____________________
CAD Vantage (tm)
version 1.00
Gamma Software (tm)
____________________
COPYRIGHT
_____________________________________________________________________
COPYRIGHT
---------
Copyright 1992 by Gamma Software. All rights reserved.
TRADEMARKS
----------
CAD Vantage is a trademark of Gamma Software.
CompuServe is a registered trademark of CompuServe, Inc.
Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks, and Windows is a
trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
TrueType is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
Arial and Times New Roman are registered trademarks of the
Monotype Corporation PLC.
DISCLAIMER
----------
Users of CAD Vantage must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
CAD Vantage is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties,
expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties
of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author
assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which
may result from the use of CAD Vantage.
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i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Contents
-------- Page
Introduction ........................................ 1
About This Manual ................................ 2
Getting Help ..................................... 2
System Requirements .............................. 2
Manual Conventions ............................... 2
Getting Started ..................................... 4
General Program Information ......................... 12
Parts Of The Program Window ...................... 12
International Number Formats ..................... 12
The Program Coordinate System .................... 12
Specifying Positions ............................. 13
Creating Drawing Elements ........................... 16
Lines ............................................ 16
Arcs ............................................. 16
Circles .......................................... 17
Points ........................................... 18
Text ............................................. 19
Drawing Element Properties .......................... 20
Setting Line Properties .......................... 20
Setting Text Properties .......................... 21
Setting Point Properties ......................... 24
File Operations ..................................... 25
Saving The Drawing ............................... 25
Opening An Existing Drawing ...................... 25
Creating A New Drawing ........................... 26
Printing / Plotting The Drawing ..................... 27
View Operations ..................................... 29
Zooming In On An Area Of The Drawing ............. 29
Displaying All The Elements In The Drawing ....... 29
Restoring A Previous View ........................ 30
Zooming In And Out ............................... 30
Moving The Drawing Left/Right/Up/Down ............ 30
Redraw: Cleaning Up The Drawing Area ............. 31
Edit Operations ..................................... 32
Selecting Drawing Elements ....................... 32
Moving Drawing Elements .......................... 32
Copying Drawing Elements ......................... 33
Deleting Drawing Elements ........................ 35
Rotating Drawing Elements ........................ 35
Scaling Drawing Elements ......................... 35
Changing Drawing Element Properties .............. 36
Listing Drawing Elements ......................... 36
Clearing The Current Selection ................... 37
Undoing Changes To The Drawing ................... 37
Configuration Operations ............................ 38
Changing The Selection Set Color ................. 38
Setting The Plot Scale ........................... 38
Changing The Cursor Step Size .................... 38
Getting Help On-Line ................................ 39
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ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Exiting The Program ................................. 39
Appendixes .......................................... 40
Quick Key Summary ................................ 40
Clipboard Format ................................. 40
Memory Management ................................ 41
Glossary ............................................ 43
Tables
-----
1. Element Snaps ................................... 15
2. Font Information ................................ 23
Figures
-------
1. Main Window ..................................... 4
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iii
INTRODUCTION
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CAD Vantage is the first affordable CAD (Computer Aided Design)
program for Windows. It provides a wide range of functionality
in an easy to use package.
CAD Vantage allows you to create drawings of real world objects
in two dimensions using their actual measurements. They can then
be plotted at any scale you choose on any of the vast number of
printers and plotters supported by Windows. The biggest advantage
of using a computer to create these drawings over conventional
hand methods is the ease with which a computer based drawing can
be edited and then replotted at different scales.
CAD is used in many fields including: architecture, cartography,
electronics and engineering. It can be used to create house plans,
maps of all kinds, printed circuit diagrams, and any kind of graph,
chart, diagram or illustration.
This program allows you to create drawings using 5 basic drawing
elements. These elements are: lines, arcs, circles, points and
text. You may enter exact coordinates for these elements, pick a
position on the display or "snap" to a position on another element
in the drawing. For example you can draw a line that starts
exactly at the end of an existing line.
Once these basic drawing elements are in your drawing you can edit
them to your liking. They can be edited individually or as a
group. The elements can be deleted, copied, scaled, rotated and
their properties can be changed. These operations can be undone.
This allows you to experiment with the drawing.
Many properties of the drawing elements can be specified. The line
type (e.g. solid, dashed, dotted, etc.), line color and line width
can be specified. Text properties include: font, size, color,
angle and justification. Point type, color and size can also be
set.
The drawing can be zoomed and panned to look at different parts in
more detail. Zoom functions include: window, extents, previous
and factor.
CAD Vantage is designed to be powerful and easy to use. The
program contains on-line help to get you up and running as quickly
as possible. A prompt area is displayed at the bottom of the
window which instructs you how to perform each command. A status
area displays pertinent program information at a glance. The
program also employs easy to use visual dialog boxes.
Gamma Software is committed to providing you with quality software
at affordable prices.
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1
INTRODUCTION
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About This Manual
-----------------
Read the "Getting Started" section first. The rest of the manual
can be read as needed to get more information on a particular
subject.
Getting Help
------------
If you have a problem with this program and cannot find the answer
in the documentation help may be obtained by calling:
(303) 490-2928
or via Compuserve mail at:
73737,1721
or by writing to:
Gamma Software
P.O. Box 8191
Fort Collins, CO 80526
Please describe the problem in sufficient detail so that it can be
reproduced by us.
We are open 8am-5pm Mountain time (Mon-Fri).
Support is currently free and unlimited. We do reserve the right
to change these policies in the future.
System Requirements
-------------------
Windows 3.1 and a system capable of running it:
- Personal computer (286 or better).
- 640K conventional memory and at least 256K extended memory.
- DOS 3.1 or later.
- Windows supported display.
- Hard disk with at least 6MB of free disk space.
- Floppy drive.
- A Windows supported printer, mouse and color display are
highly recommended.
Note - this program will NOT work with Windows 3.0 or previous
versions of Windows.
Manual Conventions
------------------
When two keys need to be pressed simultaneously to perform a given
operation they are separated by a plus (+). For example Shift+Tab
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INTRODUCTION
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means to press the Shift key and hold it down while the Tab key is
pressed. When a menu option or other text from the program is
mentioned it is enclosed in quotes. Values that must be input by
the user are enclosed in quotes as well. Enter them without the
quotes. For example if the manual instructs you to enter "45" in
a field within the program then enter the number without the quote
marks.
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3
GETTING STARTED
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This section will take you on a brief guided tour of the program
and demonstrate how to use some of its main features. It is
assumed that you are familiar with Windows. If you are new to
Windows then you should read the getting started section of the
Windows manual first. If you are already familiar with CAD you
can probably skip this section. It is also assumed that you have
already installed CAD Vantage and executed the program and you are
currently at the main program window, below.
+---------------------------------------------------+
| CAD Vantage |
+---------------------------------------------------+
| Main or Pull Down Menu |
+----------------------------------------+----------+
| y | |
| | |
| ^ Drawing Area | Status |
| | | Area |
| +--> x | |
|(0,0) | |
+----------------------------------------+----------+
| Prompt Area |
+---------------------------------------------------+
Figure 1 - Main Window
When you first enter CAD Vantage you are placed in a new "Untitled"
drawing. This program uses a standard 2 dimensional xy coordinate
system. Positions are specified by giving their x and y value.
These positions are indicated by 2 values within parentheses
in this manual. For example (2,3) indicates an x position of
2 and a y position of 3. The origin of this coordinate system
(0,0) is initially placed in the lower-left of the drawing area.
The x axis starts at the origin and increases to the right. The y
axis starts at the origin and increases upward. The first 2
fields in the status area indicate the current xy position of the
cursor within the drawing area. When the cursor is within the
drawing area it is displayed as a small cross. It can be moved
using the mouse or the keyboard arrow keys. These xy positions can
be in any units and are referred to as "drawing units" in this
program. They are related to actual sizes using the plot scale
(more on this later). Move the cursor around the drawing area and
watch how the xy position in the status area changes to get a feel
for the coordinate system.
The initial drawing is blank, this means it contains no drawing
elements. To draw elements within the drawing area you simply
select "Draw" from the pull down menu and then select one of the
options on this menu. For example to draw a line starting at the
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4
GETTING STARTED
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position (10,10) select "Line" from the "Draw" menu. The prompt
area will then display:
Select first end point of line
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
The first line of the prompt area tells you what the program is
currently looking for. In this case it is asking you to enter the
first point of a line. The second line of the prompt area tells
you how to accomplish this using the mouse. The third line tells
you how to accomplish the task using the keyboard. This same
format for the prompt area is used throughout the program. The
first line tells you what the program wants, the second line tells
you how to do it with the mouse and the third line tells you how
to do it with the keyboard.
