I love what you do here but it is way beyond me in computer terms. I will continue to use pre-bought papers but will do as you do and wrap the paper around the card, which I can see makes a huge difference. Thanks for that bit, which will make my buildings better. Keep up the brilliant vids/tutorials. Cheers, Rick Bulldog
I have had Inkscape sitting on my computer for a long time. No idea where it came from. I usually use Corel (paid for it's business) but this was very interesting and I will have an experiment with it. Excellent, thank you.
I think I will like inkscape a lot, and I know I like your layout a lot. I feel such affinity with the period you model. Thanks for sharing your projects!
@@Chandwell Michael, your InkScape and associated modelling skills are enviable. There are so many other techniques you have used which look so useful. How long have you been using InkScape?
This is the dicovery of the week! Finally found a scratchbuilder in N scale. I very much appreciate your approach with card and textures and nevertheless highly ambitious structures. Found many very helpful tipps in every video and I have only watched some yet. Very well presented. Thank you for including all aspects on how to get there beforehand i.e. how to handle the drawing software. Looking forward if I can find any tipps on how you print, as I always end up with too glossy prints. Hope you can keep this up. It is inspiring, humourous and brief. Not to mention the perfect buildings as a result.
Thank you! It's great that you've found my channel. There are not many channels that focus on scratch-building in N scale. I use Matt photo paper (Watch episode 3 of my Victorian Hotel series to see what kind) and then use Matt varnish once I have finished. Have fun! Feel free to ask any questions on my videos. I will always try to answer! :) --Michael.
Useful and enjoyable! I learnt so much, I have been using alt b to create a bitmap of my clipped textures then delete the original clipped texture to keep file size down, there is a slight loss in quality but I don’t notice it printing in N. The pattern technique and the 3D effect are both brilliant too and I’ll be trying all these new techniques out. Thanks again Michael for another excellent tutorial!
Great video Michael, very inspiring with some great tips. Your creative ideas on this channel are unique to the model railway community, it's refreshing to see new angles. Keep up the good work, I hope to see more. Thank you.
Great tips there Michael and I will be trying them out. I have mainly used the scalescenes textures which start around 5 MB but my files quickly grow to 60-70MB and my first file for the terrace houses was over 600MB. My poor old laptop was getting a bit warm!! I resorted to doing different elements in different files to keep things manageable on the factory. I’ll give these a go and see what happens. Cheers
Yeah 600mb files can happen if you have multiple elements all with textures that are 5MB. Because of the base 64 encoding, a 5MB texture takes up almost 7MB in Inkscape before you even start. I do think there may be something else at play to make them even bigger but I’ve not yet worked out what. Good luck. Let me know if you notice any positive benefit. Michael.
Not sure if it’s me or has happened program wide, but Inkscape has finally placed those node tool icons in a useable location. Right on the object itself! Instead of hunting for the square, circle and X they’re on the corners of the object itself. I’m now able to create a square, clip a texture to it, and then scale it to size all at the object. About time!
I use Inkscape for graphic design work and this popped up on the main screen of YT. I have used clipping a few times but the size of the file became a pain in the wottsit so thank you for this.
Well I hope you're satisfied with yourself! Last night I found your videos and today I've spent LITERALLY 8 hours messing about with this software and have managed to design a little cottage for my layout... I'll be printing it out tomorrow as it's basically a printable drawing. Won't be able to add much relief to it though... That bit still eludes me sadly.. I wonder would you be able to make a video where you show us how to create a small building, either made up or real, But using imported textures rather than a blank template to print and wrap with brick papers?
Gosh! Thank you, I think! I hope those eight hours were enjoyable!? That’s a good idea. A quick start-to-finish where I design and build a little outhouse or something?
Hi again. I saw your reply very briefly but it has now been deleted. Not sure if you deleted it or TH-cam did (it does seem to delete comments that contain a link to Textures Dot Com). But yes. Your idea is good. Fitting it into half an hour will be a challenge!
@@Chandwell I reckon you could do it! How did you texture the front of your Weir pub? In the video it's never mentioned and just shows you adding DETAILS to it? Cheers!
Great, love your layout. Have you ever considered making a small line which passes through the back and goes down a small helix and back to the beginning. You know for passing trains like freight and just passes. Or is it just an end to end? Hope this helps
Thank you! Unfortunately that would not work for Chandwell. The station end is blocked in on both sides with concrete and the whole thing is built on top of cupboards that are in use for our general household stuff, so there really is no space for a couple of helix. I would love to have a round-and-round layout but not until the kids move out and we have a spare room! 😂👍
When saving there ante many file types. Which one should I save as? I tried saving as ‘Inkscape SVG’ but it kept saving it as a Microsoft edge page that I could then not edit
SVG is the best and correct format. Edge is capable of opening them and may have set itself as the default. Don’t worry. Open Inkscape and use File > Open to open the file in Inkscape. Also try right-clicking the file and choosing “Open With” and then choosing Inkscape. It may give you the option to “always open files of this type with Inkscape” in which case your problem will be solved. Let me know how you get on.
