Drawing the track plan

In the track plan you draw your layout: tracks, turnouts, turntables, buildings, signals and the feedback and booster modules. LoDi-Aura later runs your trains on this plan – the more closely it matches the real layout, the better.

Edit mode and operation

The track plan has two modes: edit mode for building and operation for driving. You switch at the top right. In operation the button says “✎ Edit”, in edit mode “▶ Track plan”.

Almost every gesture means something different in the two modes: clicking a turnout selects it in edit mode and switches it in operation. In operation, the editing keys deliberately have no effect.

The most important moves

These moves are enough to get started. All the details are further down and under Mouse and keyboard.

The palette

In edit mode, the palette on the left holds everything you can build. Each group can be expanded and collapsed individually. On the right, the inspector opens with the settings for the selected piece.

Laying track

Placing pieces

Drag a piece from the palette into the track plan. When you drop it, it snaps magnetically onto its neighbour. Or click the piece in the palette: it then attaches itself to the selected track, at the first free end. That way a line grows click by click.

Building on from the end point

Drag the end point of a piece: straights get longer, curves wider, the stubs of a curved turnout longer or shorter – they snap at 30°.

Closing gaps

Choose “Connect ends” and click two open ends. A flex track is laid between them.

Flex track

Clicking “Flex track (gap filler)” in the palette attaches it to the selected track. Drag the loose end to the other side; near a free end it docks. While dragging, R and Shift+R rotate the loose end in 7.5° steps. It keeps this direction, even the next time you grab it, until it docks or you press Esc while dragging.

Double-clicking the flex track sets a bend point; double-clicking a bend point removes it. F switches the side of the curve. With bend points you shape the track freely by hand.

Parallel track

Select a piece and click “∥ Parallel” – with Shift, the parallel track is created on the other side. The arrow ▾ next to it opens “Parallel track spacing”: 1× (default, “fits a crossover”), 1.5×, 2× (“room for a platform”) or “Custom spacing”. Each option shows its value on the model.

Only at 1× do crossovers and turnout ladders fit without an extra piece in between. The choice is stored in the track plan and so applies to the whole layout.

• A flex track without bend points gets its parallel track too – made of one or two flex pieces. If there's already a parallel neighbouring track there, it docks onto it.
• If you mark a connected row of straights, curves and flex tracks (frame or Shift+click), the parallel track for the whole row is created in one step, connected at every joint. Afterwards the new row is marked; another click lays the next track alongside it.
• If there's a turnout in the selection or the pieces aren't connected, the button stays grey. Its tooltip tells you why.

Crossover

Select a turnout and click “⇋ Crossover”. If there's a parallel track made of straights on its diverging side, LoDi-Aura places the opposite turnout there (same type, turned round) and splits the parallel track for it. At 1× spacing the two diverging legs meet directly; with larger spacing a straight at 30° goes in between. A single undo takes it all back.

• Insulated joints, sensor taps, signals and block anchors outside the new turnout stay where they are. A block on the parallel track then ends at the new turnout.
• If the diverging leg is already taken, there's no parallel track next to it, or there's an insulated joint, a signal or a tap where the new turnout would go, the button stays grey. The tooltip tells you why.
• With curved turnouts, the button connects an R1 circle with the R2 circle around the outside: it places the curved turnout of the opposite hand on the neighbouring circle, sets the stubs of both to 30° and splits the curves there. The transition takes up 120° of the circle. That's why new curved turnouts come with 30° stubs straight away.

Selecting, moving, rotating

Deleting in bulk

The arrow ▾ next to “🗑 Delete” opens “Delete all cables”, “Delete all blocks”, “Delete all signals” and “Delete all”. Each option asks first and tells you what is attached: power cables carry the booster assignment, drive cables the Shift address of a turnout, and with the blocks go feedback modules, sensor lengths, stopping points and driving settings. Everything can be undone with ⌘/Ctrl+Z.

Alignment guides

While you drag, the alignment guides show extension rays from open ends and alignment lines – the most important aid for getting a plan straight. Every track end has a line in its direction (where the track would continue) and one at right angles to it (at the same level). On flex tracks lying at an angle and at the exits of a turntable, sector turntable or transfer table, they therefore run at an angle.

What you see while dragging also applies after you let go: if a dot shows docking, the piece sits there; if only an alignment line catches, it stays on that line. Switch them on and off under “🧰 Tools ▾” › “📐 Alignment guides while dragging”; a tick shows whether they're on.

• The alignment guides also work for a marked group: the whole group snaps onto the line. If a free end is close enough, the group docks there; that takes priority.
• If you drag the end of a straight, it snaps level with a neighbouring track end – even on tracks lying at an angle. A cross line shows what it's aligned to.
• A signal that you drag onto a track snaps level with a signal that is already docked – on a neighbouring track or opposite on the same track.
• A blade with a contrasting edge shows the position of each turnout. Show or hide it under “▤ Layers ▾” › “Tracks” › “Show turnout position”.

The inspector

The inspector opens with the settings for the selected piece. It opens on the side where it doesn't cover the piece you clicked – preferably on the right.

