Merging similar shape files

[sculin]

I am somewhat new to route construction as this is my first attempt to construct something useful. For the most part all I need is available from the various object downloads. That is until I came up to crossing the St.Johns river which is quite wide. The period bridge section I whish to use (late 1920's style) is only 60meters long. This means it takes many many sections to cross the river. Hence the question, is there a simple way to merge similar shape files to form one long bridge section ? Thanks in advance for any responses.

[inflammable]

The real answer is no. The shape files aren't editable like that. You can do a bunch of little things to them, but not weld them together.

You could email the builder of the bridge shape, and ask to have however many you want in a single shape. If he still has the source file, it would a snap for him to do it, if he wanted to.

There are various methods to correctly line up several shapes, however. Let me know if you are interested in those.

James

[sculin]

Many thanks for the prompt reply. I would be interested in any method which would reach the desired end.

[inflammable]

This is probably the most popular way to do it.

Determine the total number of those bridge spans. Using the Snap to Grid option, set the grid to 60m, and place the proper number of bridge spans in a line. Then, select all the bridges, using the ctrl key. It'll let you select as many things as you want. With all the spans selected, move and rotate them to the correct place. This saves work moving and rotating individual shapes. See this tutorial for more information:
http://steam4me.railpage.org.au/trainsim/tutorials/orchards.html

You could also look at this tutorial: http://steam4me.railpage.org.au/trainsim/tutorials/perfect.htm and see if you can apply it to your route. It can get trickier, but after you master it, can be a lot easier than the other way.

James

[sculin]

Thank you again. I am just leaving work to face traffic on I95 (Gad). I will give this a try tonight. Some day I just may get good at this sim.

[CARex]

Stu,

Built just the way James described…

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/attachment.php?attachmentid=4073&stc=1&d=1212023164

http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/attachment.php?attachmentid=4074&stc=1&d=1212023250

Have a sparkling evening and best like with your route
Bob

[sculin]

Thanks for the pictures. I tried the procedure last evening on a test route located in north Florida crossing the St. John's river and it works like a charm. Now if I can just find a model of some P5M Marlins for the river......(Joke).