Getting back to what we set out to do -- draw a line starting at
(10,10) -- click the right mouse button or press the F2 key. This
brings up a coordinate input dialog box. You are initially placed
in the x value field. Enter "10" in this field. Now press Tab or
click on the Y-coordinate field. Then enter "10" in that field.
Press Enter or click on the "OK" button. The position (10,10) has
now been specified for the first end of the line.
The first line of the prompt area has now changed to prompt us for
the second end point of the line. You do not have to specify
exact coordinates for drawing elements. You can also simply pick
them within the drawing area. To do this move the cursor using
the mouse or arrow keys to any position within the drawing area.
As you move the cursor a line is drawn from the first point you
selected to the current cursor position. This represents the line
that will be drawn if the current cursor location is selected.
When you have positioned the cursor where you want it click the
left mouse button or press Enter. We have now successfully drawn
a line. You may continue to draw another line that starts at the
end of the previous one or you can draw another element.
To draw an arc select "Arc" from the "Draw" menu. Arcs must
always be drawn in a counter-clockwise direction by entering the
first end point, then the center and finally the second end point.
For example lets draw an arc that starts at (50,10), has a center
point of (30,10) and an end point of (10,10). To do this click the
right mouse button or press F2. Next enter the coordinates (50,10)
in the dialog box the same way you did for the first line end point
in the previous step. Repeat this procedure to enter the center
point of the arc at (30,10). Now move the cursor and as you do so
an arc is drawn using the previously specified end and center
points and the current cursor position as the last end point. This
represents the arc that would be drawn if the current cursor
position is used for the last end point. Select the position
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5
GETTING STARTED
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(10,10) for the last end point as before (click the right mouse
button or press F2 and enter the coordinates in the dialog). You
have now drawn an arc. You can continue drawing more arcs by
entering their start, center and end points or select another
drawing element.
To draw a circle you follow the same kind of procedure as for
lines and arcs. Select "Circle" from the "Draw" menu. Select a
position for the center of the circle. A circle is then drawn
with the given center and through the current cursor position.
Select a position on the circle and the circle is added to the
drawing.
To draw points select "Point" from the "Draw" menu and then select
a position for the point. A point is added to the drawing at the
given position.
To draw text select "Text" from the "Draw" menu and enter the text
alignment point. This is the upper-left corner of the text string.
After selecting the alignment point a dialog box is displayed to
allow you to enter a text string. Type in the desired text string
and click on the "OK" button or press Enter. The given text is
then added to the drawing at the specified position.
Experiment with these drawing commands until you feel comfortable
with them.
As we have seen selecting another command from the "Draw" menu
ends the previous one. Selecting anything from the main menu
except "Options" will end a drawing command. The reason "Options"
does not end the current drawing command is so you can change
the properties of whatever you are drawing without having to
reselect the drawing command (more on this in a moment). There is
also another way to end a drawing command. Click the right mouse
button or press F2 while a drawing command is prompting you for a
position and then select the "End" button from the coordinate input
dialog. For example select "Line" from the "Draw" menu. Now
click the right mouse button or press F2. Next select the "End"
button. This will end the line command and clear the prompt area.
The "Cancel" button on that menu cancels manual input of the
coordinates and allows you to go back to selecting them with the
cursor.
We have now covered all of the drawing elements you can create
with this program. Next we will cover some ways of changing the
look of these drawing elements. The "Options" menu contains all
of the properties you can specify for the drawing elements in the
"Draw" menu. Some general program parameters can be set using the
"Options" menu as well.
First lets look at the different kinds of lines we can draw.
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6
GETTING STARTED
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Select "Line Color" from the "Options" menu. This brings up the
color selection dialog. Select one of the colors from this menu.
Only solid colors can be specified. This means that if you select
a nonsolid color it will be mapped to the closest solid color. See
your Windows manual for more information on colors.
After entering a color select "Line" from the "Draw" menu and pick
2 points within the drawing area. A line will be drawn in the
selected color between the 2 given points.
You can change line properties in the middle of drawing lines
without ending the line command. For example select "Line Type"
from the "Options" menu. This brings up the line type dialog.
Click on the "Dash" line type. The "Dash" radio button will be
marked and the previously marked line type is unmarked. Now click
on the "OK" button or press Enter. Now select the second end point
of a line (the first will be the end of your previous line). The
line will be drawn using your selected color and line type.
The last line property is width. Select "Line Width" from the
"Options" menu and then enter "2" for the line width. The width
is specified in drawing units. Now enter the second end point of
another line. The line width hasn't changed, has it? This
demonstrates an important point. Only solid lines can have a
width greater than 1 pixel. Select the solid line type from the
options menu and enter the second end point of another line. This
time the line will be wider.
Line properties affect not only lines but arcs and circles as well.
Draw a few arcs and circles to see how your current line property
settings affect them.
The main property of a text element is its font. With Windows
3.1 TrueType fonts were introduced. These fonts work best in this
program and are recommended over previous Windows fonts. When
there is a check mark to the left of the "TrueType Fonts Only"
selection in the "Options" menu then the "Text Font" selection
below it will list only TrueType fonts. To access other fonts
click on the "TrueType Fonts Only" selection. The check mark will
be removed and all fonts will be listed in font selection.
Now select "Text Font" from the "Options" menu. This brings up
the font selection dialog. With this dialog you specify the
font name, style, size, color and effects. Sizes are in points.
A point is 1/72 of an inch. The point size selected is the size
you want the text to appear on paper when the drawing is plotted.
The size of the text on your display will vary depending on the
plot scale you have specified and the current extents of the
drawing area. Once you have selected a font from this menu, draw
a text string as you did previously to see the font you have
selected. Experiment with the different font parameters in the
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7
GETTING STARTED
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font selection dialog until you get a feel for what each one does.
Text may be placed at an angle using the "Text Angle" selection on
the "Options" menu. This angle is measured counter-clockwise from
the x axis in degrees. First select the "Arial" font using the
"Text Font" selection on the options menu. Next select "Text
Angle" from the "Options" menu. Enter "45" for the text angle.
Now draw a text string. Its baseline will be at a 45 degree angle.
Text orientation specifies the rotation of individual characters
within a text string. It has no affect on TrueType fonts so this
menu selection is grayed out if "TrueType Fonts Only" is checked.
Only Windows vector fonts (e.g. Roman, Script and Modern) support
orientation angles. See the "Setting Text Properties" section for
more information on how to use orientation angles.
To change the alignment point of a text string from the upper-left
to another position within the string use the "Text Justification"
item on the "Options" pull down. For example if you want to
specify a text alignment point that represents the lower right end
of a text string then select the "Text Justification" option and
set "Right" and "Bottom" as the text alignment. Now when you draw
text the alignment point you pick will specify the right bottom
position of the text string.
Point properties can be entered in much the same way as line and
text properties. Experiment with changing these properties and
drawing points to see the effects.
At this point we should do something that should always be done
periodically when creating a drawing, which is save it to disk.
This will prevent losing your drawing in case of a power failure,
system crash or similar catastrophe. To save this file select
"Save As" from the "File" menu. This will bring up the Windows
file selection dialog. Enter "TEST" in the "File Name" field and
click on the "OK" button. The drawing will then be saved to
"TEST.DWG" in the directory shown and can be retrieved later using
the "Open" option on the "File" menu.
To produce a printed or plotted output of a drawing you use the
"Plot" option on the "File" menu. First select "Open" off the
"File" menu and select the file SAMPLE.DWG supplied with the
program. This drawing shows the top, right and front views of some
part. Next select "Plot" from the "File" menu. This will bring
up the plot scale dialog. Enter a scale of "2" (1 inch = 2
drawing units) and click on the "OK" button. The current
coordinates of the lower left of the drawing area will be used as
the lower-left of the plot. As much of the drawing as can be
displayed using the given scale will be plotted to the current
print device. If you do not care about the scale and simply want
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8
GETTING STARTED
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to plot the current view as large as possible then click on the
"Fit plot to page" check box in the scale dialog. The plot scale
is ignored for these type plots.
