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*                                                                           *
*                                                                           *
*                       ZTRAX v1.0 - November 1995                          *
*                Raffaele Picollo - rpicollo@mbox.vol.it                    *
*                C.so Torino 23/10 - 16129 Genova Italy                     *
*                                                                           *
*                                                                           *
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OVERVIEW

 ZTRAX is a railroad designer's assistant for Z-scale layouts (1:220).
 With ZTRAX, you've all the Maerklin Mini-Club articles as AutoCAD blocks 
 ready to be inserted in technical drawings.
 The realization of complex layouts now is within everybody's reach, by
 simply adding one track after the other, just like the construction of real
 layouts.
 By using AutoCAD's power, you can achieve professional technical drawings
 of your preferred layouts.

 
DISTRIBUTION

 ZTRAX has been conceived and realized only with non-profit purposes and
 can be considered part of Public Domain software; it's addressed to all the
 railroaders, especially to Maerklin Mini-Club hobbyists.
 The ZTRAX???.ZIP file is freely distributable, provided that nobody will
 modify its contents, except upon agreement of the author.
 The inclusion of ZTRAX on CD-ROM collections (as on BBS, etc.) is obviously
 allowed; in this case the author will be pleased to receive a copy of the
 CD-ROM.



REQUIREMENTS

 ZTRAX requires a 80386 Personal Computer and AutoCAD release 11 or later.



USING ZTRAX

 To start drawing your railroad layouts, you have to load ZTRAX???.DWG from
 AutoCAD's menu.
 A mask will appear on screen containing all the tracks and accessories
 available (depending on the release of ZTRAX being used). You're advised to
 print this mask as a quick reference to the serial number of the blocks.
 Next you can erase this mask and draw your layout, renaming the file before
 saving it. In this file will be included all the ZTRAX's blocks, even if you
 cannot see them.
 
 Use the INSERT command to draw the chosen block, named with its serial
 number and use the insertion points to connect the tracks to each other.
 Use '1' as X and Y SCALE parameters and specify the proper angle reference.

 There are two series of tracks. The first if for left-to-right sketching and
 tracks are named with their serial number (e.g. 8500, 8505, etc.).
 The second is for right-to-left sketching and the names of these tracks
 end with an 'R' (e.g. 8500R, 8505R, etc).
 You can always look at the entire list with the command: INSERT <Return>,
 ? <Return>, * <Return>.

 In order to improve layouts' intelligibility, each block contains parts
 drawn on different layers. By turning this layers on and off your layouts
 can be shown to fulfill user's needs.
 You can have two different styles, consisting in two couples of layers
 beginning with a '1' or '2' containing tracks and serial numbers.
 The first uses polylines, whose width is as the real one (sleepers
 included). The serial number is outside of the track, so this style is not
 ideal for complex layouts.
 The second style uses outlines, so the serial number can be drawn inside
 the tracks. This one is for complex drawing and it's faster than the first.
 
 This is the layers' list:

 1_TRAX    First style tracks
 1_SN      First style serial numbers
 2_TRAX    Second style tracks
 2_SN      Second style serial numbers
 POINTS    Insertion points
 ACCESS    Maerklin accessories
 BRIDGES   Bridge set
 TEXT      Text strings
 
 The POINTS layer is particularly important. It contains all the insertion
 points of the various tracks. By setting OSNAP command with NODe option,
 you can join adjacent tracks together in a very simple and quick way.
 NB: to have these points shown, you have to choose one of the point styles
 in the SETTINGS menu.

 The ACCESS layer contains all the accessories needed to complete your
 layouts, like light signals, command boxes, etc.
 
 The tracks' dimensions are in millimeters.


NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR

 Obviously, to allow the developing of newer and more complete releases of 
 ZTRAX, its author would be pleased to receive any comments and suggestions.
 So, if you find ZTRAX useful, please contact the author, sending him your
 ZTRAX-layouts by E-mail. Tell him if you want your layouts to be distributed
 also. The author will add them in the next release of ZTRAX.

 The author would like to receive any donation, photos, picture postcards
 or GIF/JPGs about railways all over the world!
 

 Happy railroading!

 Raffaele Picollo


 Download ZTRAX from:
  ftp://ftp.cs.nyu.edu/pub/local/ber

 Visit this WWW, entirely dedicated to Z scale enthusiasts:
  Z-World http://z-world.com

 Thanks to Brian Redman for his help and support!

 Mini-Club trademark Maerklin GmbH
 AutoCAD trademark Autodesk, Inc.