DesignCAD News
DesignCAD News
Friday August 16, 2002
Still using an old version of DesignCAD?
Now's your chance to get the newest versions of
DesignCAD Express, DesignCAD 3DMAX, or 3DMAX Plus at a special upgrade price ...
24/7 at the convenience of the Internet.
As of this week there's new
functionality on the Upperspace website. You can purchase an upgrade online at
this address
www.upperspace.com/upgrade. There are no links to this address from the
rest of the site so be sure you enter in the address here or click the link
for it here. The upgrade page has been updated so that you can enter your
serial number for the version of DesignCAD you're using and upgrade to
DesignCAD Express, DesignCAD 3D Max Plus or DesignCAD 3D Max Plus Office by
this page.
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Easy Deck Design |
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- Easy-to-Use
-
Over 30 Detailed Deck Drawings
- 2D and
3D Drawing Wizards
- Export
Material Lists
- Full
Selection of CAD Tools
3D Deck
Wizard
Choose from 30 of the most popular deck designs scaled for use on your own
home! Add or remove deck features easily with our large variety of editing
tools.
Automatic Decks
Just plug in numbers for depth, height and width and the program generates
your 3D deck right before your eyes!
$79.95, also available
by download |
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Use the Array feature for
decking:
Learn
how to use the Array command within DesignCAD for creating an array of
decking, click
here for this excerpt from Learning DesignCAD 3D Max Plus for 2D Drafting
& Design. |
 Click
here to learn more about the multimedia CD-ROM training for DesignCAD. |
 Training
seminars offered too |
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DesignCAD Productivity Tips |
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Help
Tutorial for New Users
If you're a new user of
DesignCAD or CAD in general, check out the text based Tutorial built into
every copy of DesignCAD. Open the Help menu. Select "Tutorial". Or go to
DesignCAD Help and click the link for the tutorial.
The tutorial gives you a
quick look at DesignCAD, how to work with DesignCAD drawings, basic
drawing commands, how to draw simple objects in 2D. There's instruction
for designing a gasket, a pulley, a 2D floor plan, a 3D table, a 3D
picture frame, a 3D house, and how to use some of the 3D solid commands.
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Enable
Resizing Handles
Way back in the days of
DesignCAD for DOS there was an option for resizing handles (kind of like
resizing a raster based image with resizing handles at the corners). This
was done away with when DesignCAD was redesigned as a 32-bit program. But
as of DesignCAD 3000, DesignCAD 3D Max, and DesignCAD 3D Max Plus the
feature has been included once again, by popular request.
To use this feature,
just click the Enable/Disable Resizing Handles button on the main toolbar.
Then select any entity. Resizing handles will appear around it in the
shape of a box so you can drag any handle and resize the shape in that
direction.
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Color
Options
If you're new to
using DesignCAD, you may overlook the color options available. The
currently selected color appears in a color box at the bottom of the Main
Toolbox (on the left side of the window). This color button is significant
because this color is what is selected for whatever you draw next.
To see the Color Toolbar,
click this tool. The Color Toolbar will now appear at the right side of
the window with 8 color boxes. You can expand any one of these just click
and hold the mouse button on one. It will expand into a color drawer
containing 7 more colors. And if that isn't enough color for you, click
the Custom Color button at the bottom of the Color Toolbar. From here you
can use any of 256 colors.
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Objects
& Entities
An entity is a single item in a drawing, such as a
circle, line, or text. An object is made up of one or more
entities. One or more entities can be defined to create a single
object. Real objects have three dimensions:
length, height, and depth. For example, a solid cube may be three feet
high, three feet long, and three feet from front to back. |
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Drawing
to Scale
When you draw to scale in
DesignCAD, you measure the objects in a given base unit of measure.
DesignCAD doesn't care whether your base unit is meters, miles, or even
leagues. What's important is that you use the same base unit throughout
the drawing such as the Imperial system using feet and inches or the
Metric system using meters or centimeters and so forth.