Now lets look at some of the "View" menu options. These allow you
to look at your drawing in more or less detail. For example to
look at the top view in more detail select "Zoom Window" from the
"View" menu. The program will then prompt for the first corner of
the window. Pick a point just below and to the left of the top
view. Next the program will prompt for the second point defining
the window. As you move the cursor a box is displayed with one
corner on the first point you selected and the other at the current
cursor position. This box represents the window. Move the cursor
to a point above and to the right of the top view so that the whole
top view is enclosed in the box and press the left mouse button.
The program will then display the area you selected using the
entire drawing area.
The right and front views are no longer visible. If we wanted to
make sure that all the elements in the drawing are currently
visible we can use the "Zoom Extents" option. Select this option
and you see that the extents of the drawing area are adjusted
so that all drawing elements are visible and as large as possible.
To return to the previous view select "Zoom Previous" from the
"View" menu.
If you want to shift what is currently displayed in the drawing
area to see other parts of the drawing you use the "Pan" command.
Select this option and then pick a point near the bottom center of
the top view. Next pick a point directly above the previous point
and near the top of the drawing area. The drawing is then shifted
up within the drawing area.
The view commands simply change how the drawing elements are
displayed. They do not change their coordinates or dimensions.
If you want to change the drawing element coordinates or dimensions
then you use the "Edit" commands.
The last things we need to look at in this overview of the program
are the "Edit" functions. First let's move the top view to another
position in the drawing. Select "Zoom Extents" from the "View"
menu so that the entire drawing is visible. Then pick "Select"
from the "Edit" menu and pick a point below and to the left of the
top view for the first point. Pick a point above and to the right
for the second point of the selection area. All the drawing
elements which are within or cross the selection area are selected.
They are displayed in the selection color (initially light gray).
Now select "Cut" from the "Edit" menu. The program then prompts
for a reference point. Pick a point near the middle of the top
view. The top view is then erased. To move it to another position
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GETTING STARTED
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select "Paste" from the "Edit" menu. The program then prompts you
for the alignment point. This point will be the new position of
the reference point you specified in the cut operation. Pick a
point more to the right of the reference point you selected. The
top view will then be redrawn at this new position. You can
continue to select other alignment points and insert multiple
copies of the top view in your drawing. The "Copy" option does
much the same as "Cut" except it does not delete the original copy
of the selected elements. The "Cut" and "Copy" options are the
only ones that set the elements for the "Paste" operation. None of
the other "Edit" options affect what is pasted during the "Paste"
option.
To simply delete unwanted elements in the drawing you use the
"Delete" option. This option does not allow you to paste the
deleted elements back into the drawing. However, you can recover
them by selecting "Undo". For example, "Select" the drawing
elements in the top view as you did before. Next select "Delete"
from the "Edit" menu. The elements will be erased from the display
area and deleted from the drawing. Now select "Undo" from the
"Edit" menu and the previously deleted elements will be redrawn and
placed back in the drawing.
To change the angle of elements within the drawing, you use the
"Rotate" command. Select the top view as you did previously.
Then select "Rotate" and pick a position near the center of the
selected top view as the center of rotation. A dialog to enter the
rotation angle will then appear. Enter "45" and press Enter. The
top view will then be rotated 45 degrees counter-clockwise. You
can continue to rotate the top view by selecting another rotation
point and angle. The command can be terminated by selecting
another option from the main menu or clicking the right mouse
button and selecting "End" from the coordinate input dialog. As
with the delete option, the rotation can be undone by selecting
"Undo" from the "Edit" menu.
The "Scale" option functions much the same as rotate except that
it is used to make the current element selection larger or smaller.
For example, select "Scale" and pick a point near the center of the
top view which you selected in the last step. Enter a scale factor
of "0.5" in the dialog box. The selected top view will be drawn at
half its original size. "Undo" can also be used with this option.
The "Change" item on the "Edit" menu allows you to change all the
different properties of the drawing elements specified in the
"Options" menu after the elements have been drawn. For example
select "Change" and pick "Line Color" from the change dialog. This
will bring up the color selection dialog. Pick a new color from
this menu. In order to see the color change you must select
"Clear Selection" from the "Edit" menu. The current selection is
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10
GETTING STARTED
_____________________________________________________________________
always drawn in the selection color. The current selection is
only changed when a new selection is made or the selection is
cleared.
Finally, for on-line help with the features in this program select
"Help" from the "Help" menu. This brings up the Windows help
facility. For more information on how to use this facility look
in your Windows manual.
This concludes your guided tour of the program. Hopefully you will
have enough information at this point to get started with your
first drawing. You can look at the other sections of this manual
as needed to get more details on specific areas.
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11
GENERAL PROGRAM INFORMATION
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Parts Of The Program Window
---------------------------
The figure below shows the different areas within the program
window. These will be referred to throughout this manual.
Figure 1 - Main Window
The main or pull down menu contains the program commands.
The prompt area displays what the program currently wants you to
enter and how to do it.
The status area displays the current cursor xy coordinates, the
amount of memory available, the current element snap mode and the
number of fonts defined in the drawing. The format of the xy
positions is affected by the international settings in the Windows
Control Panel (see "International Number Formats" below).
The drawing area is where drawing elements are displayed and
drawn.
The title bar contains the program name and the current file name.
The system menu contains the standard Windows system menu options.
The min/max buttons minimize and maximize the program window.
International Number Formats And Measurements
---------------------------------------------
This program utilizes the settings in the international section
("intl") of the Windows WIN.INI file. These parameters can be
configured using the "International" option in the Control Panel.
The "Decimal Separator" and "Decimal Digits" fields under "Number
Format" are used by this program when formatting decimal numbers.
The "Measurement" field determines whether the plot scale is
specified in inches or centimeters.
The Program Coordinate System
-----------------------------
This program uses a standard 2 dimensional cartesian coordinate
system. This consists of 2 axes, x and y, that are perpendicular
to each other. The x axis increases to the right and the y axis
increases upward.
Figure 2 - XY Coordinate System
Coordinates within this coordinate system are specified by giving
their x and y distance from the origin. These coordinates are
denoted by x and y values in parentheses within this manual (x,y).
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GENERAL PROGRAM INFORMATION
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For example (10,20) designates a position 10 units to the right
(x distance) and 20 units up (y distance) from the origin.
Figure 3 - Coordinate Example
The origin of this coordinate system is where the x and y axes
intersect at coordinates (0,0). When a new drawing is first
loaded, the origin is at the lower-left of the drawing area. This
can change when any of the view options are selected. The drawing
area can be thought of as a window which displays a portion of the
entire coordinate range. Drawing elements which lie outside the
current window are not displayed but are still part of the drawing.
Figure 4 - Drawing Area Window
The extents of the drawing are the minimum and maximum xy
coordinates of all the drawing elements. The drawing area extents
are the lower-left and upper-right coordinates of the current
drawing area.
Figure 5 - Drawing Area Extents
The "X:" and "Y:" fields of the status area give you the current
coordinates of the cursor within the drawing area. The cursor is
initially a small plus sign when it is within the drawing area.
It can be moved with the mouse or keyboard arrow keys and the xy
position in the status area will be updated as it is moved.
The units the drawing area represents can be anything. For
example, they can represent inches, feet, miles, millimeters,
meters, kilometers and so on. The scale you enter when plotting
specifies the relationship between the units in the drawing and
the plot units (inches or centimeters).
Specifying Positions
--------------------
You need to specify positions for many of the options in this
program. A position is the (x,y) coordinates that designate a
point in the drawing.
There are three methods for specifying positions within this
program:
1. Pick a position in the drawing area using the cursor.
2. Enter exact coordinates (manual entry).
3. Snap to an existing drawing element.
The first method is the easiest. All you have to do is position
the cursor at the desired point in the drawing area using the
mouse or keyboard arrow keys. Then click the left mouse button
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13
GENERAL PROGRAM INFORMATION
_____________________________________________________________________
or press Enter. The disadvantage to using this method is you
1 cannot specify the exact coordinates of the point. For example, if
you wanted to pick a point at exactly (10,10) you could not do it
using this method. This is due to the fact the cursor moves in
steps. This method is best used when you do not care about the
exact positions and dimensions of what you are drawing.
The second method, manual entry, allows you to specify exact
positions. To use this method click the right mouse button or
press F2 while the cursor is in the drawing area or select "Enter
Coordinates" from the "Options" pull down menu. This will bring
up a "Coordinate Input" dialog. You use this dialog to enter
the exact (x,y) coordinates of a drawing position. This method
is used when you have the exact coordinates or dimensions of the
object you are drawing.