I have a question. I'm using Scale Scenes and Inkscape. When I import a full sheet texture, like red brick, Inkscape sees it as two halves. It then only prints one of the halves even if I group the 2 halves together. To print the full sheet I have to save the page as a PDF and them import that. Why???
Hi Mark, I assume that the Scalescenes kits are made with two duplicate textures to fill the A4 sheet and that it’s duplicated in a way that Inkscape doesn’t understand properly. That’s just a guess though!
Do you have any idea how long your buildings are likely to last? I am thinking about the different adhesives you use, for example the glue sticks and the glue on the back of the sticky labels.
I have no idea, Andy. I made the first building using these techniques about 12 years ago. It was 00 scale and has been stored on-end in the garage for the last 7 years. There is no sign of peeling or delamination yet. I often wonder about my "sticky label method" window frames. I've been using this technique for only 18 months, but so far, so good.
Do you know of an alternative to finding the cross, circle, square? I don't get it when I use the Node Tool and scroll out. I can't find another way to reduce a Textures concrete down to 1:148. TIA. Ali
I would like to underscore the point about not moving your files once you start creating your design. While Michael notes deleting a file will break the link to your design (around the 28:00 mark), so does organizing your files into folders after you create your design. I'm in the final print stage of my building, and thought I'd neaten things upby organizing the scattered files into folders. Don't do that! I now have a document full of broken link notices and moving the files back to the original folder doesn't help either. Sigh. Literally back to the drawing board!
Hi! Yikes! This can become a bit of a pain, but all is not lost! In Inkscape, right-click on one of the broken images (the big bit of "Linked Image Not Found") and select "Image Properties". In the tool panel that appears, you will see "URL". This is the name of the file relative to the SVG file. So if your image was called "Bricks.jpg" and you moved it to a folder called "Textures", then change the URL to "Textures/Bricks.jpg" and you will see the image come immediately back to life. If you move the image up to a parent folder, use "../". So if you move your Bricks.jpg to the folder ABOVE where your SVG file is, then change the URL to "../Bricks.jpg". My image URLs are usually something like this: "../../../Assets/Ashlar.png". I hope this helps. MIchael
@@Chandwell Thanks Michael! Unfortunately, my version of Inkscape (1.1, which I think might be the latest) doesn't seem to have an Image Properties dialog when you right click (or any other click for that matter :)) , only Object Properties, which doesn't have those options. I saw on the Inkscape wiki discussion about the Image Properties dialog, but I can't seem to locate it on my version. I'll keep looking though. Thanks again for the detailed reply.
@@NorthernJerseyRailroad Is it Windows or Mac? Mine is Windows. You will only get Image Properties on a right click if you are genuinely clicking on an image. If you have clipped it to a shape you will need to do a Release Clip and then make the change and then re-apply the clip. If it is grouped then you will need to un group. Drop me an email if you like and I can help you. Hello@chandwell.uk
I love what you do here but it is way beyond me in computer terms. I will continue to use pre-bought papers but will do as you do and wrap the paper around the card, which I can see makes a huge difference. Thanks for that bit, which will make my buildings better. Keep up the brilliant vids/tutorials. Cheers, Rick Bulldog
Thanks Rick. Yes, the same wrapping technique works well with pre-printed textures. Go for it! Michael
I have had Inkscape sitting on my computer for a long time. No idea where it came from. I usually use Corel (paid for it's business) but this was very interesting and I will have an experiment with it. Excellent, thank you.
Thanks for sharing! Good luck - I hope it is useful for you, although it may not be as good as Corel is...? Michael
I think I will like inkscape a lot, and I know I like your layout a lot. I feel such affinity with the period you model. Thanks for sharing your projects!
Thank you Phil. Good luck with your Inkscape projects. Let me know how you get on! -Michael
Thanks again Michael.
You’re welcome, Neil.
@@Chandwell Michael, your InkScape and associated modelling skills are enviable. There are so many other techniques you have used which look so useful. How long have you been using InkScape?
I hope your still doing these because they're very helpful.
I've not done one of these in a long time.
@@Chandwell Unfortunate, but still a legacy you should be proud of. Thank you for taking your time to post these.
