside SCARM pages or because of the JavaScript code that I am using for show/hide of the full version history. If that continues, let me know which security product or service is giving this alarm and will check it in details.

Mixy

 

[Llanigraham]

Still blocked.
Using Windows 7 and F-Secure virus checker

 

[Mixy]

OK, I reported the false positive for SCARM website to F-Secure team and the rating should be updated in their products soon. Check again in 1-2 days.

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

In the meantime, several users reported for a problem with the new SCARM 0.9.25 after update. This is probably due to corrupted download of the installation package. It seems that sometimes installer is able to run even if it is not downloaded correctly, but after that, the program crashes on startup. If you also experience such problems, follow the steps described in the link below:

Resolving SCARM Installation Issues

This should help for fixing of bad setup package downloads.

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

Here are all the September's railway blog posts in the SCARM blog.

One of the articles is about the Favorite libraries in SCARM...

...and explains how they can be configured or turned off (if you don't want them in the selection panel).

And there is also a post with very detailed Scenes from Indian Railways in SCARM. See 3 pictures from there:

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

Many users asked about the file with the small steam engine that I used to show the new cylinder figures in SCARM v. 0.9.25 and here is it:

Drawing of Prussian T3 Steam Loco in SCARM

The article shows most of the steps in the drawing of a close representation of Prussian T3 loco in HO scale. In example, here is the wheelset - as parts and assembled:

See more pics in the blog post and download the project file to see it on your own PCs.

Mixy

P.S. You will need the latest v. 0.9.25 of SCARM in order to view this project - older versions will show error message when opening.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Recently I launched the new SCARM website which is now with modern look and responsive design and comes with a lot of new and updated information and resources about the program and its features. See it here:

www.scarm.info

The site now works well not only on PCs, but also on tablets and smartphones too. Contents section is rewritten and optimized for easy navigation and access to the most important pages. The same is valid also for the documentation - it has new structure with many new and updated topics. See the new help page here:

Online help & FAQ about SCARM layout software

Hope you will like the new site

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

Many new model railway layouts were added to the SCARM database in the last weeks. See two of them - one in HO and another in N:

The Layout Extension of Chris in HO scale

Nathan's Pass Railway Layout in N Scale

Both projects contains many new user-created objects such as various buildings, vehicles, rolling stock and more

If you want to see more, check the links below:

Model railway layouts in HO scale (more than 30 so far)
Model railway layouts in N scale (more than 20 so far)
Hornby track plans in OO scale

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

The new SCARM v. 0.9.26 is ready and comes with the new online help system integrated and a Layers feature. Read more details here:

SCARM Railway Layout Design Software 0.9.26 Released

Hope you will like the new release

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

IMPORTANT!

Several bugs were discovered in SCARM 0.9.26 related to the renaming of the layers and then save and restore of the already changed layer names. The patched version of the program was released today.
Please upgrade to SCARM 0.9.27, which can be downloaded from www.scarm.info to fix these problems.

See more about this bugfix update in the following blog post: SCARM v. 0.9.27 Released.

I am sorry if these bugs caused any problems and inconvenience in your work with SCARM. If you see another problems, please report them here or in SCARM Blog and I will try to fix them ASAP.

And here are presented the first very detailed virtual locomotive models in SCARM, created by Ian Donohoe and shown in the following SCARM post:

Detailed 3D Models of US Diesel Locomotives in SCARM

Below are two of them:

These are created with the object's interface of SCARM and are auto-scalable to the scale and gauge of the used tracks in the layout plan.

Download the loco library from the blog's post and use these nice models in your virtual SCARM layouts

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

Hi all and Happy New Year

Here are listed the SCARM railroad blog posts for December with a nice content, especially for N-scalers.

If you are using Kato N Unitrack system, don't miss the Updated KATO N Unitrack Library for SCARM, now with all bridges and viaducts included.

The next version of SCARM is almost ready and will be published soon

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

The new SCARM v. 0.9.28 is ready and published. Read more details about it here:

SCARM Model Railway Designer 0.9.28 Released

Hope you will like it

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

Here are listed the SCARM railway blog posts for January 2015.

Check How To Make Control Panels and Diagrams for SCARM Track Plans article if you want to know more about how to draw a stylized diagrams of your layouts like the example below of oval with one siding.

The next version of SCARM will be published soon

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

The new SCARM v. 0.9.29 is ready and published. Read more about it here:

SCARM Railway Layout Planner 0.9.29 Released

Hope you will like it

Mixy

 

[Mixy]

Here are listed the SCARM railway blog posts for February.

Check also the first Advanced Video Tutorial about working with baseboard feature in SCARM.

Mixy

 

[Kristofferson]

As a complete newbie to railway modelling, SCARM is a lifesaver and has saved me from buying a load of track, only to realise it doesn't all fit together!

Thank you I will donate in due course.