Figure 6 - Coordinate Input Dialog
The third method, using element snaps, allows you to specify
positions based on elements that are already in the drawing. For
example, if you want a line to start at the exact same position as
the end of another line in your drawing, you would use the "End"
element snap. To use element snaps, simply select the desired mode
using the "Element Snap" item on the "Options" pull down menu.
Figure 7 - Element Snap Dialog
You can select an element snap before or during a command. The
element snap selected remains in affect until another is chosen.
The current element snap mode is displayed in the status area. If
an element snap other than "NONE" is in affect, the cursor will
change from a cross to a box. When a position is selected the
program will look to see if an element is within the box. If one
is then the program will determine the proper coordinates from this
element using the current snap mode. The program tries to snap to
the first element it finds within the box. If it cannot snap to
this element it uses the center of the box as the input point.
When you are using element snaps, you should make sure only one
element lies within the cursor box, so you are certain you are
snapping to the proper element. Use the "Zoom Window" command to
enlarge the area around the element you are snapping to if
necessary to avoid getting other elements in your cursor box.
1 In reality you may be able to enter an exact coordinate using this
method if one of the cursor steps just happens to fall on it, but
it is unlikely and in general you cannot enter exact coordinates
using method 1.
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14
GENERAL PROGRAM INFORMATION
_____________________________________________________________________
For example, if the box cursor is placed as in the figure below and
the current snap mode is set to "End," the program will use the
coordinates of the closest end of the line as input.
Figure 8 - Element Snap Pick
In this case the program "snapped" to the top of the line and that
point is used as the start of a new line as shown below.
Figure 9 - Element Snap Result
The element snaps which are available within this program are:
None - no element snaps are used, the cursor is a cross.
End - snap to the end of the selected element.
Center - snap to the center of an arc or circle element.
Point - snap to the position of a point element.
The table below summarizes which element snap modes can be used
for each drawing element. If the element does not support a
particular snap mode (no "X" in that modes column for the element),
then no snap position is determined and the position of the center
of the cursor box is used.
End Center Point
Line X X
Arc X X
Circle X
Point X
Text
Table 1 - Element Snaps
The figure below demonstrates how the different snap modes can be
used:
Figure 10 - Element Snaps
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15
CREATING DRAWING ELEMENTS
_____________________________________________________________________
Lines
-----
Lines are drawn by entering their start and end points.
Figure 11 - Line Input
To Draw a line all you have to do is select "Line" from the "Edit"
pull down menu or you can press Ctrl+L. The prompt area will then
display:
Select first end point of line
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
After entering the first end point, the first line of the prompt
area changes to:
Select second point
As you move the cursor a line is drawn from the first point to the
current cursor position which represents the line which would be
added to the drawing if the current cursor position is used for the
second end point. When the second end point is specified, a line
with the designated start and end points is added to the drawing.
It is displayed using the current line properties in affect.
The program continues to prompt you for a second point. If you
wish to draw another line which starts at the end of the previous
one, then you simply select the second end point of that line.
To end line input, select another operation from the main menu
(except those on the "Options" menu). You can also end line input
by clicking the right mouse button (or press F2) and select "End"
from the dialog box which appears.
See the section on "Specifying Positions" for more information on
entering the line end points. See the section on "Line Properties"
for more information the different types of lines which can be
drawn.
Arcs
----
Arcs are drawn by specifying their start, center and end points.
They are always drawn in a counter-clockwise direction.
Figure 12 - Arc Input
To Draw an arc all you have to do is select "Arc" from the "Edit"
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16
CREATING DRAWING ELEMENTS
_____________________________________________________________________
pull down menu or you can press Ctrl+A. The prompt area will then
display:
Select first end point of arc
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
After entering the first end point the first line of the prompt
area changes to:
Select center point of arc
After entering the center point the first line of the prompt
area changes to:
Select second end point of arc
As you move the cursor an arc is drawn from the first point to the
current cursor position around the given center point in a counter-
clockwise direction. This represents the arc which would be added
to the drawing if the current cursor position is used for the
second end point. When the second end point is specified an arc
with the designated start and end points is added to the drawing.
It is displayed using the current line properties in affect.
The program continues to prompt you for the first point of an arc.
If you wish to draw another arc, you can enter it at this point.
To end arc input, select another operation from the main menu
(except those on the "Options" menu). You can also end arc input
by clicking the right mouse button (or press F2) and select "End"
from the dialog box which appears.
See the section on "Specifying Positions" for more information on
entering the arc points. See the section on "Line Properties" for
more information on the different types of arcs that can be drawn.
Circles
-------
Circles are drawn by specifying their center point and a point
anywhere on the circle.
Figure 13 - Circle Input
To Draw a circle all you have to do is select "Circle" from the
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17
CREATING DRAWING ELEMENTS
_____________________________________________________________________
"Edit" pull down menu or you can press Ctrl+I. The prompt area
will then display:
Select center point of circle
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
After entering the center point the first line of the prompt area
changes to:
Select point on circle
As you move the cursor, a circle is drawn around the center point
and through the current cursor position. This represents the
circle which would be added to the drawing if the current cursor
position was used. When the point on the circle is specified, a
circle with the designated center and circumference point is added
to the drawing. It is displayed using the current line properties
in affect.
The program continues to prompt you for the center point of the
next circle. If you wish to draw another circle, you can enter it
at this point.
To end circle input, select another operation from the main menu
(except those on the "Options" menu). You can also end circle input
by clicking the right mouse button (or press F2) and select "End"
from the dialog box which appears.
See the section on "Specifying Positions" for more information on
entering the circle points. See the section on "Line Properties"
for more information on the different types of circles that can be
drawn.
Points
------
Points are drawn by specifying their position.
To Draw a point all you have to do is select "Point" from the
"Edit" pull down menu or you can press Ctrl+P. The prompt area
will then display:
Select point position
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
When a position is specified, a point is drawn using the current
point properties in affect.
The program continues to prompt you for a point position. If you
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18
CREATING DRAWING ELEMENTS
_____________________________________________________________________
wish to draw more points then you can do so at this time.
To end point input, select another operation from the main menu
(except those on the "Options" menu). You can also end point input
by clicking the right mouse button (or press F2) and select "End"
from the dialog box which appears.
See the section on "Specifying Positions" for more information on
entering the point positions. See the section on "Point
Properties" for more information on the different types of points
which can be drawn.
Text
----
Text is drawn by specifying the text alignment point and the
desired text string.
Figure 14 - Text Input
To Draw text, all you have to do is select "Text" from the "Edit"
pull down menu or you can press Ctrl+T. The prompt area will then
display:
Select text alignment point
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
When a position is specified the text string input dialog is
displayed.
Figure 15 - Text Input Dialog
Enter the desired text and select the "OK" button. The text is
then displayed using the current text properties in affect.
The program continues to prompt you for a text alignment position.
If you want to enter more text strings then do so at this point.
To end text input, select another operation from the main menu
(except those on the "Options" menu). You can also end text input
by clicking the right mouse button (or press F2) and select "End"
from the dialog box which appears.
See the section on "Specifying Positions" for more information on
entering the text alignment points. See the section on "Text
Properties" for more information on the different types of text
which can be drawn.
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19
DRAWING ELEMENT PROPERTIES
_____________________________________________________________________
Setting Line Properties
-----------------------
All lines (including those used in arcs and circles) have the
following three properties:
1. Color.
2. Type.
3. Width.
These properties can be specified before or during the input of a
drawing element. The selected properties remain in affect until
another selection is made. Whenever a line, arc or circle is
created, it is displayed using the current line color, type and
width. They will always be displayed this way unless the
properties are changed. See the section "Changing Drawing Element
Properties" for more information.
Lines can only be displayed in solid colors. In other words they
cannot use dithered colors which use a pattern of different solid
colors to produce the look of another color. The number of solid
colors which are available is dependent on the display device.
To specify a line color, select "Line Color" from the "Options"
menu. To make a selection from the color input dialog, simply
click on the desired color (or highlight it using the arrow keys
and press the spacebar). Then select the "OK" button. If a
nonsolid color is selected the closest solid color is used instead.
You must also be careful not to select colors that map to the solid
color white since they will not be visible on the white background.
Figure 16 - Line Color Dialog
To specify a line type, select "Line Type" from the "Options" menu.
To select a line type, click on the desired type (or use the arrow
keys). The selected line type is displayed to the right. Click
on the "OK" button (or press Enter) to use the displayed line type.