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Ending
a Line
Pressing Enter to end a
line (or other drawing item such a circle or a plane) you're drawing is
the recommended method for entering/ending the line. However, you can
also double-click to enter the item. But heed this warning -- if you're using the double-click method,
be careful not to accidentally click in two different places instead of
clicking twice in the same spot.
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"Solid"
Color in 2D
Ever wonder how a 2D design
can look like it's made out of solids all filled with color? It's all in
the hatch. Hatch patterns can be made so small that they actually like
like a solid color (kind of like Impressionist art). Open the Draw menu
and select Hatch. There are several kinds of hatches here ...
Hatch - Use this to click
inside an enclosed entity and fill the entire enclosed area with the
hatch.
Hatch Line -
Use this to hatch an area that's enclosed by a single line. For instance,
if you use one of the 2D plant symbols and want to fill them with a hatch
(you must remember to explode the symbol when loading it). Just activate
the hatch line command then set a point on the line then hit enter and it
will hatch in the plant.
Hatch Fill - The Hatch Fill
lets you set points anywhere you want and the area within the points you
set will be hatched. This is useful for hatching a corner of something
(such as a corner of the roof) to show there's pattern (without hatching
the entire area with an intricate hatch and increasing file size). It's
often useful to set the points for the hatched area by snapping to
existing points.
* There are over a hundred
different kinds of hatch patterns. The Win Solid Hatch is
great for adding a fill that looks like a flat surface. |
Stacking Order
Especially when using
hatches, you may want the hatch pattern to appear behind other items in
the drawing. If you've filled an area with a hatch and then notice lines
or text are under the hatch, just send the hatch to the back.
Click on the hatch. With it selected, open
the Edit menu and select the Selection Edit command. Then choose Move to
Back. This sends the hatch to the back so the tub is seen clearly again.
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Pertinent
Settings at Your Finger Tips
The Info Box is an “all time fav” of DesignCAD enthusiasts. While
an entity or object is selected, press Control + I. This opens the Info
Box containing information on the selection and offers a special
selection of tools for making changes to it.
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Register Your Version of DesignCAD!
You can register at
www.Upperspace.com/register, by calling 800/233-3223, by mailing your
registration card or faxing it to 918/825-6359. Here's why you should …
#1 All registered
software gets free technical support. Even when new versions are released,
you can still take advantage of free technical support.
#2 When you
register it gives us a copy of your serial number. This is like having a
'safe haven' for your serial number because if you should ever
accidentally lose
your serial number, then you can call us and we’ll
read it back to you. This can be a real lifesaver when upgrading to a
new computer or if you’re forced to reformat your hard drive. It can
save you from having to buy another package of the software!
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Q & A
Question by K Davies:
How do you go about creating
bearing and distance labels for lines that you've digitally traced from a
scan of a survey or tax map? |
| The Answer:
There is a Bearing command
you can use to create bearing dimensions. You can find the Bearing command
in the Dimension menu under Info. The Command will place a bearing similar
to this format: N 76?48'19.2" E 42.180
To use the command you click
on two points that define the origin and the location of reading then click
a third point to place the text.
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Going Further ...
If you've scanned in an image
and want to add bearings, go to the Tools
menu and select the Auto Trace Bitmap command. This is how DesignCAD will
convert the image from a raster to a vector. The settings you use and the
quality of the scan greatly matter here and this is where tech support will
really outshine the helpfulness of my answer. But it has been my experience
that you should use higher settings and take your time with the autotrace.
And once you have vectors you can use the Bearings command and snap to the
ends of the line boundaries for the bearing to display, and dimension
angles, etc. as needed.
If you don't want to convert the image to vectors, you could still use
the bearings but you'd need to click on the point that appears to be the end
of the line (you couldn't snap to it exactly like you can with a vector).
1. Scan in the image.
2. Scale the image by setting the distance between two points (perfectly
horizontal/vertical for an accurate setting). Use the Units command. Press
U. Press Insert to set one point and then press Insert to set the other
point as best as you can see. Really zoom in to set these points so they are
accurate and use the right and left arrow keys so they are perfectly
straight. Enter the distance it needs to be between the points in the Units
box and press Enter.
