Very easy-to-use application for drawing routes on maps, inserting vehicles, previewing an animation and exporting it to AVI movies.
- Route Generator
- Version :1.7
- License :Trial
- OS :Windows All
- Publisher :Michiel Jansen
Route Generator Description
Route Generator is a very simplistic application specifically designed to help users easily create routes on maps. It’s not as glamorous as it sounds, since it comes packed with some basic features, such as route simulation and animation export.
Quick install and simple GUI
The setup procedure is brief and uneventful. In matter of interface, Route Generator features a standard window with a fairly intuitive structure that shouldn’t impose any difficulties to users.
Easily import images
Local images can be imported with the help of the file browser, as long as they have the BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG or TIF format. Moreover, you can add an image from Google Maps without leaving Route Generator’s interface (just paste a link).
Create routes in draw mode
By entering draw mode you can click various parts of the map to create a route. What the program basically does is apply lines (solid or dashed) with custom colors and sizes, letting users make any adjustments on the go.
Insert vehicles into your maps
In addition, you can select the mode of transportation between airplane, bicycle, bike, boat, car or train (or none), set the total animation time (in seconds), and enable a smooth route.
Vehicle settings are customizable when it comes to the size, angle, mirror mode, and orientation (fixed or automatic). Meanwhile, new vehicles can be added to Route Generator from JPG, GIF or PNG images, in order to create custom settings for them too, before inserting them into the map. Undo and redo functions are available.
Preview and export the animation
Once all plans are made, you can preview the animation as well as export it to an AVI clip. Each frame included in the video is saved to BMP format, and you can also consult a log file for any errors.
Configure app settings
As far as program options are concerned, you can modify the Bmp2Avi location (the utility used to generate the AVI animation), edit the video name, delete the BMP frames if you have no use for them, select the FPS, key frame rate and codec, establish the smoothing coefficient, as well as hide vehicles in the start and end frames.
Conclusion
Route Generator may take a while to generate an animation and each frame. It uses low-to-moderate memory and low CPU, so it shouldn’t affect PC performance.
However, this app is basically a paint tool with very few options aimed at road map editing (nothing advanced). It doesn’t even offer support for actual map files, such as KML and KML (supported by Google Earth). On top of that, the output video was distorted during our evaluation.
In conclusion, Route Generator is not really the best application that users may resort to when creating routes on maps. We must also take into account that the tool has not been updated for a while.