Figure 17 - Line Type Dialog
To specify a line width, select "Line Width" from the "Options"
menu. Enter the desired line width. This value is specified in
drawing units and its displayed width will vary depending on the
current drawing area extents. Specifying a width of 0 will cause
the line to be drawn as thin as possible (1 pixel wide) no matter
what the drawing area extents.
Figure 18 - Line Width Dialog
One important limitation is only solid lines can have a width of
more than one pixel. If a line type other than solid is selected
then the current line width setting is ignored and the line is
drawn with the specified type but at a 0 width.
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20
DRAWING ELEMENT PROPERTIES
_____________________________________________________________________
Setting Text Properties
-----------------------
Text strings have the following properties:
1. Font name.
2. Font style.
3. Size.
4. Effects.
5. Color.
6. Angle.
7. Orientation.
8. Justification.
These properties can be specified before or during the input of a
text element. The selected properties remain in affect until
another selection is made. Whenever a text string is created it
is displayed using the current text properties. It will always be
displayed this way unless the properties are changed. See the
section "Changing Drawing Element Properties" for more information.
The font name is the main property affecting the appearance of a
text string. It determines how different characters in the
string are drawn. Windows comes with several built in fonts.
With version 3.1 of Windows TrueType fonts were introduced. It
is recommended you use these fonts exclusively. The program
defaults to allowing the selection of TrueType fonts only. The
TrueType fonts work much better with this program than some of the
other Windows fonts.
To access the other fonts available to Windows click on the
"TrueType Fonts Only" item on the "Options" pull down. This will
remove the check mark next to this item. The next time you select
"Text Font" from the "Options" menu it will display all the fonts
available to Windows in the "Font Name" list. When the check mark
is present to the left of "TrueType Fonts Only," only TrueType
fonts are listed by the "Text Font" option. When there is no check
mark present then all fonts are listed. The drawing may or may not
already contain fonts other than TrueType fonts. This toggle does
not change existing text strings.
The first 5 text properties are all specified using the "Text Font"
selection on the "Options" menu. To select the font name, click on
the desired font name from the list. You can scroll the list up
and down by clicking on the scroll arrows if the list is longer
than the number displayed. To select a font style, click on the
desired style. The font size, effects and color can be specified
in the same way. A sample of the currently selected font is
displayed in the lower right of the dialog. When you have input
the desired text properties click on the "OK" button.
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21
DRAWING ELEMENT PROPERTIES
_____________________________________________________________________
Figure 19 - Font Dialog
The parameters in this dialog are pretty self-explanatory with the
possible exception of the "Size" parameter. These sizes are in
points. A point is 1/72 of an inch. This specifies the size of
the text when plotted. The size which appears on the display will
vary depending on the currently specified plot scale and the
current drawing area extents. When you specify a text size, it is
converted to the units you are using in the drawing area using the
currently specified plot scale and then drawn with that size in the
drawing area. For example, if you specified a 10 point font and
your current plot scale is 1 inch equals 100 drawing units then the
height in drawing units for the text would be 13.9 (10/72 X 100).
If the y extent of the drawing area is 100 then the text will be
13.9% as tall as the y extent of the drawing area. If the drawing
is zoomed so that the y extent is 50 then the text will be 27.8%
of the drawing area height.
Figure 20 - Text Example
The text will always be plotted at a 10 point size (0.139") no
matter what the plot scale or current drawing extents (unless the
"Fit" plot option is used).
The text angle specifies the rotation of the baseline of the text
string in degrees counter-clockwise from the x axis.
Figure 21 - Text Angle
The Windows raster fonts (i.e. Courier, Fixedsys, MS Sans Serif,
MS Serif, Small Fonts, System and Terminal) will not rotate.
The text orientation is not used by TrueType fonts so it is grayed
out and unselectable on the menu if TrueType fonts only are
specified. The only fonts currently supplied with Windows which
support orientation angles are the vector fonts: Modern, Script
and Roman. The orientation angle is the rotation of the
individual characters of a text string in a counter-clockwise
direction from the x-axis. The interaction between the baseline
angle and the orientation angle for the vector fonts can be quite
difficult to understand. The figure below shows some of the most
common uses of baseline and orientation angles with vector fonts.
Figure 22 - Text Orientation
There are a couple of drawbacks to using the vector fonts. One is
the "Zoom Extents" command only uses the alignment point of vector
fonts in its calculations. This means part or all of a text string
which uses a vector font may lay outside the drawing area even
after a "Zoom Extents" command. The second drawback is you must
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22
DRAWING ELEMENT PROPERTIES
_____________________________________________________________________
you must include the alignment point in your selection area in
order to select a string using a vector font.
The last property we will cover is text justification. When you
create a text element you are asked to input the alignment point.
This point can represent different positions within the string
depending on the current text justification setting. The text
justification is initially set to "Top" and "Left" when the
program is first loaded. To change this setting select "Text
Justification" from the "Options" menu. The text justification
dialog allows you to specify one of three horizontal justification
points (Left, Center and Right) and one of three vertical
justification points (Top, Baseline and Bottom). To select one
click on its radio button and then click on "OK".
Figure 23 - Text Justification Dialog
The figure below shows all of the possible text justification points.
Figure 24 - Text Justification
The following table summarizes the capabilities of the fonts that
come with Windows.
True Scal- Rotat. Orient. Fixed
Font Type Vector Raster able Angles Angles Pitch
---- ---- ------ ------ ----- ------ ------ -----
Arial X X X X
Courier New X X X X X
Symbol X X X X
Times New Roman X X X X
Wingdings X X X X
Modern X X X X
Script X X X X
Roman X X X X
Fixedsys X X
MS Sans Serif X
MS Serif X
Small Fonts X
System X
Terminal X X
TABLE 2 - Font Information
A check mark for a font in the TrueType, Vector or Raster column
indicates what type of font it is. A check in any of the following
columns means that feature is supported by the font. The vector
fonts are scalable which means they can be increased or decreased
to any size. Raster fonts come in discrete sizes. Fixed pitch
fonts have a constant character width.
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23
DRAWING ELEMENT PROPERTIES
_____________________________________________________________________
Most of these fonts also support the regular, bold, italic and
bold italic font styles. They all support the underline and
strikeout effects as well as color.
Setting Point Properties
------------------------
Points have the following three properties:
1. Color.
2. Type.
3. Size.
These properties can be specified before or during the input of a
point element. The selected properties remain in affect until
another selection is made. Whenever a point is created, it is
displayed using the current point color, type and size. The point
will always be displayed this way unless its properties are
changed. See the section "Changing Drawing Element Properties" for
more information.
Points can only be displayed in solid colors. In other words, they
cannot use dithered colors which use a pattern of different solid
colors to produce the look of another color. The number of solid
colors that are available is dependent on the display device.
To specify a point color, select "Point Color" from the "Options"
menu. To make a selection from the color input dialog simply click
on the desired color (or highlight it using the arrow keys and
press the spacebar). Then select the "OK" button. If a nonsolid
color is selected the closest solid color is used instead. You
must also be careful not to select colors that map to the solid
color white since they will not be visible on the white background.
Figure 25 - Point Color Dialog
To specify a point type, select "Point Type" from the "Options"
menu. To select a point type click on the desired type (or use the
arrow keys). The selected type is displayed to the right. Click
on the "OK" button (or press Enter) to use the displayed type.
Figure 26 - Point Type Dialog
To specify a point size, select "Point Size" from the "Options"
menu. Enter the desired point size. This value is specified in
drawing units and its displayed size will vary depending on the
current drawing area extents.
Figure 27 - Point Size Dialog
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24
FILE OPERATIONS
_____________________________________________________________________
Saving The Drawing
------------------
There are 2 commands for saving the drawing, "Save" and "Save As",
both are on the "File" pull down menu. The "Save As" command
allows you to specify a file name. Once a file name has been
specified for a drawing, you save it to that same file by selecting
"Save" or by pressing CTRL+S. There are no further prompts when
using the "Save" command. The "Save" option is grayed out and
unselectable until a file name has been specified for the drawing
with the "Save As" option.
The "Save As" option brings up a file selection dialog box. To
specify a file name, select a drive from the drive list and a
directory from the directories list. Type in the name of the file
in the "File Name" box. You do not have to specify an extension
for the file name. If you do not specify one, the extension ".dwg"
will be appended to the name you enter. It is recommended you use
a ".dwg" extension on all your drawing files so they will appear in
the list of file names in the file selection dialog. If you enter
an existing file name, the program will warn you and ask if you
want to replace it. Selecting "Yes" will completely replace the
contents of the file with the current drawing. The previous
drawing will be lost. The file name dialog will not allow you to
enter an invalid path or file name. When the desired drive, path
and file name have been entered, select the "OK" button and the
current drawing will be saved to the given file.
