The Gauge Editor is a tool that allows you to create gauges for your trains quite easily. It can be used to define the graduation steps, plus the colour of both the graduation marks, and the background.

Gauge Editor Main Screen

The text on the buttons and the labels is Japanese (and you'll note that I don't have Japanese Character Support installed), so here is a description of each element on the menu on the left, as best as I understand it...

Menu

Description

A Gauge Background Colour (Hexadecimal Value) This is used to define the background colour of the gauge. B Graduation 'Start and Finish' Seperation Angle (degrees) This parameter enables the user to determine the seperation of the 'start' and 'finish' graduation lines. The value is given in 'degrees' and '0' degrees is at the bottom centre. The easiest way to understand this, is to consider the 'sweep' of the graduation lines. If it is to be 315 deg, then the value you would input here is 45 deg (i.e. 360 deg - 315 deg). The first line will be drawn at +22.5 deg (clockwise) and the last line will be drawn at -22.5 deg (anti-clockwise). C Maximum Value Defines the maximum value of the gauge. D Primary Graduation Line Colour (Hexadecimal Value) This is used to define the primary graduation line colour, i.e. the colour of the lines that mark off 0, 10, 20, ... n mph. E Primary Graduation Line Thickness The thickness of the primary graduation line, in pixels. F Primary Graduation Increment This defines the increment that is used when drawing the primary graduation lines. For instance, this increment may be '10' in the case of a speedometer, so a line would be drawn in every tenth space, from '0', up to the maximum value of the gauge. G Secondary Graduation Line Colour (Hexadecimal Value) This is used to define the secondary graduation line colour, i.e. the colour of the lines that mark off 1, 2, 3, ... n mph. H Secondary Graduation Line Thickness The thickness of the secondary graduation line, in pixels. I Secondary Graduation Increment This defines the increment that is used when drawing the secondary graduation lines. For instance, this increment may be '1' in the case of a speedometer, so a line would be drawn at every position, from '0', up to the maximum value of the gauge. J Preset Number 1 A predefined set of parameters for a certain gauge. K Preset Number 2 The second set of predefined parameters for a gauge. L Update Display Forces the program to update the display with your settings.

When the settings have been added, the user must copy the display into a paint program to clean the image (remove most of the length of the spokes), resize it, and add the values.

Let's create a speedometer! Here's the specification for a typical 100 mph, British speedometer:

(A) Background Colour = Black (hex value: 000000) (B) Seperation Angle = 45 deg (lines sweep 315 deg) (C) Maximum Value = 100 (mph) (D) Primary Line Colour = White (hex value: FFFFFF) (E) Primary Line Thickness = 5 pixels (F) Primary Line Increment = 10 (mph) (G) Secondary Line Colour = White (hex value: FFFFFF) (H) Secondary Line Thickness = 1 pixel (I) Secondary Line Increment = 1 (mph)

Click on the 'Update Display' button, and here's the result...

Next, take a screen shot, and paste it into your preferred paint package. Remove the borders and title bar, leaving just the black screen and the gauge lines...

Now remove the spokes from the centre outwards, to leave just the marks...

Hey presto! Ready for resizing and addition of the labels! Have fun! :o)

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