At the top of the inspector there are two small buttons: ◀ or ▶ sends it to the other side (which then stays the default until you reload), and the pin pins it in place. When pinned, it stays open even if you click into an empty area. Clicking another piece switches over as usual; Esc closes it.

The toolbars

Above the track plan there is a bar that applies in both modes:

In edit mode, the editor's bar is added above the drawing area:

Tools

• “📏 Calibration run” – a loco measures the block lengths as it runs, see Calibration.
• “🔎 Check track plan” – lists known configuration errors, see Blocks, feedback and insulated joints.
• “🔌 Re-lay all cables” (edit mode only) – creates the sensor cables in the track plan from the addresses entered for blocks, turnouts and connecting tracks.
• “📐 Alignment guides while dragging” (edit mode only) – a switch with a tick.
• “↺ Turnouts to home position” (operation only) – see Turnouts and signals.
• “📌 Pushpin” (operation only) – pins a note to a turnout, a block, a track or anywhere in the plan, see Driving.

Layers

A hidden layer disappears completely. With “Transparent — hidden items as ghosts instead of gone entirely” it stays visible but faded; you can't click it then.

The track plan settings – turnout length, default block length, speed defaults, protection distance and “Cable routing” (Diagonal, Right-angled or Curved) – are under “System” › “Track plan”. They belong to the layout, see Settings. You manage trains and train classes in the “Vehicles” tab.

View

Each device remembers zoom, view and layers per layout – two screens can show different parts of the plan.

Layout parts

You divide a large layout into layout parts – separate pages in the track plan, such as station, main line and staging yard. The tabs are at the bottom left next to the zoom.

• “+ Layout part” creates a new part. Double-clicking the tab renames it; right-clicking lets you reorder or delete it. You can only delete a part when it is empty.
• “⇥ Layout part ▾” moves what you've marked into another part. If this cuts track connections, LoDi-Aura tells you how many – place a pair of transfer points at each one.
• The parts are connected via transfer points. In operation, clicking the point takes you to the other part (“To the counterpart”).
• A second window with ?anlagenteil=Name after the address always shows the same part – handy for a second monitor.

Copy and paste

⌘/Ctrl+C, X and V work with the whole selection, including a multiple selection. Pasting happens at the mouse position. This goes through the computer's clipboard – so you can copy between two editor windows and even between two projects. If the copy comes from a layout with a different gauge, LoDi-Aura tells you. If you have text selected somewhere, ⌘/Ctrl+C copies that text and not the track piece.

Other components

Transfer point

Two places in the plan that are one and the same track – for example for a line that disappears at the edge of the picture and reappears somewhere else. Two points with the same marker form a seam: the train runs in and at the same moment its front is at the other point. There's nothing in between – no length, no sensor, no running time.

You choose the marker in the inspector from the list or type your own (up to 12 characters). The line below tells you whether the point is connected. A pair is exactly two points.

The seam is a block boundary – unless you tick “Block runs through” on the pair: then the block runs across the seam, one sensor is enough for both sides, and the length is the sum. You need this for long blocks that don't fit in one piece in the track plan.

Push button

A “Push button” from the “Automation” group is a button in the track plan. Under “Triggers” in the inspector, you choose what it does:

Text label

Place a “Text label” from “Label” anywhere in the track plan and type in whatever you want to remember – multi-line, size 8 to 160, bold, and if you like “With plate (dark background)”. Choose the colour from six swatches or freely.

You rotate it with the rotation dial: drag, mouse wheel or arrow keys in 5° steps, with Shift to the exact degree; 0°, 90°, 180° and 270° snap. The text is stored in the track plan, and every window shows it.

Logo

Under “Label” › “Logo” you place an image in the track plan, such as the logo of your club or a manufacturer – PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP or SVG. Load it with “Choose image …”; LoDi-Aura scales it down to 800 pixels and stores it in the layout, so it travels along with online backups and exports. Drag the size with the handle at the bottom right; rotate it as with the text label.

Turntable, sector turntable, transfer table

All three are in the palette under “Tracks” › “Crossings & accessories”. You place them like any track piece and dock your tracks onto their exits. Each has a bridge, and when you place it, its bridge block is created automatically: clicking the bridge selects the block, clicking the pit selects the piece. They never rotate when moved – you set the “Orientation” in degrees in the inspector.

Connecting the bridge to the command station

Under “Control via the command station”, choose the template that matches your decoder. Almost all turntable decoders on the market use one of two schemes; there are also three general ones for sector turntables, transfer tables and home-built solutions.

“Numbering”: “every index position has one” (track 1 = exit 1) or “only positions with a track, in order” – that's how decoders count when you teach them the tracks. The “Commands per position” list shows what LoDi-Aura would send for each position. Compare it with your decoder's manual before running for the first time.

• If, on the first test with the Märklin 7686 template, the opposite side of the bridge ends up at the track, tick “With ‘Track n’ the opposite side comes to the track”.
• Transfer tables that only know one direction and a start pulse (such as the Märklin 7294 with two k84) can't be controlled by LoDi-Aura – it doesn't keep count of the positions.
• LoDi-Aura doesn't check whether a train fits on the bridge. If it's longer, it stops with its front at the end of the bridge and sticks out at the back – in that case, only move the loco across.

Problems?