Figure 28 - Save As Dialog
When a drawing is saved all the undo levels are removed. This
means previous operations cannot be undone after a save has been
performed. This is done to free up the memory used by the undo
feature.
Opening An Existing Drawing
---------------------------
If you want to edit a drawing created previously, select the "Open"
command from the "File" menu. This brings up the file selection
dialog. Select the proper drive and directory from the drive and
directory lists and then select one of the files from the file name
list and click on the "OK" button. The drawing in the given file
will then be displayed in the drawing area. You must select an
existing file with this option. You can now edit the elements in
the displayed drawing or add more elements if desired.
Figure 29 - Open Dialog
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25
FILE OPERATIONS
_____________________________________________________________________
If you select the "Open" item from the "File" menu and the drawing
you are currently working on has not been saved, a message box will
appear and ask if you want to save the current drawing. If "No" is
selected, any changes made to the current drawing will be lost.
Selecting "Cancel," ends the "Open" command and returns you to the
current drawing. If you select "Yes," the drawing will be saved to
the file name you specified previously. If no previous name was
specified, you will be prompted for a name. After saving the file,
the file open dialog will be displayed.
Figure 30 - File Exists Message Box
Creating A New Drawing
----------------------
If you are currently editing a drawing and would like to start a
new drawing, select "New" from the "File" menu. The contents of
the drawing area is cleared and you are placed in a blank drawing.
If you select the "New" item from the "File" menu and the drawing
you are currently working on has not been saved, a message box will
appear and ask if you want to save the current drawing. If "No" is
selected, any changes made to the current drawing will be lost.
Selecting "Cancel," ends the "New" command and returns you to the
current drawing. If you select "Yes," the drawing will be saved to
the file name you specified previously. If no previous name was
specified, you will be prompted for a name. After saving the file,
you are placed in a new drawing.
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26
PLOTTING
_____________________________________________________________________
Printing / Plotting The Drawing
-------------------------------
The drawing may be plotted to the current print device using the
"Plot" command on the "File" menu. The print device is set using
the Windows Control Panel and it can be a printer or a plotter.
When this option is selected, a plot scale dialog is displayed.
The drawing may be plotted to scale or the current drawing area
can be "fit" to the available plot area on the output device.
Figure 31 - Plot Scale Dialog
To fit the drawing area to the plot page click on the "Fit plot to
page" check box so that the box is checked and then select the "OK"
button. The current drawing area will be sent to the current print
device and displayed as large as possible on the page. The scale
of the drawing will be adjusted to allow the drawing area to be
displayed as large as possible. The plot scale value set in the
dialog is ignored.
To plot the drawing to scale, enter the desired scale in the dialog
and select the "OK" button. The drawing will be plotted at the
scale specified. The "Fit Plot to page" check box must be
unchecked for this plot method.
For both of these plot methods, the origin of the plot is set to
the lower-left corner of the drawing area. This means you must
zoom and pan the drawing using the "View" menu to get the desired
plot origin point at the lower left of the drawing area. The
figure below demonstrates how the drawing area is mapped to the
plot page using these two methods.
Figure 32 - Drawing To Plot Page Mapping
The "Reverse Text Angles" check box allows you to use the negative
of the existing text angle during plotting. This is for plot
drivers that interpret text angles differently. If your plot comes
out with incorrect text angles then try checking this box.
When the "OK" button is pressed in the plot scale dialog, another
dialog box is displayed while the plot is being created. This
dialog has one button, "Cancel". Pressing this button will cause
the plot operation to be canceled. If this button is not selected
then the plot is created and sent to the Print Manager. For more
information on the Print Manager see your Windows manual.
Figure 33 - Cancel Dialog
If you have configured Windows to use "English" units, your plot
scale specifies the number of drawing units per inch. If you have
configured Windows to use "Metric" units, the plot scale specifies
the number of drawing units per centimeter. The "International"
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27
PLOTTING
_____________________________________________________________________
option on the Windows Control Panel is used to set this parameter.
Select the desired units from the "Measurement" field. See your
Windows manual for more information.
This program does not care what units you use in the drawing. They
can be anything. The plot scale is used to relate the drawing
units to known sizes.
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28
VIEW OPERATIONS
_____________________________________________________________________
The view options are used to display different parts of your
drawing. They can be used to look at an area in detail or the
drawing as a whole. They do not change the actual coordinates
or dimensions of the drawing elements. They only allow you to
view them in different ways.
Zooming In On An Area Of The Drawing
------------------------------------
To see an area of the drawing in more detail, use the "Zoom
Window" option on the "View" menu. With this option you input
a rectangular area within the display area and then that area
is enlarged to cover the entire display area.
Figure 34 - Zoom Window
When you select "Zoom Window" from the "View" menu or press Ctrl+W
the prompt area changes to:
Select first corner of window
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
You may select any corner of the area you want to enlarge. Once
you have selected the first corner the prompt changes to:
Select second point
As you move the cursor, a box is drawn from the first point entered
to the current cursor position. This box represents the area that
will be enlarged if the current cursor position is selected. When
the second point is selected, the input area is enlarged as much as
possible while still displaying the entire area selected. If the
area you input is of a different shape than the shape of the
current drawing area, you may get some elements in the drawing area
that were not in the area selected and the enlargement may not be
as much as expected. Keep in mind, this command displays the
entire area selected at a minimum. It will display more in one
direction if necessary to display the entire area in the other
direction.
Figure 35 - Effects Of Zoom Window Shape
Displaying All The Elements In The Drawing
------------------------------------------
To display all the elements in the drawing within the drawing area,
use the "Zoom Extents" command on the "View" menu. This command
will display all the drawing elements as large as possible within
the drawing area.
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29
VIEW OPERATIONS
_____________________________________________________________________
Restoring A Previous View
-------------------------
To display the previous view, select "Zoom Previous" from the
"View" menu or press Ctrl+R. If there is no previous view to
restore, the "Zoom Previous" option is grayed and unselectable. Up
to 10 previous views are saved and can be restored.
Zooming In And Out
------------------
The drawing may be zoomed in (enlarged) and out (shrunk) using the
"Zoom Factor" option on the "View" menu. When you select this
option a dialog box appears which prompts you for a zoom factor.
To zoom out, specify a number greater than 1. To zoom in, specify
a number greater than zero but less than one. For example,
specifying a value of 2 causes the drawing area extents to be twice
their current size and the drawing elements appear to be half their
original size. Specifying a value of 0.5 causes the drawing area
extents to be half their current size and drawing elements appear
to be twice their original size.
The current center point of the display area remains in the center
after the zoom.
Figure 36 - Zoom Factor
Moving The Drawing Right/Left/Up/Down In The Drawing Area
---------------------------------------------------------
The drawing elements may be moved right, left, up and down in the
drawing area while still maintaining the current zoom factor by
using the "Pan" option on the "View" menu. Selecting this option
changes the prompt area to:
Select first point to define the displacement
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
Pick a position within the drawing area you want to move elsewhere
The first line of the prompt area changes to:
Select second point
Pick the position you would like the first point to be moved to
within the drawing. The drawing area will be redrawn with the
drawing elements shifted by the specified amount.
Figure 37 - Pan
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30
VIEW OPERATIONS
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Redraw: Cleaning Up The Drawing Area
------------------------------------
During the course of drawing and editing you may get extra tic
marks and such within the drawing area which are not actually part
of the drawing. To erase the drawing area and redraw only the
elements actually in the drawing, select "Redraw" from the "View"
menu.
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31
EDIT OPERATIONS
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Selecting Drawing Elements
--------------------------
All of the options on the "Edit" menu (with the exception of
"Undo", "Select" and "Paste") require one or more drawing elements
be selected first. They are grayed out and unselectable if no
drawing elements are selected. To select elements, pick the
"Select" option off of the "Edit" menu. The prompt area will then
display:
Select first corner of selection area
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
When selecting drawing elements you input opposite corners of a
rectangular area and all elements that fall within this area or
cross it will be selected. You may pick any corner of the area
first. After selecting the first corner the first line of the
prompt area becomes:
Select second point
Now you must enter the diagonally opposite corner of the selection
area rectangle. As you move the cursor, a box is displayed with
one corner at your first selection point and the opposite corner
at your current cursor position. This represents the area which
would be used for the selection if the current cursor position was
used for the second point.