Excellent Michael. Much appreciated.
Thank you Peter. I hope it was of some use! Michael.
Hi Michael - another well delivered tutorial on the power of Inkscape. Cheers Euan
Thank you Euan.
I've neen making some NZ houses in inscape for card models. The tip about file size etc is very useful!
Thanks Ben. Really good to know it was useful for you. Michael.
Thanks for that. Will be making use of that
Thanks Neil!
Thanks Michael, these tips help save a lot of time!
Brilliant! Thank you John! Michael.
Fascinating to see how you use this technology. Probably not something I would ever use but interesting nevertheless. Roy.
Thanks Roy - I am glad you found it interesting if not useful! :)
This is the dicovery of the week! Finally found a scratchbuilder in N scale. I very much appreciate your approach with card and textures and nevertheless highly ambitious structures. Found many very helpful tipps in every video and I have only watched some yet. Very well presented. Thank you for including all aspects on how to get there beforehand i.e. how to handle the drawing software. Looking forward if I can find any tipps on how you print, as I always end up with too glossy prints. Hope you can keep this up. It is inspiring, humourous and brief. Not to mention the perfect buildings as a result.
Thank you! It's great that you've found my channel. There are not many channels that focus on scratch-building in N scale. I use Matt photo paper (Watch episode 3 of my Victorian Hotel series to see what kind) and then use Matt varnish once I have finished. Have fun! Feel free to ask any questions on my videos. I will always try to answer! :) --Michael.
Useful and enjoyable! I learnt so much, I have been using alt b to create a bitmap of my clipped textures then delete the original clipped texture to keep file size down, there is a slight loss in quality but I don’t notice it printing in N. The pattern technique and the 3D effect are both brilliant too and I’ll be trying all these new techniques out. Thanks again Michael for another excellent tutorial!
Thank you Tim. The use of alt-b never occurred to me. That’s a good idea. Thank you! See you next time. 👍
Great video Michael, very inspiring with some great tips. Your creative ideas on this channel are unique to the model railway community, it's refreshing to see new angles. Keep up the good work, I hope to see more. Thank you.
Thank you Daren! Hopefully there will be lots more to come. Station buildings next, and then maybe an Inkscape video on how to make ghost signs.
Great tips there Michael and I will be trying them out. I have mainly used the scalescenes textures which start around 5 MB but my files quickly grow to 60-70MB and my first file for the terrace houses was over 600MB. My poor old laptop was getting a bit warm!! I resorted to doing different elements in different files to keep things manageable on the factory. I’ll give these a go and see what happens. Cheers
Yeah 600mb files can happen if you have multiple elements all with textures that are 5MB. Because of the base 64 encoding, a 5MB texture takes up almost 7MB in Inkscape before you even start. I do think there may be something else at play to make them even bigger but I’ve not yet worked out what. Good luck. Let me know if you notice any positive benefit. Michael.
You Sir are an Artist. Many thanks, love finding your channel.
Thank you kindly, sir! :)
Great tutorial!! Very interesting and educational for the layman.
Thank you!
Thank you so much, this is a game changer!
You're welcome!
Not sure if it’s me or has happened program wide, but Inkscape has finally placed those node tool icons in a useable location. Right on the object itself! Instead of hunting for the square, circle and X they’re on the corners of the object itself. I’m now able to create a square, clip a texture to it, and then scale it to size all at the object. About time!
Oh cool! I’ll have to have a re-try! Michael
I use Inkscape for graphic design work and this popped up on the main screen of YT. I have used clipping a few times but the size of the file became a pain in the wottsit so thank you for this.
Thank you for the feedback, Surin! :)
Well explained Michael
Thank you John
Very good video and very useful I learned lots of great things keep up the great work 😊
Thank you Roger. I will certainly keep the videos coming.
This is hugely useful, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Great work! Thanks
Thank you William.
Great video, very inspiring!!
Thank you. Great to know.
Smashing.
Thanks Bob! I’ve enjoyed following you along watching all my videos! You’re nearly caught up now.
Well I hope you're satisfied with yourself!
Last night I found your videos and today I've spent LITERALLY 8 hours messing about with this software and have managed to design a little cottage for my layout... I'll be printing it out tomorrow as it's basically a printable drawing.
Won't be able to add much relief to it though... That bit still eludes me sadly..
I wonder would you be able to make a video where you show us how to create a small building, either made up or real,
But using imported textures rather than a blank template to print and wrap with brick papers?
Gosh! Thank you, I think! I hope those eight hours were enjoyable!? That’s a good idea. A quick start-to-finish where I design and build a little outhouse or something?
