JeremyC Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 In the thread about 'Exhibitions - Time for a Change' there were some comments about Exhibition Guides. On that subject I have a question for the Exhibition managers among us. I am at the moment updating my Club's layout information sheets with the intention of putting them onto our website from where they can be downloaded. What I would like to know is how exhibition managers prefer this information submitted i.e. hard copy or electronic file? If the latter then what format [Word doc, pdf, etc] is preferred. Should layout diagrams be included in the main file or as a separate picture file, if the latter what format? Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard of the Moor Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 IMHO, a zip file with a text document in Word (or other easily cut'n'pastable format) and separate PNG files for pictures and trackplans is the way to go. All images to be high res and at least 300dpi. Remember to include a trackplan for publication and a separate diagram showing the space you need for exhibiting, inluding any operating space, tables and chairs required, and where the power connects. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Revolution Mike Posted October 22, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 22, 2012 What James said! Definitely separate document for text and images (though I would use high quality JPGs for photos and PNGs for plans etc). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterl Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Having just finished the Hull Model Railway Show Guide I prefer layout descriptions (about 250 words) as word files and track plans as jpgs, sent as email attachments. Dead easy to transfer into a Publisher document ready for printing. (actually sent to the printer as a pdf file) For the website a two line description with details about the owner, scale/gauge. See www.hullmrs.org/hullshow to see the layout. Often find however that there is not room for the track plans in the Guide, which is a pity but! Try to keep the selling price of the Guide to 50p Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Endacott Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Any electronic format is fine by me - provided that it can be opened by a free viewer such as Open Office. The easiest way to convey text is actually to send it as part of the body copy in an email. The most important thing is to ensure that the layout description is written in correct English. Every year I have to spend ages correcting spelling and punctuation in badly written guide entries. The next person who writes that he has an imaginary layout is likely to get his expenses paid in imaginary money! Geoff Endacott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 If you are putting details on the club website I would say a PDF document covering 1 or 2 pages of A4 would be best, covering the basics - a plan of the stand with clearances etc marked, a brief (1 paragraph) description of the layout, transport requirements, operator numbers and contact details etc. this should also include a few good quality photos of the layout - personally I also like it if I can see one of the whole stand when assembled. Photos help as many layouts are recommended by other club members and it can be hard to judge ideal locations etc when working blind! (I probably see less than 20% of the layouts I invite in advance of the show.)This document would also be handed out at shows for dealing with enquiries recieved there. I would keep the more detailed information off the website, sending it out by email with completed forms after receiving an invite. Track plans and layout plans sent out as a high res / high quality jpeg or png file, and show guide entry in any easily copy-able text form. There is nothing worse than having to type out a layout description that has been posted to you or rewrite it due to poor grammar, so make sure it is of a good quality and the plan is up to a standard that is suitable for inclusion in a publication that people may be paying for. It sounds obvious but you would be suprised what you get sent from time to time! Hope that helps. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted October 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 25, 2012 Having attended many exhibitions with different layouts over the years, we have modified our layout info sheet many times. Its difficult to know where to stop putting info on these as sometimes I have felt that the details have been overlooked by exhibition organisers possibly due to too much being on them but on the other hand if it was made simpler there just wouldnt be enough info. The biggest problem is that despite marking the operator position on the outline plan, we often get a clash with the next layout, with either their layout butting up to ours where we need to operate the layout from or a clash with their operating position.This could well be for a number of reason such as the other layout not being specific enough or maybe ours isnt. We did have one show where the column supporting the roof was tight against the layout just where one of our operatingp oints was. Luckily that layout doesnt have a control panel so we just about got away with it but really did hinder us if we needed to get under the layout or change stock. Some exhibtion organisers ask for the operating space in theri invite whilst some specifically statet that they dont want that, so can only presume thay have had some layouts ask for too much. I would be interested in seeing other layouts info sheets, particularly their plans as would be interesting to learn if we have missed something. I will see if I can extract mine form the info sheets and post here if others are interested, for any constructive comments. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyC Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 Thank you to those who have replied. A number of useful points and comments to take into consideration. At the moment we do have pdf info sheets for some of the layouts which are linked to from the layout's page on the club website. For anyone who is interested and can make some constructive comments the club is the Edinburgh and Lothians and the layouts with info sheets are Caeredwyn, Glendevon, Puddle Bridge and Talybont. Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Endacott Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I see that Glendevon is another model of an imaginary railway. Aagh! One day I am going to organise an imaginary exhibition. It will save a lot of work. Geoff Endacott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted October 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 25, 2012 Is 'fictitious ' OK? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Endacott Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Is 'fictitious ' OK? Not really. The correct term is fictional. If something is imaginary it only exists in someone's imagination. Imaginary friends don't exist in the real world in the same way that imaginary layouts can only exist in the space between their creator's ears. Fictional refers to a work of fiction. A model can represent a fictional railway in the same way that a film can depict a fictional character. James Bond is a fictional character. The films which feature his exploits are real. Fictitious implies an intent to deceive. For example, a suspect might give the police a fictitious address. Although it is often used to refer to layouts it is not really appropriate. Geoff Endacott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium southern42 Posted October 25, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 25, 2012 "One day I am going to organise an imaginary exhibition. It will save a lot of work." And can I come along, in your imagination, that is, with my imaginary friend? These are really useful and interesting points, as I do Avago's info sheet, already out date So, please, carry on the discussion - about exhibition guide details, not the imaginery bits. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted October 25, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 25, 2012 Here is one of my layout guides with some info removed for security reasons. Ian Banbury Guide.pdf Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyC Posted October 26, 2012 Author Share Posted October 26, 2012 I see that Glendevon is another model of an imaginary railway. Aagh! One day I am going to organise an imaginary exhibition. It will save a lot of work. Geoff Endacott To me the statement that 'Glendevon [the layout] represents an imaginary ex North British Railway branch' implies the model is real [and can physically go to exhibitions], but the prototype only exists in someone's imagination. I would suggest for it to mean what Geoff says the statement would be 'Glendevon is an imaginary model of an ex North British Railway branch' i.e. the model is in someone's imagination, but the prototype is real. My thesaurus gives fictional as a synonym of imaginary. Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belsay Lad Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 To me the statement that 'Glendevon [the layout] represents an imaginary ex North British Railway branch' implies the model is real [and can physically go to exhibitions], but the prototype only exists in someone's imagination. I would suggest for it to mean what Geoff says the statement would be 'Glendevon is an imaginary model of an ex North British Railway branch' i.e. the model is in someone's imagination, but the prototype is real. My thesaurus gives fictional as a synonym of imaginary. Jeremy Agreed. 'Imaginary', 'fictional', 'freelance'... All legitimate as is the term 'modellers licence' in my view, as not a Pendantic type, to descibe a layout? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Endacott Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 My thesaurus gives fictional as a synonym of imaginary. Roget's Thesaurus gives train line as a synonyn for railway. Anyone fancy a model train line exhibition? Geoff Endacott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Endacott Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 'Imaginary', 'fictional', 'freelance'... Does a freelance layout work for itself? That's another example of a word which is often used in completely the wrong context. Geoff Endacott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyC Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 To get back to the subject after our foray into the depths of the English language. What do people use to draw up track plans. Currently I do the drawing in Word. As Word doesn't have the ability to directly save its drawings as graphics file I usually print the drawing out then scan it. Word can save the document as a html document which gives the drawing as a png file, but its not particularly hi res [96dpi]. Jeremy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted October 27, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 27, 2012 As I have never spent enough time to learn any drawing software, and I tend to hand draw the diagrams and scan in. This does mean that a number of layouts still don't have track plans yet. I have used paint in Windows to do track diagrams for control panels etc., Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisM Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 I use paint to draw the layout diagram, saving it as a .BMP file (which is massive). This is then opened in Photoshop and saved again at a high quality setting but as a .JPEG file of a reasonable size which can be attached to any emails etc... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 FWIW all the trackplans I do for MTI are drawn in XTrkCad, saved with FScapture (Freebie version is still availabe - Google is your friend) as a JPG, reopened and lettered/extras added in PaintShopPro, saved as a new JPG, and then the filesize is reduced to somthing more reasonable using an excellent little program called The Jpeg Wizard2 that trades quality against size - most trackplans can be reduced to half the file size with no noticeble deterioration in quality Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belsay Lad Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Does a freelance layout work for itself? That's another example of a word which is often used in completely the wrong context. Geoff Endacott Actually quite a good point which I hadn't thought of!!! There are probably good and bad examples of this (freelance!) but I don't want to start mentioning names/layouts and stir things up. Perhaps the phrase 'imaginary' should best describe those layouts that I, and no doubt many others, have designed in our minds whilst seating in an armchair with a glass/cup of our preferred 'brew' at hand? I know that I have had plenty imaginary layouts...(more than built!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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