Figure 38 - Selecting Elements
When the second point is selected, the program displays the
elements which are inside or cross the selection area in the
selection color. These are the selected elements. The selection
color is initially set to light gray but it can be changed using
the "Selection Set Color" item on the "Options" menu.
Moving Drawing Elements
-----------------------
Elements within the drawing can be moved from one position to
another by using a combination of the "Cut" and "Paste" options on
the "Edit" menu. To move a drawing element, first select the
element(s) you want to move. See the section on selecting drawing
elements for information on how to do this.
Once the desired elements have been selected pick the "Cut"
command off of the "Edit" menu. The prompt area will display:
Select cut reference point
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
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32
EDIT OPERATIONS
_____________________________________________________________________
The point you pick will correspond to the alignment point you
select when you perform the paste operation. Once the reference
point has been entered the selected elements will be erased from
the display and deleted from the drawing.
Next select "Paste" from the "Edit" menu. The prompt line will
display:
Select paste alignment point
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
As mentioned previosly, the paste alignment point corresponds to
the cut reference point. When an alignment point is selected, the
elements cut previously are drawn at the new position and added to
the drawing.
Figure 39 - Moving Drawing Elements
The elements may be pasted as many times as desired at any
location in the drawing area. To end the paste command select
another command from the menu or click the right mouse button and
select "End" from the dialog.
The cut operation copies the selected elements to the Windows
Clipboard. The paste operation retrieves them from the Clipboard
and inserts them into the drawing. The "Paste" option is grayed
out and unselectable if no data has been cut or copied to the
clipboard. This program uses a private data format when storing
data in the clipboard so it can store all the information about
the drawing elements (i.e. actual coordinates, line type, width,
color, text properties, etc.). The appendix on the "Clipboard Data
Format" contains a definition of how the data is stored.
Copying Drawing Elements Within The Same Drawing
------------------------------------------------
Elements within the drawing can be copied to another position by
using a combination of the "Copy" and "Paste" options on
the "Edit" menu. To copy a drawing element first select the
element(s) you want to move. See the section on selecting drawing
elements for information on how to do this.
Once the desired elements have been selected pick the "Copy"
command off of the "Edit" menu. The prompt are will display:
Select copy reference point
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
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33
EDIT OPERATIONS
_____________________________________________________________________
The point you pick will correspond to the alignment point you
select when you perform the paste operation. Unlike the "Cut"
command, the "Copy" command does not erase the selected elements.
They remain in the drawing.
Next select "Paste" from the "Edit" menu. The prompt line will
display:
Select paste alignment point
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
As mentioned previously, the paste alignment point corresponds to
the copy reference point. When an alignment point is selected,
the elements copied previously are drawn at the new position and
added to the drawing.
Figure 40 - Copying Drawing Elements
The elements may be pasted as many times as desired at any
location in the drawing area. To end the paste command, select
another command from the menu or click the right mouse button and
select "End" from the dialog.
The copy operation copies the selected elements to the Windows
Clipboard. The paste operation retrieves them from the Clipboard
and inserts them into the drawing. The "Paste" option is grayed
out and unselectable if no data has been cut or copied to the
clipboard. This program uses a private data format when storing
data in the clipboard so it can store all the information about
the drawing elements (i.e. actual coordinates, line type, width,
color, text properties, etc.). The appendix on the "Clipboard Data
Format" contains a definition of how the data is stored.
Moving / Copying Drawing Elements Between Drawings
--------------------------------------------------
Drawing elements can be moved and copied between drawings as well
as within the same drawing. To do this perform the cut or copy
operation just as you do for moving/copying elements within the
same drawing. Then load another copy of the CAD Vantage program
and bring up the drawing you wish to move/copy the elements to.
Then paste the elements into that drawing. Alternatively, instead
of loading another copy of CAD Vantage you can open the drawing you
want to paste into within the current instance of the program and
then paste the elements. The first method requires more memory but
is much more convenient, especially if you need to perform multiple
copy operations.
Figure 41 - Copying Drawing Elements Between Drawings
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34
EDIT OPERATIONS
_____________________________________________________________________
Deleting Drawing Elements
-------------------------
To delete drawing elements, first select the elements to delete
(see the section on selecting elements). Then select "Delete"
from the "Edit" menu. The selected elements are deleted from the
drawing and erased from the drawing area.
Rotating Drawing Elements
-------------------------
To rotate drawing element, first select the elements to rotate
(see the section on selecting elements). Then select "Rotate"
from the "Edit" menu. The prompt area then displays:
Select rotation center point
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
After picking a position, a dialog is displayed which allows you to
enter the desired rotation angle. Enter the angle in degrees
counter-clockwise and click on the "OK" button. The selected
elements will then be rotated about the given center point by the
given angle.
Figure 42 - Rotating Drawing Elements
The program continues to prompt you for a rotation center point.
You can pick another point and rotate the elements again or end
the command by clicking the right mouse button and selecting "End"
from the dialog.
Scaling Drawing Elements
------------------------
This command is used to increase or decrease the size of drawing
elements.
To scale drawing elements, first select the elements to scale
(see the section on selecting elements). Then select "Scale"
from the "Edit" menu. The prompt area then displays:
Select scale reference point
MOUSE: position cursor, press left button. Right button for...
KEYBOARD: position with arrow keys, press Enter. F2 for...
After picking a position, a dialog is displayed which allows you to
enter the desired scale factor. A factor greater than one
increases the size of the selected elements and a factor greater
than 0 but less than 1 reduces the size of the elements. For
example a scale factor of 2 doubles the size of the elements. A
scale factor of 0.5 halves the size of the elements. When the
_____________________________________________________________________
35
EDIT OPERATIONS
_____________________________________________________________________
desired scale factor has been input, click on the "OK" button. The
selected elements will then be scaled about the given reference
point by the input scale factor.
Figure 43 - Scaling Drawing Elements
The program continues to prompt you for a scale reference point.
You can pick another point and scale the elements again or end
the command by clicking the right mouse button and selecting "End"
from the dialog.
Changing Drawing Element Properties
-----------------------------------
To change the properties of drawing elements, first select the
elements to change. Then select "Change" from the "Edit" menu or
press Ctrl+H. This will bring up a dialog which allows you to
select what property to change. You can only change one property
at a time. To select a property, click on its radio button and
then click on the "OK" button.
Figure 44 - Change Dialog
The program will bring up a dialog which allows you to specify
the new property. These dialogs are the same ones used in the
corresponding selections on the "Options" menu. See the
appropriate section under "Drawing Element Properties" in this
manual for more information on using these dialogs.
When the new property is specified, the selected elements are
changed. You will have to clear the selection set (see that
section) in order to see color changes since the current selection
set is always drawn in the selection set color.
Listing Drawing Elements
------------------------
With the "List" option on the "Edit" pull down menu you can
display the properties for selected elements. First select the
elements to list and then pick "List" from the "Edit" menu.
A dialog with the properties for the first element in the
selection set is displayed. Select "OK" to display the next
element's properties or "Cancel" to quit.
Figure 45 - List Dialog
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36
EDIT OPERATIONS
_____________________________________________________________________
Clearing The Current Selection
------------------------------
To clear the current selection and display the selected drawing
elements in their actual color, select "Clear Selection" from the
"Edit" menu.
Undoing Changes To The Drawing
------------------------------
The "Undo" option on the "Edit" pull down menu can be used to undo
edit operations. If there are no edit operations which can be
undone, the "Undo" option is grayed and unselectable.
All of the commands on the "Edit" menu can be undone with the
exception of "Select", "Copy", "List" and "Clear Selection". You
also cannot undo an "Undo" command. The commands on the "Draw"
menu can also all be undone.
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37
CONFIGURATION OPERATIONS
_____________________________________________________________________
Changing The Selection Set Color
--------------------------------
The program displays selected elements in a certain color. To
change the color, pick the "Selection Set Color" item off of the
"Options" menu. This will bring up the color selection dialog.
Select the new color from this menu and click on the "OK" button.
The selection set will now be displayed in that color.