Hi again. I saw your reply very briefly but it has now been deleted. Not sure if you deleted it or TH-cam did (it does seem to delete comments that contain a link to Textures Dot Com). But yes. Your idea is good. Fitting it into half an hour will be a challenge!
@@Chandwell I reckon you could do it!
How did you texture the front of your Weir pub?
In the video it's never mentioned and just shows you adding DETAILS to it?
Cheers!
Great, love your layout. Have you ever considered making a small line which passes through the back and goes down a small helix and back to the beginning. You know for passing trains like freight and just passes. Or is it just an end to end? Hope this helps
Thank you! Unfortunately that would not work for Chandwell. The station end is blocked in on both sides with concrete and the whole thing is built on top of cupboards that are in use for our general household stuff, so there really is no space for a couple of helix. I would love to have a round-and-round layout but not until the kids move out and we have a spare room! 😂👍
When saving there ante many file types. Which one should I save as? I tried saving as ‘Inkscape SVG’ but it kept saving it as a Microsoft edge page that I could then not edit
SVG is the best and correct format. Edge is capable of opening them and may have set itself as the default. Don’t worry. Open Inkscape and use File > Open to open the file in Inkscape. Also try right-clicking the file and choosing “Open With” and then choosing Inkscape. It may give you the option to “always open files of this type with Inkscape” in which case your problem will be solved. Let me know how you get on.
I have a question. I'm using Scale Scenes and Inkscape. When I import a full sheet texture, like red brick, Inkscape sees it as two halves. It then only prints one of the halves even if I group the 2 halves together. To print the full sheet I have to save the page as a PDF and them import that. Why???
Hi Mark, I assume that the Scalescenes kits are made with two duplicate textures to fill the A4 sheet and that it’s duplicated in a way that Inkscape doesn’t understand properly. That’s just a guess though!
Do you have any idea how long your buildings are likely to last? I am thinking about the different adhesives you use, for example the glue sticks and the glue on the back of the sticky labels.
I have no idea, Andy. I made the first building using these techniques about 12 years ago. It was 00 scale and has been stored on-end in the garage for the last 7 years. There is no sign of peeling or delamination yet. I often wonder about my "sticky label method" window frames. I've been using this technique for only 18 months, but so far, so good.
@@Chandwell That sounds like a decent lifetime, especially if kept in the garage.
Where I can download textures ?
For textures I use in Inkscape, I use textures.com.
Do you know of an alternative to finding the cross, circle, square? I don't get it when I use the Node Tool and scroll out. I can't find another way to reduce a Textures concrete down to 1:148. TIA. Ali
No I don’t I’m afraid. Not something I’ve come across but it does seem to be temperamental.
Peachy
Thanks!
I would like to underscore the point about not moving your files once you start creating your design. While Michael notes deleting a file will break the link to your design (around the 28:00 mark), so does organizing your files into folders after you create your design. I'm in the final print stage of my building, and thought I'd neaten things upby organizing the scattered files into folders. Don't do that! I now have a document full of broken link notices and moving the files back to the original folder doesn't help either. Sigh. Literally back to the drawing board!
Hi! Yikes! This can become a bit of a pain, but all is not lost! In Inkscape, right-click on one of the broken images (the big bit of "Linked Image Not Found") and select "Image Properties". In the tool panel that appears, you will see "URL". This is the name of the file relative to the SVG file. So if your image was called "Bricks.jpg" and you moved it to a folder called "Textures", then change the URL to "Textures/Bricks.jpg" and you will see the image come immediately back to life. If you move the image up to a parent folder, use "../". So if you move your Bricks.jpg to the folder ABOVE where your SVG file is, then change the URL to "../Bricks.jpg". My image URLs are usually something like this: "../../../Assets/Ashlar.png". I hope this helps. MIchael
@@Chandwell Thanks Michael! Unfortunately, my version of Inkscape (1.1, which I think might be the latest) doesn't seem to have an Image Properties dialog when you right click (or any other click for that matter :))
, only Object Properties, which doesn't have those options. I saw on the Inkscape wiki discussion about the Image Properties dialog, but I can't seem to locate it on my version. I'll keep looking though. Thanks again for the detailed reply.
@@NorthernJerseyRailroad Is it Windows or Mac? Mine is Windows. You will only get Image Properties on a right click if you are genuinely clicking on an image. If you have clipped it to a shape you will need to do a Release Clip and then make the change and then re-apply the clip. If it is grouped then you will need to un group. Drop me an email if you like and I can help you. Hello@chandwell.uk