3. Now that the image is scaled, use the Bearings command by setting
points at the end of the land boundary lines. The bearings will appear
between the points you set even if you're not setting them on existing
vectors. |
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Adding Custom Posts,
Railings and Steps ...
to a 3D Deck Designed from Upperspace's Automatic Deck Design Software
If you have Instant Deck Design
Software or have the Deck Design Add-on for DesignCAD then this story is for
you! Learn how to customize those posts, railings and steps with precision and
ease.
Click
here for the
story ...
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CONTEST
*
Educators:
Send a letter to
DesignCAD about how DesignCAD has helped you or how you think it will help you.
Best letter WINS
a copy of DesignCAD 3D Max Plus and a 2-day DesignCAD
training seminar ($1900 value*).
*
Students: Send us
your best design and tell us about your class. Best design
WINS
a copy of DesignCAD 3D Max Plus ($600 value).
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DesignCAD Makes
the Perfect Educational Solution!
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-
Buy It Once - no annual charge for seats
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Free Tech Support, Text Tutorial and Online Help
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Self-Paced Training Available
-
Easy-to-Learn
-
Easy-to-Use
-
2D
Drafting & Design
-
3D
Solid Modeling
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Schools and Universities Get Educational Pricing
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DesignCAD Offers You and Your Students ...
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Product reliability/accuracy
-
Ease of use
-
Flexible and powerful
capabilities
-
Free
technical
assistance
-
Best price/performance ratio for
CAD software
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The Contest:
Submitted
designs must have been created in DesignCAD, any version, 2D or 3D. You must
submit it in DesignCAD file format. You can only submit your own designs. You
can submit as many as you want (please zip them up before sending if you're
sending more than one). Please add your name to the design. If you want the
DesignCAD file to remain confidential and not a part of the DesignCAD sample
drawings you must specify this. You can submit images of the rendered design and
a picture of the constructed design along with the DesignCAD file if you'd like
them to be posted. Upperspace has the right to use these as marketing materials
on our website, in print material or other promotional material. Should
Upperspace Corporation run another design contest after this one, the winner of
this contest cannot win the subsequent design contest but may enter and win
following contests. An individual cannot win two contests back to back or win
multiple contests using the same design.
Criteria for winning design contests is subjective. But if you submit a design
for this contest and don't win this contest you can submit the same design file
to subsequent contests. When submitting your design please include: your
full name, shipping address, e-mail address and the version or versions of
DesignCAD you used to create your design.
Contest winners will receive a copy of DesignCAD 3D Max Plus
software by Upperspace Corp. Product may not be returned for refund of any kind.
Product will be shipped at no charge to winner within the continental United
States via UPS ground shipping. Shipping charges will apply outside of the
continental United States. Product can be downloaded from the Upperspace
website. If shipment is requested, product will be shipped in a reasonable period of
time (usually within 2-3 working days) after winner is announced.
Contest letters by educators must be turned in by the end of October. Winners
will be decided early November 2002. The educator who wins the letter contest
may bring 3 others to the DesignCAD seminar which will be held at Upperspace
Corporation. Seminars are limited to 4 persons and are valued at $400 per person*.
Prize not transferable or redeemable for cash or products.
Email your designs to
press@upperspace.com
Students: Last day to submit your design is September 10th, 2002.
Winner will be decided and announced in the September newsletter 2002.
Straight from the Kitchens of
Upperspace
Recipes for August ...
Upperspace is a fun place to work
and we're close knit enough to enjoy each others company and eating favorite
recipes cooked by one another.
Once a month we've been having a lunch cook-off for prizes and for the fun of
it. For a few months we took this out of the newsletter thinking it probably wasn't appropriate
material. But a reader asked us where it's been! So here it is. For some recipes
go here ...
To send feedback please email
newsletter@upperspace.com. To subscribe or unsubscribe please visit
http://www.upperspace.com/newsletter
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