Setting The Plot Scale
----------------------
The "Plot Scale" selection on the "Options" menu allows you to set
a plot scale. This selection brings up a plot scale dialog. This
dialog is also displayed when "Plot" is selected from the "File"
menu. There are 2 differences between them, however. The "Fit
plot to page" is grayed out and unselectable in the "Options"
version of the plot scale dialog. This version also does not try
to plot the drawing when the "OK" button is selected. This option
is placed here so that a plot scale can be set without plotting
the drawing. Plot scale affects the size of the text in the
drawing area. This option allows the plot scale to be changed
if the text is too small or large. See the section on text
properties for a further explanation of text size and plot scale.
Changing The Cursor Step Size
-----------------------------
The cursor moves a certain number of pixels on the display when an
arrow key is pressed. The cursor increment or step size specifies
how many pixels it moves. This value is initially set to 5.
Larger values cause the cursor to move more quickly across the
display but make it more difficult to position the cursor at
desired coordinates. Smaller values have the opposite effect.
To change this value select "Cursor Increment" off of the "Options"
menu. Enter the desired cursor increment (greater than 0) and
click on the "OK" button. The cursor will then move by that
number of pixels when an arrow key is pressed and the cursor is in
the drawing area.
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38
HELP
_____________________________________________________________________
Getting Help On-Line
--------------------
To get help on different aspects of this program using the Windows
help facility, select "Help" from the "Help" pull down menu or
press F1. See your Windows manual for more information on using
this help facility.
Exiting The Program
-------------------
To exit the program, simply select "Exit" from the "File" menu.
If you select the "Exit" item from the "File" menu and the drawing
you are currently working on has not been saved, a message box will
appear and ask if you want to save the current drawing. If "No" is
selected, any changes made to the current drawing will be lost.
Selecting "Cancel," ends the "Exit" command and returns you to the
current drawing. If you select "Yes," the drawing will be saved to
the file name you specified previously. If no previous name was
specified, you will be prompted for a name. After saving the file,
the program will exit.
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39
APPENDIXES
_____________________________________________________________________
Quick Key Summary
-----------------
Quick keys can be used as a short-cut instead of selecting the
corresponding options off of the menu. The table below summarizes
the quick keys that can be used in this program and what they do.
Key Description
--- -----------
Ctrl+S Save the drawing to the current file.
Ctrl+Z Undo the last edit operation or draw operation.
Ctrl+E Select drawing elements.
Ctrl+X Cut the current selection to the clipboard.
Ctrl+C Copy the current selection to the clipboard.
Ctrl+V Paste the contents of the clipboard.
Ctrl+H Change properties of the current selection.
Ctrl+L Draw a line.
Ctrl+A Draw an arc.
Ctrl+I Draw a circle.
Ctrl+P Draw a point.
Ctrl+T Draw a text string.
Ctrl+W Zoom window.
Ctrl+R Zoom previous.
F2 Brings up the coordinate input dialog when the program is
prompting for a position.
F1 Brings up the Windows help facility.
Clipboard Format
----------------
The clipboard data used by this program is stored in binary format.
It is registered with Windows using the following text string:
CADV Vector Graphics
The first integer gives the number of font table entries. This is
followed by 54 bytes for each font table entry (font id, font index
and LOGFONT structure). Following the font table entries are the
xy coordinates of the user selected reference point. Following
that are the actual drawing elements. They start with a type
identifier and are followed by a specific number of parameters
depending on the type. The drawing elements can be in any order.
They are terminated by a type value of 0.
Type Bytes Description
---- ----- -----------
int 2 Number of fonts that follow.
int 2 Type. Font table entry = 13.
int 2 Font index.
LOGFONT 50 Logical font structure defined in Windows SDK.
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40
APPENDIXES
_____________________________________________________________________
Type Bytes Description
---- ----- -----------
double 8 X-coordinate of user selected reference point.
double 8 Y-coordinate of user selected reference point.
int 2 Type. Line = 1.
int 2 Reserved.
long 4 RGB color value.
double 8 X-coordinate of first end.
double 8 Y-coordinate of first end.
int 2 Line type. Uses the standard Windows GDI values.
double 8 Line width.
double 8 X-coordinate of second end.
double 8 Y-coordinate of second end.
int 2 Type. Arc = 2.
int 2 Reserved.
long 4 RGB color value.
double 8 X-coordinate of center.
double 8 Y-coordinate of center.
int 2 Line type. Uses the standard Windows GDI values.
double 8 Line width.
double 8 Start angle (radians).
double 8 End angle (radians).
double 8 Radius.
int 2 Type. Circle = 6.
int 2 Reserved.
long 4 RGB color value.
double 8 X-coordinate of center.
double 8 Y-coordinate of center.
int 2 Line type. Uses the standard Windows GDI values.
double 8 Line width.
double 8 Radius.
int 2 Type. Point = 7.
int 2 Reserved.
long 4 RGB color value.
double 8 X-coordinate of point.
double 8 Y-coordinate of point.
int 2 Point type. 1 = plus, 2 = x, 3 = circle, 4 = box.
double 8 Size.
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41
APPENDIXES
_____________________________________________________________________
Type Bytes Description
---- ----- -----------
int 2 Type. Text = 8.
int 2 Reserved.
long 4 RGB color value.
double 8 X-coordinate of text alignment point.
double 8 Y-coordinate of text alignment point.
int 2 Font index. Correlates to the font table index.
double 8 Height (inches).
double 8 Baseline angle (radians).
double 8 Orientation angle (radians).
int 2 Justification. Standard Windows GDI value.
int 2 Length of text string.
char ? The actual text string. Length is given above.
int 2 Type. End of data = 0.
Memory Management
-----------------
This program allocates memory for the drawing elements in blocks.
The default block size is 50k and the default number of blocks is
100. This allows a potential drawing size of approximately 50M.
Both of these parameters can be changed by inputing different
values on the command line. To do this, simply add the desired
block size and then the number of blocks at the end of the command
line. There must be a space between the end of the command line
and the block size and also a space between the block size and the
number of blocks. For example:
c:\cadv\cadv 64000 200
would set the block size to 64000 bytes and the number of blocks to
200. You must specify both parameters. You cannot just specify a
block size. The block size must be between 1024 and 64511. The
number of blocks must be greater than 0 and less than 64511.
When the program needs another memory block and cannot allocate it,
you receive the message, "Out of memory. Save your drawing".
Saving the drawing will free the memory used by the undo feature.
It also deletes the current selection and frees the memory used by
it. Then it compacts the drawing in memory to remove any wasted
space due to deleted elements. If you get another out of memory
message immediately after saving your drawing then your drawing
cannot be made any larger without providing more memory to the
program. Close some other applications or increase your available
disk swap space in enhanced mode. If you are using a system with
very little available memory then you may need to decrease the
block size parameter to make more efficient use of memory.
If you get the message, "Memory table overflow" then you may need
to increase the number of blocks parameter on the command line.
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42
GLOSSARY
_____________________________________________________________________
Glossary
--------
CAD Computer Aided Design.
Current Selection All the drawing elements that have been
selected using the "Select" command.
Cursor Increment The number of pixels the cursor moves when a
keyboard arrow key is pressed.
Cursor Step Same as "Cursor Increment".
Dialog Box A windows pop up menu which contains input
fields, check boxes, buttons and so on.
Drawing Area Extents The range of coordinates displayed in the
drawing area.
Drawing Extents The range of coordinates covered by all the
drawing elements.
Drawing Element One of the 5 basic parts of a drawing: lines,
arcs, circles, points and text.
Drawing Units The dimensions used in the drawing area.
They can be anything (e.g. feet,meters,etc.)
Font A particular style of text.
K (Kilobyte) 1024 bytes of memory or disk space.
M (Meg or Megabyte) 1024 K bytes of memory or disk space.
Origin The (0,0) point of an xy coordinate system.
Pan To shift the view of the drawing within the
drawing area left, right, up or down.
Plot Units The dimensions used to specify sizes on the
plot (inches or centimeters).
Quick Key A short-cut key sequence which can be used
instead of selecting a command from a menu.
Raster In this manual it denotes graphics defined
by a series of points as opposed to "Vector".
For example, a line is defined by a series of
points.
Selected Elements Same as "Current Selection".
Selection Set Same as "Current Selection".
Text Angle The rotation, counter-clockwise, of the
baseline of a text string.
Text Justification How the text is aligned. For example at the
left top corner.
Text Orientation The rotation, counter-clockwise, of the
individual characters in a text string.
Vector In this manual it denotes graphics defined
by their end points as opposed to "Raster".
For example, a line is defined by 2 points.
Zooming Enlarging or decreasing the view of the
drawing.
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43