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Author Topic: Markers intersection  (Read 367 times)

BV6856

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Markers intersection
« on: March 16, 2023, 10:46:46 PM »
Hi all! I'm trying to understand how markers work. And I have a few questions.
I created a style with gaps at the markers, they are 2300mm wide. When I move them closer and they overlap each other, a default "box" appears in these areas (picture 1 highlited yellow). Please help me, how can I avoid this? I would like to see one big gap between the two markers, without the standard box.
The next question is about vertexes on the main spline. If there is any vertex on the spline that divides it, the default "box" cutting my marker. How can I ignore this vertex? ( picture 2).
Thank you very much for your help.

Paul Roberts

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Re: Markers intersection
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2023, 12:09:54 PM »
Thanks for your question.

As you have identified there are some limitations when using markers which basically means they cannot overlap with certain other parts of an array, including themselves.

It helps to understand internally what RailClone is doing. The path is processed in RailClone by dividing it into sections. Things that split a spline into a new section include corners, evenly segments, and markers. Since the path is basically split into smaller sub-splines, this means they can't overlap which is why you're seeing the behaviour you describe.

A couple of workarounds might include

- to remove the box between two close markers, you could use a Conditional node and remove the geometry if the length of the current segment falls below a certain threshold.

- For corners, you could change the settings so that Corner Segments are only added on Corner vertex types. Then on any corners where the markers overlap, you can change the vertex type to Bezier Corner instead.

Please see the attached sample file for an example of both those options.

I hope that helps, please let me know if you have any further questions.

All the best

Paul
Paul Roberts
iToo Software

BV6856

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Re: Markers intersection
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2023, 01:13:28 PM »

Thank you very much for the explanation, it's all clear now :)